OREGON
Thursday, December 31, 2020
McCall’s allegations
‘unsubstantiated,’
according to report
By MAXINE BERNSTEIN
The Oregonian
SALEM — A labor lawyer
hired by the governor’s offi ce
determined that former public
records advocate Ginger McCall’s
accusations against the governor’s
staff of pressuring her to take their
side on public records matters
rather than maintaining indepen-
dence were “unsubstantiated.”
Attorney Brenda K. Baumgart
wrote in a 57-page report, released
last week in response to a pub-
lic records request, that Gov. Kate
Brown’s former legal counsel,
Misha Isaak, did not engage in
“unprofessional or inappropri-
ate conduct” in his dealings with
McCall when she was the state’s
public records advocate and
chaired the state’s Public Records
Advisory Council.
“Noticeably absent from the
record is the identifi cation of any
political interest, agenda, or prior-
ity of the Governor that Mr. Isaak
pressured Ms. McCall to advance
with the Counsel and, second-
arily, how that political interest,
agenda, or priority was anti-trans-
parency or otherwise in confl ict
with reform efforts desired by Ms.
McCall or the Council,” Baumgart
wrote.
McCall said she was deeply dis-
appointed in the report, but wasn’t
surprised based on the limited
number of people who Baumgart
questioned.
McCall resigned in September
2019, saying that Isaak pressured
her to secretly work to advance the
governor’s policy positions, and
told her that she reported to him
and should vet any public records
legislation, policy proposal and
report with the governor’s offi ce
before releasing them.
McCall explained in a letter to
the governor when she resigned
that she accepted the job with the
understanding the public records
Isaak
McCall
advocate would have a high
degree of independence to medi-
ate records disputes, identify bar-
riers to transparency and recom-
mend legislative fi xes.
Isaak welcomed the report’s
fi ndings.
“The events surrounding these
allegations were the most painful
of my life,” he said in an email.
“After more than a year, I am
relieved that my name has been
cleared, and that I can put this
painful episode behind me.”
McCall said the report appears
to “refl ect an investigation which is
designed to rehabilitate the images
of the Governor and her former
staff and to cast doubt on me.”
She noted that Baumgart spoke
to staff from the governor’s offi ce
and three other state offi cials with
close ties to Brown, but did not
speak to McCall’s former deputy
Todd Albert or anyone from the
Public Records Advisory Council,
the Secretary of State’s Offi ce, the
Oregon State Archives or the Ore-
gon Department of Justice.
“Ms. Baumgart did not inter-
view a single person outside of the
Governor’s circle,” McCall said by
email.
“She clearly gives great cre-
dence to Mr. Isaak and Ms.
(Emily)
Matasar’s
recollec-
tions over mine. But my meeting
memos were recorded contempo-
raneously, in the hours and days
after the meetings. I had nothing
to gain by resigning my position,”
McCall said. Matasar had been the
governor’s government account-
ability attorney and is now in pri-
vate practice.
East Oregonian
A9
Oregon Legislature argues Capitol staff
unionization would be unconstitutional
By DIRK VANDERHART
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — Similar reasoning
sunk an attempt by Delaware aides
to unionize earlier this year.
Oregon Capitol staffers attempt-
ing to form a union encountered a
potential roadblock on Tuesday,
Dec. 29.
Their employer says they’re not
allowed.
In a formal document fi led with
the state, the Oregon Legislature
raised a host of objections why the
push for a fi rst-of-its-kind union of
legislative aides can not move for-
ward as proposed.
The most sweeping argument:
that such a move would be uncon-
stitutional. Because the state’s
Employment Relations Board,
which certifi es public-employee
unions, is part of the executive
branch, the Legislature says the
board is barred by the separation
of powers clause in the Oregon
Constitution to order lawmakers to
recognize a union.
“These subject employees work
to perform legislative related func-
tions and duties,” the objection
said. “Any recognition of the bar-
gaining unit by a branch of the
government other than the Oregon
Legislature would violate Arti-
cle III, section 1 of the Oregon
Constitution.”
That argument is similar to
one raised by offi cials in Dela-
ware after legislative staffers there
attempted to unionize earlier this
year. The legal reasoning proved
potent enough to sink that effort.
It’s not clear what impact it will
have in Oregon. The International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Local 89, which Capitol staffers in
Salem are hoping to join, told Ore-
gon Public Broadcasting earlier
this month it didn’t think such an
argument would fl y in Oregon.
“We looked at that case when
the campaign started,” IBEW
Local 89 organizer Tony Ruiz
wrote in an email on Dec. 20. “We
don’t believe the same argument
could be made based on Oregon
rules and so far no challenges have
Kaylee Domzalski/Oregon Public Broadcasting, File
House Speaker Tina Kotek motions to someone on the House fl oor on
April 11, 2019. Offi cially, Kotek has kept quiet on eff orts by Oregon Legis-
lature staff to unionize.
been made by the employer.”
But the Legislature is now rais-
ing the issue as a central reason
why legislative aides cannot be
recognized as a union.
“Nationwide,
counsel
for
the Employer is unaware of any
administrative or judicial branch
rendering a constitutionally valid
recognition of a bargaining unit
within the legislative branch,”
Oregon Department of Justice
attorney Tessa Sugahara wrote in
the state’s objection.
Oregon has grappled with the
separation of powers in a union-
ization push before. In 1983, the
Legislature passed a bill ensuring
that the chief justice of the Oregon
Supreme Court would have the
authority to bargain with judicial
branch employees. As part of its
objections, the Legislature notes
that no similar action has been
taken for the Legislative branch.
The Legislature raises more
issues, too. It says that many —
and perhaps most — employees
proposed to be included in the bar-
gaining unit might be ineligible
because they either possess, or are
eligible to possess, management or
confi dential duties within lawmak-
ers’ offi ces. And the Legislature
argues that the constantly rotating
cast of lawmakers and staffers in
the Capitol makes the number of
employees eligible to join a union
hard to pin down.
“By the end of December 2020,
some of the employees included
in the proposed unit who may
have been employed at the time
the petition was fi led will have
left employment at the Legisla-
ture due to a newly elected offi -
cial replacing their member and
that new member hiring personal
staff of their choosing,” the docu-
ment said.
Legislative offi cials are request-
ing a hearing before an administra-
tive law judge to make their case.
The state’s top two lawmakers,
House Speaker Tina Kotek and
Senate President Peter Courtney,
both limited their comments on the
matter Dec. 29, saying they could
not comment on a pending case.
“I am very supportive of our
Legislative employees,” Court-
ney, D-Salem, said in a statement.
“They are the backbone of the
Capitol.”
A spokesman for Kotek,
D-Portland, said she “has a strong
pro-labor record and greatly appre-
ciates the work of all legislative
staff, who are essential to the Leg-
islature’s work.”
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