Essential Estrogen

An ongoing Linn County war of words has taken a step into the realm of action as Auditor Joel Miller, a Democrat, has requested Supervisor Linda Langston, also a Democrat and chairwoman of the board, to recuse herself from upcoming hearings.

In a letter dated March 29, Miller wrote that Langston should recuse herself from any hearing being convened in relation to Lyle K. Hanson's affidavit of candidacy. Hanson, another Democrat, has filed to oppose Miller in the June 3 primary. Miller also requested that no member of the current Board of Supervisors, all three Democrats, serve on the hearing panel.

"I just don't think it would be proper for them to serve," Miller said in a telephone interview Monday morning. "I believe they are prejudice, and the reasons I believe so are fully outlined in the letter."

Miller lists seven reasons in his letter why the supervisors -- Langston, Lu Barron and James Houser -- should not be on the panel. Those reasons include the "persistent rumor" that either Langston or other members were involved in recruiting Hanson to run against Miller in the upcoming Democratic primary. Miller provides an example of Hanson attending a large civic club function as the guest of either Langston or Barron as evidence of their contact with Hanson prior to him filing his candidacy papers.

Miller also objects to the trio serving on the panel because, he said, all three supervisors signed Hanson's nomination petition.

"Prior to you and Supervisor Barron signing Mr. Hanson's nomination papers on March 17, 2008, Mr. Hanson had gathered only 15 signatures," Miller wrote. "Conversely, I could not find any [Board of Supervisors' signatures] on my nomination papers."

Both Langston and Barron recently had to re-file the nomination papers due to errors. Miller says that Langston "took immediate ownership of the defect" in her filing, but that Barron "immediately laid blame" on the Auditor's Office for the error on her papers. John Erceg, Republican candidate for supervisor in district two, pointed out that Barron's signature sheets had no primary dates on them, and that Langston's date read 2007. The omissions and errors left both Langston and Barron scrambling to garner 100 signatures on the final day of the filing period.

"Based upon your recent experience with defective paperwork, if you and/or another member of the [Board of Supervisors] played any part in recruiting or promoting Mr. Hanson, I believe you will be sympathetic to him when rendering a decision at the objection hearing," Miller concluded.

The hearing panel is scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon. Members of the existing panel are Langston, County Attorney Harold Denton and County Treasurer Michael Stevenson. Law requires that three elected county officials serve on the panel. If all three supervisors do not serve, the third slot could be filled by Sheriff Don Zeller or Recorder Joan McCalmant. Although Miller would also be eligible to serve, it is doubtful he would, given that the objections in question pertain to his primary opponent.

The letter requesting Langston recuse herself is the latest in a year-long string of barbs between the Democratic county officials. The battles have been spawned, at least in part, in relation to the voter-approved increase of the Board of Supervisors from three to five members. The process, pushed and promoted primarily by Republicans, has been fraught with high emotions -- many times leaving otherwise like-minded county officials on opposite ends of disagreements. From the re-districting to determining the electorate of each district to, most recently, county official compensation, residents have watched both the drama unfold and the gap widen.