Recent news articles about issues we're following

• WaCo: Aiding & abetting the enemies list
  (January 30) I've already posted here about the reports of Washington County Chair Andy Duyck's efforts to blackball local citizens from boards & committees if they don't subscribe to Duyck's political and policy agenda.  Unsurprisingly, Duyck's got some help when it comes to eliminating citizens from the Metro Policy Advisory Committee (MPAC).  Hillsboro Mayor Jerry Willey told me that MPAC isn't functioning now the way it was designed: to be the advisory committee on land use to Metro.  Willey says that Metro is no longer following the input of MPAC. … Willey also said that he has felt that members weren't representing their jurisdictions.  "County chairs and mayors want MPAC members to reflect the policies that they support." Read more…
• Hughes: Time to reconsider MPAC citizen appointees
  (January 27) Metro Council President Tom Hughes said Thursday that his decision to seek new citizen representatives to the Metro Policy Advisory Committee had nothing to do with political battles in Washington County. … "We believe a change in the county's MPAC citizen representation right now would be a healthy, natural and timely thing considering basic democracy principles," said the letter, which was from the mayors of Hillsboro, Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin, Forest Grove, Sherwood and Cornelius, as well as Washington County Chair Andy Duyck.  Only Hillsboro Mayor Jerry Willey signed the letter, which was on City of Hillsboro letterhead. Read more…
• Washington County is silencing critics on advisory boards, say ousted citizens
  (January 18) Washington County Commission Chairman Andy Duyck is cleaning house when it comes to dissident voices, even those piping up on seemingly insignificant advisory committees, say some citizens removed from such groups.  From the county's planning commission and citizen representation at Metro to seemingly unrelated venues such as the Washington County Farm Bureau, some citizen representatives say that disagreeing with Duyck means risking immediate removal. Read more…
• Advisory committee appointments, normally routine business, roil controversy in Washington County
  (January 3) A public dust-up Tuesday pitted the chairman of Washington County's Board of Commissioners against two members of an advisory committee who asked if they are being ousted from their volunteer positions for not toeing the official county line.  The incident, coming near the end of the commissioners' regular weekly meeting, is just the latest stare down between Chairman Andy Duyck and members of various citizen advisory committees and other county organizations, most notably the Washington County Farm Bureau. Read more…

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