FROM PAGE ONE
A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2019
Smith: Responds to scrutiny of perceived confl icts of interest
Continued from Page A1
moved a government call
center and its associated jobs
to Wheeler County, which
contracts with Smith’s com-
pany to provide economic
development services.
Smith voted on all of
them in the House of Rep-
resentatives, because the
Oregon Constitution dic-
tates that its citizen legisla-
tors should publicly declare
their confl icts of interest but
are not allowed to recuse
themselves.
The East Oregonian and
other media outlets have
reported on such awards
and Smith’s role in them in
the past, but recent inves-
tigations by the Malheur
Enterprise and Willamette
Week pulling them together
into one place have set
off renewed chatter about
whether such arrangements
should be legal.
Smith knows how it
looks.
“To the unaware citi-
zen, it would be very easy
to assume I pick a project
without scrutiny and it hap-
pens,” he said.
He pointed out that he is
in the minority party, and
any bill or project he would
want to see happen must
get the help of commit-
tee co-chairs, the Speaker
of the House, a majority of
representatives, the Sen-
ate President, a majority of
senators and the governor
before becoming law.
Smith does carry more
infl uence in Salem than
many legislators, however.
He has the most seniority
of any state representative
after voters in District 57
sent him to the legislature
10 terms in a row, and the
connections around Salem
that go with that longevity.
He has noted multiple times
in previous interviews with
the East Oregonian that
he holds some of the best
committee seats in the leg-
islature, including co-vice
chair of the Joint Commit-
tee on Ways and Means,
co-chair of the committee’s
general government com-
mittee and a seat on the
committee’s capital con-
struction committee.
He holds up that, along
with the many millions of
dollars that have built proj-
ects around his district,
as evidence that he has
“worked his tail off” for his
constituents.
As for questions for how
he can hold several sup-
posedly “full-time” jobs at
once and give each their
due while also serving Dis-
trict 57, he credited a “phe-
nomenal” staff and hard
work.
“There are just certain
people out there who can
multitask at a high level
The many hats of Greg Smith
Greg Smith juggles various jobs and economic development
contracts in addition to his work as a state representative.
State Representative*
District 57
*Direct salary to Greg Smith instead
of a contract with Gregory Smith &
Company, LLC
Executive Director*
Columbia Development Authority
Source: Hermiston Herald research
EO Media Group graphic
County economic development
• Malheur County • Baker County
• Harney County • Wheeler County
Small Business Development Center
Eastern Oregon University
Staff photo by E.J. Harris, File
Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner, has always been very careful
to try and separate his private roles from his public service
as a state legislator. He can often be seen at public meetings
around the state letting people know which “hat” he is
appearing before them with today. But for some people, the
perception is that the hat is a red herring for the fact that they
are all worn on the same head.
and I’m blessed with that,”
he said.
The East Oregonian
reached out to several orga-
nizations that have contracts
with Smith or his com-
pany. One was the Colum-
bia Development Authority,
which hired Smith directly
as their executive director.
The CDA is a partner-
ship of Umatilla and Mor-
row counties, the Port of
Morrow, Port of Umatilla
and the Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian Res-
ervation. They are working
with the U.S. Army to return
the former Umatilla Chem-
ical Depot to local control,
and they hired Smith with
federal grant money to help
with that process and to
market the industrial-zoned
land for economic devel-
opment once the transfer is
complete.
Don Russell, chair of the
CDA board, said the board
was aware of Smith’s other
obligations throughout the
state and never expected
Smith’s position with the
CDA to be a typical 9-to-5
full-time job. He said Smith
is “one of the hardest work-
ers I have ever seen.”
“I don’t have any qualms
about him being our man-
ager,” he said. “Having him
sit in an offi ce for us just to
put in his 40 hours a week
wouldn’t be productive. ...
If I thought we weren’t get-
ting what we needed out of
Greg Smith I would say it
was time to make a change.”
Pete Runnels, county
court judge for Harney
County, said the county
was satisfi ed with the work
Smith and his staff, who
keep an offi ce open in Burns
three days a week, were
doing.
Smith’s work would be
considered a violation of
ethics laws if he used his
position as legislator to
obtain the contract. Runnels
denied that Smith’s position
as a legislator was the rea-
son Smith had been chosen
over two other candidates
who submitted applications
during a request for propos-
als process — it was Smith’s
high level of economic
development experience in
Eastern Oregon that tipped
the scale, he said.
“He was always very
clear, very upfront that we
have our own legislators in
Sen. (Cliff) Bentz and Rep.
(Lynn) Findley, and any leg-
islative concerns we have
need to go through them,
and he wouldn’t be doing
that for us,” Runnel said.
Tim Seydel, vice presi-
dent of university advance-
ment for Eastern Oregon
University, said the univer-
sity works hard to keep any
lobbying to the legislature
“very separate” from its con-
tract with Smith’s personal
company.
He said EOU has been
pleased with Smith’s work
and found him and his staff
to be responsive, accessi-
ble and good at meeting the
metrics set forth for small
business development cen-
ters to receive the grants that
fund the EOU SBDC.
“We certainly have not
fi elded any complaints,” he
said.
Other agencies continue
to retain Smith’s services but
have voiced some concerns.
Baker County commission-
ers did not respond to a
request for comment, but in
a recent Malheur Enterprise
story, commissioner Mark
Bennett said that he thought
being both a representa-
tive and a contractor was
“entirely problematic” and
would probably test anyone
in that position.
The county’s economic
development
commit-
tee made a formal recom-
mendation last week that
the county end its contract
with Smith’s company, and
the commission followed
through. They told the Baker
City Herald that the decision
Private economic development
• Morrow Development
Corporation
• Linn Economic
Development Group
Private contracts
Details unknown
was made for fi nancial rea-
sons due to declining reve-
nue from the county’s tran-
sient lodging tax, which
funds the position.
Fred Warner Jr., Baker
City’s city manager, is on
the economic development
committee and was on the
county commission when
Smith was fi rst hired. He
told the East Oregonian that
over the years some citizens
had complained they felt the
county was not getting its
money’s worth out of the
contract, and recent report-
ing on Smith had renewed
those “grumblings.” But he
said the timing of the recom-
mendation to end the con-
tract was coincidental.
He said when the county
hired Smith in about 2007 he
was not juggling the num-
ber of contracts that he does
today.
“Through the years, he
picked up numerous other
contracts including Malheur
and Harney counties as well
as the chemical depot,” War-
ner wrote. “We had many
discussions over this time
period about his other activ-
ities and we worried about
how he would prioritize
leads that came to Eastern
Oregon.”
At one point those con-
cerns drove the commission
to put the contract up for bid
again in 2011, Warner said,
but in the end of the process
the commission chose Smith
once again.
Smith admitted the sud-
den controversy surround-
ing his line of work has been
frustrating during a busy
legislative session, and says
he takes strong exception to
what he feels are implica-
tions that he is corrupt when
he takes so many steps to
stay in line with current Ore-
gon law.
“I don’t know how much
more I can do,” he said.
He said he bids on the
contracts through an open
request for proposals and
declares confl icts of interest
in the legislature. He has vet-
ted each public and private
contract with the Oregon
Ethics Commission before
taking it and gotten the com-
mission’s blessing before
moving forward. Those let-
ters are documented on the
commission’s website. A let-
ter dated Aug. 29, 2018, for
example, addresses a private
contract between Tidewa-
ter Barge Lines and Gregory
Smith & Company.
“On review of the infor-
mation provided, noth-
ing appears to indicate you
were awarded this oppor-
tunity as a result of being a
member of the Oregon Leg-
islative assembly, nor does
it appear that you used or
attempted to use your public
position,” the letter reads.
“However, keep in mind
that as a member of the
Legislative Assembly you
must take particular care to
ensure that the offi ce is not
used in any manner related
to private income producing
activities.”
The same language is
repeated in other letters to
Smith from the commission
concerning other contracts.
Government
watch-
dogs believe Oregon’s con-
fl ict of interest laws need an
upgrade, however. Oregon’s
rule about legislators voting
no matter their confl ict is an
unusual one.
Washington law states
that “a member who has a
private interest in any bill
or measure proposed or
pending before the legisla-
ture, shall disclose the fact
to the house of which he
is a member, and shall not
vote thereon.” Most states
have some provision where
a legislator can ask to be
excused — Idaho states that
a declared confl ict doesn’t
require a legislator to recuse
themselves but they can
ask to do so “at his or her
discretion.”
Former
Gov.
John
Kitzhaber resigned in 2015
after news media uncovered
evidence that his fi ancee,
Cylvia Hayes, was using
her access to the governor
to drum up business for her
environmental consulting
fi rm. The incident sparked a
push for tighter ethics laws.
Some passed, increasing
the number of members on
the ethics commission and
banning speaking fees for
certain offi cials. A broader
reform of the system, how-
ever, fell by the wayside.
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HHS: Class of 2019 bids farewell
Continued from Page A1
According to Spoo, the
Class of 2019 is in part com-
prised of three valedictorians
with 4.0 GPAs, 19 National
Honors Society students,
and nine military enlistees.
One hundred and fi fty stu-
dents completed Postsec-
ondary Career and Training
Education programs, from
visual arts to engineering.
Spoo praised the Class of
2019 for their extracurricu-
lar accomplishments, hailing
this school year as “ground-
breaking” in athletics. This
is HSD’s fi rst year moving
to the Washington Interscho-
lastic Activities Association.
“We still have some work
to do though,” Spoo joked,
“like continuing to inform
some other schools that we
did not actually move the
city of Hermiston into the
state of Washington.”
Collectively, the students
earned over $4,570,000
in scholarships. Around
$250,000 of those dollars
came from organizations
within Hermiston.
The class history pro-
vided a pop-cultural debrief
that encapsulated the child-
hood of the Class of 2019,
from the Jonas Brothers to
Silly Bandz, but ended on a
Staff photo by E.J. Harris/East Oregonian
Graduate Naxely Jaime shakes hands with Hermiston Schools
superintendent Tricia Mooney after receiving her diploma at
the l commencement ceremony in Kennewick.
serious note.
“From our history, we can
learn to reach for the future,
but remember to honor our
losses,” said Senior Adriann
Stewart.
Senior
Moanamarie
Peterson delivered the class
prophecy with a few quips.
“Some of us will become
doctors, others lawyers.
Maybe a few architects, and
maybe a few prison inmates
too,” she said.
Umatilla County Chief
Deputy District Attorney
and HHS alumnus, Jac-
lyn Jenkins was the guest
speaker and 2019 Distin-
guished Alumnus this year.
After the turning of
the tassels and a farewell
speech, led by Senior Kea-
li’imanaole Hamilton, grad-
uates and families poured
into the Toyota Center Court-
yard to take pictures and
dole out gifts before seniors
boarded a bus to their Proj-
ect Graduation afterparty at
the Tri-City Court Club.
This year’s graduation is
the second to take place at
the Toyota Center since the
Hermiston School Board
voted to relocate graduation
from the high school gym
due to overcrowding.
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