street roots
Aug. 17, 2012
ROSENBLUM, from page 1
religious activities o f Oregonians. In recent
years, we’ve seen more collaboration between
local and federal law enforcement, which has
shown an increasing willingness to monitor
citizens. What role do you see the attorney
general playing to make sure Oregonians
aren’t unduly spied upon?
E.R.: I just had a meeting with
representatives from the ACLU, and I know
that they are interested in ensuring this
potentially through legislation. I’ll work with
them if there’s something they’re proposing.
I’ll definitely want to be at the table on that.
I don’t want people who aren’t violating
the law to be spied upon in our state. The
attorney general’s office has a role in
surveillance issues, and I want to make sure
that it’s all properly done. I’m proud to say
that from what I understand, and I’m new to
the job, but the work that we do has not
been questioned in the courts. It’s never
come up through the courts as improper
type of surveillance, and so I’m hoping that
will continue to be the case under my
leadership. I’ll also be at the table with the
groups that are supportive of law
enforcement. But I don’t want people who
are innocent to be spied on. That’s just not
the way government ought to be run. So
rest assured, that’s not going to happen
under my watch to the extent that it’s within
my responsibilities.
didn’t give up all that much for entering the
settlement which does provide us with some
financial compensation.
J.T.: You said it’s a good start. W hat’s next
fo r the banks with you heading up the Oregon
Departm ent o f Justice?
E.R.: Well, I think the most important
thing really is to try and keep people in
their homes and to bring banks to be
accountable for any kind of fraud, or if there
has been any criminal behavior to take them
to task for that. But I think what’s most
important right now is to find a way to be at
the table with all the entities and people
involved to keep people in their homes, and
that’s what I’m hopeful about with this
mediation program. Unfortunately, it’s not
looking as promising as I would have hoped
at the out set.
So that’s what I’m really focused on right
now, how to get everyone at the table and
find out what the problem is and why it’s
not moving along as we would have hoped
with the banks participating in the program.
There’s a lot going on right now causing
banks to hesitate to participate in the
program. I want to find a way to get past
that.
J.T.: Are you p la n n in g to go to the
legislature fo r any new powers or authorities.
E.R.: I am going to reconvene a law
improvement group in the attorney
J.T.: What do you think about the settlement general’s office. You’re catching me a little
ahead of the curve on that decision because
between the five banks deemed most responsible
I’m not sure what its agenda is going to be.
fo r the foreclosure crisis a n d 49 state attorneys
I’m really not sure it’s going to be necessary
general?
yet to ask for more powers or authority. I
think that we have a lot of enforcement
E.R.: I think it was a good start. We’ve
powers, we need to use them appropriately.
followed up since then with our mortgage
As far as legislative matters, I’m looking
servicer rules to ensure the protection of
to be actively involved
our homeowners. We
in the area of
have a very excellent
corrections reforms,
Unlawful Trade
and that’s really
Practices Act in
important and highly
Oregon. So what
The (national »©rtfage>
relevant to what an
we’ve done is create
settlement was probably the
attorney general does.
rules that I think are
So that’s maybe
best we oowW i o at that
helpful as guidance
number one for me
to our mortgage
time, and what was good
for what I think I can
servicers, and I think about It — la addition of
contribute during this
they’ll assist us in
legislative session.
bringing enforcement coarse to the money and the
As I’m sure you’re
regnlrements that the banks
actions where we
aware my predecessor
need to do that. And
are now subject to — Is that
had a very ambitious
we may well need to
It kept open other options for agenda regarding
do that because
states« We still bane the right public records. I want
there have been
to take another look
some real problems.
to go after the banks lor
at it. I’m not planning
So I’m in favor of the Ira n i and criminal activities.
on bringing back the
settlement.
same overall redo of
I don’t think it
the law, but I
solves all the
definitely want to look
problems. We have a
at some areas and see
mortgage foreclosure
what we. can focus on. There are, like, 400
avoidance mediation program up and
exemptions in the public records law. I’m
running, and I hope that’s going to be a
not sure that’s in the interest of the public.
helpful program for homeowners helping
them stay in their homes.
J.T.: H a d you been A G when the
negotiations were being worked out, would you
have handled it differently? Would you have
held out fo r more money or a fu ll investigation
o f the banks?
E.R.: I really can’t answer that because I
don’t know all the details of the
negotiations. But from what I know of the
resolution of the settlement it was probably
the best we could do at that time, and what
was good about it - in addition of course to
the money and the requirements that the
banks are now subject to — is that it kept
open other options for states. We still have
the right to go after the banks for fraud and
criminal activities. So I was pleased that we
safety but at the same time save money. I
think we’re close to the top on how much
we spend on incarceration in this state. I
served as the chair of the governor’s
advisory committee on corrections
populations forecast for a long time. We had
people crunching numbers and telling us
each quarter what the effects of various
sentencing polices were having on our
populations, and I can tell you it was always
bad news.
Measure 11 appeared, and I emphasize
appeared, to blame for that. Now in addition
to Measure 11 there’s Measure 57 and
other potential measures. So it’s not just
about Measure 11, it’s about what is the
right sentencing policy in the state to
ensure that costs can be conserved and
continue to provide for the safety of the
public.
I think the public safety commission that
the governor has convened has some
excellent people on it. I’m anticipating that
report from the commission, and I ’m
meeting with people on it on a regular basis.
At the end of the day, I’d like to develop
my own position as to whether to adopt the
recommendations of the commission and
hopefully be in a position to persuade the
governor. The governor has such incredible
clout, but he also has such an ambitious
agenda of his own. I don’t know that this is
at the top of his list as far as what he’s
focused on, and I’d like to be the one to
move his office in a direction of support. If
we can get on the same page on some core
recommendations, then that has the chance
of moving forward as a legislative package.
I think that Measure 11 is part of the
whole package and you can’t set it to the
side and say, this is sacred ground, you can’t
touch it. And you can’t say it’s a disaster and
causing all the problems. I think we have to
be open minded about Measure 11 and not
be afraid to mention it. Of course it didn’t
come about the same way as our sentencing
guidelines, but it’s part of our law. I have
applied Measure 11 a thousand times as a
judge in Oregon.
J.T.: Oregon m ight legalize m arijuana this
fa ll. I f the federal governm ent objects, how will
yo u r office respond?
E.R.: Well, I haven’t really thought too
much about that yet. I try to look at it on a
step-by-step basis, and our responsibility at
this point is to ensure that ballot measures
have gotten on properly.
Once we get to that point, my job, the
way I look at it, is to enforce the will of the
people, just like with the medical marijuana
law was the will of the people 14 years ago,
and I’ve said on a number of occasions that
I will stand up for the people of Oregon
because I think that’s the the right thing to
do as the state attorney general. I’m not the
U .S . attorney. I’m not the U .S . attorney
general. They each do their job. I’ll do mine.
J.T.: So yo u ’ll defend the law i f the federal
government objects to it?
J.T.: You mentioned corrections. What do
you think about M easure 11 (Oregon’s
mandatory sentencing law)? We’ve locked up a
bunch o f people, disproportionately minorities,
and it’s costing lots o f money.
E.R.: What I want to talk about is our
felony sentencing structure, and that’s part
of it, even the death penalty is part of it. It’s
all part of ensuring the safety of our citizens
and providing the appropriate punishment
and rehabilitation, all the things that go into
consideration with sentencing. The bottom
line is this: the system we have right now, in
my view, is too expensive. But at the same
time, as attorney general it’s my job to
ensure the safety of our citizens.
Let’s focus on what we can do to ensure
E.R.: Absolutely.
J.T.: C a n I ask you how y o u ’re p la n n in g to
vote on that initiative?
E.R.: I haven’t decided. I haven’t even
read it. So I don’t know how I’m going to
vote, and I’m not sure I would tell you if I
did know. I want to be really fair and take a
neutral position at this point given the role
the attorney general plays in the ballot
measure process.
J.T.: Your predecessor reinstated a civil
rights program at the D O J. D o you have any
plans fo r that?
E.R.: Well, what he did actually was hire
one lawyer. So I guess you can call that a
program because we didn’t have a lawyer
doing civil rights exclusively. That’s not to
say we didn’t have lawyers handling civil
rights.
I absolutely want to continue our role in
civil rights. That said, we have to make sure
that we have the resources to do that, and
doing it in a way that works in collaboration
with other state agencies, such as the
Bureau of Labor and Industries.
There were some real difficulties, to put
it mildly, between my predecessor and the
labor commissioner, and that’s been
smoothed over really well by our civil rights
lawyer.
I’d like to see what we can do in the area
of housing and the area of employment with
the labor commissioner and what he can do
in his shop is really important.
J.T.: Are there any other attorneys general
that are doing good work y o u ’d like to
replicate?
E.R.: There is one project that I’m
particularly interested in. The attorneys
general of California and Nevada, both of
them women, are jointly engaged in a
human trafficking project, and they’ve
invited me to consider joining up with them.
But I need to get the details from them first
before I join up. So it makes sense for me to
try and collaborate on something like that,
and it also happens to be an area where the
attorney general has not been involved in
the past. So I think it’s about time that we
were involved, to whatever degree is
appropriate.
J.T.: D u rin g the campaign you said you
wanted to look after mothers, children, the
elderly an d other vulnerable populations.
What specific things are you going to do?
E.R.: We have a lot of really great
programs, but they’ve never really been
highlighted. Half of our employees are in 12
offices across the state work in collecting
child support. The fact of the matter is that
those people are all looking out for the
health and safety of our kids. I want to make
sure we’re doing that effectively. I want to
bring our computers up to the modern age.
We’re using a 1980s program to collect child
support.
With the elderly, I want to bring back our
focus on elder abuse; whether we need to
have new policies. I want to reconvene the
elder abuse task force. I don’t think that the
attorney general has been as engaged, and
I’ve asked our people what kind of focus we
have in our Consumer Protection Division.
About 80 percent of the complaints that we
get are from seniors.
In the past we’ve had a consumer
outreach person doing four or more events a
week. That person has moved to the
consumer protection division doing more
case work. I want a Spanish speaker in the
front office, someone who will be able to get
out into the community and focus on our
vulnerable diverse communities, our senior
communities and our kids and teens.
You can’t just assume that because we
have a plan for one community, it can be
folded over onto another community. The
Hispanic community isn’t the same as the
black community. They don’t have all the
same concerns. Community organizing is
something that traditionally isn’t the thing
you think of with the attorney general’s
office.
I’m not saying we should be siloing our
community, but it’s becoming clear they
have different issues, and we can’t jsust
throw them all into the same pot.
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