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TUESDAY EDITION
October 26, 2021
‘I’m really
going to
miss it’
Crossing the bar
Customers lament
looming closure of
Bi-Mart pharmacy
The Oregon State Bar clears Union County District Attorney Kelsie McDaniel of ethics complaint
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Four
years ago Heather Rekow
of La Grande was stunned.
Rekow was at the phar-
macy at La Grande’s
Bi-Mart store to pick up a
prescription for an urgent
health issue when she
saw her bill — one for an
eye-popping unexpected
$500.
“I could not believe it,”
she said.
Rekow needed the med-
ication immediately but did
not feel she had the back-
ground needed to call her
insurance company in an
attempt to get it to cover
a portion of the expense.
Then a Bi-Mart pharma-
cist came to the rescue. The
pharmacist volunteered
to make the call and after
a few minutes managed
to get Rekow’s insurance
company to bring her share
of the bill down to $50.
Rekow was thankful
See, Bi-Mart/Page A5
A legacy
of tireless
community
service
Shelia Evans
remembered
for her outreach
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — About
three years ago Dan Cosner,
a member of the Island
City Lions Club, one of
the Grande Ronde Valley’s
leading community service
organizations, was con-
cerned about its president,
Shelia Evans.
“I asked if she was wor-
ried about getting burned
out because she was taking
on so many projects,”
Cosner said.
Evans’ response shed
See, Evans/Page A5
against state recommendations. In one case,
during pretrial, the memo states, Williams
gave advice from the bench to the defense
attorney and recommended a key expert wit-
ness for the defense.
But according to Morrison’s complaint,
in that case, nearly 250 pages of transcripts,
mostly centered around pretrial discussions
regarding suppression of evidence, show Wil-
liams gave even-handed direction and advice
to the state and the defense. McDaniel did
not paint a true picture of Williams’ actions,
according to Morrison.
McDaniel, through her lawyer Dayna
Underhill — wife of former Multnomah
County District Attorney Rod Underhill —
asked the Oregon State Bar for a prompt dis-
missal. The response affi rmed that none of the
allegations against Williams in the original
memorandum amounted to ethics violations
and McDaniel operated within legal standards
and frameworks when writing the memo.
The bar dismissed the ethics complaint,
fi nding McDaniel never misquoted Williams
nor made statements that were lies. The bar
did, however, examine the allegation that
McDaniel had omitted context in the memo
but determined McDaniel only needed to
show a perception of bias to recuse Williams.
By ALEX WITTWER
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Union County District
Attorney Kelsie McDaniel is free of a com-
plaint that hounded her for almost a year.
Retired attorney Anne Morrison’s com-
plaint to the Oregon State Bar against
McDaniel stemmed from the prosecutor’s
action in 2020 to block Circuit Judge Wes Wil-
liams from presiding over criminal cases. The
bar on Sept. 11 dismissed the complaint.
“My actions were driven at all times by my
statutory and constitutional obligations as DA
for Union County,” McDaniel said. “My rep-
resentations have been and will continue to be
truthful and accurate. When I learn of addi-
tional information, I clarify.”
The events preceding the complaint, which
The Observer reported in April 2020, were
based on an 31-page memorandum McDaniel
submitted to the court alleging Williams com-
mitted dozens of instances of misconduct
and that the state could not receive a fair trial
under him. McDaniel used the memo as the
basis to remove Williams from presiding over
criminal cases.
Williams has not spoken about McDaniel’s
move to sideline him.
“The code of judicial ethics forbids me
from making a public comment regarding
McDaniel’s memo,” he said.
Williams, however, off ered up a written
statement he had prepared:
“My campaign promise to the people of
Union and Wallowa counties was that I would
honor the principles of equality before the law
and that I would treat all with mutual respect
and dignity; and protect their constitutional
rights. I have and I will continue to remain
true to this promise.”
Memorandums
Williams was not the fi rst to receive such a
memo.
Rod Underhill as district attorney of Mult-
nomah County in 2017 fi led a nearly identical
memo against Circuit Judge Judith Matarazzo.
The Underhill memo covered four areas of
concern while McDaniel’s memo contains six,
and the Underhill memorandum chronicled
10 years of alleged misconduct where as the
McDaniel memorandum is from 2019-20, and
fi ve of the complaints concern matters in Jan-
uary 2019, soon after Williams took his oath
as a judge.
Other district attorneys in Oregon have
fi led similar motions to remove circuit judges,
including in Umatilla, Lane and Klamath
counties. And other district attorneys in
Eastern Oregon have removed Williams from
cases. The Baker County District Attorney’s
Offi ce confi rmed it disqualifi es Williams
whenever he presides on cases there, though
without an accompanying memo.
Oregon law gives attorneys the power to
bench a judge. An attorney only needs to fi le
a motion to recuse a judge and provide an affi -
davit stating they believe they cannot have a
fair and impartial trial or hearing before the
judge, and the action is in good faith and not
for the purpose of delaying proceedings. The
affi davits don’t require evidence or allegations,
such as the ones from Underhill or McDaniel.
The law, however, requires dismissing a
judge in each case. The McDaniel memo-
randum acted as a blanket dismissal of Wil-
McDaniel
Morrison
Williams
“It’s very much a nuclear
option for something. It
doesn’t even look like they
tried anything else fi rst.”
Amber Bevacqua-Lynott
liams for all cases.
“It’s very much a nuclear option for
something. It doesn’t even look like they tried
anything else fi rst,” said Amber Bevacqua-
Lynott, a former Oregon State Bar discipline
counsel attorney.
McDaniel’s offi ce pulled it off for more
than a year, at least up until she took mater-
nity leave earlier this year. The district attor-
ney’s offi ce continues to fi le disqualifi cations
against Williams, though without the memo.
Morrison sticks to her story
A second look
Morrison appealed, but the bar reaf-
fi rmed its position that McDaniel acted in a
lawful way and had done nothing wrong. The
Oregon State Bar Professional Responsibility
Board also stated the backdrop of the Mor-
rison complaint was based on a political feud
between McDaniel and Williams.
“I am pleased that the Oregon State Bar
Professional Responsibility Board saw it the
same way and dismissed the complaint in its
entirety,” McDaniel said. “Being the district
attorney comes with having to make diffi cult
decisions, but I always strive to do the right
thing.
The memo in the eyes of the Oregon State
Bar only needed to show what McDaniel
believed to be true, even if the addition of
context from the court transcripts provided
counterpoints to many allegations.
Morrison disagreed with the bar’s ruling.
“What they’re saying is that in this con-
text, she doesn’t have to give the full facts,”
she said. “She only has to give what supports
her belief. I was dumbfounded when I read
that.”
With the bar complaint receiving its second
dismissal, however, Morrison’s options
moving forward are limited.
“I feel that strongly that she has badly mis-
represented what happened,” Morrison said.
“And, you know, she’s the DA.
It’s her job to hold all of us
accountable. If we go out
there and violate the
law, we should be
called into call to
account for it.
If we’re found
responsible for
it, we should be
held responsible
for it. ... I think
she should be
held account-
able for what
she does.”
The disqualifi cations relegated Williams to
a minimal workload. And the memo under-
pinning the motions drew the scrutiny of
Morrison.
She saw an article in The Observer and the
31-page memorandum as unusual — citing
multiple occurrences where that judge has
shown impropriety and bias. She said using
that memo to subsequently sideline the judge
was cause for concern.
Morrison obtained copies of the transcripts
and public records that were used in drafting
the memorandum and set to work.
“When I started comparing what Kelsie
McDaniel had said in her memorandum to
the actual transcript, I thought there are mul-
tiple misrepresentations,” Morrison said. “It’s
not just one. It’s not just an accident because
it happens over and over and over again. And
they’re serious misrepresentations, because if
you heard the whole story instead of what she
was saying in her memorandum, I think your
picture of any of those decisions made by the
judge might be very diff erent.”
She said she found an issue with nearly
every single complaint in the memo.
“The DA has essentially lied to the court,
which we’re not allowed to do,” Morrison
said, “and I think has lied to the public also
about these cases because she has mis-
represented so many of them in such an
extreme way.”
So she sent a complaint of her
own to the Oregon State Bar
against McDaniel.
Matters of
representations
McDaniel’s accusations of
impropriety cites cases where
Williams reduced bail and
decided not to jail
defendants
Alex Wittwer/
Wittwer/The Observer
The Union County Courthouse, as seen on
Wednesday, July 14, 2021, sits on the same
block as the county’s original courthouse.
INDEX
Classified ...............B4
Comics ....................B7
Community...........A2
Crossword .............B4
Dear Abby .............B8
WEATHER
Home ......................B1
Horoscope .............B4
Letters ....................A4
Lottery ....................A2
Obituaries ..............A3
THURSDAY
Opinion ..................A4
Records ..................A3
Sports .....................A6
State ........................A8
Sudoku ...................B7
CONTACT US
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Issue 126
2 sections, 16 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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