Laborers 483 member Damon Mabee running for Oregon City commissioner

At least one candidate running for commissioner of Oregon City wears a union label.

Damon Mabee, 41, a field representative of Municipal Employees Local 483, an affiliate of the Laborers Union, has filed to run for the open Position 3 seat. Also seeking the post is Dan Holladay, a former city commissioner and current Oregon City School Board member who has twice run unsuccessfully for mayor. Holladay is a supervisor for a security systems company.

A Navy veteran, Mabee served in Desert Storm as a surface warfare officer before joining the staff of Local 483 as a field representative in 1996.

He was asked by a union brother serving on the Oregon City Parks Commission to consider running for City Council, an all-volunteer non-partisan council that meets bi-monthly.

Mabee had never run for political office before, but with the seat open he said he decided to “get involved on the inside rather than screaming from the outside.”

A major difference between Mabee and his opponent is Wal-Mart. The world’s largest employer is trying to open a supercenter in Oregon City, but has been refused first by the Planning Commission and later by the City Council. Wal-Mart has appealed the decisions to the State Land Use Board.

Mabee is opposed to the Wal-Mart project while Holladay supports the idea, so much so, that he helped line up pro-Wal-Mart speakers to appear at City Council hearings during the debate, Mabee said.

Mabee is concerned that if the Wal-Mart issue reappears before the City Council, it could pass if Holladay is elected.

Oregon City, with a population of about 30,000, also faces serious money problems and commissioners will be dealing with some tough choices as they prepare the 2005-06 budget.

Mabee isn’t sure where he would make cuts if budget problems continue, but Holladay has said he would cut city jobs and close the Carnegie Center, the city-owned arts center.

Mabee has pledged not to raise more than $2,000 in his campaign, thus eluding mountains of paperwork. As part of a previously planned vacation, he and his wife spent time distributing campaign lawn signs in the neighborhood and attending community meetings. Door-knocking to meet voters is next on the list.

Mabee is seeking endorsements, and recently won the support of the Northwest Oregon Labor Council and Columbia-Pacific Building Trades Council.

© Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc.