Challenging Republican incumbent Colleen Roberts, Tibbetts focuses on affordable housing, disaster resilience and transparency
By Steve Mitchell, Ashland.news
A Phoenix Democrat kicked off her campaign Sunday, Feb. 15, for the Jackson County Board of Commissioners position held by Republican Colleen Roberts.
Isabella Lee Tibbetts, who so far is the lone Democrat running for a seat on the county Board of Commissioners, officially launched her campaign at the Phoenix Civic Center with roughly 100 supporters in attendance.
Tibbetts, 34, a development associate with Southern Oregon Climate Action Now, told the audience that she is a millennial mother and a woman of color who was raised in the Rogue Valley, and that she is making a bid for county office on the message that local government must look more like the people it serves and act more decisively on housing, disaster preparedness, and transparency.
She was introduced by David Sours, chair of the Jackson County Democratic Party, who told the audience that he was speaking at the campaign kickoff in a personal capacity, and not issuing an official party endorsement.
Nonetheless, he told supporters that he first met Tibbetts in 2018 at the Talent Harvest Festival. He said she was “joyful, purposeful, completely present.”
Over the years, Sours said he has gotten to know Tibbetts and that she brings a “lived experience” shaped by her birth in Pelielo, Ecuador, from where she was later adopted and raised by her parents in Jackson County, which gives her a “deep understanding of what home truly is.”
Describing Tibbetts as the “conscience in the room,” asking who in the community isn’t at the table and who will be affected by the decisions that are made, Sours said she has put in the time to understand what it takes to be a county commissioner.
Tibbetts, who earned an associate of arts degree from Eastern Gateway Community College, sits on the Jackson County Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Advisory Committee. She is also the president of the Rogue Climate Board of Directors and, for the last eight years, has been the vice chair of the Jackson County Democratic Party.
Introducing herself as a young woman of color and a mother raised in the Rogue Valley, she said her candidacy is about giving voice to people whose experiences and concerns are unfamiliar to current elected officials. In particular, she said, those elected officials are out of touch with people of color, the working class, and young families.
For her part, those in local elected positions don’t look like her, Tibbetts said. That, she said, is a “real disservice,” because there are communities in the county that are hurting.
“They will continue to hurt,” Tibbetts said. “Especially as we see more cuts coming from the federal level.”
‘Progress over politics, results over rhetoric’
During an interview with Ashland.news, Tibbetts said that her campaign slogan — “Progress Over Politics, Results Over Rhetoric” — is not just a tagline, it’s about focusing less on partisan identity and more on shared needs.
These days, she said, people are so divided, and county government needs elected officials who can bring people to the table. As someone who grew up in Phoenix but now lives in White City with her husband and two children, she understands that rural issues differ from those in the city.
Issues such as food security, health care and housing should not be used as partisan wedges, according to Tibbetts.
“Regardless of Democrat, Republican, Independent, Green Party, we can all agree that we all want food on our table,” she said. “We all want access to not stupid, expensive health care, but quality health care. We all want a roof over our heads. They’re not political issues. They’re personal issues that matter to everybody.”
Affordable housing
One of Tibbetts’ campaign priorities is affordable housing. At the heart of her platform is a push to rewrite county zoning ordinances. She said landowners in the area are stuck with property that cannot be developed under current county zoning laws.
She said she has researched zoning ordinances for the past year and has been reading the county budget to identify areas for improvement. Tibbetts said county officials have to review ordinances and connect with landowners to build more affordable housing, secondary family dwellings, or accessory dwelling units (ADUs).
Several people who lost homes in the Almeda Fire have been unable to return to the area because of a lack of housing in the county.
“The fact that they’re still not back is absolutely a failure on our current elected officials,” she said.
Countywide resiliency network
Beyond housing, Tibbetts said she wants to see the county create a countywide resiliency network to prepare people for future disasters such as fire, flood, and drought.
“It’s not going to be a matter of if, but when we have our next emergency,” she said.
She said she wants to work with cities around the county to distribute emergency information and establish local communication hubs to share information quickly when a natural disaster hits.
She said the devastation of the Almeda Fire was worsened by a lack of coordination and communication in the county.
“If we’re going to survive the next catastrophe, we have to have those in place,” she said.
Transparency and inclusion in county government
As she has gone around the county talking to people in different communities, Tibbetts said nobody knew the names of the county commissioners or what they did.
“They’re like, ‘No, we don’t know who they are. We don’t see them. They’re not vocal,” she said.
Tibbetts said those conversations with communities that were unaware of their elected leaders in county government are indicative of limited outreach and poor representation on the county commission’s part, particularly to Hispanic and other historically underrepresented groups. Those groups, she said, are nonetheless “taxpaying residents.”
The county needs leaders who are present, vocal, and accountable and who seek input from both city and rural areas, she said.
Inspiring the next generation
Tibbetts said that at the heart of her campaign is giving local government back its voice to the people. Especially those who have historically never been heard or seen.
“If I can be the person who shows the next little Hispanic girl that she can run for office and win, I will have done my job,” she said.
Her goal, she said, is to both uplift her generation and the next, and to honor and recognize those who have come before.
Email Ashland.news associate editor Steve Mitchell at stevem@ashland.news.
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