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BY CAMILLA MORTENSEN
Unfounded Investigation
County documents show a spending scandal
“I
just feel this whole thing to be an incredible waste
of time and of taxpayer money,” Lane County
Commissioner Pete Sorenson said of a recent
$16,000 investigation. The investigation concluded that
not only are commissioners within their First Amendment
rights to speak to the media, but it is also within their elected
authority to vote as they see fi t “on issues, policies and
appointments.”
Documents show that County Administrator Liane
Richardson spent $16,000 of taxpayer money in a strange
investigation of her allegations against commissioners
Rob Handy and Sorenson that were judged on Sept. 23 to
be unfounded and without evidence. Aaron Olson of Local
Government Personnel Institute (LGPI), which “offers
human resources and labor relations assistance to cities,
counties and special districts,” conducted the investigation.
Among Richardson’s allegations were “comments made
about Commissioner Handy’s body language and facial
expressions demonstrating retaliatory behavior toward Ms.
Richardson in board meetings.” Olson found no evidence to
support the allegation in his fi nding of fact.
This is not the fi rst time Richards has accused a colleague
of having body language issues. In a 2006 Corvallis Gazette
Times article Richardson accused a judge whom she argued
in front of as a deputy district attorney in Benton County of
being “disdainful” of her in court and showing it through
“eye-rolling and impatient sighs.” Richardson resigned from
her position, she said, because of the animosity she felt the
judge directed toward her, according to the article.
The unfounded allegations against Handy and Sorenson
are identical in the LGPI fi ndings. They include “feeding
questions to a Eugene Weekly reporter regarding decisions
Ms. Richardson is making in certain areas,” not voting
for “Ms. Richardson’s appointment as permanent county
administrator,” and retaliating against Richardson because of
her role as county legal counsel in the Ellie Dumdi lawsuit.
The investigation targets Handy specifi cally, in addition to
the allegations of body language issues, for not communicating
with Richardson, calling her a “liar” and saying she “is not
to be trusted,” and having his attorney send her a letter. The
investigator wrote in regard to the allegation that Handy told
Richardson’s staff “she is a liar and not to be trusted,” that “I
contacted the names provided by Ms. Richardson and those
persons refuted Ms. Richardson’s allegation.”
In a July 11, 2011 email to commissioners Sid Leiken,
Jay Bozievich and Faye Stewart (copied to Madilyn Zike, the
county’s human resources director), Richardson specifi es that
she is concerned about Handy discussing her hiring of former
television news reporter Rick Dancer for $40,800 to make
videos for the county, as well as discussing diversity issues
and economic development. EW attempted to get documents
related to Dancer’s hiring over an equally qualifi ed proposal
for $14,640 but was told by the county that the public records
request would costs hundreds of dollars.
Handy said, “I think the report from the consultant hired
to ‘investigate’ this matter clearly shows that our county
administrator took things personally that weren’t personal.”
He added, “I had hoped that this report would not be leaked,
as it makes Lane County look bad and it makes our county
administrator look bad.”
The investigator wrote that the letter sent by Handy’s
attorney, which apparently caused Richardson to decline
assistance from an outside mediator, was “not a form of
retaliation but a response to an ongoing problem that needed
intervention then and still does today.”
Handy said, “instead of an internal mediation, county
funds were used to address Ms. Richardson’s personality
confl icts.”
The investigator’s report concludes, “The facts of
this investigation do not support her complaint and there
is no relevant evidence detected or found to meet the
preponderance standard of validating Ms. Richardson’s
allegation of retaliation.”
Richardson did not respond to a request for comment
before press time.
Handy said the investigation was “a strange way to go
about things, and, I have heard, very expensive. There has
never been any apology offered to Commissioner Sorenson
and myself for being put through this. I think there should
be.”
Handy said he believes Richardson should personally
repay the almost $50,000 of county funds spent on this
investigation — $16,000 for the investigator and $25,000
to hire an attorney to give Richardson legal advice and
representation “in employment issues of the county” — and
he says he plans to bring this issue of repayment up before
the board.
The reason Richardson cited in emails and in the LGPI
documents for believing Handy and Sorenson would retaliate
against her was for her role as county counsel in the Seneca
Jones-funded lawsuit brought by Dumdi and Ed Anderson
against Sorenson, Handy and former commissioner Bill
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Fleenor. The suit resulted in a controversial and convoluted
ruling that said Handy, Sorenson, Stewart and former
commissioner Bill Dwyer violated public meetings laws in
their discussions about the county budget via serial email
discussions. Because Dwyer and Stewart were not named
in the timber company-funded suit they were not found
in violation or asked to pay thousands as a result of the
settlement.
The settlement did not require Handy and Sorenson to
admit any wrongdoing in the case, nor does it appear to have
affected the way any other Oregon government agency runs.
In the recent decision to terminate UO President Richard
Lariviere from his position, the Oregon Board of Higher
Education president took a poll of the board before it made
its offi cial vote almost a week later.
An email from Richardson to Zike on Jan. 19, 2011 starts,
“I want to make a record that Commissioner’s (sic) Handy
and Sorenson will attempt to retaliate against me for my role
in Dumdi,” and goes on to say she does not believe they will
vote for her as permanent county administrator.
According to the emails EW examined, Richardson
authorized an expenditure of $25,000 of county money to
hire an attorney while contemplating fi ling a retaliation
complaint against the county.
Richardson signed the contract with Laura T.Z.
Montgomery of Gleaves Swearingen Potter & Scott LLC
on July 12, 2011. This was the day after she sent an email
to commissioners Leiken, Bozievich and Stewart accusing
Handy of retaliating against her for her role in the Dumdi
case. Dumdi and Anderson were represented by lawyers
from Gleaves Swearingen Potter & Scott in the open
meetings lawsuit, meaning that Richardson hired a law fi rm
to represent her in her role as county administrator that had
already represented interests possibly adverse to the county.
Montgomery appears to have represented Richardson
during the LGPI investigation, as her initials and/or the words
“Received from Laura T.Z. Montgomery” appear on several
of the documents.
Board Chair Stewart did not respond to an inquiry from
EW before press time as to whether he or other commissioners
knew it appeared Richardson was contemplating a retaliation
complaint against the county at the same time she was being
hired for a permanent position as county administrator.
Handy says, despite all the unfounded investigation,
“I pledge to continue to work with Ms. Richardson as one
professional to another — I have never done less.”
ew
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EUGENE WEEKLY DECEMBER 15, 2011 13