SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February 10,2010
Morrow County DA takes job at Department of Justice
Elizabeth Ballard will join the Medicaid Fraud Unit, which is a national leader in combating health care Fraud
Elizabeth Ballard
O regon A ttorney G en
eral John Kroger Tuesday
announced the hiring o f
Morrow County District At
torney Elizabeth Ballard to
prosecute health care fraud
for the Oregon Department
o f Justice.
“As a district at
torney, Elizabeth Ballard
brings unparalleled experi
ence and judgment to our
team," said Attorney Gen
eral Kroger. “We are hon
ored she chose to join the
Department o f Justice.”
Ballard, a 2002
graduate o f the University
o f Oregon School o f Law,
is an experienced prosecu
It’s been a great
honor to serve the citizens
o f Morrow County as dis
trict attorney,” Ballard said.
"1 am looking forward to
working for all the citizens
o f Oregon.”
The Oregon D e
partment o f Justice is a
national leader in the fight
tor who has handled a w ide
range o f cases from property
crime to aggrav ated murder.
A prosecutor since 2002,
she was elected Morrow
County District Attorney
in 2006. She starts working
for the Oregon Department
o f Justice Medicaid Fraud
Unit in March.
Cutsforth files for Morrow Co. district attorney
against health care fraud.
S in ce A ttorney G eneral
Kroger took office in Janu
ary, 2009, the Department
o f Justice has recovered
nearly $20 m illion from
p h arm aceu tical c o m p a
nies that defrauded Oregon
consum ers and the state
Medicaid program.
He told the Gazette that he did this when he
heard the incumbent DA, Elizabeth Ballard, would not be
running for re-election (see story page 1). “My primary
reason was when 1 heard the DA in Morrow County would
not be running again." Cutsforth said it is hard to run
against a sitting District Attorney and he did not want to do
that. He also said that he knows many people in Morrow
County and thinks he can do some good things here. He
is currently self employed in a private law practice.
The new s release also mentioned numerous civic
and professional organizations Cutsforth has belonged to
or participated in.
Tom Cutsforth, who was bom and raised in Morrow
County but now lives in Mayville,
has filled to run for district attorney
* k
in Morrow County, his campaign an-
nounced this week.
Cutsforth, who was raised on
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the family farm nine miles northeast
River, Morrow, Gilliam, Baker, Grant and Wasco counties.
The release said he prosecuted “over 1800 defendants,
completed over 300 jury trials (without assistance), over
2000 cases and two murder cases.”
Cutsforth was recalled from the WheelerCounty
DA job in July, 2008, after residents became angry about
his backing o f a secure residential treatment facility near
{ S B ot 1 s", melon, graduated from lleppnei Fossil. The proposed facility, similar to the one recently
Ifieh School 111 I O ' 2 then received Ins constructed in Fleppner, divided the community in a bitter
B S degree from ( »regon State l Diver fight and was never completed. Cutsforth lost the recall
sity in 1976 and his law degree from 335-to-296.
Tom Cutsforth
the Univ ersity o f Oregon in 1988.
Cutsforth had registered Dec. 4, 2009, to run for
According to a press release district attorney in Gilliam County, and then on February Life-long Morrow County Attorney Justin N elson is
from his campaign, Cutsforth spent 1988 to 2008 as a 8 withdrew that filing and the same day filed to run in the resident and current Uma seeking the office o f Mor
tilla County Deputy District
career prosecutor in the Lane, Union, Wheeler, Hood Morrow County election.
row C ounty D istrict A t
torney
in t h i s
cíeASckwafc.corw
y e a r ’s
May 18,
2 0 10 ,
primary
election.
Nelson
filed for
the posi
tion with
the Ore
gon Sec- Justin Nelson
retary o f
State’s Office on October
20, 2009.
N elson w as born
and raised on his fam ily’s
farm near Lexington and
attended H eppner H igh
School. After graduating
from Heppner High School,
he attended Oregon State
University where he grad
uated w ith a b a ch elo r’s
degree in agricultural busi
n ess m anagem ent and a
minor in natural resource
environmental law and poli
cy. Nelson received his law
degree and graduated with
honors from W illam ette
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University College o f Law,
Salem, w here he was also a
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member o f the Willamette
Law Review. Besides his
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employment as a Umatilla
County Deputy District At
torney, Nelson also current
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ly serves Morrow County as
a Morrow County Planning
Commissioner. During his
time as a Umatilla County
Deputy District Attorney,
N elso n has su cce ssfu lly
tried num erous crim inal
matters, felony and misde
meanors alike in the Uma
tilla County Circuit Court.
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Nelson is married
to Andrea N elson who is
seventh and eighth grade
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teacher at Heppner Junior/
Senior High School.
A c c o r d i n g to a
news release from his cam
paign Nelson is supported
y
in his candidacy by Umatil
la County District Attorney
Dean Gushwa, and others in
the legal and law enforce
ment sector. Gushwa, who
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has direct k now ledge o f
N e lso n ’s ab ilities, states
that “Justin Nelson has the
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ex p erien ce n ecessary to
becom e Morrow County
The durable M AS rated Open Country A T otters aggressive
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the news release stated.
Nelson to run for DA
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