Commissioner Doug Breidenthal on ethics complaint

Medford, Ore. — Jackson County Commissioner Doug Breidenthal is continuing his quest to clear his name and maintain transparency as the ethics commission looks into possible irregularities in the Commissioner’s use of public funds. The Oregon Government Ethics Commission isn’t expected to make a decision on whether they’ll investigate the matter until mid-January, but Breidenthal is speaking out, saying he wants the public to be in the loop.

“I was told that if I didn’t turn myself in for things I knew I didn’t do wrong that they were going to turn me in,” Commissioner Doug Breidenthal says, “and if I didn’t do it timely they were going to go public.”
Jackson County officials filed an ethics complaint against Commissioner Doug Breidenthal last month, but the commissioner is taking issue with how things played out.

“The administrator laid out a whole bunch of stuff that he thought was going on, no hard documentation on any of it, just purely accusations.”

At issue is whether the commissioner broke state ethics laws, and misused public funds. The county auditor says questions were raised that needed to be answered. Breidenthal says he’s yet to be asked about the issues in question, and feels a third party should have been brought in before filing an official complaint.

“Once you file against somebody you are basically challenging their credibility.”

Jackson County Auditor Eric Spivak says that’s what they did. He says by sending it to the ethics commission, an unbiased party is looking into the documentation and deciding whether or not an investigation should take place, and adds the commission does it for free. The Oregon Government Ethics Commission is set to meet on January 15th, though it’s unclear if they will decide then, on whether or not they will launch an investigation into the matter.