Improving the accountability & transparency of city government
On June 11, 2018, the Lindholm Company Blog, analyzed the results of the recent election:
Compared to the parks measures, there is virtually no variation by ward. The appointed auditor measure placed on the ballot by the city council lost overwhelmingly everywhere.
In the June 8, 2018, issue of the Register-Guard, the editorial board writes:
Voters rejected a proposal for an elected Eugene city auditor on May 15, but the initiative’s sponsors can take heart from detailed election returns released by Lane County this week. Measure 20-283 passed in three of eight Eugene City Council wards, and in 12 of 31 voting precincts. Most encouraging to the sponsors was that the elected auditor found support in diverse parts of the city, and lost by a landslide in only a few neighborhoods. …
In the June 7, 2018, issue of the Eugene Weekly, Eugene resident Branden Johnson writes:
On vacation while auditing votes were counted, I have been bemused by post-election comments. One side says Eugene avoided an autocratic, over-priced elected auditor promoted by a narrow neighborhood cabal; the other side says the people’s preference was defeated by a late insincere option aimed at vote-splitting, resulting in continued double-dealing by local government.
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On May 25, 2018, the Lindholm Company Blog, released the results of a poll:
There appears to be strong support for a Eugene auditor in some form. This blog has chronicled how Eugeneans see many problems in the city that remain unaddressed.
This question was asked prior to the campaign and the collapse of the two auditor measures’ support. It is possible this is biased upward. However, a sizeable percentage of people voiced support here who supported neither measure. …
In the May 24, 2018, issue of the Eugene Weekly, Eugene resident James Stauffer writes:
Analyzing the voting data for the dueling city auditor ballot measures shows that the majority of voters did want an auditor, but vote-splitting resulted in no auditor being selected. …
On May 24, 2018, the Lindholm Company Blog, released the results of a series of polls:
Support for the appointed auditor, the city council proposal, never came close to 50%. …
On May 23, 2018, the Lindholm Company Blog, released the results of a series of polls:
The elected auditor started with strong support which steadily declined. By two weeks before the election it was in serious trouble — being under 50% and having dropped 13 points in support. …
In the May 21, 2018, issue of the Register-Guard, Eugene resident Ruth Duemler writes:
My thanks to Bonny Bettman McCormack and all those who worked so hard gathering signatures for Measure 20-283, a citizen campaign to have expert advice on city spending.
After the city of Eugene stabbed this effort, I doubt we will ever have another citizen initiative in Eugene.
What was the city afraid of? Where will the next gravel pit appear?
In the May 18, 2018, issue of the Register-Guard, Don Kahle writes in a column:
Eugene won’t be getting an auditor, but people still want auditing. I hope our leaders will respect — fear, if they must — the lawn sign consensus that was mounted for an elected city auditor. Nobody knew how the vote would turn out. Once you feel shivers being sent up it, you know where your spine is.
Even though both auditor measures failed at the polls, Eugene is begging its leaders: Don’t do nothing. …
In the May 18, 2018, issue of the Register-Guard, Eugene Budget Committee member Joshua Skov writes in a letter:
I would like to thank the proponents of measures 20-283 and 20-287 for their campaigns in support of a Eugene city auditor. Although both measures lost, they showed a significant appetite for accountability and transparency. …