West Lane: Fleenor.

Byline: The Register-Guard

No one works harder than Anna Morrison, who has represented the West Lane district on the county Board of Commissioners for the past eight years. The trouble is, sometimes her hard work is directed to the wrong purposes. Voters in the district should take a chance on new leadership, and elect challenger William Fleenor to the board.

Fleenor has had to work to overcome skepticism about his candidacy. He ran against Morrison four years ago and finished a distant third. In that campaign Fleenor came across as unprepared, and responded poorly to anyone who pointed that out. To earn the voters' trust this time around Fleenor needed to study county government, run a credible campaign, talk to thousands of people and demonstrate a capacity for learning.

He has done all that. Fleenor now presents himself as a moderate, pragmatic alternative to the sometimes doctrinaire Morrison. At the same time, he has an enthusiasm for innovation in government. Fleenor is in some ways an unconventional candidate, but the county might benefit from some unconventional thinking.

Fleenor, 56, has a doctorate in animal physiology, but spent most of his working life running a family paper business in California. He sold the company to his employees eight years ago and moved with his wife to Mapleton and, except for assorted consulting and business ventures, is retired. He has served five years on the board of the Central Lincoln Public Utility District, where he has been a productive member and a persistent questioner.

Morrison's worst deficiency, according to Fleenor and others, is that she has lost touch with voters in the West Lane district. It's hard to fault her, as some do, for spending less time in Florence and establishing a part-time residence in Junction City, given her many late-night and early-morning obligations in Eugene. But there's other evidence that Morrison has drifted apart from her constituents, such as her lack of leadership on the proposed sale of 80 acres of dunes across from Old Town in Florence.

Morrison's priorities are also open to question. The Oregon League of Conservation Voters gave Morrison a rating of zero percent in 2004-05. The West Lane district is no hotbed of green politics, but the importance of the environment to the area's economy and quality of life would lead most people to cast an occasional vote favoring preservation over development. Other commissioners on the conservative side of the board's divide - Bobby Green and Faye Stewart - received ratings of 25 percent. Fleenor says his rating would probably be in the 30 percent to 40 percent range.

The problem of Morrison's priorities extends to the county budget. In preparing this year's county budget, in 2005 board members went through a planning exercise in which they were asked to reduce spending by 9 percent. Four of the commissioners distributed the cuts across most or all departments. Morrison singled out specific programs for elimination - including the Lane County Extension Service, the Women, Infants and Children program, the Victim Services program and more than a dozen others. They tended to be programs that help the neediest or serve the most, and many bring in matching funds from the state or federal government.

Morrison's greatest contribution is her dogged work to win federal renewal of the Secure Rural Schools program, which supplies $50 million to Lane County in lieu of a share of revenue from timber harvests. Morrison is a vocal and effective advocate for the program, and she has formed close connections to the members of the Bush administration best positioned to renew it. But federal support for timbered counties is in trouble if the program's continued existence depends on a single county commissioner. The program is a federal obligation, not a personal favor, and others can effectively advocate for the counties' interests.

After eight years, Morrison has had a chance to make her mark on county government. West Lane voters have an opportunity to make a change by supporting William Fleenor.