Dave Arrasmith, Randy Sparacino, Logan Leverette Vaughan on GOP ticket; Democrat Denise Krause runs unopposed

By Damian Mann for the Rogue Valley Times

Candidates of varying stripes have stirred up a lively May 21 primary race for the Jackson County commissioner seat now held by Dave Dotterrer.

On the Republican ticket, the candidates are Jackson County Assessor Dave Arrasmith, Medford Mayor Randy Sparacino and Logan Leverette Vaughan, a Republican precinct committee person who was arrested and placed in a mental health facility for three weeks just hours after filing his candidacy papers on March 12.

According to court records, Vaughan faces allegations of stalking, menacing, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct, allegations that Vaughan disputes.

According to the Medford police report of March 12, Mountain Church in Medford locked the building after Vaughan allegedly made statements about Christians needing guns and “the Lord permitting killings,” as well as the need to raise an army.

On the Democrat ticket, Denise Krause is running unopposed after Rebecca Mueller withdrew from the race.

Krause, who has spearheaded a trio of ballot measures to revamp the Board of Commissioners, will face the winner of the Republican primary race in the November election.

The Republicans have various opinions about Krause’s ballot measures, which propose changing the Board of Commissioners to nonpartisan, increasing the number of commissioners from three to five and cutting commissioner salaries to $75,000.

Current commissioners Colleen Roberts and Rick Dyer both could see their salaries increase to $150,009.60 starting July 1.

A new commissioner would start out at an annual salary of $117,562.

Though county officials indicate the salary change could be contested in the courts, all the Republicans candidates said they would be willing to take a $75,000 salary if voters approve it.

“Absolutely,” said Arrasmith, who has been county assessor since 2016. “The current salary range is higher than what would be expected based on comparable counties.”

Sparacino said, “Absolutely — I don’t get paid right now as mayor.”

Vaughan said, “I don’t need the money. I will hand the money to people in need. You cannot buy me. I’ve been bought by the blood of the lamb and the word of his testimony.”

Logan Leverette Vaughan

Vaughan said he has no illusion that the odds are in his favor, predicting the winner will likely be either Sparacino or Krause.

“I’m not a crazy person,” he said. “I don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.”

Vaughan said his arrest and 23-day stay in the Asante Inpatient Behavioral Health Unit came after a stalking complaint from a pastor at a local church, who feared a mass shooting. Vaughan, who thinks the arrest was politically motivated, said he never threatened to shoot anyone, though he referred to a stockpile of ammunition at his home he’s been building since 2008.

“Within three hours of my candidacy, I was in the back seat of a police car,” he said. “They put me in a padded room because they said I didn’t want to take the medication.” He described the medication as an antipsychotic.

Vaughan, who lives in Medford with his family and called himself a businessman and former gun broker, said he began singing “Amazing Grace” while in the health unit.

Despite his time in a mental health facility, Vaughan said a doctor who saw him ultimately concluded he wasn’t crazy after all.

Vaughan said he did have run-ins with the police when he was younger, referring to it as “punk-ass kid stuff,” such as eluding an officer.

Vaughan said the county is failing to remedy the biggest problem facing the community: homelessness.

“The homeless problem is only going to get worse,” he said.

Vaughan said his solution is for the county to lease buses and offer homeless individuals all the alcohol they want if they are willing to take a ride to Salem.

“We ship them out, and we send them to the governor’s house and leave them on her front lawn,” he said. Vaughan said the county might be reluctant to bus the homeless people because of liability issues, but he thinks it could figure a way to do it.

In general, he said he thinks the county is run well.

“I love (county Administrator) Danny Jordan, but he’s paid too much money,” he said.

Dave Arrasmith

Arrasmith said he thought the county is generally on the right track, though he thinks it should make improvements in providing information to the public and being more transparent.

“For what they’re doing right, the county is very lucky to have a highly trained, professional attorney department,” he said. “The county attorney staff keeps the county from doing anything bad. They do the heavy lifting.”

Arrasmith said the attorneys help the various departments follow state statutes and federal law and avoid lawsuits.

He said he doesn’t have an easy solution for a new county jail or a new animal shelter.

“We don’t have the resources available for the added benefits to the community of a new jail and animal shelter,” Arrasmith said.

He said he thinks voters would likely reject any proposals to raise taxes to pay for a jail or the animal shelter.

In 2020, voters rejected a ballot measure to build a larger $170-million jail to replace the existing facility.

As to the ballot measures that would transform the Board of Commissioners, Arrasmith said he doesn’t understand the opposition to making the position nonpartisan.

“None of the other elected positions are partisan, including the sheriff and the assessor,” he said. “It seems so off the wall to have these commissioners partisan.”

Arrasmith supports having a five-member Board of Commissioners, but he would have preferred dividing the county into five districts with a commissioner representing each district.

Jackson County for All initially considered a ballot measure to divide the county up into districts, but it proved difficult to figure out how to equitably create the districts.

As to the cost of adding more commissioners, Arrasmith thought it was a nonissue.

He said the county always seems to have various plans in the works and spends considerable sums to remodel or upgrade county buildings.

He cited the extensive remodel of the Jackson County Courthouse building in 2011 as one example.

“I think they can afford it,” he said.

Randy Sparacino

Sparacino said that as a mayor who sits on a committee with seven other mayors from major cities, including those in the Portland area, he has heard about how they all face budget problems.

“Jackson County is doing a fantastic job handling its financial responsibilities,” he said. “Every one of those cities (has) some level of financial impacts affecting them.”

Sparacino, a former Medford police chief, said the county needs to find solutions to relieve jail overcrowding, which impacts the ability of law enforcement to arrest and prosecute offenders.

As to a new jail, Sparacino said he sits on a committee that has met repeatedly to address the matter.

“We have been looking for a mechanism that is not too financially impactful,” he said. “But it’s likely going to be a heavy lift for the voters.”

Sparacino said the new jail is probably going to be more expensive than the failed 2020 proposal of $170 million, though the committee is continuing to look for ways to cut costs.

Other mechanisms to reduce recidivism and incarceration rates are also being looked at as well, he said.

Sparacino doesn’t support the three commissioner ballot measures, though he points out that his position as mayor is nonpartisan.

He said having a partisan Board of Commissioners provides a sort of litmus test to help voters make their decisions.

“I believe the ballot measures are going to cost the taxpayers of Jackson County,” he said. “Voters don’t want to select something they’re going to regret.”

Denise Krause

Krause said the county financials look good initially, but a deeper analysis reveals many underlying issues.

“We may look good on paper, but we have trouble supporting our basic services such as a county jail or animal services,” she said. “We are basically shifting the liabilities.”

Krause said the county did something similar when it closed libraries in 2007, prompting a grassroots effort that led to a special district that is run independently from the county.

“Any liabilities the county has it essentially peels off and lets the taxpayers take the bite,” she said.

She said the county doesn’t have enough money for these basic services but has no problem paying some of the highest commissioner salaries in the state.

At the same time, the county is looking to appeal to voters to help pay millions of dollars for a new jail and for a new animal shelter.

For 30 years, the county relied on volunteers at the animal shelter, but over the past year county officials alienated those volunteers who helped run the facility, Krause said.

Even when the county talks about a new animal facility or jail, the county doesn’t sufficiently reach out to residents to inform them about possible efforts that could result in higher property tax bills, she said.

“They need to go out and engage the public on the front end,” Krause said. “The county is not even addressing the needs of the whole mental health community and the addiction crises.”

The county, she said, could also do a better job of getting various communities to work together on issues, rather than communities working separately or at odds with each other to resolve regional problems such as homelessness.

“Jackson County has an us-versus-them attitude,” Krause said.

She said she wonders if the current commissioners would have condemned the three ballot measures so vehemently if one of the measures didn’t cut their salaries essentially in half.

She said she’d be willing to take the $75,000 on the first day in office if elected, rather than wait two years when the ballot measure takes full effect.

Reach freelance writer Damian Mann at dmannnews@gmail.com. This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.