Rosa Rice Enters Union County Commissioner Race With Accountability Focus

A term-limits fight that ended in court is what put Rosa Rice on the May 19 ballot. When a Union County Circuit Court judge ruled that the county's ordinance capping commissioners at two four-year terms was unconstitutional, Rice decided the answer was a different kind of accountability: a new voice on the board rather than a legal ruling to restore one.

Rice filed to run for Position 2 on the Union County Board of Commissioners, setting up a three-way race against incumbent Matt Scarfo, who is seeking a third term after first winning the seat in 2018, and former commissioner Donna Beverage, who served two terms in Position 3 before her tenure ended in 2024. Rice was born and raised in Union County to Roger and Kathy Goodman, grew up in the High Valley outside Union with her four sisters, attended Union High School, and now works as a property manager with Eagle Cap Realty in La Grande.

Housing affordability and stability sit at the center of her platform, and unlike broad campaign pledges, this one comes with occupational grounding. "Through my work with families, homeowners and small businesses, I see firsthand the challenges people are facing," Rice said. Commissioners control land-use policy, county budget allocations, and how federal and state housing dollars get directed locally — levers Rice argues have not been pulled aggressively enough.

She also cites existing partnerships with Community Connection of Northeast Oregon and the Center for Human Development as practical assets she would bring to the board. Both organizations provide services that intersect with the economic pressures her rental clients face daily. On broader governance, Rice wants the commission to be more accessible and responsive to voters, and she has specifically focused on engaging younger residents in local democracy.

The three candidates represent notably different theories of what the position demands. Scarfo steered the County Fairgrounds Wastewater Project through the Oregon State Legislature and secured construction funding, with completion expected in 2026, and has built his campaign around institutional momentum. Beverage, whose eight-year record in Position 3 included extensive collaboration with Union County mayors and cities, is running on returning proven experience to the board — a campaign the court's term-limits ruling made possible in the first place. Rice, by contrast, is running on proximity to the county's everyday economic pressures and a commitment to making county hall answer for how it spends.

All three candidates will appear at a public forum hosted by Pleasant Grove Grange No. 475 on April 15, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at the grange hall at 67218 Hunter Road in Summerville. The forum is free and open to the public.

If no candidate clears 50 percent in the May 19 primary, the top two finishers advance to the November general election.