Democrat Craig Lehman, who touts his 14 years of experience as a budget analyst for the state House of Representatives, said he has assembled a team of prominent Democrats to help him prepare for a 2007 campaign.

Lehman, a Lancaster city councilman from 1998 to 2002, said the current board of commissioners — Republicans Dick Shellenberger and Pete Shaub and Democrat Molly Henderson — appears incapable of working together. The commissioners have been involved in a number of controversies and lawsuits.

“Divisiveness and division don’t solve any problems except short-term political gain,” he said.

Henderson Monday called Lehman a “very fine individual” but declined to comment on his candidacy.

“I am concentrating on the November election,” she said. “That is where my electoral energies are going, and we want to get our Democratic nominees elected.”

Henderson has previously said she plans to seek another term. Shaub said he will not seek re-election and Shellenberger has made no official announcement.

In county commissioner elections, voters in each party select two candidates in the spring primary. The primary winners then compete for three four-year seats in the November election, ensuring each party is represented.

The 2007 race for county commissioner could be one of the most spirited elections in recent memory.

Among the issues that have divided the commissioners and the community are the 2005 sale of Conestoga View, the county nursing home; plans to turn an abandoned rail line in southern Lancaster County into a walking and bicycle trail; the taking by eminent domain of the Armstrong office building in Lancaster city; the firing or resignation of 17 key county employees; and Shellenberger and Henderson’s opposition to the proposed downtown hotel and convention center, which Shaub supports.

Lehman, who also supports the hotel and convention center, said it is time for a change in county government.

“When you’re talking about lawsuits and legal matters, you aren’t talking about shades of gray anymore,” he said. “You’re talking about entrenched positions, and that says to me an inability to forge partnerships and to work through differences in a positive way.”

Lehman, who was elected in 2005 to a four-year term as city controller, said his campaign team is co-chaired by former county Commissioner Ron Ford, current City Council President Julianne Dickson and former WGAL-TV reporter Bill Saylor, who has run unsuccessfully for county commissioner.

The timing of Lehman’s announcement did not sit well with Bruce Beardsley, chairman of the county Democratic Committee. He said he was “disappointed” Lehman stepped forward prior to the Nov. 7 election.

“All good Democrats ought to be focused on the current election,” Beardsley said. “To be waging a campaign is a distraction and disrespectful to the candidates who are all working so hard on this election.”

Lehman, who has a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Shippensburg University and a master of science degree in policy analysis from Penn State University, served four years in the U.S. Navy as a petty officer third class.