Letter to the editor: In defense of the DA

Oregon is the only state that makes complaints to the State Bar Association public. In other words anyone can make any accusation they want with no risk that there will be any consequence, no matter how outrageous the allegation. Over the 33 years I have been a member of the State Bar at least 100 complaints have been filed against me. None were ever sustained but they are there for anyone to read.

A district attorney who does their job, without fear or favor or promise of reward, will invariably upset well-connected people. It was for that very reason the drafters of the Oregon Constitution back in 1859 made sure that while each county had a district attorney that such an officer would be a state employee, paid by the state, not the county.

To this day Oregon counties pay the overwhelming majority of costs for the operation of the DA’s office but they have - deliberately - no control over the operation of that office. That control lies with the person the public selects for the office of D.A.

The allegiance of the district attorney is to the people of the county, NOT the county government. The vast majority of counties hire separate lawyers known as county counsels whose job it is to work for the county commissioners, not the public.

As a D.A. in a smaller community it is inevitable that the DA will be required to investigate allegations of misconduct involving people in local government. They are not always well-founded but for a free and fair society the DA must be willing to conduct a full and fair investigation.

Joshua Marquis

Astoria