Multnomah: The Tumultuous Story of Oregon's Most Populous County

18. East County Discontent, the First All-Woman Board, and "Willamette County" (1983-1990)

191 18 east County dIsContent, the fIrst all-woman Board, and “wIllamette County” (1983–1990) “MORALiTY in GOVeRnMenT: We need moral men in public government; the voter has a right to TRUTH from his representative .”—Gordon Shadburne twelve years after Gordon Shadburne published the above statement on his page in the 1974 Oregon Voters’ Pamphlet, the shocking truth came to light that Shadburne’s personal life did not equate with his stance as a moral crusader. Shadburne, a political science teacher at Mt. hood Community College and an advisor on citizenship for the boy Scouts, sought the office of Oregon state representative on the republican ticket in 1974, but lost the fall election to the Democratic incumbent, Glenn Otto, a former mayor of troutdale.1 Four years later, Shadburne, now a boyish-looking 38, faced off against Gresham City Commissioner Paula bentley in a nonpartisan race to fill a newly created east county seat on the Multnomah County board of Commissioners. bentley, as an incumbent office holder, was widely expected to win. Shadburne touted himself as a “born-again Christian” and targeted church groups, senior citizens, and the education community. his supporters wrote letters stressing his strong religious beliefs. he warned voters that bentley was supported by the Portland town Council, a gay-rights group. bentley accused Shadburne of smear tactics.2 When the votes were counted, Shadburne had won by 4 percent—640 votes out of 15,000 cast. For the next two years, Shadburne cultivated a visible presence in east county . he gave speeches and attended PtA, Kiwanis, and rotary Club meetings. “You can’t go anywhere around here without running into Gordon Shadburne,” commented Gresham Outlook editor Lee Irwin.3 192 chapter 18 the next elections in 1980 brought a rematch between Shadburne and Paula bentley, with Shadburne now enjoying the advantages of incumbency. In its endorsement of bentley, Willamette Week said voters had the opportunity to exchange “bad representation” from Shadburne—opposition to establishing a 911 emergency number, opposition to hiring of a county economic development officer, efforts to dismantle the county’s Administrative Services Division—with the “demonstrably good” candidacy of bentley.4 Once again, Shadburne triumphed at the polls. he was so buoyed by his election and reelection victories that two years later he jumped into the race to replace County executive Don Clark, who was prohibited by term limits from running in 1982. Shadburne’s opponent was his colleague on the county commission , Dennis buchanan, who represented Portland’s West hills. the primary election result for county chair was close: 44 percent for former newspaper reporter buchanan versus 41 percent for Shadburne.5 In the fall return engagement, however, buchanan was endorsed by virtually every newspaper in the county and won election handily. Although he lost decisively to his fellow commissioner, Shadburne was in the middle of a four-year commission term and retained his board seat. the four-year terms that buchanan and his predecessor, Don Clark, each served as county executive were quite different from those of their predecessors or successors, because during those years the county executive was not allowed to set the agenda for board meetings, have a vote, or preside. Boyish-looking Gordon shadburne was popular with conservative east County voters until news reports indicated that his personal life differed sharply from the values he espoused publicly . shadburne later contended he did not know that pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge would force his removal from the board, but he was never able to return to prominence in public life . (Multnomah County Archives) east county dIscontent, the fIrst all-woman Board . . . 193 A guest editorial that Shadburne wrote for the Gresham Outlook the following year reflected his attitude toward his fellow elected officials. “the year 1983 will be recorded by history as the ‘year of division’ for the county and its board of county commissioners,” Shadburne wrote. “From a basically unified board of prior years, 1983 has surfaced a most divisive issue—resolution A.”6 (As discussed in the preceding chapter, resolution A was the intergovernmental policy agreement that assigned human services to the county and urban services to the city and presupposed more annexations of unincorporated areas of Multnomah County by Portland and Gresham.) resolution A was supported by four board members as well as County executive buchanan—in other words, by everyone except Commissioner Shadburne. It was his district that had the most to...