Dear Editor:
This in response to a letter calling some of the commissioners, one issue candidates. My response is the true one-trick pony in the Lane County commissioner race is incumbent Heather Buch. Her single, well-practiced trick is collecting more taxes and fees to pay for the things she wants to spend our money on.
She backed dozens of new regulations and layers of red tape that make it harder and more expensive for ordinary homeowners to upgrade their own homes. Meanwhile, she is financially supported by a land-use activist who has repeatedly sued homeowners to block their property rights.
Buch also voted to hand a private company a guaranteed $230 million in taxpayer dollars — even though the company’s owner had donated thousands to her campaign. She also supported the largest tax increase in Oregon history: a 37.5% hike in the gas tax, a doubling of the payroll tax, and the creation of 40 additional taxes and fees.
Despite already earning $140,000 in total compensation, Heather Buch voted to give herself a nearly 30% pay raise because she thought she was doing such a good job after raising taxes and fees.
This is not public service; it is a pattern. Buch’s solution to every problem is to reach deeper into our pockets. Lane County taxpayers deserve commissioners who prioritize results over revenue. It is time to retire the one-trick pony.
Fred Yates, Cottage Grove
