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JUSTICE SYSTEM EXPLORATORY COMMITTEE
Justice System & Public Safety Services Study Design: 2015

 

Letters

The Justice System & Public Safety Services Problem/Issue:  January 1 - November 7, 2015

 

Draft April 22, 2016

Outline

   

    INTRODUCTION

 

I.  LETTERS TO EXPLORATORY COMMITTEE

 

2. LETTERS-TO-THE-EDITOR

 

INTRODUCTION

 

After four failed public safety levies and one sales tax, in as many years, the public could be excused if it feels exhausted.  What does the public really think about public safety?

 

Proposed Public Safety Levies/Sales Tax.   The 2012 expiration of federal SRS payments to Josephine County (JO CO) Oregon, used mostly for public safety services, resulted in four JO CO county tax levies and one City of Grants Pass, Oregon sales tax as solutions. They all failed.

1. May 15, 2012 JO CO-wide Primary Election Measure 17 - 43, Criminal Justice System Operations Four Year Local Option Tax (i.e., $1.99 per $1,000 of assessed value), failed 57 - 43 percent, Voter Turnout - Total 52.59%; 25,405 votes for Measure 17 - 43/ 49,561 registered voters = 51%.

2. May 21, 2013 JO CO-wide Special Election Measure 17 - 49, Criminal Justice and Public Safety Three Year Local Option Tax (i.e., $1.48 per $1,000 of assessed value), failed 51 - 49 percent, Voter Turnout - Total 51.97%; 26,331 votes for Measure 17 - 49/ 50,944 registered voters = 52%.

3. May 20, 2014 JO CO-wide Primary Election Measure 17 - 59, Criminal Justice and Public Safety Three Year Local Option Tax (i.e., $1.19 per $1,000 of assessed value), failed 53 - 48 percent, Voter Turnout - Total 56.51%; 27,991 votes for Measure 17 - 59/ 50,655 registered voters = 55%.

4. May 19, 2015 JO CO-wide Special Election Measure 17-66, For Patrol, Jail, Shelter of Abused Youth; Five Year Levy (i.e., $1.40 per $1,000 of assessed value), failed 54 - 46 Percent, Voter Turnout - Total 50.65%; 25,824 votes for Measure 17 - 59/ 51,143 registered voters = 51%.

5. November 3, 2015 Grants Pass City-wide Special Election Measure 17-67 2 Percent Sales Tax for City Public Safety and Criminal Justice Services, failed 78 - 22 Percent -

I.  LETTERS TO EXPLORATORY COMMITTEE

2. LETTERS-TO-THE-EDITOR

A simple overview analysis is that the number of LTTE for the years, 2012, 2013, and 2014 are remarkably similar being over 160 LTTE, and within 5 LTTE of each other.

 

At 336 LTTE, the year 2015 had twice as many LTTE as the other years, but also had two tax measures on the ballot that year.  Divide 336 LTTE by two ballot measures and you get 168 (336/2 - 168), so close to the other years as to be almost uncanny.  Using this simple approach finds all 4 years and 5 sets of LTTE addressing 5 ballots having the same remarkably similarity of being within 5 LTTE of each other.

 

November 22, 2015 JS&PSS "Press Release 2015-1" After four failed public safety levies and one sales tax, in as many years, the public could be excused if it feels exhausted.  What does the public really think about public safety?

 

On November 7, 2015 Nathan Davis, a 2^nd year graduate student at Oregon State University (OSU), formally settled on tiering his Master's of Public Policy (MPP) Essay research paper to the Josephine County (JO CO) Justice System & Public Safety Services (JS&PSS) public safety issue.  Nathan is in the OSU School of Public Policy which is part of the OSU Rural Studies Program (RSP).

 

Davis stated, "The importance of government hearing citizen voices is what attracted me to policy research and, inevitably, to this project in Josephine County." He grew up in a rural Illinois county in which citizens often felt overlooked by government.  During Davis’ undergraduate studies and through his work with various policy institutions, he learned the importance of research in governmental action.  At OSU he expanded his knowledge of policy research and the role it can play in making government action more effective and more democratic. "This project not only affords me the chance to utilize this knowledge, but it also allows me to help create solutions for a practical policy problem," said Davis.  His hope is that through this project, citizen values will be revealed, enabling JO CO to make more democratic decisions.

 

OSU is Oregon’s land grant university, and it has focused on rural issues since 1868 through its academic programs, agricultural experiment stations, and extension service offices.  In 2001, OSU created the RSP to serve the needs of rural people and places.  Brent S. Steel, Director and Professor, Public Policy Graduate Program, School of Public Policy commented that, "The RSP program is multi-disciplinary, teaches classes, conducts research, and provides extended education with faculty from many colleges at OSU. It is housed within the Department of Applied Economics."

 

What is the public safety issue?  The issue is defined in many ways by the public and is directly related to the reduction of federal payments to JO CO since the 2000 Secure Rural Schools (SRS) and Community Self-Determination Act, especially after 2012.

 

The JS&PSS Exploratory Committee (Committee) was established by the Hugo Neighborhood Association & Historical Society in 2013 to research the public safety issue.  The Committee asked the question, "What can we do to shed some light on the issues?"  Two of its members, Mike Walker and Jon Whalen, decided to document "listening" which wouldn’t be scientific in the sense of random sampling and targeted populations; it was just listening to fellow citizens.  This strategy fit with one of their Committee’s core beliefs, "All Citizens, Voters, Votes, And Values, Are Legitimate, Pro & Con."  Their idea evolved and took the form of a "white paper" with the general purpose of informing readers, including the Committee’s philosophy on the matter.  The paper is entitled, Justice System & Public Safety Services Study Design: 2015 (Study Design) with the specific purpose of assisting readers to understand our public safety issue.  Whalen feels that the first step is to understand and define the problem/issue. He commented, You can’t find solutions that last if you don’t know the specific problems.

 

Why support Study Design?  Walker stated, "In a nut shell it proposes a future Study which will be based on formal vetted inventories and an impact methodology model which promotes informed decision-making through a unique decision process, where the citizens identify the problems and potential solutions, and are the decision-makers,"  This definition of citizens is much narrower than the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission with its ruling that corporations are persons. Study Design’s definition of the public does not include corporations and major non-local special interests, nor agencies, the government, or the media (e.g., reporter articles and editorial opinions in The Grants Pass Daily Courier (TGPDC), endorsements of the TGPDC Editorial Board, etc.).   It does include news articles where the citizens’ opinions are quoted.   The idea is a Study focused on people, per "We the People" by whom and for whom our Constitution was established." ~ Supreme Court Justice Stevens, January 2010.

 

The Study Design approach relies on "people" citizens to provide insight about how to identify and manage problems, and formulate their own goals and solutions for the future (e.g., voting, writing letters to the editor and guest opinions in the TGPDC, writing arguments in voters’ pamphlets, etc.).  Whalen emphasized, "The importance to citizens of knowing they are being heard, of being the decision-makers that decide their future, is critical." For example, the Study’s alternatives that will be analyzed are the range of potential solutions the public, as a group, identified.

 

The focus on citizens as the decision-makers will be the core of Nathan’s MPP paper, which is recording and analyzing the public’s opinions, pro and con, across their range of values, through a "Content Analysis" research method.  Bruce Weber, Director, Rural Studies Program, Oregon State University, concluded, "The Rural Studies Program seeks to engage students and faculty at OSU in addressing problems and issues important to rural Oregonians. It is really good to see Nathan involved in this project. The resolution of this issue is critical to the well-being of the entire state."

 

The following contacts can be reached as identified.

 

1. Nathan Davis, 309-657-8876 or davisnat@oregonstate.edu.

2. Jon Whalen, 541-476-1595 or bear46@charter.net.

3. Mike Walker, 541-471-8271 or hugo@jeffnet.org.

4. Brent S. Steel, OSU, 541-737-6133 or bsteel@oregonstate.edu.

5. Bruce Weber, OSU, 541-737-1442 or rsp@oregonstate.edu.