Pamplin Media Group – Berschauer to face recall election Renewed efforts to recall Yamhill County Commissioner Lindsay Berschauer came closer to fruition last week when the campaign-leading organization submitted thousands of county petition signatures.

The county clerk determines that Save Yamhill County has collected enough petition signatures to put the question on the ballot in March.

The renewed effort to recall Yamhill County Commissioner Lindsay Berschauer came one step closer to completion last week when the organization leading the campaign submitted thousands of petition signatures to the county.

“Signatures for our new filing were submitted to the county clerk on February 1,” Save Yamhill County campaign manager Erin Gardner said, “two weeks before the February 16 deadline for signatures.”

The organization submitted 7,675 signatures for verification; 6,873 signatures are needed for the recall of the controversial Commissioner from Position 2 to be on the ballot.

County Clerk Brian Van Bergen determined last week that SYC had submitted “enough valid signatures during statistical sampling of signatures of active registered voters in Yamhill County to initiate a recall election,” it said. he said in a press release.

The clerk’s office used a formula dictated by state law.

“This process states that when reviewing a randomly selected set of 10% of submitted signatures, it is likely that a sufficient number of signatures have been collected, we are not required to review every submitted signature. ”

Save Yamhill County, Van Bergen said, has until 5 p.m. Feb. 16 to submit additional petition signatures, but that shouldn’t be necessary.

“There are more than enough valid signatures in the first submission,” he said. “So we wouldn’t need to process the second submission unless someone challenges our original findings.”

Since Berschauer has refused to step down, she will have to submit a show cause statement and the election would be set for March 22.

“A disagreement over public policy does not justify a recall in the minds of voters, as we just saw in Newberg with the failed attempts to recall school board members,” Berschauer said in an email. “Unfortunately, the groups Save Yamhill County, Progressive Yamhill and Yamhill County Democrat have also resorted to unfounded personal attacks in an effort to secure enough signatures for a recall election. I am confident that within the next month the truth will prevail and we will rise above this divisive attack.

“I am touched by the outpouring of support, especially the residents who contacted me to say they did not vote for me in 2020, but they are disgusted by the unnecessary recall attempts and stand by my sides. It is an honor and a privilege to serve Yamhill County.”

Save Yamhill County staged a previous recall effort against Berschauer late last year, but the campaign fell through when it was determined the organization failed to file all the proper paperwork. Canvassers began seeking petition signatures for a second campaign almost immediately, saying it was important for voters to decide Berschauer’s fate.

“We were devastated that our first effort failed, not because of a lack of support from Yamhill County voters, but because otherwise valid signatures were rejected due to a paperwork error,” said said Gardner. “Abandoning the people of Yamhill County was never an option, so the way forward was to work hard and right the wrong.”

She added that the support for SYC and the recall was overwhelming.

“When we announced that we would not give up, over 60 additional Yamhill County volunteers volunteered to help us,” Garnder said. “We saw the same outpouring of support from Yamhill County voters who signed our petition, a quarter of whom were first-time signatories. This allowed us to reach our goal two weeks ahead of our deadline. …”

Signatures for the second time were collected by an all-volunteer team of more than 200 people, including 120 people who volunteered for both iterations of the recall effort. Canvassers began collecting signatures Nov. 19 and continued through Feb. 1, with a two-week holiday break.

The organization’s reasons for trying to oust the first-term commissioner, Gardner said, are many.

“Commissioner Berschauer is wasting our county’s limited resources, she is corrupt and self-serving,” she said. “She drove up the cost of Newberg’s popular urban renewal plan and wasted more than $2.5 million in county revenue by unnecessarily cutting the fees Riverbend Landfill pays the county. She neglected the county’s work and instead exploited her public position to enrich and empower her personal family, friends and donors.She is the sole owner-operator of Leona Consulting, a political consulting firm, but refused to disclose her clients.

Berschauer was elected Commissioner to Position 2 in May 2020 after incumbent Rich Olson opted out of seeking another term. She was sworn in soon after and drew almost immediate criticism for her treatment of county administrative staff, her efforts to stop the county’s development of the Yamhelas Westsider Trail, her opposition to mask and vaccine mandates, and the perception that She was using her position on the commission. to help family members and friends.

“After going door-to-door in every community in Yamhill County and speaking to over 20,000 Yamhill County constituents, we feel privileged to have heard not only people’s frustrations with our current leadership, but also their hopes for common sense, nonpartisan commissioners who prioritize policies to benefit our businesses, our families and all of our citizens,” Gardner said in a previous post. “These principles remain at the heart of our efforts across the campaigns.”

Berschauer is unapologetic about his positions on issues and his behavior on the board.

“When I ran for county commissioner, I was clear about my fiscally conservative views and working-class values,” she said. “An overwhelming majority of Yamhill County voters in the primary chose to cast me in this role. Over the past year, the council has made tough decisions and righted past mistakes, the Yamhelas Westsider Trail being one of them. Former commissioners voted to spend taxpayers money on this trail without having the legal land use authority to do so. They also neglected to tell our taxpayers that the The trail corridor’s future goal is light rail transit. Light rail costs Metro ratepayers over $250 million per mile and it’s a transportation policy I’ve always opposed.”


You rely on us to stay informed and we rely on you to fund our efforts. Quality local journalism takes time and money. Please support us to protect the future of community journalism.

Comments are closed.