Oregon officials quit over ethics rules
latimes.com | 4/27/08 | Stuart Glascock
Help wanted: public servants willing to disclose major sources of income, business interests, real estate holdings and the names of their adult relatives. Sayonara and good luck with that, said some 150 elected and appointed Oregon officeholders who walked away from their public service gigs this month rather than disclose personal data. Many said they were particularly disturbed by the new requirement -- apparently unique to Oregon -- that they name so many family members. Resignations struck dozens of cities.
In rural eastern Oregon, the revolt against the state's new conflict-of-interest disclosure law obliterated some city governments.
In Elgin, the mayor, all six City Council members and all five planning commissioners opted to quit rather than file. Lexington lost its entire council, Enterprise its five-member Planning Commission. Banks lost four council members, North Powder three; Rogue River, Umatilla and Stanfield lost two each.
Roger Stover, a 14-year Elgin councilman, cited privacy as his reason for resigning. The required forms, he
said, would have tied his "whole family together" in one place like no other easily available public record.
Triggering the upheaval is this change in Oregon law: For nearly 35 years, many public officials had to
file Statements of Economic Interest that disclosed officeholders' sources of income, property holdings
and business interests. But 97 communities had been exempt from it. Last year, the Legislature voted to end
those exemptions -- and expanded the law to include a provision calling for the naming of all adult relatives.
The law now applies to about 5,000 officeholders -- mayors, city council members, planning commissioners,
school district superintendents and financial officers -- said Ron Bersin, executive director of the
Oregon Government Ethics Commission. The deadline for submitting information was April 15, and 150 officials
had not filed, in effect notifying the agency that they were resigning, Bersin said.
"This law reflects the public's concern for transparency and accountability in government," he said. "The
public wants to know if decisions you are making benefit you personally."
Still, no other state's disclosure laws sweep as broadly, said Peggy Kerns, director of the National Conference
of State Legislatures' Ethics Center in Denver.
"The purpose of these financial disclosure laws is so the public knows where a lawmaker's income comes
from," Kerns said. "Every locale has to decide how deep it goes into a family. Some states require just
the lawmaker. Others require the lawmaker and spouse. In comparison to what other states do, [Oregon's]
is broader."
Robert Stern, co-author of California's Political Reform Act and president of the Center for Governmental Studies
in Los Angeles, also said Oregon's requirement to name family members reaches further than other states.
Stern said that California requires the same degree of financial disclosure that Oregon does, but not the naming
of relatives. "You have to disclose assets of one's spouse and dependent children, but you don't have to
name them," Stern said.
By far, those officials who resigned objected most stringently to being asked to list their adult relatives, said
Scott Winkels, an intergovernmental relations associate at the League of Oregon Cities.
"We support a strong ethics policy, but our concern is that the requirement to report names of family members
is simply intrusive," Winkels said.
No one anticipated the widespread resignations, he said. Oregon law designed to maintain local
governments during emergencies is being tested for the first time, he said.
"Business in some cities has ground to a halt," Winkels said
His organization is working with the governor and the Legislature to "ameliorate some of the
unintended consequence of ethics reforms," he said.
Bersin thinks it's still too soon to judge.
"It's premature to say how long the effect [of the vacancies] is going to be," Bersin said. "There may be
several applicants standing in line to take the positions."
Basic city services -- water, power, police, and fire -- are being managed as usual, but no new decisions can
be made until council majorities are formed. To fill voids, county commissioners will appoint enough
council members to make quorums.
New public servants are needed all over the state -- from the coast to the Cascades to eastern farm and
logging communities. Public officials resigned over the disclosure forms in Canyon City, Keizer, Sweet
Home, Harrisburg, Monmouth, Tangent, Pilot Rock, Prairie City and Summerville.
Officials are scrambling. City managers are circulating ads for replacements.