By Dora Totoian • Of The News-Register • 

McMinnville candidates for mayor make their case in forums

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Comments

Joel

Thanks Dora. This was a great article except for this very strange and oddly out of place sentence "Both candidates are registered Republicans, Mormons and attended a “Back the Blue” pro-law enforcement rally in downtown McMinnville last month." I had to stop and read that several times to make sure it was what I thought it was. Weird.

Joel

It made about as much sense as "Both candidates drive blue cars, shop at Winco and enjoy vacuuming their living room."

Willamina Willy

I took note of the planted mole in the audience. Berschauer asks about their supporters knowing full well that Mary Starrett's brother Kevin (Oregon Firearms Federation) was one of the donors. I hope McMinnville is watching closely as the outside money is pouring into these races in an attempt to buy them off. Translation, quid pro quo. Even the Treasurer's race. Paulette who? Scott Hill has served this community honorably for many, many years. He has shown a steady hand, and been at the table for some very difficult decisions over the years - always being the consummate leader who truly represented the values of our community.

HypocrisyWatch

"She said she wants to provide a fresh leadership style, while promoting unity, inclusion and transparency.

“People have given up. They don’t feel heard. They don’t feel important. I’m going to fix that,” Parker said"

I still simply do not understand how we, as a city, are supposed to trust her when she talks about listening, making people feel heard, etc. when the only way she deals with critiques, differing opinions, and dissent is to delete comments, block people, ban them from her page/groups, and finally making her "community group" private.

This is not transparency. I see her, and Mrs. Ruiz (running in Ward 2 against Kellie Menke who is another long time servant of the people), use this term a lot and yet I don't see either of them putting that into practice relating to themselves - only other people.

The hypocrisy is real.

Hibb

Having had the privilege of being in meetings where Scott Hill was present gave me the opportunity to see firsthand that he is a good leader that exercises competency in what it is that he does. Mac needs good leadership like Hill's and not that of his politically unproven challenger Parker.

As for Parker... Does she think our memories are so short that we cannot remember all of the hate speech she moderated on the now defunct (thankfully so) TAKE BACK MAC Facebook site. Or what about the videos she posted of her and her husband out illegally trashing homeless camps and then patting themselves on the back for it. Her actions are inconsistent and unpopular with mainstream America.

While trying to cast herself as a crusader for Mac, she purposely alienated a large portion of the population by her treatment of the homeless, which she then tried to shy away from when it became not so politically expedient, by taking down her gross videos of abusing the most marginalized in our community and then by dumping TAKE BACK MAC on Facebook. Her leadership skills are questionable, unless you want to follow the hate speech that her lips often deliver. I do not trust Heidi Parker and do not want to see her take the helm at City Hall. To me she is not a viable alternative to Hill and hopefully other voters will see her for what she really is. We do NOT need such divisiveness in Mac.

Treehouse

I for one hope that city voters who read this will look beyond negative and critical comments from Parker about how our city operates and take the opportunity, if they really care, to get involved.

I have lived in one large city and three small cities now. I've never encountered a city government as completely open to citizen involvement as McMinnville. Just about anyone reading this article or these comments can be named to a city board or committee if they bothered to. And anyone can attend any meeting of any body and be heard. Enormous effort is made to foster and encourage participation. At any city department anyone might care to name staff will gladly answer questions and encourage citizens to be heard at city council and committee meetings.

In a city that, according to Ms. Parker has "given up" citizens fill dozens of volunteer positions on boards and committees and devote thousands of hours to helping make the city better for everyone. And we should never forget and always appreciate that our elected Mayor and city council are also voluntary. And all of them devote thousands of hours to all our benefit as well.

madmacs

Anyone who has had any interaction at all with Heidi Parker has seen firsthand that she shows no propensity for listening to anyone who isn't fawning over her. The fact that she is so tied on with James Goings shows that she has no intention of doing anything but catering to the far right. There are a lot of people out doing good work in the community, the only differentiator with Parker is that she feels a need to run around telling everyone about her little projects and feels a need to denigrate everyone else's efforts. Scott Hill has done a terrific job as mayor, is the steady hand our community needs, and has served our community for many, many years. I know who I'll be voting for this year.

Angela Flood

A candidate election is parallel to a job interview. It is when they put themselves on display and provide the impressions of what hiring them will look like.

I don't live in Mac. But, 35% of my life is there. I shop there. I celebrate events there. As a Lafayette resident, my water comes from there. I have an absolute interest in who the leadership is.

I have been blocked from commenting, or even liking posts, from Heidi Parker's candidate facebook page. I asked her why and she sent a message referring me to the Lafayette website. Because I can't vote there, Heidi has insinuated I have no right to a voice there.

James Goings refers to her as his girl. James isn't Heidi's parent. Yet, he takes ownership of her with that singular word. Her husband answers for her with commenters when she gets asked questions about her actions or stance on issues.

Is this what Mac can look forward to? What happens, in a meeting, when a community member questions her actions? Will her husband pop up and shout the person down? Will James Goings drive the conversation back to his contaminating anti progressive prejudice?

We need representation that is able to act and think inclusively. An elected is not there to be a voice for only themselves. Or a handful of others that perceive they own you. They are there to be advocate for all.

Mac needs an adult in the mayor's position, not somebody's girl. Until Heidi can learn to speak up for herself, I am concerned that she will be unable to fully speak up for others.

aim

god help us if that woman gets elected we are in for for a circus on a roller coaster in a shooting gallery brought to us by big money

sforegon

We are supporting Mayor Hill in the upcoming election. He is a longtime resident of McMinnville who has embraced this community and served it well. Prior to becoming mayor, Scott learned about the ins and outs of city operations, using his experience as a banker to sit on the city Budget Committee, as a Ward 1 Commissioner for 12 years, and Council President for two years. He understands the job, and in his first term as mayor has kept this community running smoothly, even in the face of a pandemic. Scott realizes that the mayor serves as an unpaid volunteer, and understands the limits of his position as well as the responsibilities. His competent leadership during these troubling times has convinced us we need him to continue as Mayor of McMinnville. Please join the Haight family and vote for Scott Hill. We need a mayor who has experience, who will continue to keep this community running smoothly.

Marvin Bernards

Ms Parker seems to be running an excellent campaign of misleading and avoiding the topic, bought an paid for by outside Monday. Even in this debate, she lead and avoided direct questions. When asked afterward, she continues to avoid the topic at hand with misdirection. This type of leadership has become at to common in this country and it is toxic to future of this democracy.
Mayor Hill has served this community for many years, giving up his nights and weekends to educate himself on our needs, guide us through dilemmas, and more us forward. He has been the boots on the ground with his sleeves rolled up.

Please join us in supporting Mayor Hill. We need someone who will work for our community, not a cheerleader.

yamhillbilly2

It is so nice to be able to go to the Secretary of State website where you can see for yourself Heidi’s largest contributor is Aaron Orta, $900 in two contributions and why does Mary Starrett’s $500 contribution on 7/17/2020 list as five $99 donations? Trying to keep within some limit? It all just stinks! So Mary and her brother gave Heidi $1,000 for her campaign. Mary’s brother doesn’t live in McMinnville, why should he be involved in the race for mayor? Why can’t we have less meddling in our local election?

Willamina Willy

@yamhillbilly2 - Its simple, its all about control. The County Commissioners, re: Starrett and Bershcauer, want to control the city of McMinnville. They also want to control the treasury of Yamhill County too. Look at Alexandria's campaign. Bought and paid for by Starrett and her minions. The voters of McMinnville need to see this for what it is. Starrett (and company) are investing heavily in Parker and Ruiz. I hope the voters of McMinnville and Yamhill County have their eyes wide open. One note, the answer if the multiple $99 donations are that technically those could have been reported as "misc donations under $100" without anyone's name attached to them. Yes, it is corruption and dishonesty.

DragonMama

I appreciate the fair reporting by the News Register in this otherwise contentious election time. What we need right now is facts. Not fueling the fire and fanning the flames and accusations that are just not true.

I have met Heidi and I have met Scott. All issues aside, McMinnville needs to start setting term limits. 16 years is a long time and complacecy sets in.

Thank you News Register for bringing balance to this crazy year of 2020.

Hibb

I just hope everyone remembers how meddlesome Mary Starrett and her brother have been when it comes time for Mary to be running again. Maybe then we can let her know just how we really feel about her actions by asking her to no longer represent us. Their little coup d'état is going to fail and then we will see where the chips lie.

yamhillbilly2

I realize this story is about the mayor‘s race, but while looking into Heidie’s campaign finances I notice Mary and Kevin are also major supporters of Paulette Alexandria, $300 and $1,000. It sure seems they have their stinky little fingers in a lot of aspects of the upcoming local election. Did Mary’s attempt to donate to Heidie quietly backfire, or did Ms Russell let her guard down and mistakenly identify her five $99 donations back on July 15th. Since the first time encountering a Mary Starrett campaign, she has seemed nothing but sleezy. Don’t forget her hipocrasie

yamhillbilly2

I mean hypocrisy, she speaks at a Blue Lives Matter rally but how many attendees will remember her “Run Rudy Run” piece where she is supporting Eric Rudolph, the Atlanta Olympics and abortion clinic bomber who intentional used a time delay on a second bomb at the abortion clinic to hopefully injure the police and first responders? Mary is just plain twisted and I wonder what her true agenda is.

Hibb

Here is a link to the disgusting opinion piece filed by Mary Starrett:

https://newswithviews.com/Mary/starrett13.htm

rosebloomer

We have enough of a mess with Starett and mini me Lindsey on the BOC. The mayor race is an easy decision as I don't care for self proclaimed social media star Parker but if I'm undecided I'll vote for whoever is running against those Starett supports.

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