With a handful of people in the race for Position 3 on the Deschutes County Board of County Commissioners, chances are we’ll see a rematch between some of these candidates during the November go-round. That might be a good thing, because we admit that this race involves some tough choices. Amy Sabbadini is a beloved local teacher and civics instructor who’s also worked in county government. Lauren Connally has a breadth of experience as a nonprofit leader and veteran, who brings lived experience from living on the margins of our housing continuum. Samuel Facey understands the experiences of rural business owners. Amanda Page, an enrolled tribal member, is a flight paramedic who’s running after several years on the Redmond School Board – certainly a place for people with varying opinions to learn to find common ground. And boy, does this county commission need some skills in finding that.
Connally has a wide range of skills and experience, but she joined this race late and is still building support. Sabbadini and Page both have a deep bench of small, grassroots donations that speak to their broader support in the community.
Each candidate we spoke to seemed to understand the biggest issues the County is facing: affordability and providing basic human services. Among these candidates, Voters will find lots to admire about either Sabbadini, Connally or Page. But in speaking with each of them, we found Page to be the most prepared, with some of the most well-articulated ideas of how she would lead in the new iteration of the Board of County Commissioners. We found her the most decisive of the candidates on some of the issues, including how to find some measure of accountability for a sheriff’s office that’s long gone off the rails. Considering that some of the lingering issues the County is tackling seem to stem from a measure of wishy-washiness (currently, when and how to run a managed camp among them) we think that decisiveness is needed. For this May primary, our support in this race goes to Page.
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