EUGENE — Lane County Commissioners voted unanimously Jan. 16 to appoint Carpenters Union organizer Paul Holvey to fill a vacant seat in Oregon House District 8. The former occupant, Floyd Prozanski, was appointed to fill the State Senate District 4 seat vacated by Tony Corcoran, who resigned to take a job with the State of Oregon. Corcoran is a former union organizer for the Service Employees International Union. For the last four years, Holvey has worked for the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters as a representative in organizing. Prior to that he was a member and officer of Eugene-based construction Local 1273 for 10 years and served as first vice president of the Lane County Labor Council before the Carpenters pulled out of the AFL-CIO nationally. Holvey was one of three people nominated by the local Democratic Party, which is headed by Pat Riggs-Henson, who is also executive secretary-treasurer of the Lane County Labor Council and a member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Riggs-Henson said Holvey was recruited as part of a long-term campaign to get more union leaders elected to public office. Holvey ran unsuccessfully in May 2003 for a spot on the Lane Community College Board. The Legislature is currently out of session, but Holvey would serve if a special session is called, and will be listed as the incumbent in the May 2004 primary election for the spot. Holvey said his priority is to get the economy back on its feet by promoting living wage jobs. Campaigning for re-election, he said, will be a chance to bring a labor perspective to a wider audience.
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