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Commissioner Breidenthal faces possible ethics probe Jackson County files ethics complaint against commissioner Comment By Damian Mann Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Damian Mann Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 30, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Oct 30, 2015 at 6:44 PM By Damian Mann Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 30, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Oct 30, 2015 at 6:44 PM » RELATED CONTENT --> Contributors to the Friends of Doug Breidenthal account: *Combined Transport — $1,000 American Forest Resource Council — $1,000 Dougla... » Read more X Contributors to the Friends of Doug Breidenthal account: *Combined Transport — $1,000 American Forest Resource Council — $1,000 Douglas Timber Operators — $1,000 A.O.L. Services Inc. — $1,000 FirstVote PAC — $2,000 Southern Oregon Timber Industries Association — $1,000 *Coquille Indian Tribe — $750 *Rogue Valley Properties — $500 *Murphy Co. — $500 *Avista Corp. (Steve Vincent) — $750 *Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians — $1,000 * Companies or organizations that have required administrative or legislative decisions from the county. — Source: Jackson County ethics complaint against Breidenthal             • DOCUMENT: Complaint to Government Ethics Commission against Breidenthal... » Social News Jackson County officials filed an ethics complaint last week against Commissioner Doug Breidenthal raising questions of possible fraud and misuse of public funds related to expenses that include airfare to Alaska for his wife. The county’s 37-page complaint with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission dated Oct. 22 asks for an investigation into the possibility of “undue influence” because of $10,500 in contributions received by Breidenthal from groups that have contracts or seek decisions from the Board of Commissioners. The Mail Tribune obtained a copy of the complaint after filing a public records request with Jackson County. Commissioner Rick Dyer said he thinks it's appropriate to send the complaint to the ethics commission for an investigation. “It definitely raises your eyebrows and needs to be vetted and needs to be explored,” Dyer said. “I like to be as transparent as possible. I’m pretty sensitive to even the appearance of impropriety.” Dyer said he is not passing judgment on whether Breidenthal acted appropriately. 'There may be direct consequences to the county' Breidenthal set up a special account under the Association of Oregon Counties that was designed to help him get elected to a little-known group, Western Interstate Region, which is affiliated with the National Association of Counties. The Friends of Doug Breidenthal account is separate from an identically named account that Breidenthal used when he ran for commissioner in 2012. The county recently discovered that Breidenthal’s Western Interstate Region account had accumulated $10,500 in contributions, ranging from $500 to $2,000, from about a dozen groups, including the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians and the Coquille Indian Tribe. County Auditor Eric Spivak said in the complaint that if the commission determines state ethics laws have been violated, it could call into question decisions made by the Board of Commissioners because of the contributions Breidenthal received, which weren’t disclosed to the county. The county requires any gifts or contributions made to a county commissioner in excess of $50 be reported to avoid any question of undue influence. “There may be direct consequences to the county regarding the receipt of gifts by Commissioner Breidenthal from organizations with a legislative and/or administrative interest in decisions made by the board of commissioners,” Spivak wrote. Breidenthal released a statement late Wednesday night: “I have done nothing wrong. Having said that, the Ethics Commission has procedures and rules that must be followed and it is now time to let that process take place. I am confident that when the Ethics Commission has completed its work, that I will be exonerated and this unfortunate episode will be behind me, allowing me to continue to do the hard work on the issues that are important to the people of Jackson County.” On Thursday, Breidenthal said by phone that he’s not worried about the complaint. “This is a preliminary deal to find out if there should even be an investigation,” he said. Breidenthal said he’s looking forward to the ethics commission’s determination that he didn’t do anything wrong. He wouldn’t go into details about why he needed a campaign account to run for an elected office in the Western Interstate Region. Breidenthal said there were a few people interested when he was vying for the second vice president position in 2014. “When I run a campaign, I always run it to win it,” Breidenthal said. County confronts Breidenthal on special fund County Administrator Danny Jordan met with Breidenthal on several occasions in October to discuss the special account. On Oct. 19, according to the county's complaint, the AOC told Jordan that it was not the "owner" of the account. Breidenthal responded that statements made by the AOC were inaccurate and that everything related to the account had been reviewed by AOC legal counsel. Breidenthal referred to the county's raising the issue as "retribution," but he didn't clarify why, the complaint says. Breidenthal on Thursday also declined to go into details about why he felt the complaint was "retribution." Breidenthal on Oct. 21 said he received reimbursements only for travel expenses not covered by the county, according to the complaint. "Commissioner Breidenthal also stated that AOC specifically set up the account this way so that he wouldn't violate Oregon ethics laws including the gift limitation," the complaint says. The county discovered the irregularities on Oct. 15 when a staff member noticed that Breidenthal was reimbursed by the Association of Oregon Counties for travel expenses related to his duties as county commissioner. The county is investigating whether Breidenthal’s travel expenses may have been paid by the county as well, according to the complaint. Breidenthal, who is currently chairman of the Board of Commissioners and is running for re-election next year, is now first vice president of the Western Interstate Region, a group that is concerned with public land-use policies. According to the minutes of a WIR meeting in May 2015, it doesn’t appear that he had any opponents for first vice president position. The Friends of Doug Breidenthal account is managed by the Association of Oregon Counties for the purpose of holding and disbursing money for the payment of expenses related to Breidenthal’s election to office for the Western Interstate Region group in May 2014, the complaint says. The county alleges Breidenthal’s account funds may have been used for expenses not related to his WIR campaign. Donations made just before the Breidenthals' Alaskan trip Contributions to the account amount to $10,500 and came in part from the following parties that have contracts or have had other matters that have come before the county: Murphy Co., Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, the Coquille Indian Tribe, Combined Transport, Rogue Valley Properties and Avista Corp. Steve Vincent, Oregon regional business manager for Avista Utilities, said he remembers being approached by Breidenthal, who asked for his support in his campaign for the Western Interstate Region group. “I thought that was a great opportunity for Jackson County to have that national role,” Vincent said. Vincent said he received permission from his corporation before sending Breidenthal the check. He said he never got into any detail with Breidenthal on how the money would be spent. The county complaint also refers to a donation of wine by Harry and David for a reception hosted as part of Breidenthal's election to his Western Interstate position. “The value or amount of the wine and other goods contributed to Breidenthal is not known,” according to county documents. “This contribution is not documented in the ledger of the account.” The account ledger, obtained by the county from the Association of Oregon Counties, shows it had a balance of $9,678.10 on May 19, 2014, the day before Breidenthal and his wife flew to Alaska for the WIR convention, held May 21-23 in Anchorage. All of the donations were made within the eight weeks leading up to the conference. The account was drawn down to $1,475.82 by Oct. 21, 2014. The most recent balance indicates the account has $230.47 on Aug. 20, 2015. Among the expenses are $547.90 for airfare to Alaska for Breidenthal’s wife; a $1,000 campaign contribution to Rick Dyer, who was running for commissioner, on Aug. 14, 2014; and a reimbursement to pay travel expenses for Gilbert Riddell, an employee of the AOC, for $821.90 on May 13, 2014. It is not clear why Breidenthal paid for an AOC employee’s travel expenses. Laura Cleland, spokesman for the AOC, said her legal counsel is reviewing the complaint against Breidenthal and referred any questions to the ethics commission. The ethics commission confirmed that a complaint had been filed but wouldn’t discuss the matter further until after a 30-day review period. Dyer said he does remember receiving the $1,000 contribution but it was listed as being from Breidenthal personally, not from the Friends of Breidenthal account. The contribution was made through a website to his campaign, Dyer said. “Until recently, I didn’t know anything about the existence of this account,” he said. The largest expense in Breidenthal’s account was a check to The Hilton Anchorage on May 21, 2014, for $2,440.60, which included $1,395 for various seafood platters and a $125 bartender fee related to the Western Interstate Region conference. Alaskan expenses may have been paid by county, too In a memo to the commissioners dated Oct. 19, Jordan said he believes the county also paid expenses related to Breidenthal’s trip to Alaska but is waiting verification. In addition, Breidenthal’s account suggests he may have paid for travel expenses to Alaska for "three-to-four other people," Jordan said. Spivak said a list of Breidenthal’s expenses paid out of the AOC account occurred during a period of time that Breidenthal also was traveling on county business. “This concurrence of payments necessitates that I investigate whether the county’s conflict of interest, fraud or travel polices have been violated or if there are elements to indicate violations of criminal or other state or local laws or ordinances may have occurred,” Spivak wrote. In an email dated Oct. 14, Jennifer Regan, executive secretary of the Board of Commissioners, told LeAnn Walker at AOC’s fiscal services about reimbursements being made directly to Breidenthal for a Western Interstate Region trip to Boise, Idaho. “I expressed my concern regarding reimbursement for costs associated with the conference being issued to Doug personally,” Regan wrote. In her email, Regan said she was waiting for clarification on the issue from the AOC. WIR position a 'meaningful seat at the table' Brian Namey, spokesman for the National Association of Counties, said the election process for WIR typically involves becoming second vice president, then first vice president and finally president. He said he couldn’t comment on fundraising activities that are made by state county associations and individual counties. “It varies from county to county and state to state,” Namey said. He said many counties and states have an interest in seeing local officials get elected to national boards that can influence policy on issues such as timber harvests, emergency preparedness and economic development. “I would say having a leadership position in the Western Interstate Region means a county official has a meaningful seat at the table,” Namey said. Gordon Cruikshank, president of the Western Interstate Region group and a Valley County commissioner in Idaho, said he didn’t have any idea about the ethics complaint against Breidenthal. “This is all news to me,” he said. Cruikshank said he’s seen multiple candidates run for the same position with WIR, but he’s also seen instances where there was no competition. Cruikshank said he personally doesn’t have a separate account to pay for WIR business and doesn’t have a special debit card to pay for expenses. “All of the counties pay into a fund to help with my travel,” he said. “I have to get permission for every expense from the executive director of the Idaho Association of Counties.” His county also picks up the tab for some of his travel expenses, he said. He said the only time he gets reimbursed is when he is traveling in his capacity as president. He does travel with his wife sometimes, but Cruikshank says he always pays for her. Cruikshank said that when he ran for the Western Interstate Region group, “I paid everything out of my own pocket.” Roberts says she'll let ethics commission decide Commissioner Colleen Roberts said she will leave it up to the ethics commission to decide whether Breidenthal misused public funds. “There’s a lot of rules with elected officials and with public money that we have to pay close attention to,” she said. “I can’t imagine setting up a separate account for myself.” Roberts said she supports the county conducting an internal audit of Breidenthal’s expenses. As a commissioner, she said she tends to be overcautious because public officials are constrained in their conduct. When she became a commissioner, Roberts underwent an ethics training course conducted by the Association of Oregon Counties. “With the public’s money, you have to be very careful,” she said. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476 or [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter @reporterdm . By Damian Mann Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Damian Mann Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 30, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Oct 30, 2015 at 6:44 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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