Part Two: Jackson County District Attorney

Oregon publishes a Voters Pamphlet where candidates can describe their qualifications. 

It is best to be strictly honest. 

It is the law.

Close readers of Rogue Valley Times articles profiling the candidates for Jackson County district attorney noticed a tag at the end of one of the candidate profiles, that of Alyssa Bartholomew:

I am guessing the reporter discovered what I had noticed a few days prior. Alyssa Bartholomew's Voters Pamphlet described her occupational background as "Senior Counsel, Jackson County".

"Senior Counsel, Jackson County" was a title unfamiliar to me. I contacted the county's Human Resources Department and asked for the dates of her employment and her job titles. They reported this:

Hello Mr. Sage, 

We have received your email. 

 

Alyssa Bartholomew worked for Jackson County from 2/5/2007-1/30/2009 and her job title was Sr. Assistant County Counsel. The job description for this position can be located on our website at https://jacksoncountyor.gov/departments/administration/human_resources/job_classifications.php#outer-2027.

 

Thank you,

"Senior Assistant County Counsel" sounds like a significant job she could be proud to report accurately. But in the Voters Pamphlet she left out the word "Assistant" and turned it into "Senior Counsel."

A reporter writing a campaign profile might feel comfortable using a Voters Pamphlet biography as a reference. After all, the Voters Pamphlet rules show a bold-type warning that any statement must be truthful. In fact, a false statement here is a felony.

I wrote Bartholomew 10 days ago asking for an explanation for how the word "Assistant" got dropped from her job experience. I said it was a terrible place to be careless or dishonest. She responded. She said she didn't explicitly say she was the County Counsel.

As you’ve noted, my voter’s pamphlet entry says “Senior Counsel, Jackson County”. Counsel is a general term for attorney or lawyer. In some employment contexts, the term “attorney” is used, i.e. the City Attorney’s Office. In others, “counsel” is the job title. An example of that is a corporate setting, i.e. corporate counsel, general counsel, etc. Jackson County uses the title “counsel” for its attorneys. I was a senior counsel at Jackson County. The lead attorney for Jackson County is called “County Counsel.” I did not state I was the County Counsel, nor did I seek to mislead anyone to think I was.

She went on:

I served in the wake of the dismissal of the attorney serving as County Counsel. This action elevated those of us who remained on staff to senior positions. This all took place before Pay Equity, a transformative piece of legislation passed in 2017. In Post-Pay Equity Oregon, job titles are much more specific and positions are more rigid in their scope. When I worked as an attorney for Jackson County, especially in the absence of a County Counsel, employees were expected to address the needs of the county, and my colleagues and I were honored to do so.

I consider her Voters Pamphlet entry misleading. A reader would infer a more senior role than the one she had. Maybe, arguably, it wasn't an outright lie. Maybe she was just describing a job function she felt she performed. It wasn't explicitly said to be her official job title, and she just created her own description of her work and posted that. We just got the wrong impression. 

I see a pattern. Further down in her Voters Pamphlet biography she wrote: "As president of the OCDLA [Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association] she oversaw multi-million dollar budgets and directed a large staff." Is that exactly true? Well, she was on the OCDLA board. The organization had an executive director. Arguably, as a board member, she "oversaw" a multi-million dollar budget. That is what boards do: oversee. But she said she "directed" a large staff. Executive directors "direct" staff. Board member don’t "direct staff," not unless they are undermining and circumventing their executive director. 

I can understand district attorney candidates wanting to show that they held senior positions and carried out senior management responsibilities. Bartholomew is making the case for herself. Some readers may think I am nitpicking. Don't politicians lie to us all the time? Isn't this all just a bit of harmless resume puffery?

I don't want to be guilty myself of "rounding up" and exaggerating in my criticism of her. Bartholomew makes the case that "Senior Counsel" wasn't a job title, even if it looks like one. Maybe, through the executive director, she can legitimately say she "directed" staff because the executive director was the board's agent. Maybe we weren't lied to. I don't think her Voters Pamphlet biography is felony-level inaccurate. We just read what she wrote and draw the wrong, somewhat enhanced, conclusion about her qualifications. 

Still, her Voters Pamphlet biography makes me uncomfortable. I prefer a straight-arrow district attorney who is scrupulous about presenting the evidence without bending it to make a misdemeanor into a felony. Bartholomew probably has adequate experience for the job she seeks, even if it is overwhelmingly doing criminal defense, not prosecution. She didn't need to exaggerate, but she did.

I won't be voting for her. Her opponent is Patrick Green.

[Note: I have invited Bartholomew's campaign to write a guest post or in some other way to share her point of view directly.]

[Update: Sign your comments. People with complaints or suggestions for or against Bartholomew or Patrick Green, must sign their posts and include contact information so that I can verify your identity. Thanks.]

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