Patrick Flaherty, John Hummel

Since announcing his bid for the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office last September, challenger John Hummel has repeatedly criticized incumbent Patrick Flaherty’s choice in removing former DA employees from their positions, moves that led to litigation that was settled out of court by the state to the tune of $1.35 million.

While the litigation came on Flaherty’s watch, Flaherty would argue Hummel’s two terms on the Bend City Council were also expensive. No former employee has sued Hummel, but Flaherty pointed out after the candidates’ last debate that litigation isn’t the only way to spend taxpayer dollars.

“I haven’t mentioned it before, but if taxpayer dollars are such an issue we should talk about all the millions of dollars my opponent cost taxpayers while he was on City Council, before he picked up and left town,” Flaherty said.

When Flaherty took office in January 2011, three deputy district attorneys whom he did not reappoint, Phil Duong, Brentley Foster and Jody Vaughan, filed wrongful termination lawsuits, asking for a total of $22 million. The Oregon Department of Administrative Services eventually settled with the three for $710,000 total.

A former investigator, Sharon Sweet, also sued Flaherty and the county, alleging wrongful termination and discrimination. That case was also settled, and Sweet got $310,000 from the state and county. And the state settled with Nicole Jenson, a Deschutes County Circuit Court trial assistant, for $10,314 after she sued Flaherty, alleging he caused her hardship by changing her work schedule. All lawsuits were settled without admission of wrongdoing or liability, according to court documents.

Hummel said he doesn’t disagree with Flaherty’s choice to fire employees or change their schedules, but said he went about it incorrectly.

“I’m not going to be reluctant to let someone go, but if I do it, they may (sue) me, absolutely, but if they do it they’ll lose,” Hummel said at an April 15 candidate forum. “Because, you know what? I would have done it the right way. … I know how to hire, I know how to fire, I’ve fired before and there’s never been a successful lawsuit against me.”

Hummel was elected twice to the Bend City Council — in 2000 and 2004. His second term would have ended in 2008, but in February 2007 Hummel resigned from the council. He then worked for The Carter Foundation in Liberia for about two years before returning to the U.S.

The Bend City Council, while Hummel was a councilor, made many controversial choices. Though Hummel shouldn’t be held solely responsible for decisions made by the seven-person council, he was sometimes referred to as a “maverick” and was a strong advocate for causes he believed in, regardless of their popularity with other council members.

“I’m not shy about sharing my opinion on an issue, and I do my homework before making a decision,” Hummel said. “But I can absolutely change my mind if I hear input from the public or councilors. I listen to my constituents.”

Hummel said he wasn’t always right during his tenure on the council, and said in hindsight there were things he would have done differently. But he pointed out that none of his decisions caused him to be sued as an individual.

“There is a big distinction here. The federal government, state government, counties and cities deal in billions of dollars and when you’re dealing in that much money there are going to be lawsuits,” he said. “I have never been sued, individually. Patrick has been sued, as an individual, several times, for his actions. That shows he is the problem.”

Bus purchase

In 2006, six broken buses were the problem.

Before Bend had a fixed-route bus system, several citizens approached the City Council saying one was needed. The council proposed a tax increase to establish a bus system, but voters didn’t want it. Hummel, undeterred, says he sat down with then-Mayor Bill Friedman and trimmed the city budget to come up with money to purchase buses. To keep costs down, the council bought used buses at a discounted price, but they turned out to be lemons. A Bulletin public records request from 2007 determined a mechanic sent to inspect the buses said they had several mechanical problems. The mechanic wrote a memo warning city officials he wouldn’t recommend buying them, but the city purchased the buses anyway.

Many, including Flaherty, have criticized the decision.

“He ignored the voice of the voters and bought the buses anyway,” Flaherty said. “He disregarded the law and then, when things went haywire, he blamed the mechanic. Then what did he do? He quit.”

Hummel maintains he did not know the buses had mechanical problems, and said he’s proud the city now has a fixed-route bus system.

“They were lemons and I accept responsibility for that. I’m the guy in charge and I made the decisions,” he said. “I’m not perfect and I didn’t make a perfect decision, but look at the end result. We got a bus system in place without introducing any new taxes.”

Hummel also said his decision to leave the council was unrelated to the faulty buses.

“It’s interesting and disappointing that Patrick would say that,” Hummel said. “Because when he left the DA’s office the first time it was because he got into a spat with his boss. He quit and left on the eve of a major homicide trial and the case had to be handed to a DDA that didn’t know anything about it and they lost. He left our community at risk and he should be embarrassed by that.”

Flaherty abruptly quit as a deputy district attorney after then-DA Mike Dugan refused to assign him a high-profile murder case. He quit five weeks before a complex murder-by-abuse case against Lisa Lynn Stickney, accused of shaking a baby to death, was scheduled for trial. After Flaherty left, Stickney’s case was reassigned to another deputy district attorney. Stickney was found not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

“When I left after being here for 12 years I didn’t leave the community at risk,” Hummel said.

Juniper Utility

Critics have also come after Hummel for the council’s decision, during his first term, to condemn Juniper Utility Co., which served four southeast Bend neighborhoods. Hummel says the council was approached by many citizens stating water pressure was unacceptably low. One woman told Hummel that she couldn’t mix her child’s formula with the water because of the sediment.

Since taking over the utility company in 2002, the city has poured $5 million to $7 million into repairs, in addition to the $9.6 million a judge ordered the city to pay the former owner.

“I stand behind that decision. If people want to say we shouldn’t have condemned it, fine,” he said. “But I would do the same thing again because it was a public health issue.”

Then there was the issue of the city’s decision to purchase the land that formerly housed The Bulletin. The city purchased the site for $4.7 million. Hummel said he voted for the purchase because he thought the plan was to relocate City Hall there. But when the vote to actually relocate came before the council, it failed.

“I supported moving City Hall because at the time real estate was sky high and we could have either sold or leased the downtown location. It would have been good for the taxpayers,” he said. “We bought the land but when we voted to move City Hall, I lost. I know there was a lot of lobbying going on and the other councilors were getting a lot of pressure.”

And there were some personnel issues during Hummel’s time on council as well.

Bend cycled through three city managers in about two years during Hummel’s first term on City Council. First, in 2001, when a new batch of councilors, including Hummel, took their spots on the council, longtime City Manager Larry Patterson was asked to leave. David Hales took his spot, but resigned after two years. Both men had to be bought out of their contracts and the city spent thousands of taxpayer dollars recruiting for the job.

Some fault the council for the quick turnover of city managers, but Hummel says the situation was not unusual.

“With government leaders, like the city manager or cabinet members, it’s not only not unusual, it’s expected you’re going to have a change like that,” Hummel said. “It’s not unexpected that when new City Council regimes are sworn in they hire a new city manager.”

Hummel said his only regret during his time on the council is that, upon Hales’ resignation, Hummel and the City Council refused to release the documentation of Hales’ last performance evaluation to the public. The Bulletin took the council to court after requesting a copy of the evaluation and having its request denied. The Bulletin won, and the council was forced to release the information and pay The Bulletin’s legal fees.

“(Hales) said if we didn’t release his performance evaluation he wouldn’t seek his severance package,” Hummel said. “In retrospect, I realize that wasn’t my decision to make.”

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

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected. An earlier version of this story misidentified the Bend city manager who asked the city council to not release his performance evaluation. The Bulletin regrets the error.