Earlier this year an Oregon lawmaker was accused of bullying and intimidation of his colleague. Through correspondence concerning a records request a state official admitted that there was no investigation.
During a work session that the Oregon House Judiciary Committee held, it was alleged that the chairman acted improperly. Chairman Jason Kropf, D-54, was accused of intimidating and bullying another member of the committee, Rep. Thủy Trần, D-45. In the days that followed, several complaints were made against Kropf. Earlier this month an official with the Oregon Office of Legislative Counsel admitted that there was no investigation in the wake of Kropf’s alleged behavior.
As previously reported, while the state lawmakers were considering a bill, Kropf put the meeting on recess in the middle of a vote. Trần voted against an anti-gun measure that Kropf supported. Trần had prviacy-related concerns for her constituents and what information about prospective gun owners would be shared with/kept by the FBI.
During the recess, Kropf sidebarred with Trần in a hallway outside of the chambers. It was alleged that Trần was bullied into changing her vote during the recess. Multiple witnesses stated that Trần appeared visibly shaken by whatever conversation she had with Kropf. When they returned to the chambers, Trần ultimately ended up flipping her vote to support the measure.
Freedom of Information Act Requests were filed with agencies in Oregon on the matter. One of the offices that was contacted was the Oregon Office of Legislative Counsel. The Counsel provided a number of complaints that they received from members of the public concerning Kropf’s alleged actions.
One of the complaints that the office did not return back via the FOIA process came from Derek LeBlanc. LeBlanc is the president of the Oregon Gun Owners Action League. Shortly after Kropf’s actions made headlines in Oregon, LeBlanc reached out to Bearing Arms to share his portion of the story. It was then that he provided his correspondence and the complaints that he filed.
When culling through the complaints and emails that the office shared via the FOIA process, it was noticed LeBlanc’s were not included. The Office of Legislative Counsel was somewhat dismissive about these claims at first when confronted.
“Acquiring records outside of the official public records request process does not preclude the privileges afforded by the public records laws to keep certain records exempt from public disclosure, when those records were disclosed in an official capacity,” wrote Deputy Attorney Erin Jansen from the Office of the Legislative Counsel. “If there is a specific exemption that you believe was applied in error, please advise. As previously noted, you may seek review of the determination pursuant to ORS 192.407, 192.411, 192.415, 192.418, 192.422, 192.427 and 192.431 or through the Public Records Advocate.”
After follow-up correspondence, Jansen sent the missing LeBlanc email thread. While most of the thread was included, it was still not complete. However, Jansen sent a thread that she was in and her responses to Bor Yang, the legislative equity officer. In Jansen’s email, she noted that her correspondence with Yang was the large redaction at the top of the thread.
What else was in Jansen’s email response to the request for the missing responsive documents? An admission that no investigation was ever done concerning the allegations involving Kropf.
“Please see the attached emails between Mr. LeBlanc and the Legislative Equity Office. Pursuant to ORS 173.936 (2), only ‘[r]ecords relating to an investigation of a member of the Legislative Assembly following a conduct complaint being made concerning the member’ are disclosable,” wrote Jansen. “It is not clear if the described emails meet this description as they do not ‘relate to an investigation’ since no investigation occurred.”
Earlier this month reporting surfaced that the Oregon legislature may seek an overhaul of how complaints are filed and handled. Interestingly enough, Rep. Trần sits on the committee responsible for handling such matters — one that Rep. Kropf resigned from in the wake of the intimidation allegations.
“How do we ensure that the more serious cases do get investigated without significant harm to the parties that are involved? And how do we address these lingering questions around free speech for the somewhat serious and less serious cases that do get in the door? Because we do get express permission to refer those to an investigator,” Legislative Equity Officer Yang told the Oregon Capital Chronicle. “Those are my primary goals.”
It was also Yang who sought an independent attorney to look at the complaints against Kropf since he served on the committee that oversees her work. In Yang’s correspondence with the independent attorney, she led by stating she did not think there was a “Rule 27” violation. The independent attorney was Cristela Delgado‑Danie with the Miller Nash LLP firm.
“I’m sending you a complaint that I received from a member of the public,” wrote Yang. “Typically, I conduct the facial review then forward it to you if I’ve determined that Rule 27 is implicated. In this case, the allegations do not fall under Rule 27 because the complainant is not the impacted party and there is no nexus to a protected class status.” Yang mentioned that she did not want there to appear to be any conflicts of interest due to Kropf’s supervisory role over her.
Rule 27 “prohibits harassment, discrimination and retaliation relating to legislative activities.”
“The rule is designed to provide options to those who are experiencing or observing harassing behavior, discriminatory behavior or other prohibited behavior to seek information, make reports or file complaints to address and resolve concerns,” a webpage published by the Legislative Equity Office explains. “Individuals seeking support or help may reach out to the Legislative Equity Officer for a confidential discussion.”
“I have conducted a facial review of the complaint, and I agree that it likely does not raise sufficient facts to implicate Rule 27,” wrote Delgado-Danie to Yang. “As I read the rule, it appears that anyone can raise a complaint even if they are not the subject of the behavior.” She further stated that the complaints were not valid because the complainants did not actually witness the alleged actions from Kropf.
Whether or not Trần filed her own complaint(s) is not known. None of the information requests returned included any correspondence from the representative. According to a press release, Trần did describe Kropf as creating a hostile work environment.
“The allegation that a lawmaker created a hostile working environment by intimidating another lawmaker into changing their vote is a serious allegation that creates distrust in the democratic process,” said House Republican Leader Lucetta Elmer (R-McMinnville). “It must be properly addressed and thoroughly investigated through a transparent process that respects the victim and remedies the wrong committed against them. Instead, Democrats attempted to sweep this under the rug and move on, instead of supporting Rep. Tran during this process. I am requesting that the Legislative Equity Office conduct a full investigation into this matter that is both inclusive and transparent.”
Unfortunately Rep. Elmer’s call for an investigation by the Legislative Equity Office went unanswered.
Oregon Attorney General Rayfield was contacted about the allegations against Kropf. Rayfield’s office, when asked if they were fielding complaints or were getting involved in an investigation said it was outside of their purview.
“Our office doesn’t have any oversight on this,” wrote Rayfield’s Communications Director Jenny Hansson. “The Oregon Government Ethics Commission is independent from us, as is the Office of Legislative Council.”
The many people that came forward to report the alleged behaviour of Rep. Kropf would not see their concerns addressed. To date, it appears that multiple agencies and many Oregon officials have swept these allegations against Kropf under the rug. The video evidence should be enough for a formal investigation to occur. Between the public outcry, remarks by Trần that Kropf made a hostile work environment, the flipped vote, and interest from other legislators, there’s frankly no excuse why a full and transparent investigation did not occur.
While this is not a developing story, we’ll still be monitoring things in the Beaver State and report back with any updates as they transpire.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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