As President Donald Trump and his loyalists use grift, greed and misleading “alternative facts” to turn our public services into a privatized pay-for-play machine, let’s not take our eyes off our own backyard. This same playbook is being used by some Lane County commissioners.

Local timber industry heir Kathleen Jones-McCann illegally built a house, garage, retaining wall and other structures along protected McKenzie riverfront. Several experienced land-use professionals denied her request to retroactively award her permits and change established land-use law — citing setback rules, fish habitat and flood risk.

Then the money moved.

Jones-McCann gave nearly $50,000 to commissioner Ryan Ceniga and more than $40,000 to commissioner David Loveall, when both were on the ballot. Both then voted to override their own staff and a hearings official’s advice and approved her illegal structures anyway.

Commissioner Heather Buch voted no.

But the biggest beneficiary has been Jake Pelroy, receiving about $57,000 from Jones-McCann. Pelroy is on this November’s ballot, trying to unseat Buch. Just like Trump-era Washington, the rich don’t just buy today’s vote, they invest in tomorrow’s.

From gravel mining, to old growth logging, to unpermitted developments in our forests, the list of Pelroy’s financial backers is a who’s who of Lane County extraction industry magnates, with a handful of MAGA-style Republicans thrown in for good measure.

You do not need a courtroom to fix this. You need a ballot. Tired of watching the rules bend for whoever writes the biggest check? Vote for Heather Buch.

Jenny Stern Carusone
Veneta