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In his campaign for governor, state Rep. Dennis Richardson (R-Central Point) has pounded Democratic incumbent Gov. John Kitzhaber over the past 10 days for a series of ethical issues in Kitzhaber's office, most of them first reported in this paper.
But Richardson's tax return shows he's got an ethical issue of his own: He's paid his wife, Cathy Richardson, to be his legislative assistant.
For 2013, Dennis Richardson reported legislative income of $25,237 on the tax return he provided WW and Cathy Richardson reported income of $13,770 from being his legislative assistant.
That's not a lot of money but it's still nepotism—and Richardson hired his wife using state funds. (It's also a widespread practice in the Legislature, where members are paid less than $2,000 a month and many live hundreds of miles from Salem. Jared Mason-Gere, the spokesman for House Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland) says about 25 percent of House members employ a family member.)
It's not like the Richardsons needed the cash. Dennis Richardson retired after 31 years as a trial lawyer and owns rental properties in Oregon, Idaho and Utah. He reported total income of $238,000 on his joint 2012 tax return and $103,000 for 2013.
Oregon's ethics law prohibit a public official from hiring relatives. There are obvious reasons for that: taxpayer money should be spent to hire the most qualified people, not simply those the person making the hire likes.
Here's what the Oregon Government Ethics Commission's Public Official Guide says: "Public officials cannot participate in an personnel action taken by the public agency that would impact the employment of a relative or member of the public official's household."
That means, for instance, that Gov. John Kitzhaber could not hire his fiancee, First Lady Cylvia Hayes, to serve as a paid adviser.
This being Oregon, however, lawmakers have carved out an exception in the ethics law for themselves:
The public records guide says "A public official may not directly supervise a person who is a relative or member of the public official's household except when the public official is an elected member of the Oregon Legislative Assembly."
Richardson's spokeswoman, Meredith Glacken, acknowledged that Richardson employed his wife.
"Cathy worked as Dennis' legislative assistant in both the Capitol and the district office for a couple years, handling constituent services and administrative tasks as well as working on projects during the legislative session," Glacken says. "As a constituent herself, she was well-suited to assist constituents."
Kitzhaber's campaign spokeswoman, Amy Wojicki, was unavailable for comment.
WWeek 2015