Flaherty

A former employee of Deschutes County District Attorney Patrick Flaherty is suing him and the county for $750,000, alleging defamation and intentional interference with economic relations.

Flaherty terminated his office administrator, Bruce Endicott, on May 22, two days after Flaherty lost the district attorney’s election to Bend attorney John Hummel, according to the civil complaint filed Oct. 2 in Deschutes County Circuit Court.

The complaint alleges that Flaherty hired Endicott to “further his own political prospects in that election.” Endicott’s cousin, George Endicott, is the mayor of Redmond.

According to the complaint, Flaherty wanted Bruce Endicott to gain the mayor’s support for Flaherty’s re-election campaign.

When Endicott failed to garner the support, the complaint alleges, Flaherty let the administrator go.

Neither Bruce Endicott nor Richard Busse, Bruce Endicott’s lawyer who filed the complaint, could be reached for comment on Friday.

Endicott is one of several former employees who have filed suit against the district attorney. When Flaherty took office in 2011, he soon fired five of the office’s prosecutors. Three of them — Phil Duong, Brentley Foster and Jody Vaughan — filed suit against Flaherty for $22 million, alleging wrongful termination, sex discrimination, unfair labor practices and violations of their First Amendment rights.

They agreed to a $710,000 settlement in July 2013, according to Bulletin archives.

Duong, Foster and Vaughan filed a reply brief with the Oregon Court of Appeals in May arguing that Deschutes County should not have been released from liability in the suit, according to Bulletin archives.

Flaherty could not be reached for comment Friday.

— Reporter: 541-383-0376, cwithycombe@bendbulletin.com