Because at least ten of the fourteen applicants rarely, if ever attend board meetings I don’t know much about most of them. Two of the applicants, Don Peabody and Fred Messerle were part of the first selection committee that helped appoint Cam Parry to the late Andy Jackson’s seat. Peabody is currently on the budget review committee as well as the newly formed industrial acquisition team and clearly has taken an interest in county politics.
Messerle, a rancher and husband of Sandy Messerle of the South Coast Development Council is rarely seen at commission meetings. Messerle did attend a land use hearing held May 20, 2010 before Andrew Stamp regarding the Pacific Connector Pipeline. He signed in and testified as an opponent to the pipeline, however, his primary objection was to the proposed route going through some of his land and he recommended moving the pipeline route to Blue Ridge, bypassing his property. Hundreds of property owners along the route face the same threat of having sections of their property condemned and utility easements granted via eminent domain.
Eldon Rollins has applied for the job as well. Rollins is very intelligent, with a fantastic sense of humor and is a regular attendee at board meetings. He has been actively involved in many local political groups over the years. He has run for elective office twice in the last three years. The physical and time demands of the job may be a lot for Rollins to handle.
Applicant Randy Sanne is a frequent board meeting attendee and has, amongst other things, a strong background in accounting. He has been outspoken at meetings about topics ranging from the Solid Waste Disposal site where he works and where they have implemented a clever way to generate almost a million dollars in much needed extra revenue, to the road department layoffs. After reviewing the county budget Sanne presented the commissioners with some suggestions regarding reserve funds that would free up almost $3 million.
Sanne is intelligent and honest as well as very comfortable and confident when speaking in public. He has demonstrated again and again that he is very capable of thinking outside the box and I would be very happy to see Sanne make commissioner.
Jody McCaffree, like Sanne, has an accounting background, although not as strong as Sanne’s. She has, however, become a veritable expert on state and local land use laws and public process. Through her activism she has established a wide network of strong relationships with local, state and federal regulatory agencies and has successfully organized groups with wildly disparate ideology to work toward common causes.
McCaffree has a well earned reputation as honest and as a perfectionist and is a serious dedicated researcher loathe to make decisions without solid data to back them up. She is a strong proponent of green and sustainable job creation and works with renewable energy groups to develop local industry solutions to growing unemployment. Like Sanne, I would be delighted to see her as our commissioner.
Comparing Sanne and McCaffree I would say that Sanne has a much stronger accounting background and foreknowledge of how the county government works. Further, he is less controversial which may give him an edge over the activist, McCaffree. McCaffree on the other hand has built up a statewide network of public officials and regional experts on many topics from which to draw help from, something Sanne would have to work to develop.
Without knowing the other applicants very well, my belief is the county would be in good hands with either Sanne or McCaffree.
I was Jody McCaffree’s first LNG matter recruit. This former aerospace and high tech executive had an oportunity to watch Ms. McCaffree at work. It takes much to impress me. I was impressed. Most impressive was the fact that, unlike many local professional politicians, she is certain that her brain is engaged before she speaks. I got tired of watching her fight windmills alone and having the professional politicians of the county treat her as undesireable trailer trash. Some forgot that one should never argue with a person who may be more intelligent. Today, six years later, she has the respect of many in state and federal offices who as established contacts would be of significant value to the county commissioners and in general to the people of Coos County. Ms. McCaffree is respected by friend and foe alike. More than 1.2 million vistors in 53 countries – more than 300,000 Oregonians – read some or all of a LNG related web site that I developed to help Ms.McCaffree. Many continue to write – some seek counsel often. I have never tried to tell any person whether to support or oppose local LNG. I am not opposed to the LNG factory. I believe that 900 foot long (twice the size of current chip ships) with four billion cubic feet of natural gas passing a generation of Coos Bay school children several times weekly is insanity. I will tell any person asking that I support the candidacy of Ms. McCaffree and if appointed, I will support her fiscally in two years. Husband Bill McCaffree is one of the nicest folks that I have met during my nine years in Coos County.
Unfortunately, no, other than he seems amiable enough. What I look for is evidence of strong critical thinking skills as in “the identification and evaluation of evidence to guide decision making. A critical thinker uses broad in-depth analysis of evidence to make decisions and communicate his/her beliefs clearly and accurately”.
So far, the little I have heard from him did not offer an opportunity to make any assessments, although the interview process should do that if he makes the first round.
The first selection committee, however, did not seem to regard critical thinking as an especially valuable skill. For example, Parry, who did demonstrate critical thinking skills in his interview was tied for first place with McKeown who did nothing more than mutter a few bromides and in fact demonstrated a great void in critical thinking. (thankfully she did not reapply after learning of the enormous time commitment required).
Since Peabody has been at meetings have you gotten any sense of him at all?