Val Hoyle “can’t shake the long shadows” of BOLI scandals
The news is grim for embattled Democrat Val Hoyle:
“The stench of Val Hoyle’s corruption has become impossible to ignore. The evidence continues to pile up and the chorus of voices calling out Hoyle’s corrupt, unethical behavior is growing.” – NRCC Spokesperson Ben Petersen
In case you missed it…
Nine Months After She Left State Government, U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle Can’t Shake the Long Shadows of Her Time There
Willamette Week
Sophie Peel
Records released in piecemeal by the state agency she once ran display a pattern of public business conducted outside of public view.
Over the past six months, records turned over by the Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries—the state agency that holds Oregon employers accountable to their workers—show that its former head, now-U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle, oversaw an office that made key decisions outside of public scrutiny.
Hoyle’s conduct while she led the agency may appear to be water under the bridge. After all, she no longer runs the agency and has secured a seat in Congress.
But information released piecemeal by BOLI since Hoyle’s departure—including investigative documents newly obtained by WW—displays a pattern of public business conducted outside of public view.
In particular, Hoyle repeatedly appeared to intercede on behalf of a top campaign donor, Rosa Cazares, the co-founder of the embattled cannabis dispensary chain La Mota. On at least two occasions, Hoyle stepped in when Cazares’ interests were at stake. And five months after WW revealed Hoyle’s actions on Cazares’ behalf, the congresswoman still hasn’t turned over her personal devices so state officials can see what public business she conducted on them.
In April, Hoyle’s actions were largely overshadowed by WW’s revelation that then-Secretary of State Shemia Fagan had taken a consulting contract with La Mota—a career move that is now under federal criminal investigation. But the slow drip of records provided by the agency Hoyle once ran could make her grip on her congressional seat less certain than before.
Hoyle for months now has defended her actions at BOLI and insists she did nothing improper or unethical.
Political onlookers, though, say it looks like a mess. And BOLI’s shadow over Hoyle seems to be growing.
“Anytime anybody looks for a small scandal with any elected official in Oregon, they seem to find a lot more,” says Chris Koski, political science and environmental studies professor at Reed College. “It’s like the equivalent of doing a small remodel on your house and realizing, oh my God, I’ve got a bunch of rotting inside.”
[…]
Two things are apparent from investigation records provided by BOLI’s current administration.
First, the investigation interviews show that staff felt Hoyle’s involvement with the ENDVR grant was peculiar.
One BOLI staff member said in her interview, according to the investigator’s notes, that BOLI’s apprenticeship director was “not happy with Val’s decision to abandon normal process” at the July 27 council meeting. Another staffer, according to HR’s notes, said in an interview that the initial council meeting stopped following Robert’s Rules of Order, a set of parliamentary rules that Oregon governing bodies are supposed to follow when discussing matters before a vote.
BOLI’s current administration under Stephenson declined to comment on the appropriateness of ENDVR meeting privately with BOLI staff at Hoyle’s request, but agency spokeswoman Rachel Mann pointed to state statutes that advise members of a governing body—like the apprenticeship council—not to gather without a quorum because it “creates the appearance of impropriety.”
[…]
The two findings from the investigative report add to questions about how much public business Hoyle conducted outside public scrutiny.
Twice earlier this year, BOLI’s new administration asked Hoyle to hand over her personal cellphones so that the agency could cull any texts related to state business. The agency knew she’d conducted state business on her personal devices. By law, those are public records.
As of press deadline, Hoyle had still not turned over her personal devices, saying she and her attorney will search them to determine what public records they contain. (Hoyle did recently return her BOLI-issued phone, the agency says.)
“She’s obligated to turn over those devices so they can be properly searched,” says Ginger McCall, who served as Oregon’s public records advocate for a year and a half, leaving in 2019. “I don’t think that the public should have to trust her to do her own search, because obviously there’s a conflict of interest there on her part.”