Break board deadlock.

Byline: The Register-Guard

No one on the Lane County Board of Commissioners was going to get his or her first choice when it came time to fill the vacancy created by Tom Lininger's resignation from the East Lane position. Sure enough, when the four remaining board members voted on Wednesday, each supported his or her favorite, and the result was a deadlock.

Such a result serves the county poorly, and is a double disservice to the 65,000 residents of the East Lane district.

The board had winnowed a field of 22 applicants to seven, all of whom have strong qualifications. The political dynamics of the board, however, make a final selection difficult. The board's political balance is at stake. A conservative appointee would add a third member to the loose alliance consisting of Bobby Green and Anna Morrison. A liberal appointee would give Peter Sorenson and Bill Dwyer a majority.

On Wednesday, Dwyer and Sorenson backed Martha Roberts, a Creswell lawyer who was the only finalist to describe herself as a "progressive." Morrison voted for Gordon Howard of Pleasant Hill, a property manager who has firmly established his conservative credentials through long service on the Lane County Planning Commission. Green supported Cottage Grove Mayor Gary Williams, and Morrison indicated a willingness to switch her backing to him.

And there the board stopped. No applicant could garner the three votes necessary to win the appointment, much less the four that would communicate a desirable message of support and unity.

The board needs to find a way to break this logjam. Without an appointment, the East Lane seat will remain vacant until after the May primary election - or perhaps even until the general election in November of 2004.

That's too long for a fifth of the county's population to go without a voice on the board. Lane County is the main local government serving most people in the primarily rural East Lane district, and they'd have cause to grumble about taxation without representation.

What's more, unless the board adds a fifth member, Wednesday's nondecision won't be the last. The board's inability to make an appointment reflects an underlying split on many county issues, most notably land-use matters. Without a tie-breaking fifth vote, the board is in danger of being paralyzed.

There is a way out of the cul-de-sac. Each board member must give up the idea that the appointment process can end in a political victory. The route to success is through a compromise in which board members turn to their second or third choice - a candidate who would neither frustrate nor advance the agenda of either board faction, but who would be acceptable to all.

Oakridge Mayor Don Hampton would be such a candidate. It's a good sign that he received no votes on Wednesday - the fact that he's not at the top of anyone's list could mean he's not at the bottom of anyone else's. That's the sort of compromise the board needs to ensure representation for the East Lane district, and to ensure that the county's business is not locked in the limbo of a 2-2 tie.