Illinois Valley News

Since the end of 2008, Grants Pass resident Dale Matthews has spent countless hours at the Josephine County Courthouse videotaping nearly every meeting of the board of commissioners.

Now, Matthews is hoping to use that experience to his advantage as he runs for the commissioner position currently held by Illinois Valley resident Dave Toler.

Matthews is one of 11 candidates running in the May 18 primary election, including Toler, who is seeking a second term. Describing himself as a “conservative Democrat,“ Matthews said he supported the incumbent during the 2006 election because he thought that Toler would be a “breath of fresh air.“

But Matthews said that his bid for the nonpartisan office was fueled by the “financial irresponsibility“ of county officials and the “politics as usual“ that he has witnessed at the courthouse.

After growing up in Southern California, Matthews said that he attended high school in Eureka. He said he continued his education at Humboldt State University and College of the Redwoods and majored in physics and journalism, but would not provide the dates of his enrollment.

He also said that he was a television production major at San Francisco State University.

Matthews said he first came to Grants Pass around 10 years ago and that many of his relatives already lived there. His political involvement began with issues involving the fees that Ashland-based Rogue Valley Community Television (RVTV) was charging the county for its coverage of public meetings.

“It bothered me that we were getting less access,“ Matthews said.

A panel was formed by the board of county commissioners to examine the use of the Public, Education and Government fund, Matthews said, and issued a report that was critical of some of its expenditures. He then took that report, made “several hundred copies,“ and began handing them out in Downtown Grants Pass during a First Friday Art Walk event.

He said that he ran out of copies after only one hour, and the incident inspired him to begin producing and distributing the free First Friday publication monthly. Matthews said it now comes out weekly.

In 2002, he ran for Oregon House District 3 as a Pacific Green Party candidate against Republican incumbent Gordon Anderson. He said he did so because the Democrats did not run a candidate in that race.

Matthews made his next bid for elected office in 2008 against longtime Josephine County Treasurer John Harelson. Before Matthews filed his candidacy, Harelson was running unopposed.

Despite having a “committee of one“ and spending little money, Matthews received slightly less than 40 percent of the vote.

Since that election, he claims that he has attended more commissioner meetings than Toler. He also said he has gone to more meetings than all the other commissioner candidates combined.

Among his other accusations, Matthews said that county officials have signed contracts with some of the pages missing.

“Why would you sign something you haven“t read““ he said. “It happens all the time.“

Matthews also is critical of some of the economic development grants that have been allocated by the commissioners. One particular request was honored, he said, even though there was no business plan or prototype present during the presentation.

No bank would loan money for a project under those circumstances, Mathews said.

“I see that kind of stuff every day,“ he said.

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