Attorney Steve Rich -- Vote for Steve Rich as Jo-Co's Legal Counsel

VOTE FOR STEVE RICH AS JO-COs LEGAL COUNSEL

By Attorney Steve Rich
April 28, 2014
NewsWithViews.com

Josephine County, Oregon -- Josephine County is unique in physical beauty and natural resources. Josephine County is also unique by providing in its Home Rule Charter that the position of County Legal Counsel is one of the County elected officials. As the current County Legal Counsel, I’ve been asked to introduce myself and comment on the duties and responsibilities of the office.

In 1953, I was born in the central San Joaquin Valley of California. I grew up in the little towns of Lemoore, Armona and Hanford. My parents were young and poor, but my little sister and I never lacked for love or stability in our home.

My high school years were pretty ordinary: the usual mixture of “college prep” courses, athletics, and social activities. I graduated from Newbury Park Academy in 1972.

Later that year I began college at Loma Linda University. With the help of scholarships, I was able to pay my entire college expenses, including tuition, by working “odd-jobs” and milking cows on the “night-shift”. The Agricultural Department of the University owned and operated a diary with 400+ milking cows – and they had to be milked twice a day. By working at night I was able to attend classes during the day.

I was active in student government, served as a municipal intern for the League of California Cities, and as a Congressional Intern for Congresswoman Shirley N. Pettis in Washington, D.C. I graduated in 1976 with a double major is History and Political Science. I was awarded my B.A. “with honors”.

September of 1976 found me at Willamette University, College of Law. I worked for the Oregon Department of Justice as a law clerk from 1977 until 1979 while in law school. After graduation and admission to the bar association, I was hired as an Assistant Attorney General by the Oregon Department of Justice.

My wife and I moved to Grants Pass in 1982. I established a successful law practice and maintained that practice until 1994 when I decided to seek election to the position of Josephine County Legal Counsel. I was elected and sworn into office in January 1995. It has been my honor and privilege to have served in that position since then.

As the County Legal Counsel, my client is not any individual county commissioner or elected official or county manager. The client is an entity called “Josephine County”. Just like any unit of local government or corporate entity, Josephine County “acts” through its governing body (the Board of County Commissioners), its other officials, managers and agents. And it owes a legal and ethical duty to its “stockholders” – the people of Josephine County.

Josephine County, as a government entity, must constantly weigh the duty it owes to an individual against the duty it owes to the whole. This is most apparent in cases where, for example, a County owned vehicles operated by a negligent county employee damages privately owned property – it may be a vehicle or other real or personal property. Given the negligence of the county employee, the question is not whether the county should make restitution and pay damages; the question is HOW MUCH. Those damages should be the fair and equitable cost of repairs and losses associated with that event. It should not be a “wind-fall,” at taxpayer expense, to the damaged party. To overpay what is legally required is a raid on the public coffers, on the taxpayers! And it should make no difference whether the damaged party is a good friend of an elected official or county manager!

Every person dealing with Josephine County should be treated in a legal, fair, equal, and unbiased manner.

In my view, it is not the job of county legal counsel to substitute his policy judgments for those of any elected or appointed official where those judgments are legal and within the discretionary authority of that elected or appointed official. I believe the voters elected the Surveyor, Clerk, Sheriff and other elected officials to perform their respective duties, not to make legal judgments for Legal Counsel. And the reverse is also true: Legal Counsel should not perform the duty of another elected official. Where decisions fall outside the legal parameters prescribed by lawful authority, those decisions must be identified as unlawful and inappropriate. Such conduct may need to be reported to the law enforcement authorities for possible investigation and prosecution, or the Ethics Commission, or other governmental entity with authority is sanction such conduct.

Its very common for a government official to request legal advice, or a review of several possible legal alternatives, given a specific set of facts. In these cases there is no substitute for experience. The advice of County Legal Counsel must be informed by knowledge of the law, available legal alternatives, calm discretion, and common sense experience.

The skills and experience that I have accumulated as an attorney over 34 years have served Josephine County well. I am proud of crafting a procedure and methodology for selling tax foreclosed real property and directing the sale proceeds as permitted by state statute. I was also proud that the procedures have been copied in a number of jurisdictions around the state. This procedure not only benefitted the Josephine County Parks Department, and reduced demand on the general fund budget, but it also returned that property to private ownership where it will help finance other government entities by providing property tax revenue. These procedures have been utilized by other Counties to the same effect. The same skills facilitated the creation of the Measure 37 and Measure 49 property rights procedures, together with former Planning Director Michael Snider. Oregonians in Action recognized this processes as a model for other governmental entities in the state.

Over the last 20 years, there have been a number of disputes and cases litigated where Josephine County was “at risk” for hundreds of thousands of dollars. One case, involving a dispute over a land use property rights case [Measure 37] claim and Measure 49 limitation of those rights, was litigated up to the U.S. Supreme Court. In that case Josephine County won! The county prevailed against an individual claiming millions of dollars in damages.

I sometimes hear accusations that I have manipulated the Commissioners or other elected officials with “voodoo” legal advice or otherwise cast a spell over them for my own purposes. This is pure nonsense. Such efforts at manipulation would be unethical, unprofessional. It has not happened. I have provided legal advice and representation to many elected officials of Josephine County. Examples of those elected officials include George Trahern, Harold Haugen, Irv Whiting, John Harelson, Georgette Brown, and Sheriff Dave Daniel, to name just a few. I assure you these officials were not manipulated by me or anyone else. They demanded clear explanations of the applicable statutes and common law precedent.

It is my opinion EXPERIENCE MATTERS! Whether you are a plumber, electrician, doctor, dentist, welder..…. or even a lawyer: Experience matters. I have represented plaintiffs and defendants in civil and criminal cases thousands of times. I have negotiated resolutions in both public and private cases involving millions of dollars. Early in my career, I was appointed by the courts to provided legal counsel and defense to shop-lifters and murderers.

I consider my self to be at a distinct disadvantage when talking about my experiences over 30 years of practicing law. I have been involved in hundreds and hundreds of claims and disputes. The range of experience is literally A to Z: Airports to Zoning. I suspect it’s much easier for my opponent to discuss his experience over the last 5 years that he has been a lawyer. In the last three years while my opponent has been in private practice, the publically available records reflect he has been associated with less than 20 cases. Most of those are dissolution/divorce cases.

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One of the cases, however, does reflect involvement with a government law matter - he represented Larry Lacy in a law suit against the City of Grants Pass. The complaint alleged the City violated Mr. Lacy’s civil rights in connection with Mr. Lacy opening an “adult entertainment” establishment on “G” Street. My opponent’s legal experience, such as it is, has not prepared him to be County Legal Counsel.

It’s a relatively easy matter to promise “Hope and Change” in a political campaign. Politicians have demonstrated that promises and slogans like “Hope” and “Change” can be a successful strategy – for the candidate. The electorate pays the price for the unprepared and ill-suited candidate, once elected. It is my hope and request that the voters of Josephine County vote to Re-Elect Steve Rich, County Legal Counsel. I promise to continue serving Josephine County with dedication, integrity and professionalism.

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Steve Rich was born and raised in the central Joaquin Valley of California. I graduated from high School and college in California. Steve moved to Oregon in 1976 to attend law school at Willamette University. While in law school, he worked for the Oregon Attorney General’s Office as a law clerk. After law school graduation and being admitted to practice law, he was hired by to the Oregon Attorney General’s Office as an Assistant Attorney General. Between 1982 and 1994, he built a successful law practice in Grants Pass. After being elected, he was sworn-in as County Legal Counsel in 1995. Steve is currently seeking re-election to that position.

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Website: richforlegalcounsel.com

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