Why We Support Sharia Mayfield for MultCo Chair
For 8 years, the current Chair of Multnomah County, Deborah Kafoury, has opposed any spending of funds on temporary housing measures over permanent housing funding. As permanent housing takes time to secure, permit and then of course build, people have languished in the streets. She’s been able to keep the other commissioners in line with her way of thinking (with the exception of Sharon Meieran) and we are on track to elect what many are dubbing “Kafoury 2.0” with current commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson. Two other current commissioners, newcomer Lori Stegmann, and the aforementioned Meieran, are also running for a promotion to the Chair position.
While we support Sharon Meieran, she has not been able to rally support from the other commissioners to get their votes on temporary spending. The county has recently spent money on temporary measures, but that was all federal COVID aid and budget surplus from the city. The County Auditor sets the budget amount, but the Chair proposes what to spend it on and the other commissioners vote on the proposal. If Sharon were to win the Chair position, there would have to be a special election to backfill her current role, and we would have no way of knowing the person who succeeds her would be for or against temporary housing measures while we await permanent housing to be built. If Sharon loses, she will keep her current role, so we will still have her much needed vote. If Sharia was to win the Chair position, we would have two solid votes and they would only need to sway one more person to get things accomplished.
One of Sharia’s biggest slogan’s is “don’t let perfection be the enemy of good”. She knows she doesn’t have all of the right answers, but she is willing to listen to what the voters have to say and look at the data and what’s worked other places (and she is running a fully grassroots volunteer driven campaign, so she answers to no big interests). We need to stop waiting around for studies and look at what is working elsewhere and what isn’t and get the private sector involved so we can get this issues tackled together and quickly.
Sharia is also a civil rights and privacy rights lawyer, so she understands the rights of the people living in unsafe conditions on the streets are not humane or healthy. She has argued in front of the 9th District Court (Martin vs Boise - sleeping outside can’t be illegal if there aren’t enough shelter beds), and has also dealt with civil commitment cases. She supports building a dual diagnosis treatment center in every city within the county to combat the crises people are experiencing.
Sharia has raised over $20k in donations, yet most large organizations have not considered her a viable candidate and have therefore left her out of invitations for endorsement interviews, candidate forums and other media coverage of the election. Most people do not know who she is so if you like what you’ve read here today, please spread the word, donate, and reach out to her through her website - she is responsive and honest which is just another reason we support her for this important position.