According to a Google AI search, red herring is a clue, statement, or piece of information that misleads, distracts, or shifts attention away from the central issue or important question.
The same Google search says that the meaning of red herring as used in arguments and politics is as follows: Speakers use a red herring as a logical fallacy to bring up an off-topic point that changes the subject and avoids a tough question.
Red herring is the first term that came to mind after I read the statements and arguments submitted to the Josephine County Voters Pamphlet for the upcoming general election by former Josephine County Commissioners John West, Herman Baertschiger, and also by other political allies of these two men.
On the afternoon of Monday September 14th, the final Voters Pamphlet for the upcoming November General Election was placed on the County Clerk’s section of the Josephine County website. Printed Voters Pamphlets will begin arriving in the mail soon, and we’re only about a month away from ballots landing in local mailboxes.
Former Commissioner John West, who was recalled by about 62% of those who voted in his December 2024 recall election, along with Herman Baertschiger, appear to have collaborated with a few other political allies (in my opinion) to place a total of nine arguments against the Sheriff’s jail levy renewal measure. As discussed in recent months, this levy renewal, if authorized by voters, would simply extend the property tax rate for jail and juvenile detention services for another five years at exactly the same property tax rate as it’s been for the last ten years.
The levy currently in place expires next year, and by law local option levies in Oregon can be no longer than five years in term. Close to five years ago, Josephine County voters approved this levy renewal by a landslide vote of close to 66% yes.
That’s about the highest percentage yes vote a Josephine County law enforcement-related property tax measure has ever received in modern times. It may in fact be the highest in modern times. After going without adequate jail services funding during the County’s financial crisis from 2012-2017 and not being able to hold many criminals accountable to the law, voters were solidly in favor of renewing this levy the last time around.
John West was recalled as a County Commissioner less than two years ago and is now running in this upcoming election to get his commissioner seat back. Herman Baertschiger served as a Josephine County Commissioner from 2021 to 2024, regularly voted with John West, and according to the John West recall committee would have also likely faced a similar recall vote in 2024 had his term not been ending in 2024.
Droves of local voters had one main overarching concern about John West and Herman Baertschiger back in 2023 and 2024. And that is, they ignored the will of the people in many ways.
These two men are now ignoring the will of the people yet again, and in my opinion this is an attempt to get back in control of Josephine County government.
John West, again in my opinion, is ignoring the will of the people by attacking a critical law enforcement funding measure that 66% of voters approved the last time it needed to be renewed by voters. West is also ignoring the 62% of voters that said he should be recalled as a Josephine County commissioner in December 2024.
Former commissioner Herman Baertschiger has spent thousands of dollars on a recent court case that unsuccessfully challenged the ballot title language for this levy renewal. And now Baertschiger spent even more money by submitting a voters pamphlet argument against the County levy renewal measure. And many of the arguments against the levy renewal measure submitted by political friends of West and Baertschiger used the same language that Baertschiger used in recent weeks on local radio talk shows when advocating against the levy.
It’s interesting that Baertschiger has come out so strong against this jail-juvenile levy renewal measure since this is exactly the same tax rate that he approved for the ballot when he was commissioner five years ago during the last time this levy needed to be renewed by voters. Perhaps Baertschiger is upset about not being appointed as a temporary commissioner when there were two commissioner vacancies early in 2026. Or perhaps he wants his political buddy John West to get back into office. Or maybe it’s both.
I can’t think of too many other logical reasons why these two men and their political allies would oppose critical law enforcement funding that two thirds of Josephine County voters were in favor of renewing the last time it needed to be renewed by voters. In my opinion, their current campaign against the jail-juvenile funding renewal is a red herring to make the current commissioners look bad and to try and work their way back into a position of power in the Josephine County courthouse.
Measure 17-129 is the “Renewal of Current Five-Year Jail and Juvenile Local Option Tax.” “QUESTION: Shall Josephine County levy $0.93 per $1,000 assessed value for jail and juvenile detention operations for five years beginning 2027-2028? This measure renews current local option taxes. SUMMARY: This measure renews for five years a current local option tax at the existing rate of $0.93 per $1,000.00 of assessed property value. By law, the revenue from this measure would be used only for adult jail operations, juvenile detention operations, and administrative expenses.”
The bottom line is that this levy would be the exact same property tax rate as it’s been for the last 10 years since this levy was first approved by voters. And it funds the exact same services, legally speaking.
Baertschiger has tried to make the case that it’s not a renewal due to very minor language changes between the last renewal and the current renewal. His arguments are nothing but red herrings, and even the local circuit court judge agreed this is a simple “renewal” measure when Baertschiger challenged it in court.
Current commissioners had a significant amount of reasons why they would have been justified by increasing the tax rate during the current renewal cycle. But they didn’t…they left the tax rate exactly the same. And the commissioners even confirmed in a public meeting last week that there are no specific plans for any other related funding measures in the foreseeable future as long as voters renew this levy again.
Property tax rates cannot be increased in Oregon jurisdictions without a vote of the people. But what we’re voting on this year is not a rate increase, despite voters pamphlet arguments by West and friends trying to convince you otherwise. Each and every one of the nine arguments opposed to this levy renewal in the voters pamphlet were authored by political allies of John West and Herman Baertschiger. One political ally submitted three of them, John West submitted two of them, and each of the authors are well known to be political friends of West and Baertschiger.
One red herring is how much the levy is projected to bring in during the next five years versus what it brought in 10 years ago when voters first approved this same tax rate. As if 10 years of new property developments in the County and 10 years of inflation in assessed values is somehow a reason that we don’t need funding to operate the jail and juvenile detention anymore. Baertschiger’s argument tries to convince voters that this is a tax increase when it’s the exact same tax rate he himself approved for the ballot five years ago.
Former commissioner Andreas Blech, one of the wealthiest individuals that lives in Josephine County and one of the largest property owners in Josephine County, repeated many of the red herrings mentioned by Baertschiger in his own argument submitted to the voters pamphlet. Blech ends his voters pamphlet argument with “JOIN US WITH A NO VOTE so that we can come up with a much more affordable solution,” despite this levy renewal measure having the exact same tax rate that it has had for the last ten years.
I could literally write a book about the other red herrings present in the arguments against this jail-juvenile levy renewal ballot measure. But in summary fashion they include comments such as how much it will cost every man, woman, and child in the County, average income levels in Josephine County, buzz words such as burden on families and seniors, how much it costs per bed per day to operate the jail, and many other irrelevant red herring-type arguments.
Recalled commissioner John West, who submitted two of the nine arguments against the levy renewal measure in the voters pamphlet, even presented several statements that he calls FACTS which in my opinion some are actually false statements. West tries to make the false case that none of the funding from this measure will go to the Juvenile Justice program (which county officials say is a false statement by West and all one has to do is read the ballot measure to see this is a false statement).
Throughout 2026 and in this voters pamphlet, recalled commissioner John West claims these law enforcement programs could be funded with a slightly lower tax rate by cutting the budgets in other departments and giving the funding to these programs. Except West keeps failing to provide any specifics of how he would recommend cutting budgets in order to accomplish this. And if West really did have a good viable plan to do this, he should have vocalized the plan months ago when current commissioners began deliberating on this year’s levy renewal process.
In my opinion, this isn’t the first time John West and Herman Baertschiger have tried to “defund the police,” in a manner of speaking. After Josephine County voters approved a new Law Enforcement Service District for the Sheriff in 2023, this was supposed to provide enough funding for 27 additional staff members in the Sheriff’s office. The very next budget season, former Commissioners West and Baertschiger only allowed 5 newly funded positions in the Sheriff’s office. At one point during budget deliberations in 2024, John West advocated for giving the Sheriff only 3 newly funded positions.
And so, in a snub to voters, West and Baertschiger only approved about 20% of the new positions that were promised to voters if they approved the law enforcement district. That year, close to $2 million of general fund money was taken away from the Sheriff’s budget as compared to the years before voters approved the law enforcement district. So, we voters began paying for a tax, but not receiving the services we were promised, and the “police” were defunded by about $2 million.
And that’s the reason I personally joined the John West recall committee in 2024. I could not tolerate defunding the County police, so to speak.
If you look at John West’s own candidate statement in this new Voters Pamphlet, West brags about adding $2 million to “County Reserves.” In my expert CPA analysis, the $2 million in additional County Reserves added in that next year had nothing to do with any sort of cost cutting measure approved by West or other commissioners. The $2 million had everything to do with ignoring the will of voters and defunding law enforcement by close to $2 million that budget year.
We are not big fans of defunding the police here in Grants Pass and Josephine County. We appreciate our law enforcement, justice programs, and local fire departments. Public Safety and law enforcement levy renewals have traditionally been high percentage yes votes over the last 10 years in both Grants Pass and Josephine County. We don’t want to go back to the financial crisis days from 2012-2017 when we significantly defunded the police at the County level due to reductions in federal timber-related funding.
Despite many reasons current commissioners had to increase the proposed tax rate during this renewal cycle, commissioners kept the rate exactly the same for this ballot measure. As stated in the arguments in favor of the levy renewal in the Voters Pamphlet, please join the Chamber of Commerce, Citizens for Responsible Government, and all three current commissioners who personally endorse voting YES for the Jail-Juvenile levy renewal Measure 17-129.