DA resigns as county counsel

“To be clear, as counsel for Wasco County, I represented the county, not the county commissioners — I worked with department heads, elected officials and the commissioners,” wrote the district attorney in an email answer to a reporter’s questions.

“My decision is not about the commissioners. I harbor no ill will toward any of the commissioners or any department head. It is simply time for me to move on. I am looking forward to focusing on prosecuting crime, which is the job I was elected to do.”

One of the issues raised during the campaign was the potential for conflicts if Bailey was in office and Nisley made budget requests.

His salary is paid by the state but his office will receive $525,139 from the county this fiscal year for operations.

During the runoff between his wife and Runyon, Nisley announced that he would resign as county counsel if she was elected to avoid any potential of a conflict.

As counsel, he was slated to be paid $15,683 this year by the county and receive $600 to cover his cell phone bill and slightly under $4,000 in benefits.

In his Nov. 25 letter to Scott Hege, chair of the commission, Nisley stated, “It has been my pleasure and honor since January of 1999 to provide legal advice and representation for Wasco County pursuant to ORS 8.690. I write to inform you that I will no longer provide such services for Wasco County.”

The law cited by Nisley states that he “shall” advise county officials on all legal questions that may arise and defend them against legal challenges.

He said the law is akin to the one authorizing the attorney general to give legal advice to elected state officials.

“Should the county request assistance from me in this respect, I will respond appropriately and with due diligence,” he wrote in the email.

The statue cited in Nisley’s letter outlines that the district attorney receive no compensation other than salary for his assistance to the county.

Hege said he did not know how long Nisley had been paid for services. He said, at some point in the past, local government leaders must have believed the district attorney should receive additional compensation for time spent on county business, which is allowed by another statute.

He said the commission has not yet decided what direction to take with legal counsel since receiving Nisley’s resignation letter.

“The letter was and was not a surprise because Eric has been busy. The issues we’ve been having when something comes up and we approach him is that he may not have time to take it on,” said Hege.

“Eric has consistently done a good job with legal documents and we may continue to ask for his help with those.”

Hege said Tyler Stone, county administrative officer, will prepare options for the commission to consider. He would like to see the county’s legal work given to a local attorney if that is at all possible.

“We try to keep a good relationship with our DA and, while the election certainly made that challenging, we move on and he still represents us in so many ways as part of the community,” he said.