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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (June 6, 2012)
Careers Oregon Firsts: Female U.S. Attorney, Attorney General By Nigel Duara The Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Barring a dramatic upset in the attorney general’s race in November, two women will occupy the top two places in Oregon law enforcement by early next year, an unprecedented feat for women in a state with a good track record for putting women in leadership positions. Ellen Rosenblum handily won the Democratic primary for state attorney general in May, and her competition in the November general election will be a write-in Republican candidate. Her federal counterpart, U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall, has held her seat since October. But does it matter that two women are in this position? ``Of course it matters,’’ said Marshall, 43. ``It would be ungrateful of me to say it doesn’t matter. I think for girls growing up right now in Oregon, they look at Ellen and I and they think gee, what do I want to be when I grow up? I want to be the U.S. attorney, and I don’t think it’s just girls (that think that).’’ Marshall, the daughter of a mother who moved often in her childhood, said frequent changes helped shape her as a person and an attorney. ``It’s not just the fact I’m a woman,’’ she said. ``It’s also, I didn’t come from a position of privilege.’’ She’s had a job since her first paper route at age 11, later working as a waitress in a retirement home to earn money in high school. After graduating from the University of Oregon with a degree in rhetoric and communication and earning a law degree at Willamette University, Marshall began a career that would span the gamut of Oregon’s criminal justice sys- tem, beginning with tribal justice and including prosecuting major crimes in Coos County, working as a litigator in the Department of Justice and finishing as the department’s lead child advocacy attorney. It would serve her well before a 13-member selection committee convened by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden in 2009 to select three nominees for Oregon’s U.S. attorney. ``The idea that your two chief law enforcers are going to be women is really out of the box in some ways,’’ said Deb- bie Walsh, Director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. ``But if you were going to tell me it happens in a state, Oregon would be one of the states.’’ While Marshall thought her experience with state law enforcement gave her an edge in the run for U.S. attorney, she said Portland-area legal and political observers almost immediately cast doubt on her candidacy’s viability. ``The media, the press was so different. I was criticized for being too young and too inexperienced,’’ said Marshall, noting she graduated law school a year before one of the other people under consideration. ``I think being a woman, you get a whole different set of criticisms.’’ Walsh said it’s not uncommon for women in leadership to face uneven scrutiny, and managing the work-life balance sometimes requires masking personal obligations in order ‘The idea that your two chief law enforcers are going to be women is really out of the box in some ways. But if you were going to tell me it happens in a state, Oregon would be one of the states’ — Debbie Walsh, Director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University to avoid seeming distracted by them. ``It’s the kind of the thing where it sounds like the man should get the Nobel prize for going to his kids’ soccer game,’’ Walsh said. ``For women, if you have a kid respon- sibility, you tell people you’re going to the dentist.’’ After her name was forwarded by Wyden with two others to President Barack Obama — who made the pick — Mar- shall faced a nearly two-year wait for her Senate confirma- tion. Her focus now is on the high-profile cases started under her watch or her predecessors’, along with priorities she’s tried to set. Chief among them is child exploitation. Observing a system she thinks is in dire need of financial assistance and improved coordination at the state level, Marshall said she wants to take the idea of criminalization out of the process for victims of trafficking. ``Here’s what needs to happen if I’m philosopher queen and I have all the money in the world,’’ she said. ``Every time we find a child being trafficked on the street, (Depart- ment of Human Services) child welfare comes in and says, this child is at a risk for harm.’’ From there, she said, she would rather have the child treated as a dependent youth and kept out of the criminal system. But the problem, she said, is the state has nowhere to put them. ``Once they do that, then I can go and indict the pimp because I have a witness (but) that’s the problem, I don’t have these girls around long enough to take it to trial,’’ Mar- shall said. ``My concern is putting pimps in jail.’’ The combination of females as U.S. Attorney and attorney general isn’t unprecedented nationally. California’s attorney general is female, as are two of its four U.S. attorneys. When former Kate Pflaumer was picked to be U.S. attor- ney for Western Washington in the early 1990s, women were picking up federal and state leadership positions. A woman led the Washington State Police and the FBI in the state, and Christine Gregoire was the attorney general. Pflaumer herself was nominated by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray. ``At the monthly gatherings of FBI (Special Agents in Charge), we used to joke that we were going to bring in cloth napkins, make it a proper luncheon,’’ Plfaumer said. Marshall said her time at the state level gave her needed preparation for the job of managing some of the most com- plex cases in Oregon’s federal system. It was, she said, the some of the best early training for the job. ``That’s the best lesson for a lawyer, is learning who to listen to,’’ she said, ``and they’re usually not people above you, they’re people below you.’’ 2012-00093 pRoCUREmENT SpECIALIST, ASSISTANT Salary: $19.08 to $23.28 per hour NOTE: This Recruitment is limited to the first 85 qualified applicants or by June 11, 2012, whichev- er comes first. LITIGATIoN ATToRNEy The Portland City Attorney’s Office seeks an attorney with at least 5 years of experience to provide a broad range of litigation services for the City’s Bureau of Fire and Police Disability and Retirement. This attorney will provide general advice and will handle trials, administra- tive contested case hearings, and administrative and civil appeals. Experience with medical issues/experts desir- able. Annual salary approximately $86,000 - $102,000, depending on experience, plus excellent benefits. Sub- mit resume and cover letter to Kim Sneath, Portland City Attorney’s Office, 1221 SW Fourth Ave., Room 430, Port- land, OR 97204 or email: Kim.Sneath@portlandore- gon.gov. Deadline: 5:00 pm, June 15, 2012. The City of Portland is an Equal Opportunity Employer Minorities Encouraged to Apply 6-6-12 DIRECToR of SECURITy SERvICES portland public Schools Portland Public Schools is currently recruiting for the position Director of Security Services. To learn more about this opportunity and to apply for this position please visit our website at http://www.pps.k12.or.us/departments/hr/3340.htm and complete the online “Management" application. Should you have any questions about the position please con- tact Peter Wendel at peter@whitefoxgroup.com A Procurement Assistant provides clerical support and assistance to the more senior procure- ment staff members involved in the central- ized purchasing processes. Duties include: data entry and database updates; docu- ment formatting, review and distribution; adver- tising placement; provid- ing verbal and written customer service to con- tractors and vendors; and preparation and fil- ing of documents such as Council reports and ordinances, bid results and surety lists, con- tracts, exhibits, letters, forms, memos, calen- dars and reports. In addi- tion, Procurement Assistants are called upon to represent the City and provide infor- mation at outreach events or meetings. NOTE: While this recruit- ment is specific in seek- ing a person qualified specifically for the Con- struction Services Work Group, the resulting recruitment may also be used to satisfy the needs of other work groups within Procurement Services as like posi- tions become available. 6-6-12 www.theskanner.com 6-6-12 June 6, 2012 The Seattle Skanner Page 7
