To the editor:
Lincoln County voters should reject the Claire Hall recall power-grab.
Commissioner Claire Hall’s experience and deep insight into Lincoln County issues have been an invaluable resource for our area’s government and would be sorely missed if the MAGA-led recall effort mounted by right-wing activists were to succeed.
Hall’s skills in budgeting, her dedication to mitigating the problems facing our county’s unhoused population, her critical support for environmental protections and her enormous efforts in sustaining and expanding childhood education programs have been especially notable.
She has provided leadership and sought solutions in many other areas, acquiring an understanding of the many nuances of our county’s issues. Given the relative inexperience of the other commission members, that expertise would be impossible to replace.
Claire Hall’s leadership skills and institutional knowledge is especially crucial as every local Oregon government prepares to manage budget shortfalls created by the Trump administration’s withholding of funds and other arbitrary measures undertaken by a federal government that is openly hostile to our state.
The rationale for the Claire Hall recall is so flimsy that few who support it are capable of explaining its reasoning. Voters should not be fooled — the real reason for this recall is purely ideological. The Claire Hall recall effort is a right-wing power grab, pure and simple.
Soon, we will all be approached and for our signature in support of this sham political swindle. We should treat it as we would any other attempt at fraud.
— Eliot Sekuler/Gleneden Beach
A tale of two commissioners: The Commissioner Hall that Sekuler and Holland describe is not the Commissioner Hall that I have seen. What I have seen is a commissioner who posts to Facebook continuously while she is supposed to be conducting county business. One who reads novels on her phone while attending management meetings. Someone who spent $65,000 to investigate Commissioner Miller, only to have him found not guilty of bullying. Hall supports the continued exclusion of Miller from his office and management meetings despite there being no legal basis for that. Hall oversaw a budget that somehow lost $3 million last year and has no explanation for where the money went. Hall allows David Collier and Kristin Yuille to continually interfere with the district attorney, including firing DA employees without consulting her. A person with this record of bad judgement should not be making decisions for the residents of Lincoln County.
I agree that it would be a big mistake to recall Commissioner Hall. Those recalling her have no real truths to stand on. Commissioner Hall is an experienced public official whose biggest mistake has been caring too much. Still, she has remained steadfast in her efforts to propel our county forward since 2020 and in the midst of Commissioner Miller’s indiscretions.
Commissioner Hall’s biggest critics are a few who just have decades old vendettas as a result of earlier times, disagreements, and endorsements (but they won’t tell you that).