Oregonians, like the rest of the country, are highly skeptical and cynical about the political process. Watergate, Irangate, 33,000 deleted Clinton emails and foundation fundraising, Russiagate, January 6th, the FBI and Hunter Biden, and legislators achieving millionaire status while supposedly serving the people, have led most of us to be highly distrusting of the political process and our institutions. I get it! That doesn’t mean we should abandon politics, but we should demand more accountability from our candidates and public officials.

The mantra of the ’60s was that if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. It starts with choosing candidates with integrity, honesty, compassion, experience, and action. Such is the case of the most qualified incumbent that I have known in 25 years of political activity, Patti Adair who is re-running for Deschutes County commissioner. I have known Patti for the past five years. She entered the office like a whirlwind investigating the issues of homelessness, suicide prevention, addiction, mental illness, public health, land use, and county budget. She networked and sought comprehensive details on each of these issues. She listened and asked incisive questions. As a consequence, she racked up an extensive list of accomplishments. She held property tax increases under 6 cents per thousand for the past three years. She helped secure a decade long goal of two additional circuit court judges in 2021 by launching a telephone/email campaign. She brought about safety updates at Harper Bridge in 2019. She managed the opening of the Deschutes County Veterans’ office an additional day of the week. She advocated for Habitat for Humanity and added a bus route from La Pine to Sunriver. She helped move the Terrebonne sewer system forward. She helped open the stabilization center for the acute mentally ill. She has been working to use state facilities in Central Oregon to offer inpatient mental health and addiction services. She’s looking to house the homeless in county facilities where they can have access to transportation and comprehensive services and learn ways to re-integrate into society. She sits on the Central Oregon Health Council and is looking at ways to improve the backlog of 8,000 surgeries by coordinating between St. Charles and the community outpatient surgery centers.

In a recent Rotary debate in Redmond, Commissioner Adair’s opponent Morgan Schmidt actually faulted the commissioner for failing to raise property taxes by $2 million dollars and then gave an analogy of a homeowner failing to improve upon the value of his property. Someone appropriately pointed out that Morgan wasn’t spending her own money, that she was spending taxpayers’ money. She then responded that some of that money was hers. Schmidt just doesn’t get it! She is spending other peoples’ money, folks on a fixed income during the worst inflation in 40 years on her “pet projects.” Schmidt is confused about raising money for a charitable church project and spending hard earned taxpayer dollars on ever increasing public projects. She further went on to say that she didn’t have to have a CPA background because the county employs many CPAs. She fails to recognize the incredible value that Adair brings to the position by effectively managing a multimillion budget and saving taxpayers millions of dollars of their funds. Ms. Schmidt has never met a dollar that she would not gladly spend. Citizens should be concerned about Ms. Schmidt’s activist association with Central Oregon Peacekeepers and her need for a bullhorn and gas mask. She was active in preventing police action against people convicted of harassment and assault. (The Source Aug. 14, 2020).

Commissioner Adair has a demonstrated history listening to her constituents and advocating for them. She has been extremely accessible and responsive to their needs. I hope you will join me and many others in recognizing that she represents Central Oregon common sense values and Vote Patti Adair for county commissioner!

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