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The woman accusing Rep. Brian Stout of sexual assault is trying to force his resignation from the Oregon House of Representatives so that a Republican rival can take the seat and give her a job, an attorney for Stout argued in Columbia County Circuit Court yesterday.
Stout’s attorney, Nicholas Herman, presented that argument at a hearing Friday to determine if a five-year sexual abuse protective order against Stout (R-Columbia City) should stay in place. A judge granted it in November after a former campaign volunteer accused Stout of sexually abusing her then threatening to shove her off a cliff.
Judge Cathleen B. Callahan reached no decision on the matter because the court didn’t get through the list of witnesses to be called. Only Stout’s witnesses have taken the stand so far. The hearing will continue March 29. (It is WW’s policy not to name the victim in sexual assault cases.)
On the stand, Stout denied that he sexually abused the woman on any of five occasions she detailed in her Nov. 7 petition for the protective order, calling her accounts “flat-out lies.”
Stout admitted only that the woman had performed fellatio on him after a 2020 campaign event, but that the encounter was consensual and she had initiated it, he said. Stout’s wife walked in on the pair as the act concluded.
“There was a huge lapse of judgment by me,” Stout said. “I let her pull my pants down and perform oral sex. It was short, it was brief, and it was a mistake. She wanted it to go further. It did not.”
Stout, 55, is a married father of two who owns a screen-printing business. He defeated Drew Layda in the Republican primary last year, then went on to beat Democrat Anthony Sorace in the race for House District 31. The seat had been held by incumbent state Rep. Brad Witt (D-Clatskanie), but redistricting eliminated Democrats’ voter registration advantage and Witt moved to Salem to seek a seat there. Stout’s victory last month helped the GOP strip Democrats of their three-fifths supermajority in the Oregon House.
The woman accusing Stout volunteered on his 2020 campaign, when he lost to Witt. Last year, she worked as Layda’s campaign manager. She filed for the protective order Nov. 7, one day before the general election. She waited until then because she didn’t want to throw the election to Sorace, Herman argued.
Rather, she wanted Stout to win, then she planned to tarnish him with her accusations, forcing him to resign, Herman argued. Under Oregon law, a representative who resigns must be replaced by someone from the same party. In Stout’s case, that law favored Layda, who had entered the race before Stout.
“Maybe Drew Layda gets the position and she gets a nice job in Salem,” Herman told the court.
The woman’s attorney, Alexis Fisher, declined to comment on Stout’s version of events. “It will be addressed,” she said after the hearing.
Layda, who spent the day outside the courtroom waiting to testify, said he had no intention of hiring the woman as his legislative aide had he won. He confirmed that the woman ran his campaign until April 2022, when she stepped down. All the while, she knew the aide job was going to someone else, Layda said.
“She knew from the beginning that my legislative aide was going to be Michelle Binker,” Layda said in an interview with WW. “That was always the plan.” (Binker was chief of staff to Rep. Carl Wilson (R-Grants Pass) until 2021, according to her LinkedIn profile.)
Stout said his accuser didn’t need a protective order against him because he has been trying to avoid her since the night of their encounter. She, by contrast, has been showing up at events knowing he would be present and has on more than one occasion visited a public park at the end of his driveway, Stout said.
“I want nothing to do with this woman,” Stout testified.
Among the witnesses called by Stout’s attorney was his campaign manager, Blair Walter, who said that he, too, had seen the woman sitting at the park near Stout’s house. On cross examination, Walter said the woman was there with her children.
Stout’s attorney also called Traci Brumbles, chair of the Columbia County Republicans. Brumbles admitted that she hadn’t always trusted Stout, but she said it had nothing to do with his infidelity, which she had learned about from Stout’s wife, Nancy, after she caught her husband with the woman.
Brumbles said the woman was obsessed with Stout and “wanted to be part of his world.” When Stout stopped returning her calls, she directed threats at him, saying on one occasion: “He shouldn’t have run if he didn’t want his affairs made public.”
Though the protective order against Stout remains in place until at least May 29, Judge Callahan amended one small part of it. Previously, the order said Stout had to stay at least 150 feet away from the woman at all times. Now, if both parties are in the Capitol in Salem, they must stay as far apart as possible. The building is cramped, the judge said, so 150 feet would likely be impossible at all times.