Good ol' boys

Them good 'ol boys drinkin' whisky and rye

Singin', 'this'll be the day that I die.'"

       Don McLain, American Pie, 1971

Southern Oregon has Good ol' boys. 

They fund the opposition campaign to the three Jackson County charter update measures.

The old school notion of good ol' boys included elements of White, Southern, racist, conservative, and male. Picture "Bubba" in a bass boat, drinking beer with chums from elementary school, complaining about politics having gone to hell thanks to uppity Blacks and women's lib. A traditional good ol' boy was friendly and unpretentious. They were noteworthy for their loyalty to the team but not for their ambition. Good ol' boys never left their small town to find work in Atlanta or Birmingham.

Oregon's Jackson County has a good ol' boy network, updated to the 21st Century. They are Oregonian, not Southern. Women are in it now, although professional women tell me the network is still misogynistic. The network includes some of our community's leading citizens and public benefactors. The local good ol' boy network retains two essential characteristics of the idea: Conservative attitudes and politics and loyalty to the other members of the peer group.

In Southern Oregon, that makes them Republicans. It also makes them leaders in the Greater Medford Chamber of Commerce, which has a PAC of its own that washes and anonymizes campaign contributions made to Republican candidates. 

The three measures are minor adjustments to the county charter. Making the commissioners nonpartisan puts them into sync with the nonpartisan judges, the district attorney, the county sheriff, and every other city and county office. Nonpartisan commissioners shouldn't be a big deal. Nor is going from three to five of them, to get a little more breadth of opinion. The current commissioner salary of $150,000/year is completely out of scale, and political conservatives would be outraged if that salary were being paid to Democrats. A few of Republicans reluctantly defend the salaries since they are going to their team members. 

There is no clear reason for local businesses to care one way or the other about the three charter update issues and I presume they don't care. They gave to the opposition campaign because a friend asked them to give. The good ol' boy circle that funds Republican candidates for local office allied with the local GOP to defend the tiny fortress of three Republican commissioners and a county administrator. There is no reason to think a larger board would end the county administrator's power -- County Administrator Danny Jordan does have that extraordinary three-year's income severance deal -- but the Republican establishment decided to nip in the bud any potential threats. The good ol' boy network went along. They are team players.

Oregon election law requires disclosure of campaign contributions and expenditures on the Orestar website. Then enter number 23389 under filer ID#.  The StopBiggerGovernment PAC is the primary vehicle for opposition to the ballot measures. Here is what it reports as of this morning:

These are what we would expect. We see the husband of a GOP state representative; relatives of a county commissioner whose salary is at risk; a member of the county budget committee who approved the salary increases; the owners and managers of companies that contract with the county to build its buildings and pave its roads; the garbage and landfill company; landlords of local real estate; and the Chamber of Commerce.  

There is a small, tight group at the county courthouse allied with a cozy group of business leaders, a classic example of 21st century good ol' boy politics. Who runs things here in Jackson County and how do they retain power and influence? It is vendors showing tribute to the people who hire them. It is friends helping friends. 

Again, I am in favor of the three measures. Group-think conformity is dangerous in a board of directors. I would like more opportunity for variety. When the commissioners' office is conceived of and paid like a career position with step increases for longevity, then incumbents seek conformity and self-protection, and we are seeing it right now. It means we don't get clear, honest communication on the hard issues facing the county including funding a jail. I want to get the commissioners out from behind their locked doors and guarded offices. Let's open things up.