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November 9, 2001 Odd process; good result: Terry Beyer's appointed to vacant House seat A Register-Guard
Editorial
Most important, the process ended in a well-qualified person being named to represent Springfield residents in the Legislature. Back to the beginning - but pay attention, because this gets confusing along the way. State Sen. Lee Beyer, Terry Beyer's husband and a longtime Democratic legislator, resigned from the Oregon Senate on Aug. 31 to accept the governor's appointment to the Oregon Public Utility Commission. That created a vacancy in the Senate. Oregon law requires that legislative vacancies be filled by appointees of the same political party as the person who created the vacancy. So Lee Beyer's replacement had to be a Democrat. The law sets forth two processes for appointing a replacement. The most common is for party precinct workers from the legislative district involved to forward a list of three to five nominees to the governing body of the county in which the vacancy occurs. Precinct workers in Beyer's Senate district, which covers Springfield and portions of Eugene, operating under the umbrella of the Lane County Democratic Central Committee, agreed upon a list of nominees and sent it to the Lane County Board of Commissioners. The commissioners chose state Rep. (and former Springfield mayor) Bill Morrisette to succeed Beyer in the Senate. Morrisette's appointment created a vacancy in his House district, which covers most of Springfield. So back to the precinct workers for another list of nominees. Party workers usually submit a list of five nominees to give the commissioners some latitude in making their choice. Not this time. While five Democrats, including Terry Beyer and Springfield City Councilor Fred Simmons, asked to be included on the list, the precinct workers submitted only three nominees to the commissioners. Beyer and Simmons were omitted. Why the party folks chose to restrict the list and risked alienating two experienced public servants is anybody's guess, but hardball politics and a clash of egos come quickly to mind. When the short list got to the county, three commissioners - Bill Dwyer (a former Springfield legislator), Bobby Green and Anna Morrison - said the list offered too narrow a range of choices. They specifically noted that Beyer's name was missing, a curious omission since Beyer had already announced her candidacy for the House seat in next year's election. So commissioners Dwyer, Green and Morrison, representing a majority of the five-member board, chose to ignore the party's list. This triggered the second method for filling a legislative vacancy: passing the decision to the governor. The governor chose from among five applicants, including Beyer and Simmons. He chose Beyer. The choice is a good one. Terry Beyer served as her husband's legislative assistant during his 10 years in the Legislature. First-hand experience is a big plus for an incoming lawmaker. Too, Beyer has paid her public service dues. She served on the Springfield City Council from 1993-99 and on the city's Library Board from 1995-99. She's currently serving on the city Budget Committee and on the Springfield Education Foundation Board. That the party workers chose to slight a person with such experience was not only an avoidable insult, but bad politics. In any event, this unnecessarily convoluted process ultimately gave Springfield good representation in the House. Beyer will have to stand for election to a full term next year, and that's fine. If any of those Kitzhaber didn't pick want to challenge her, they should. That would put the matter where it belongs: in the hands of the voters.
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