Lane County scorecards show marked improvement

Prior to joining the OLCV staff, I volunteered on the steering committee of OLCV’s Lane County chapter. One of the things that really appealed to me as a steering committee member was OLCV’s local environmental scorecard process. It was such a great way to evaluate whether or not the hard work we put into electing local candidates in Lane County had actually translated into protecting the environment.

Scorecards are also the most measurable way to see how these elected leaders are doing when it comes to protecting our air, water, and special places in Oregon (not to mention our health)—and that's a key component of the mission of OLCV: Holding our elected officials accountable for their votes.

So, I was excited to see how the Lane County Board of Commissioners and the Eugene City Councilors scored this year. The Lane County Board of Commissioners only recently secured a pro-environment majority, after Commissioner Bill Fleenor was elected in 2006, followed by Commissioner Rob Handy in 2008. OLCV worked hard to make that happen, and we also worked hard to re-elect Eugene Mayor, Kitty Piercy in 2008. With a lot of dedication, the all-volunteer OLCV Lane County steering committee worked through two election cycles, and after all the data was finally laid out, I was happy to see the results. 

On the Eugene City Council scorecard, we saw that Mayor Piercy voted for the environment 100 percent of the time (especially key since in Eugene, the Mayor’s vote breaks any ties).

But what truly stood out was the difference in the Lane County Commission scorecard. In past years, we could usually count on only one commissioner to vote for the environment.  But the scorecard we released yesterday, which scores votes cast between Jan. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2009, stands out in stark contrast to past scorecards.

This time we saw two of the commissioners earn 100 percent: Commissioners Pete Sorenson and Rob Handy. Commissioner Fleenor earned an 83 percent, a major difference when you look back to the score of the Commissioner he replaced, who often received a zero. Because of this shift, we saw better conservation votes across the board. Commissioner Dwyer, who scored 86 percent in 2008, earned a 91 percent this time, and Commissioner Stewart’s votes improved significantly—his score went up from 47 percent to 64 percent.

Due to this shift, we were able to get some important work done in Lane County. One commission vote that stands out to me was the unanimous vote of support to establish marine reserves in Oregon. During Oregon’s 2009 legislative session, the Oregon Conservation Network, the coalition of nearly 50 groups coordinated by OLCV, helped pass landmark legislation that established two marine reserves and created a scientific and community-based process to evaluate four other potential connected sites. 

In fact, the Lane County Board of Commissioners voted to protect the environment 10 out of 12 times, protecting farms, forests, clean water, and clean air.  The Eugene City Council voted to protect livability, public health and Eugene’s special places nine out of 12 times.

This is what we work for. Of course there is always more work to do, but I think the Lane County Board of Commissioner and the Eugene City Council deserve thanks for doing their part to reflect the values of Lane County and to help preserve what makes it great here.