Legislators hear testimony in 2023 about a resolution that would allow impeachment of top officials in Oregon.

Read a list of every state’s process for impeaching top elected officials and Oregon sticks out. It doesn’t have one. It’s the only state without one.

Voters will get a chance to add an impeachment process for elected state officials in the November election with Measure 115.

The reason: Shemia Fagan, Oregon’s former secretary of state. Maybe it would have happened without her, but when legislators put the measure on the ballot pretty much everyone was talking about Fagan.

Fagan, a Democrat, was by Oregon’s succession rules the next in line to become governor were anything to happen to the governor. She was the state’s top election official and her job was to ensure confidence in elections. Her office was also responsible for auditing state agencies and programs, ensuring government runs right.

And then she did some things that belied the public’s trust.

She took a job while she was in office to do work for a campaign donor, the owners of La Mota, a cannabis dispensary chain.

The chain may have been in financial trouble, with companies saying it wasn’t paying its bills. At the same time, Fagan’s audit division was doing an audit of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, which regulates the cannabis industry. Fagan recused herself from the audit but was trying to be sure that auditors were aware of the concerns about the OLCC expressed by her client/campaign donors.

The Willamette Week gets credit for blowing this story wide open.

Fagan finally showed some good judgment — after her bad judgment — and resigned.

The thing is, if she did not, Oregon did not have an impeachment process to remove her from office.

What Ballot Measure 115 would do is amend the Oregon Constitution to add an impeachment process. It would apply to statewide elected officials. The Oregon House of Representatives could then vote to impeach an official for neglect of duty, committing a felony, and so on. The Senate would hold the trial and it would need a two-thirds majority to convict.

The 2023 Legislature, with bipartisan support, referred the measure to the ballot. In the Senate, the chamber’s leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties carried the bill jointly, including state Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend.

The best argument against Measure 115 is perhaps that Oregon may not have an impeachment process, but it hasn’t needed one. Social and political party pressure have been able to push those who erred to resign their seats voluntarily. Another argument is that impeachments can be heavy on political purpose and light on the actual high crimes.

But the best argument for it is that politicians can remove high office holders when they should no longer be serving.

You can find more information about the legislation that created this ballot measure here: tinyurl.com/OR115.