Jim Doherty is running for reelection in Morrow County, and has a record that we can look at.

Jim has been a consistent opponent of development. He has opposed and voted against development in the north end of the county and opposes developing a Rural Residential Zone for more housing in the south end. He instructed the county planner to research and find out if the county could legally stop the electric co-op from delivering electricity across a county road, after the ground had been bought and the building permits had been issued, because he did not like the development or developer.

When Justice of the Peace Ann Spicer retired mid-term, there were four applicants to fill the position. The appointment was made by Governor Brown. When the appointment didn’t go to Jim’s wife, who was one of the applicants, he went to County Clerk Bobbi Childers on more than one occasion and demanded that she find a way to invalidate the governor’s choice. He was heard saying on several occasions that the governor’s choice would never survive his term as a commissioner.

Jim has taken numerous trips out of state to Nashville, Tennessee, Sun Valley, Idaho, Las Vegas, Alaska and Washington, D.C., and never given an explanation of how it benefits Morrow County. When asked to do so in commissioner reports, he always states that in the interest of time he will make a complete report later — and later has not come yet.

In a recent editorial in the Heppner Gazette-Times, written by Jim Doherty, he insinuated that Commissioners Don Russell and Melissa Lindsay must be prejudiced because they didn’t agree with him.

On Wednesday, April 1, after a commission workshop on renewal of the Enterprise Zone with the city of Boardman and Port of Morrow, Commissioner Jim Doherty put on quite a show. When leaving the courthouse in Heppner, he caught Port Commissioner Jerry Healy and Enterprise Zone Manager Greg Sweek on the sidewalk in front of the post office. He did an aggressive U-turn on Main Street and stood on the running board of his truck screaming and swearing at the both of them at the top of his lungs. He ended the conversation swearing that he would never do another deal with the city of Boardman, and stating that he was headed back to Boardman to get City Manager Karen Pettigrew’s job.

I voted for Jim four years ago, and won’t make that mistake again this time. No one deserves to be treated the way he has treated people with a different view. I’m not sure who he thinks that he represents, but it certainly isn’t me.

John Wenholz

Irrigon

The East Oregonian will not run candidate endorsement letters of more than 400 words.

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Please submit your endorsement letters to the editor by noon Wednesday, April 22. You can email them to editor@eastoregonian.com, or mail them to East Oregonian, c/o Andrew Cutler, 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton, 97801.

We will publish our last letters on Saturday, April 25. Any letters received after the deadline will not run. Election Day is May 19.