Oregon
Federal judge dismisses former legislative employee's suit over Capitol harassment investigations • Oregon Capital Chronicle
A federal judge dismissed a $1.2 million lawsuit from the Oregon Legislature’s ousted equity officer, saying lawmakers didn’t retaliate when they released a memo about him in response to a records request.
Nate Monson worked as the Legislature’s acting legislative equity officer for just 64 days in spring 2021, filling a position created in 2019 in the wake of multiple sexual harassment scandals involving lawmakers. Since leaving, he has alleged he was forced to resign for trying to draw attention to rampant mismanagement of employee complaints and for alerting legislators and legislative staff to violations of federal, state and local discrimination laws.
Monson first sued in Marion County Circuit Court in April 2022, and his case was soon moved to federal district court in Eugene. Last month, District Court Judge Ann Aiken dismissed his case. The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported Aiken’s decision Friday.
Monson sued the state and current and former lawmakers Floyd Prozanski, Chuck Thomsen, Julie Fahey and Ron Noble, as well as legislative human resources director Jessica Knieling. An earlier version of his complaint also named Gov. Tina Kotek and former Senate President Peter Courtney, who led the House and Senate during his tenure, and legislative counsel Dexter Johnson.
He initially accused the lawmakers and legislative employees of retaliating against him by ignoring him, opening an investigation into his background and defaming him and violating his First Amendment free speech rights by trying to silence him. Nearly two years later, Monson narrowed his lawsuit to focus on just one claim: Knieling and the lawmakers discriminated against him after he left the Legislature by releasing a memo Knieling wrote about his employment history in response to public records requests.
“The court concludes that because the release of the Knieling memo was required by Oregon public records law following a public records request, and because plaintiff was not entitled to notice of the release, there was no adverse action and it is unnecessary for the court to reach the question of causation,” Aiken wrote.
Gossip-filled workplace
Monson joined the Legislature in April 2021, two years after top lawmakers and Capitol staff had entered a binding legal agreement with the Bureau of Labor and Industries following a lengthy investigation into sexual misconduct and discrimination that spanned years.
One component of that agreement was creating the legislative equity office, which for more than two years was run by an interim officer. Monson, who had previously worked in Iowa, was the first full-time legislative equity officer hired by the Legislature.
His lawsuit said the Capitol was a dysfunctional and gossip-filled workplace and that Monson began raising concerns about the office’s prior mismanagement shortly after he arrived, including that law firms investigating reports of inappropriate behavior weren’t paid on time, which dragged out investigations, and that his predecessor didn’t maintain records of past and ongoing cases and instead handed him a Post-it note with some details.
In response, his suit claimed, Knieling began scrutinizing his background. She found that Monson misrepresented himself as a former employee of the Iowa Coalition for Collective Change, despite never having worked for the organization and that he was fired in 2020 from Iowa Safe Schools, a nonprofit organization for LGBTQ students. Knieling submitted a memo to the Legislature’s Joint Conduct Committee, which summoned him to a meeting on June 9, 2021, to ask questions about his background.
Less than a week later, on June 15, Monson resigned. That resignation prompted freelance journalist Dick Hughes to file a records request on June 29 asking for all materials related to Monson’s resignation, according to court documents. The following day, Monson reached out to Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Dirk VanderHart to detail his complaints, resulting in an article about a week later that spelled out Monson’s concerns about the office.
Shortly after publishing that article, OPB contacted Knieling asking for materials related to Monson’s résumé. Lawmakers on the legislative counsel committee released the memo Knieling drafted a week before Monson’s resignation.
It took nearly two years after Monson’s ouster for the Legislature to hire a permanent employee to handle conduct complaints at the Capitol. Bor Yang, who previously led the Vermont Human Rights Commission, has been on the job for a little less than a year.
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ROSEBURG, Ore. — The push to redraw the Oregon-Idaho border has gained support in parts of Eastern Oregon in recent years, even as some counties have reversed course and the effort remains stalled in Salem.
The Greater Idaho Project is a movement that has been covered for years. Thirteen Oregon counties have voted to consider expanding the Idaho border to cover much of Oregon. Two of those counties — Harney and Wallowa — later voted to repeal their decisions to side with Greater Idaho.
In Douglas County, voters rejected a Greater Idaho-related measure in the May 2022 election. Measure 10-185 asked Douglas County voters to consider expanding the Idaho border. The measure was defeated with 52.6 percent of the vote, meaning more than 47 percent voted for consideration of expanding the Idaho border.
Greater Idaho effort seeks federal help as Oregon lawmakers keep border plan stalled
After that vote, David Jaques, identified as the leader of Greater Idaho in Douglas County, said in 2022, “I’m a lifelong Oregonian. I don’t wanna move to Idaho. Well the good news is we don’t have to move. We’re just gonna draw the line around here.”
The movement’s executive director, Matt MacCaw, said the effort has support from Idaho but remains blocked by Oregon lawmakers.
“We have Idaho as a willing partner saying, hey, all these people in eastern Oregon want to be a part of Idaho. We will take them. We would love to have that conversation,” MacCaw said. “We have the people of Eastern Oregon voting and saying, we want to just peacefully secede from Oregon and join Idaho. But the Oregon Legislature, Western Oregon, is holding eastern Oregon captive against our wishes. The Oregon Legislature refuses to take up the issue, refuses to to have any conversation about letting us go.”
Greater Idaho has now turned its focus to the Trump administration, asking the federal government to fix the standstill.
WEST LINN, Ore. (KOIN) — For some 30 years, locals and boaters along a popular spot on Oregon’s Willamette River have been staring at a 50,000-plus-square-foot home, unsure of what to think.
It’s unfinished, fenced in, and the open-air structure towers over 31 acres that include 2,700 feet of prime riverfront in an area affectionately called “Peach Cove.”
“Being a kid, I would drive the boat and look at it from the river,” said Jason Mendell.
The high-profile realtor never thought he’d actually list the home, yet now he’s fielding calls from all kinds of folks trying to figure out the property’s potential.
“Entrepreneurs, pro-athletes, business owners, and people trying to figure out what you could do with this,” he told Nexstar’s KOIN on a recent summer day.
The home’s specs are massive, and Mendell said if it’s ever completed, it would be the largest mansion in Oregon by far.
The listing includes nine bedrooms, 18 bathrooms, multiple garages for dozens of show cars and other toys. There’s a massive gymnasium or event space, too, which could include a full-size basketball court. Original plans called for two pools.
“There’s obviously only a certain amount of people that can afford a home like this, and they’ve got to have the vision to be able to finish it off,” says Mendell.
Ask around, though, and it doesn’t take long to learn there’s much more to the larger story.
“He said, ‘Would you like to build a home for me?’” says Tom Avgerakis.
The longtime home builder is referring to Mark Wattles, the founder and one-time boss of Hollywood Video, which grew to be the second-biggest video store chain in the country in the 1990s and 2000s.
Avgerakis remembers when Wattles first showed him the architectural sketches.
“He rolled them out, and I went ‘Oh, okay.’ The challenge was thrown out, and we can do it,” he said.
At first, Avgerakis said construction moved swiftly, with 50-plus workers on site moving dirt and using high-grade Oregon lumber to erect the frame.
Then, as 1996 became 1997, construction stalled, and “We anticipated a short amount of time off, but it just grew and grew and grew.”
He said that as the owner moved on to other businesses and eventually moved away, they kept up general maintenance and even planted acres of berries.
The property was eventually unloaded at auction, and it has changed hands a couple of times over the years, but no one has ever fully built it out.
“It’s a diamond in the rough. It’s just incredible,” said Avgerakis.
He hopes to be involved if the project is ever completed, and said much of the original woodwork remains in good condition even if other elements have deteriorated over the years. The current owner recently installed a new roof.
Mendell said they’re talking to potential buyers about “what could be,” whether it’s a private estate, high-end senior living facility or even a vineyard.
“It’s 31 acres of prime real estate that’s unique,” he said.
The asking price is $4.7 million.
The property is deemed Exclusive Farm Use (EFU), according to Clackamas County records.
A spokesperson told Nexstar’s KOIN that it’s approved for the one home but that anything like a larger care facility wouldn’t be allowed unless there was a zoning change.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Multiple illicit massage businesses in Washington County were shut down on Friday following action by multiple law enforcement agencies.
The Office of Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said it worked alongside Sherwood police, Tigard police, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the Washington County District Attorney’s Office to execute multiple warrants at illicit massage businesses.
Following months of surveillance into two of the illegal massage parlors in Sherwood, investigators conducted searches at four locations in total on Friday: a home in Southwest Portland, Goji Foot Spa and Aroma Spa in Sherwood, and Tigard’s Sunny Massage.
More than $45,000 of cash and evidence of prostitution was seized during the operation. Three people were also arrested for alleged prostitution-related charges and two were cited for operating a massage business without a license.
The investigation was carried out as part of the Oregon Department of Justice’s partnership with Washington County law enforcement agencies through the program Special Projects: Investigate, Respond, Enforce.
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