Marion County Commissioner Kevin Cameron faces strong challenge from Shelaswau Crier

Kevin Cameron and Shelaswau Crier each have challenges in their race for Marion County Commissioner Seat No. 1.

Cameron, the Republican incumbent from Detroit, has been outspent by Crier by a 3 to 1 margin.

Crier, a Democrat educational consultant from Salem, is a first-time candidate who had little name recognition outside of the legal community in Salem before running for office.

More:Marion County incumbent commissioner Cameron leads in primary

“Even before this, I had friends who said, ‘If you think you should run for office at some point, let me know when you decide to run. I will be there,’” she said.

County commissioners are elected to four-year terms at annual salaries of $94,244.

Before being appointed to the Oregon House of Representatives in 2005, Cameron had never held an elected office.  

“It was six weeks into session,” Cameron said. “It was like drinking water out of a fire hydrant.”

He won the election to the District 19 seat in 2006 and was re-elected in 2008, 2010 and 2012 before resigning in 2014 and was appointed to fill the commissioner seat vacated by Patti Milne. He won election that same year. 

Crier has never held, nor ran for, public office.

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To take on an established and well-known incumbent is a challenge.

Crier said commissioner Janet Carlson's decision to not seek re-election factored into her candidacy.

“Marion County is a diverse county, and our county board of Commissioners is not reflective of that,” she said. “Our only woman on the board of Commissioners is stepping down, and that’s part of the reason why I ran."

Cameron points to his background and experience as a business owner and a public official.

“That goes back to my hospitality restaurant experience,” Cameron said. “I walk into a restaurant and ask the manager how things are going and he’ll say everything’s great. Then I talk to the dishwasher and the dishwasher will say we don’t have this, we don’t have that.

“I feel as a leader, I want to be out there with people. I’ve done ridealongs in the snow plow, on the chip sealer machine. I’m saying, 'Are you getting the tools you need, are you getting the things you need?'"

More:Marion County joins lawsuit on Detroit Dam project

Cameron’s campaign has raised $38,850 as of Sept. 27 and has a balance of $20,349 with his largest single campaign contributions of $5,000 from Mountain West Investment Corp. president Lawrence Tokarski and Freres Lumber.

Crier's campaign has spent a lot of money to get her name out to the more than 200,000 registered voters in the county. 

Crier’s campaign has raised $56,694 and has a cash balance of $4,946, but has outstanding personal expenditures of $67,664 and is operating at a deficit of $62,718.

Her largest cash contribution was $5,000 from Susan Smith, a Willamette University professor. Many of her donors have contributed smaller amounts.

One of the most controversial issues facing the county is the Army Corps of Engineers’ proposal to drain Detroit Lake to correct water temperature and aid fish passage.

It hits home for Cameron, who has owned a house in Detroit since 2012 and recently sold his house in South Salem and moved to Detroit full time.

More:Drawing down the dam in Detroit is a necessity to avoid mess

Cameron said the commissioners were as surprised as everybody else a year ago when the Corps proposed to drain Detroit Lake for three years to 1,310 feet – below the level of the drought of 2013 – to install a water temperature tower and a fish screen.

Both candidates are against the proposal to drain the lake for years.

“It’s our source of drinking water, not just Salem, but the other towns in the county,” Crier said. “Marion County is the largest agricultural producer in the state. That is a big source of irrigation water for our crops. Not to mention the economic impact that it has on the towns in those areas.”

Cameron said Marion County has recently been added to one of the lawsuits involving the Detroit Dam project, the one involving the Northwest Environmental Defense Center, WildEarth Guardians, Native Fish Society and the City of Salem against the U.S. Army Corps.

“This isn’t partisan stuff, this is practical," Cameron said. "How do you bring people together and say, ‘That was a great idea, here’s another idea?’ You mesh those and you figure out a solution. I’m patiently waiting to see what they come up with next.”

Among the main issues, Crier is running on are increasing availability of affordable housing, increasing living wage jobs and improving access to health care.

More:Survey: Salem residents would back increased taxes to address homelessness, other issues

Crier said that while teaching law at Willamette University, she felt isolated in her position, and feel that in the Marion County Commissioner position she could assist others

She said that after the death of her son, Zenavie Crier – who suffered for depression – in 2015, she wanted to do more for the community as a whole.

“So I guess going back to the story of my son, this is a position where I can do a lot of good,” Crier said. “Because the county does public health and provides health services, physical health, mental health, really works on a lot of areas that I care about.”

Cameron’s main issues are creating jobs in Marion County, public safety, supporting Marion County’s farming sectors and being practical with tax dollars.

“Solving problems because that’s what I’ve been doing … the second half of my career,” Cameron said.

“I’ve always been that way, keep the quality up, but be more efficient.”

bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com or Twitter.com/bpoehler

Marion County Commissioner Seat 1

Kevin Cameron

Party: Republican.

Age: 62.

Occupation: Marion County Commissioner, co-founderand CEO of Café Today.

Work experience: Regional Training Manager Denny’s 1980 to 1988, director of Restaurant Operations at VIP’s 1988 to 1994, co-founder and CEO of Café Today 1995 to present, Oregon State Representative 2005 to 2014, Marion County Commissioner 2014 to present.

Political experience: Appointed to the Oregon House of Representatives District 19 in February 2005, elected in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, appointed Marion County Commissioner in 2014, elected Marion County Commissioner in 2014.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in marketing Oregon State in 1980, minor in science.

Residence: Detroit.

Family: Divorced, two daughters, two grandchildren.

Shelaswau Crier

Party: Democrat.

Age: 43.

Occupation: Independent educational consulting and part-time instructor.

Work experience: Middle school math teacher in Houston 2000 to 2001, private practice attorney from 2006 to 2009, taught at Loyola University New Orleans law school 2006 to 2008, taught at Willamette University law school 2009 to 2016, teaches workshops and educational consulting 2017 to present.

Political experience: None.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in math from Rice University in 1999; law degree from Yale in 2006.

Residence: Salem.

Family: Husband, Kolis, five children.