Prozanski a good choice.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Floyd Prozanski will give up a safe seat in the state House of Representatives in favor of a less secure seat in the Senate. If he chooses to continue his legislative career, he'll still have to run next year and again two years after that. In selecting Prozanski to replace former state Sen. Tony Corcoran, Lane and Douglas county commissioners chose well - but Prozanski must be hoping that their vote on Monday is a good barometer of his new constituents' leanings.

Corcoran created the vacancy by accepting an appointment to the state Employment Appeals Board. By law, the appointed replacement had to be of the same party as Corcoran, a Democrat. Prozanski served in the Oregon House from 1995 until 2001, then was forced out by term limits. After the courts threw out the term limits law, Prozanski won his House District 8 seat, which encompasses southwestern Eugene and the Fern Ridge area.

Prozanski, a moderate-to-liberal prosecutor, was a comfortable fit for his moderate-to-liberal House district. His new Senate district, however, also encompasses House District 7, which is decidedly more conservative. The district covers Cottage Grove, eastern Lane County and northern Douglas County.

For the past eight years, voters in District 7 have elected Republican Jeff Kruse, one of the most conservative members of the House. District 7 residents now will be represented by a political odd couple - Kruse in the House, Prozanski in the Senate. Corcoran successfully straddled his district's ideological divide by projecting a populist, blue-collar image and by making Cottage Grove his political base. It might be a tougher assignment for a Eugene lawyer.

Yet if Prozanski succeeds in holding his Senate seat, he'll find himself in more congenial company as a senator than as a representative. That's one reason he applied for the vacancy. Republicans dominate the House, freezing Democrats out of committee chairmanships and other positions of influence. The Senate is evenly divided between the parties, giving Prozanski a better chance to exercise his abilities.

Prozanski was one of three candidates nominated for the Senate position by Democratic leaders in the two counties. The others were Shirley Cairns of Oakland and Donald Nordin of Cottage Grove. Using a weighted voting system based on population, each Lane County commissioner's vote was worth 9.4 points, and each Douglas County commissioner's vote was accorded 6 points. Four Lane commissioners backed Prozanski, giving him 37.6 points, while Lane Commissioner Anna Morrison joined with three Douglas County commissioners to back Cairns, giving her 27.4 points.

Now someone must be appointed to fill Prozanski's House seat. That appointee, too, must be a Democrat, so the Lane County Democratic Party - all of Prozanski's House district is within Lane County - will present nominees to the county commissioners, who will then choose a successor.

By moving to the 30-member Senate from the 60-member House, Prozanski's political role will be enlarged. But he won't get to enjoy a primary benefit of Senate membership - four-year terms, rather than the two-year terms served by House members - for a long time. To remain in the Senate he must run for election next year, and again in 2006, when Corcoran's term would have expired. Given this disadvantage and the political risk that comes with it, it's commendable that Prozanski stepped forward. He'll serve his constituents well, in all their political variety.