Small-business owners can make fine candidates for office. My wife and I owned and operated a bakery and so are biased in their favor. However, many small-business owners see their interests as coupled to those of large business owners and CEOs, a significant concern. They often meet at the Chamber of Commerce.

As Lookout Eugene-Springfield recently reported, John Barofsky “received thousands of dollars in campaign donations from notable local businessmen, like developers Dan Neal and Brian Obie, executive Randy Papé and timberlands owner Dan Giustina, as well as the PAC launched by the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, which he led for two years as president.” (That PAC has also supported county commissioners Ryan Ceniga and David Loveall.)

As Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway tell us in “The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market,” in the early 1970s, the Chamber of Commerce worked to undermine antipollution statutes, and weaken workplace safety, and in the late 1970s established the Chamber Litigation Center to fight against action on climate change and other issues.

A chamber legal brief in favor was cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, and the court has increasingly decided cases the way chamber briefs suggest.

Jennifer Smith, on the other hand, has centered her candidacy on working families. At last month’s Lookout City Council candidate forum, she was personable and knowledgeable, and she has an impressive background and pertinent experience. (We are lucky to have so many capable people running for Eugene City Council positions.) At present, our society doesn’t need more corporate representatives; we need more responsible promoters of affordability and human rights like Smith.

Mike Clark is a more impressive candidate than Barofsky, but the same arguments hold. When the candidates were asked how they would balance the input of their constituents, city staff and volunteers and their own views, only Athena Aguiar unequivocally answered: constituents. Jasmine Hatmaker, while more collaborative than Clark, did not present herself as clearly or well.

Alan Cohen
Eugene