- Medford is the most corrupt city in southern Oregon. The Chamber of Commerce good old boy Mafia spends millions of dollars getting their puppet candidates elected, then bribes them, so that those bought politicians regularly give their good old boy masters no-bid City contracts (which screws the taxpayers), and they fraudulently spend hundreds of millions of your misappropriated tax dollars subsidizing privately-owned good old boy projects. Unfortunately, most of the current Medford City Council and the Mayor are corrupt and incompetent, and beholden to the good old boys, and not the citizens. I’ll vigorously represent Medford residents, and not the crooked good old boys.
- The Medford Chamber of Commerce good old boy Mafia operates like a twisted version of “Robin Hood”, but the Medford good old boy Mafia instead steals from the Medford poor in order to give to the good old boy rich. It’s a screwed-up system, and the Medford residents lose.
- If you were to build a house, then you would get multiple construction bids in order to select the best deal, but the Medford City Council generally doesn’t do that. The City Council operates under corrupt crony capitalism, whereby the City Council’s and the Mayor’s friends, cronies, and political contributors get no-bid City building contracts without having to bid against others for them. It’s a process that’s corrupt to the bone, there’s bribery involved, and the taxpayers overpay for it. It needs to stop immediately.
- The Chamber of Commerce (which spends millions of dollars buying and promoting their political candidates) received a no-bid contract to operate Travel Medford from the City of Medford, which pays them $1.6 million per year in taxpayer money. The Chamber got the previous Medford City Manager, Eric Swanson, terminated because he opposed this corrupt no-bid deal with the Chamber. I also oppose it. Unfortunately, the Chamber controls the City from behind the scenes. The City needs to operate Travel Medford internally, and not contract it out to the corrupt Chamber of Commerce.
- Lithia Motors received a no-bid contract for the naming rights of Lithia Motors and Driveway Fields (formerly U.S. Cellular Park), and the Medford taxpayers got shortchanged again.
- Rogue Credit Union received a no-bid contract for the naming rights of the boondoggle Rogue X aquatic center (which I opposed), and the Medford taxpayers got shortchanged again.
- Adroit Construction previously received no-bid contracts for the construction of the Medford Police Station, and three new Medford Fire Stations, while taxpayers got shortchanged with overpriced facilities. Adroit also recently received a no-bid $60 million contract from the corrupt Jackson County Commissioners in order to construct an unneeded pandemic center at the Expo, and the taxpayers got shortchanged (screwed) again.
- MURA was created to benefit Liberty Park, which is statistically THE POOREST neighborhood in all of Oregon, yet MURA has been hijacked and abused to benefit predator billionaire good old boys like Pacific Retirement Services and Lithia Motors, which got the City to pay for more than 50% of their downtown office buildings. Medford taxpayers spent $15 million on Pacific Retirement Services’ downtown building, and they spent approximately $16 million on Lithia Motors’ downtown building. MURA has previously invested $100 million in downtown Medford, and it still looks like hell. MURA has been abused as an ATM machine to benefit the many politically-connected developers in town. MURA should be dissolved immediately. It’s been corrupted.
- Ashland recently proposed building a covered Olympic pool for $10 million. Read the article. Medford’s over-budget Rogue X boondoggle (which I opposed) cost taxpayers $80 million. And now, the Chamber of Commerce audaciously wants another taxpayer-paid convention center downtown, which I oppose. The good old boys need to pay for their own projects, and stop making the poor Medford taxpayers pay for them. Rogue X was specifically built for the Chamber of Commerce, not Medford residents. I previously had proposed building a few neighborhood community pools at a greatly reduced cost to the taxpayers.
- Medford City officials defrauded the Wes Howard Sports Park, Inc. and taxpayers when they misappropriated the 52 acres of land from the Wes Howard Sports Park for their Rogue X Aquatic Center. When the Wes Howard Sports Park Board of Directors was down to only one member on the Howard Board (good old boy developer John Schleining), then Medford City Councilors Michael Zarosinski, Kevin Stine, and Alex Poythress, along with Park Director Rich Rosenthal, all illegally and unethically joined the Wes Howard Sports Park Board of Directors, at the same time they represented the City of Medford as city councilors, and they illegally and unethically transferred control of the land from the Wes Howard Sports Park to the City of Medford. It was an illegal and unethical move. The City Councilors and Park Director served on both sides of the fence representing both parties while negotiating this transaction. It was a massive conflict of interest. Further, the Articles of Organization for the Wes Howard Sports Park dictated that the property be used for baseball or soccer fields, and NOT be used for an entity that charges money, or is a business. The Rogue X is a business that charges admission fees to its customers (unlike a free park), and they have trade shows there in violation of the Howard Articles of Organization. See attachment
- The Wes Howard Sports Park Articles of Organization prohibits its officers from being involved in political lobbying or political activity, yet Wes Howard, Board member (and current City Councilor) Kevin Stine illegally created a political action committee in order to get Medford to increase its hotel taxes, which is a violation of the Howard Articles of Organization.
Kevin Stine violated the Articles of Organization. Medford did not allow the residents to vote on the construction of the aquatic center, and instead jammed it down the residents’ throats without a vote, and they increased residents’ taxes significantly in the process. Medford residents got screwed on the deal.
Read more: Statement of Organization for Political Action Committee
- Medford is currently spending $43 million of Medford taxpayer money to upgrade Foothill Road between McAndrews and Hillcrest, just for the good old boys. Hillcrest Orchards (and the Day Family) want to build 1,000, million-dollar houses for Californians on the east-side of Foothill, while Dunbar Farms (and the Carpenter Family) want to build a large shopping center of the west-side of Foothill Road. This road expansion should have been an expense of the developers, and paid for by the developers, but they scammed Medford to get the residents to pay for it. First, City officials falsely claimed that the road needed to be expanded for safety reasons, then they falsely claimed the purpose was to build a by-pass from Eagle Point to Phoenix. The truth is that the developers scammed the Medford taxpayers to pay for their own road development costs. Corrupt former City Councilor (and lobbyist) Tim Jackel was the business attorney for Hillcrest Orchards, and the law partner with one of the Carpenters, and Jackel lobbied the City Council to change the zoning for both Hillcrest Orchards and Dunbar Farms, and to annex Hillcrest Orchards into the City of Medford, and to get the City to pay for $43 million of the developers’ road costs while Jackel was also serving as a City Councilor. Jackel corruptly served as a lobbyist for his clients at the same time he was serving as a City Councilor. Jackel promoted his clients’ interests over the City’s and your interests. This is an example of crooked city councilors representing the interests of the good old boys, and not Medford residents. Most of the current Medford City Councilors and Mayor Sparacino are corrupt puppets of the Chamber of Commerce and the Builders’ Association, and they serve them, and not you. The Chamber of Commerce and the Builders’ Association are endorsing and financially sponsoring numerous City Council and Mayoral candidates in this election (including my opponent Zarosinski) who will dutifully serve the good old boys instead of the Medford residents. They don’t deserve your vote.
- Pacific Retirement Services (the Rogue Valley Manor) wants to build 3,000 housing units surrounding Centennial Golf Course, which they own, and which currently is not located within Medford City limits. They want Medford taxpayers to spend $300 million of Medford taxpayer dollars in order to expand South Stage Road from North Phoenix Road to I-5, then to build a bridge over the freeway in order to connect to the Lithia Motors Driveway Fields, and also to serve as the backbone main road for their development. Pacific Retirement Services expects Medford taxpayers to pay for their $300 million road system, which will allow them to build numerous new hotels on the east-side of the freeway, and then have them connected to the Lithia Motors and Driveway Fields on the west-side of the freeway. I oppose spending Medford taxpayer dollars paying for a private developers’ road costs. Pacific Retirement Services has a long history of trying to screw their own residents and also Medford taxpayers with Pacific Retirement Services’ own private costs. My opponent Michael Zarosinski has strongly promoted and supported this $323 million road project for the past ten years, since his wife formerly worked for Pacific Retirement Services, and he’s their bribed, bought-and-paid-for puppet. Michael Zarosinski will raise your taxes $323 million to pay for this project.
- Former Medford City Councilor (and corrupt good old boy wannabe developer) Daniel Bunn (Rubicon Investments), wants to build a $48 million apartment project downtown on Central Avenue. Bunn wants to spend $7 million of his own money on this project, and get $34 million in federal and State grants to help pay for it, then he expects Medford taxpayers to pay for the remaining $7 million of his privately-owned project. The federal and State grants are dependent on Medford spending $7 million for this project. Daniel Bunn expects Medford taxpayers to pay as much for his project as he’s personally paying for it ($7 million), which is absolute nonsense. Taxpayer money shouldn’t be spent on a privately-owned development. My opponent Michael Zarosinski’s wife is a high-paid executive who currently works for Daniel Bunn and Rubicon Investments, who is building this project, and who wants $7 million in City taxpayer money. There’s a huge conflict of interest here. Michael Zarosinski can easily be bribed through his wife, and he’s already taken thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Daniel Bunn and Rubicon Investments. Michael Zarosinski corruptly supports spending $7 million of your taxpayer dollars to benefit his friends and cronies, and his wife’s employer, while I totally oppose this corrupt, overpriced deal.
- Fortunately, current City Manager Brian Sjothun will be retiring from Medford in December, which is good, because he was installed into office by the Chamber of Commerce good old boys to do their bidding, and he’s been a train wreck for Medford residents. Sjothun jammed numerous good old boy projects down Medford residents’ throats against their will, such as the Lithia Motors and Driveway Fields and Rogue X, he raised residents’ taxes countless times, and Medford inexcusably has one of the highest crime rates in the State. Brian Sjothun was rated unqualified by an employment search team, and he’s proven to be incompetent and corrupt. Medford government is also financially-bloated under his management. Unfortunately for Medford, the lame-duck (and corrupt and incompetent) current City Council has already hired a new City Manager named Bob Field, who, in my opinion, is unqualified to be the next Medford City Manager, and he’s a poor choice. He failed at his two previous assignments, he has limited financial and management education and skills, and he was recruited to cater-to the Chamber of Commerce good old boys and the builders’ community, and give them special favors. I don’t see a long-term future for Bob Field as Medford City Manager. He’s the wrong candidate for Medford.
Read more: link 1 link2 link3
- I’m not running for the Medford School Board, but Medford parents and residents should be acutely aware of how poorly the Medford School District performs. In 2023, only 28% of all Medford students passed their State academic tests, while 72% of all Medford students failed. That’s right! Almost 3/4 of all Medford students are failing. Ignore the bogus, manipulated graduation rates, and the media hype. Medford students eventually grow-up to become adults who are totally unprepared to function in the world. That’s unacceptable. The Medford School District is grossly failing our community. The School District needs a complete housecleaning, starting with the superintendent and his administrators, and all the school board members. Read more
