Get ready for the rows of red, white and blue lawn signs staked in front yards throughout local neighborhoods and candidates giving speeches at Eugene businesses and coffee shops – it’s local election season, and it’s in full swing starting today.
The official primary list was issued Thursday night for the five positions in Eugene’s city government up for grabs this November. The election will include half of the city’s eight city council seats, but of those four only two incumbents have a challenger. The mayoral race could see a number of low-blows and shatter of campaign-spending records.
Six candidates have aspirations of becoming the next mayor of Eugene, but the big race in this election should shape up to be between two prominent figures in the Eugene political landscape.
Former two-term Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey will face off against incumbent Kitty Piercy in this year’s mayoral race. Piercy raised a record $120,000 in the 2004 mayoral race, and Torrey said he could spend up to $200,000 in the election – more than 10 times the Eugene mayor’s annual salary of $19,329.12.
Torrey, a registered independent who recently left the Republican party, has been described as a conservative, but calls himself a moderate with real fiscal concerns. Piercy, a registered Democrat, has been lauded for her environmental efforts as mayor and has been described as a liberal. In the past she has broken tied votes in a city council that consists of her small liberal majority.
While this election is listed as non-partisan, it appears to be anything but that.
But the mayoral election is not without its share of local, lesser-known candidates looking to make a splash in Eugene’s politics pool.
Enter the unabashed Nick Urhausen, mayoral hopeful, long-time Eugene resident and the self-described “future” of Eugene.
At 62 years old, Urhausen has seen his share of politicking in Eugene and said in this race “you have the same old thing (in Torrey), the now (in Piercy) and possibly the future in me.”
He jokingly asks, “What’s worse than losing the race to be mayor of Eugene? Winning the race for mayor of Eugene because then you’re just powerless in a political circus.”
Urhausen referred to the weak mayoral system Eugene employs, where the city council discusses city policy in an often divided atmosphere, and then votes on the direction of policy. The mayor only casts a tie-breaking vote when necessary.
His goals are serious, however, and Urhausen said his top three priorities for the city are fixing the streets, restarting the West Eugene Parkway plan and finding a site for a new hospital in Eugene.
Another mayoral candidate is local Home Depot employee Jim Ray.
Ray did not immediately return the Emerald’s phone calls this week, but said in an interview in February on the subject of running for mayor that his main goals would be fighting crime and drug dealing in Eugene.
“I don’t make promises I can’t keep. I’m a straight shooter,” Ray said in the February interview.
Rounding out the six mayoral hopefuls are University student Ian Goldfarb, who said he plans to run for the experience of the process and getting an inside look at the election process, and Makyadath Lazar, owner of Lazar’s Bazar and Shoe-A-Holic.
Eugene’s mayor may be the race that gains the most attention in this election, but there are also four city council positions up for reelection.
Fighting in one-person races are two city councilors: George Brown representing Ward 1 and City Council President Chris Pryor representing Ward 8.
On the other hand, the North Eugene Ward 7 and South Eugene Ward 2 will offer a competition.
Ward 7 incumbent Councilor Andrea Ortiz will run against local independent contractor John Crane for the seat, and long-time Ward 2 councilor Betty Taylor will run against Betty Snowden.
The non-partisan primary election is scheduled for May 20. If one candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, only that candidate’s name is placed on the general election ballot. If no one candidate receives a majority of the vote, the top two candidates are placed on the November ballot.
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