Oregon local official recent corruption scandals

[Paul Melman]

I asked chatgpt deep research to find me examples of corruption among local and county officials in the past couple years and there are some good ones that we could potentially leverage to promote EBJ.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A5gg9r-O-_gFb9oQMSif4ze3VajzXso8IY1hXaAoVA8/edit?usp=sharing

One of them was even in Deschutes county (corrupt sheriff). Maybe we should reach out to Josh and other central Oregon friends to try to gauge appetite for an EBJ ballot measure. 

[Clay S]

Based on Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) 8.665:

• District Attorneys are elected officials
• Each county elects its own District Attorney
• The term of office is four years

The statute explicitly states that District Attorneys are to be elected, not appointed. This means the method of selection is mandated by state law to be through public election, not appointment by a governor, judge, or other official.

Key Points

• Election is the mandatory method of selection
• No provision exists for gubernatorial or other appointment
• Candidates must be qualified lawyers residing in the county they seek to serve

The Oregon statutes specify that District Attorneys are elected, but don't explicitly mandate that the election must be by the general voting public. The law uses the term "elected" without specifying the exact electorate.

While the historical and current practice is election by general public vote, there's no constitutional provision that would absolutely prevent alternative election methods. The statutes could potentially be interpreted to allow for different election mechanisms, such as:

• Election by a jury
• Election by county commissioners
• Other alternative voting bodies

However, changing the current election method would likely require:

1. A legislative change to the specific statutes governing DA selection
2. Potentially a constitutional amendment if challenged
3. Careful legal drafting to ensure the alternative method meets constitutional requirements for representative governance

To definitively answer whether a jury election would be legally valid would require a detailed legal analysis by a constitutional law expert familiar with Oregon's specific statutes and judicial precedents.

The most authoritative way to confirm this would be to consult with the Oregon Attorney General's office or seek an official legal interpretation of the relevant statutes.