NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Saturday, November 13, 2021
Brown meets with prisoners one-on-one for possible commutation
some cases making longtime
prisoners immediately eligible
to pursue parole. Earlier this
year, she granted conditional
commutations to 41 incarcer-
ated people who helped fight
historic wildfires last year.
In the meantime, her staff
confirmed Nov. 4 that Brown
has met quietly with a total of
11 incarcerated people during
the past two months, all of
them by Zoom.
Leading advocates for
rehabilitation, including Pen’s
lawyer Aliza Kaplan, have
praised Brown and recom-
mended prisoners for her
consideration.
Some prosecutors and
families of crime victims have
expressed outrage at what they
say is the lack of forewarning
and consultation.
The video chat with Pen
floored the Union County
district attorney and a long-
time probation officer familiar
with Pen’s case. Neither were
invited to the Zoom call and
both learned about Brown’s
decision after the fact.
In a private meeting last
week, about a dozen district
attorneys questioned two of
the governor’s lawyers about
what they view as a hasty
approach to cutting short
prison sentences.
Brown’s aides have said the
governor wants to emphasize
crime prevention and rehabili-
tation over long and expensive
By NOELLE CROMBIE
The Oregonian
SALEM — Last month,
a convicted felon about three
years into an eight-year prison
stint found himself face-to-
face — via Zoom — with Gov.
Kate Brown.
Brown was consider-
ing commuting Sean Pen’s
sentence for methamphet-
amine possession, allow-
ing for his almost immediate
release.
The governor impressed
upon Pen, 33, that her decision
would come with restrictions
typical for anyone on proba-
tion. Violate them and he’d be
back in prison to finish out his
sentence, she warned.
In their brief conversa-
tion as Pen sat in an office at
the Eastern Oregon Correc-
tional Institution in Pendle-
ton, the governor talked with
Pen about his life, his time in
prison, his plans for treatment
and what he’d learned from his
experience behind bars.
Pen walked out of prison
this week.
His commutation comes
as Brown undertakes an
extraordinary — and ongoing
— effort to reduce the prison
sentences of dozens of people
in Oregon’s prisons.
She announced in October,
for instance, that she would
review more than 200 juve-
nile cases for commutation, in
these conversations with pris-
oners all the more remarkable.
On the day she had a
conference call with Pen, for
instance, Brown’s calendar
shows she met with House
Republican Leader Christine
Drazan, who was allocated
the same 30-minute slot the
governor’s staff set aside for
the clemency meeting.
The following day, her
calendar shows another clem-
ency meeting. It is unclear
from her calendar whether she
spoke with a prisoner at that
time. That day, she also met
with Washington Gov. Jay
Inslee to discuss their states’
vaccine mandates.
‘She spends a lot of
time on each case’
Dave Killen/The Oregonian, File
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown speaks June 30, 2021, at a Reopen-
ing Oregon celebration at Providence Park, Portland.
prison sentences. Commuta-
tions are one of the executive
powers that rest exclusively
with the governor, and she
has delivered far more than her
predecessor, John Kitzhaber.
The purpose of meetings
like the one with Pen is to
explain that Brown is “inter-
ested in granting clemency
only if they could agree to
additional conditions on their
commutation and release, in
most cases related to receiv-
ing additional drug and alco-
hol treatment,” said Charles
Forecast for Pendleton Area
| Go to AccuWeather.com
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
Cloudy
Mostly cloudy
Very windy in the
afternoon
Winds subsiding
and cooler
Mostly cloudy and
chilly
54° 48°
66° 54°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
62° 32°
44° 28°
40° 29°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
55° 48°
67° 53°
68° 37°
49° 32°
OREGON FORECAST
44° 33°
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
52/48
Kennewick Walla Walla
54/47
Lewiston
55/52
55/49
Astoria
56/52
49/43
51/40
Longview
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Pullman
Yakima 50/42
51/46
54/47
Portland
Hermiston
57/53
The Dalles 55/48
Salem
Corvallis
57/51
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
54/48
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
60/52
61/53
57/46
Ontario
60/43
57/41
58/36
0.46"
0.79"
0.42"
4.71"
3.52"
6.89"
WINDS (in mph)
Caldwell
Burns
55°
46°
52°
33°
74° (1999) 8° (2014)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
58/54
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 52/41
59/52
0.63"
0.88"
0.53"
6.91"
11.71"
10.85"
HERMISTON
Enterprise
54/48
56/47
61°
43°
52°
34°
80° (1999) 7° (1955)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
52/46
Aberdeen
47/41
46/39
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
52/47
Today
NW 4-8
W 4-8
Medford
Boardman
Pendleton
66/47
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
Sun.
SW 6-12
SW 7-14
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
59/35
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
6:52 a.m.
4:26 p.m.
2:31 p.m.
12:44 a.m.
Full
Last
New
First
Nov 19
Nov 27
Dec 3
Dec 10
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 99° in Fallbrook, Calif. Low 5° in Valentine, Mont.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
50s
60s
cold front
E AST O REGONIAN
— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
70s
East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday,
by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals
postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to
East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801.
Copyright © 2021, EO Media Group
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high low
Thanksgiving travel projected to
bounce back to pre-pandemic levels
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
PORTLAND — Roads
may be heavily congested
again for this year’s Thanks-
giving travels, according to
projections from the Ameri-
can Automobile Association.
AAA predicts that 53.4
million Americans will travel
for the holiday, which is a rise
of 13% from the numbers in
2020. With travel numbers
nearing that of 2019, the
projected boost in travel is
expected to be the largest
single-year increase since
2005.
“Travel is again high on
the list for Americans who
are looking forward to spend-
ing time with family and
friends this Thanksgiving,”
AAA Public Affairs Direc-
tor Marie Dodds said. “But it
means travelers should plan
for roads and airports to be
noticeably more crowded
than what we experienced
during the pandemic.”
The projections from
AAA show that roughly
16.2% of the entire Ameri-
can population will travel for
Thanksgiving, while approx-
imately 17.7% of Oregon
citizens will traverse. That
Circulation Dept.
For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops
or delivery concerns call 800-781-3214
works out to about 746,000
Oregonians traveling for
turkey day.
In 2019, approximately
49.9 million Americans
traveled by automobile, 4.6
million flew and 1.5 million
traveled by public transpor-
tation. Due to a severe drop
in travel due to COVID-19
in 2020, roughly five and a
half million less automobile
travelers hit the road and air
travel was cut in half by just
over two million.
As this Thanksgiving
approaches, AAA predicts
652,000 Oregonians will
travel via automobile and
86,000 will fly.
A steep rise in gasoline
prices over the last year is
having an impact on projec-
tions, but not to a large extent.
AAA noted the gas prices are
not seen as a means to limit-
ing travel, as those hitting the
road will cut costs elsewhere.
Gas prices are roughly $1
more per gallon than during
last year’s Thanksgiving
holiday.
“Gas prices aren’t keep-
ing people home,” Dodds
said. “Those who need to
trim expenses will do so in
other ways such as limiting
ADVERTISING
Regional Sales Director (Eastside) EO Media Group:
• Karrine Brogoitti
541-963-3161 • kbrogoitti@eomediagroup.com
211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211
333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211
Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed major holidays
EastOregonian.com
In the App Store:
80s
Boyle, one of Brown’s spokes-
people.
All commutations issued
by Brown are conditional, he
said in an email to The Orego-
nian. He noted that before the
COVID-19 pandemic, Brown
occasionally held face-to-face
meetings with commutation
candidates in her office.
She may opt to speak
directly with a prisoner for a
number of reasons, “including
to ask questions that will help
inform her decision, to empha-
size the gravity of this action,
or to allow the applicant the
opportunity to agree to condi-
tions of release,” Boyle said.
It is not unheard of for
governors to speak or even
meet with a person behind
bars. In one of his final acts as
governor, Kitzhaber drove to
Salem to meet with a 25-year-
old man who was serving 12½
years for attempted murder
and granted him clemency.
But a look at Brown’s
packed daily calendar perhaps
reflects the depth of her
commitment.
The most recent spate of
meetings with incarcerated
people came during a period
when she also met with a
bank executive, a top lobbyist
in Washington, D.C., and her
own executive team. Brown,
head of a sprawling govern-
ment bureaucracy, rarely
meets with ordinary Orego-
nians one-on-one, making
Kaplan, a Lewis & Clark
Law School professor whose
law clinic has represented
many people seeking commu-
tations, said Brown is friendly
but firm in the sessions.
The governor, herself a
graduate of Lewis & Clark
Law School, stresses the
stakes for the prisoner but
also takes time to learn about
them and their families, said
Kaplan, who attended Pen’s
Zoom meeting and is often
present during the conversa-
tions.
The prisoners are often
“star-struck” in Brown’s pres-
ence, Kaplan said.
“She spends a lot of time
on each case in order to learn
all there is to learn about the
person and the past and the
future and I think having the
meetings whether on Zoom
now or prior is a way to let the
person know how serious she
is about them not following
through on the rules,” Kaplan
said.
Union County District
Attorney Kelsie McDaniel
said she wishes Brown had
shown her the same courtesy
as Pen, who has a long record
of drug and property crimes in
La Grande.
McDaniel said she was
among the prosecutors who
met recently with Brown’s
general counsel Dustin
Buehler and another Brown
lawyer, Kevin Gleim.
She asked about the Oct.
11 meeting with Pen and why
Brown had taken time to meet
with Pen but not local author-
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Multimedia Consultants:
541-564-4531
Local home
delivery
Savings
(cover price)
$10.75/month
50 percent
541-966-0827 mbarnes@eastoregonina.com
52 weeks
$135
42 percent
• Audra Workman
26 weeks
$71
39 percent
541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com
$37
36 percent
Business Office
EZPay
13 weeks
Single copy price:
$1.50 Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
ities familiar with his case.
She said she knew Brown was
considering the commutation
but learned only later that the
governor had decided to grant
it.
“Is this something we are
doing now?” McDaniel said
she asked. “Are you going to
allow that for the victims and
the DAs? I have never been
interviewed about a commu-
tation by the governor person-
ally.”
McDaniel said Brown’s
lawyers told her that the gover-
nor met with Pen to “person-
ally impress” upon him the
significance of her commuta-
tion “and the conditions that
were coming with it.”
“I asked what happens
if he leaves treatment or is
unsuccessful?” she said.
“The answer I received was
the governor has the option to
rescind the commutation.”
She said she asked Buehler
and Gleim how they would
monitor Pen’s progress.
“They said the governor’s
office knows when these
people are unsuccessful,”
McDaniel said.
Pen was convicted in 2018
of possession of methamphet-
amine.
He was originally charged
with multiple drug felonies
involving methamphetamine
and oxycodone possession and
delivery.
Prosecutors said the case
involved a dealer amount of
methamphetamine.
Under his plea deal,
he agreed to an eight-year
sentence. Prosecutors agreed
to suspend the sentence
provided Pen got treatment
and met other conditions.
As part of the deal, he was
allowed two “minor” proba-
tion violations, McDaniel
said. The third violation would
send him to prison for the full
sentence, which is what ended
up happening, she said.
The original indictment
cites Pen’s persistent involve-
ment in similar crimes in
Union County and notes that
the latest allegations took
place while he was already on
probation.
“Future efforts to rehabili-
tate (Pen) will not be success-
ful and there exists a need
to ensure the security of the
public,” the indictment states.
• Melissa Barnes
• Dayle Stinson
541-966-0824 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com
dining out and looking for
more budget-friendly choices
in accommodations and other
activities.”
Upon travel returning to a
fuller extent this year, AAA
is reporting hotel rates are
up nearly 50% and rental
car rates have risen about
4%. The top travel spots for
AAA Oregon members are
Anaheim, Fort Lauderdale,
Orlando, San Diego and
Maui.
According to AAA, the
organization will receive
roughly 8,200 calls for road
assistance over the holiday.
The top issues typically
involve dead batteries, flat
tires and lockouts.
AAA urges caution and
planning ahead for this
Thanksgiving, noting that
busy roads and airports
should be expected. Accord-
ing to the organization’s
website, those who travel by
airplane should expect full
flights.
AAA defines Thanksgiv-
ing holiday travel period as
Nov. 24-28. AAA predicts
the busiest travel days will
take place on the Tuesday and
Wednesday before Thanks-
giving.
Classified & Legal Advertising
Classified advertising: 541-564-4538
Legal advertising: 541-966-0824
classifieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com
NEWS
• To submit news tips and press releases:
call 541-966-0818 or email news@eastoregonian.com
• To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News:
email community@eastoregonian.com or call Rachael Plunkett
at 541-966-0818.
• To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries:
email rplunkett@eastoregonian.com or visit eastoregonian.
com/community/announcements
• To submit sports or outdoors information or tips,
email sports@eastoregonian.com.
COMMERCIAL PRINTING
Commercial Print Manager: Holly Rouska
541-617-7839 • hrouska@eomediagroup.com