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Stewart McCollom doesn't want your vote Photo by Steve Johnson Stewart McCollom filed to run for the RCC board; he's backing his opponent, Denise Miller. RCC board candidate says opponent Denise Miller is better qualified ASHLAND -- Stewart McCollom's name will appear on the March ballot, but he doesn't want people to vote for him. Instead, he is endorsing Denise Miller, the candidate running against him for the Rogue Community College seat representing southern Jackson County. "I concluded that she has better qualifications than I do," said the former Jackson County commissioner. McCollom called the Mail Tribune and other media because, he said, "I don't have much time to convince people of what I'm saying." Mail ballots for the March 9 election will be sent on Feb. 19. Miller, an Ashland real estate agent with Windemere Van Vleet & Associates Inc., and an avid supporter of community colleges, said she is happy to have McCollom's support. With her and McCollom's experience and commitment, she said, "my feeling is this is a win-win situation, whoever they get." What changed McCollom's mind? Meeting Miller, talking to other Miller supporters at Rotary, and realizing that if he won there would be no women on the RCC board. The two departing board members are both women. The candidates running for their seats are all men, except for Miller. McCollom, who is also a former community college president and a former assistant to the president at what was then Southern Oregon State College, said he filed for the position because no one else had filed from Ashland area by the day before the deadline. "I saw it initially as filling a need; now I see a capable candidate who should have it," he said. Miller had filed the day of the deadline. When McCollom filed, he said, he wasn't feeling as excited about the post as he would have felt five years before. As someone who has supported RCC for a long time and continued to work on getting RCC to expand into Jackson County, he had wanted to be on the board for many years. But, at age 71, his priorities in life are changing. "I putter around in my greenhouse. I go up skiing. I take long vacations," McCollom said. He also knows what it takes to be an effective board member; as a former trainer with the Pacific Non-profit Network Inc., he trained new board members for other nonprofit groups. It takes a high energy level, a willingness to commit long hours and an ability to see the big picture of an organization's product or service. Miller has all those qualities, McCollom says. Miller, 61, is a former community college student. So is her husband. One of her daughters received EMT training at RCC and plans to return for her paramedic training. A member of the Rogue Valley Symphony board, Miller has been on advisory committees to the Ashland School Board. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in sociology. Once she heard RCC's president and staff speak, she came away impressed. She said she saw "an openness and respect for the students, which is worth its weight in gold." A community college is a tremendous advantage to a community, she said, especially to one facing changing economic pressures. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA