With less than a week left, the county commissioner race for the North Eugene seat continues to heat up as both candidates are hard at work campaigning for the position.
Incumbent Bobby Green is working straight through the intensive campaign in order to show constituents that even in stressful times he will not neglect his responsibilities as commissioner. The dark horse candidate, Rob Handy, can usually be found traveling door to door in an attempt to prove to voters they are his primary concern.
Handy has knocked on more than 12,000 doors in the north Eugene area. He began his grassroots campaign last January and in the process found how responsive voters were to his efforts.
“It would be sleeting sideways, I would have six layers on and a big hat, but with every door I knocked on I would hear the same responses,” Handy said. “‘No one has come for decades,’ ‘I am so happy you came,’ ‘please come in,’ and I just kept on going.”
The Handy campaign’s money trail highlights his grounded approach to election day.
According to ORESTAR, a campaign finance monitoring Web site, the median donation was $75, while the median donation to the Green campaign was $1,200.
“I am proud about the way our campaign raised money,” said Handy. “Most of the money that was given came from constituents I met going door to door. The entire process of raising the money has been both humbling and gratifying.”
Handy has spent the majority of his professional life working as a landscape contractor and insists his business experience will be reflected in his common sense approach to balancing the budget. Independent of his experience as a businessman, Handy is no stranger to working hard for neighbors. He organized a task force that traveled to Salem to work with Sen. Vicki Walker and Rep. Chris Edwards to change laws that were allowing the city of Eugene to annex streets in the Santa Clara area.
“It was something the commissioner should have been involved in, but because he wasn’t taking steps to stop it, we took it into our own hands,” Handy said.
Regardless of criticisms against commissioner Green, the incumbent has held the office for 12 years and has continued to work on improving the county. Green was responsible for assembling a task force to ensure Eugene became the event site for the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials. He has worked across state and county lines as one of the leaders who helped draft the Federal Forest Payments and County Service document, which covered the impact the loss of timber payments would have on counties and the state of Oregon.
Green has not limited his work to his county seat, but has contributed to the surrounding areas as well.
Springfield Mayor Sid Leiken values the work Green has put into his position, he said.
“I have known and worked with Bobby Green for my entire time as mayor, and I have appreciated everything he had done, especially in making certain the county is provided funds for public transit from the Oregon Department of Transportation,” Leiken said.
The job of county commissioner is to act responsibly for the policies and operations of county government and all its departments.
“It’s a contact sport; you have to understand bureaucracy and your constituency in order to provide the best level of services to your citizens,” Green said.
The race is predicted to be close. The primary election ended in a victory for Handy with 48 percent of the vote and Green earning 46 percent.
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