Moore Means More Women Running For Commish

Sheri Moore got involved in politics because of her commitment to lifelong education. Currently a Springfield city councilor in Ward 3, she will be running for the Springfield position on the Lane County Commission in the upcoming 2014 election, presumably against incumbent Sid Leiken.

Moore is one of four women running for County Commission in the May 2014 primary. Sandi Mann has also filed for the Springfield seat, Joanne Ernst is running for East Lane County and Dawn Lesley is running for West Lane County. The commission has been all male since Anna Morrison lost the West Lane County seat to Bill Fleenor in 2006.

Moore, a retired schoolteacher, says that she is not a “professional politician.” She is running for the county post because, “I care, number one,” and because she has been concerned for a long time that the interests of Lane County are being neglected, and decisions are being put off or not made to benefit the majority of the people of the county. “Litigation and issues keep cropping up,” she says.

Moore was appointed to the Springfield City Council in 2010 after serving on the city’s Planning Commission. She was elected to the council position in 2012. She says it’s win-win — if she becomes a county commissioner she continues to serve the people of Springfield as well as the rest of Lane County. If she doesn’t win, she will continue on the City Council.

Moore says she wants to encourage economic development through entrepreneurship and small business development in the county rather than wait to be rescued by the federal government or the state.

“I try to look at things regionally,” she says. Eugene and Springfield need to work together and also be aware of the needs of the smaller towns in the rest of the county. Moore has served on the Lane County Human Services Commission, the Lane County Housing Policy Board, the Lane Workforce Partnership Executive Board, the Springfield Finance & Judiciary Committee, the Springfield Budget Committee, the Springfield Economic Development Commission and on the Bike and Pedestrian Committee.

“I don’t see myself as running against anyone,” Moore says. “I’m running for the position and for Lane County. There will be no slinging mud, she adds. “I have a Christian perspective, and what I say and who I am are one and the same — honest and hardworking.”

Moore is a grad of Emerge Oregon, a training program for female Democrats (the County Commission election is nonpartisan). She says her 14-year-old granddaughter recently told her how proud she is of her for running for the commission, and Moore is pleased to be a positive role model. She has formed a PAC, Friends of Sheri Moore, and filed with the county. Leiken has not yet filed, according to the county elections website.