By Jake Thomas
jthomas@portlandobserver.com

Common Sense for Oregon awarded Carter, DHS, and the Governor’s office its third “Golden Fleece Award” for her appointment to a high-paying job that the group alleges violated the Oregon Constitution.

Carter, the first African American woman elected to the Legislature, stepped down in August to take a $121,872-a-year position as the state’s deputy Director for Human Services Programs.

During the last legislative session, which ended in June, Carter co-chaired the Joint Legislative Ways and Means Committee, which has broad influence over how state agencies are funded, including DHS.

Both Carter and DHS have denied that there were any back-scenes tit-for-tat negotiations while she was doing budget work.

But Ross Day, the executive director of Common Sense for Oregon, called the hiring “self-dealing at its worst.”

Day alleges that Carter’s appointment violates a clause of the Oregon Constitution that prohibits lawmakers from taking any civil office that was created or saw its funding increased while in office.

During the last legislative session, lawmakers voted to create the Oregon Health Authority, which will oversee many services once provided by DHS. It also created the DHS deputy administrator position, which Carter now occupies, to administer certain divisions of the department.

Rep. Larry Galizio, D-Tigard, left the Legislature about the same time as Carter to take an administrative job with the Oregon University System. Day said he doesn’t have a problem with Galizio’s appointment because his position wasn’t created while he was still in the Legislature.

Day told the Portland Observer that he has no evidence that Carter and DHS worked behind the scenes for the position, and will file papers for the lawsuit later this week.

DHS Spokesperson Patty Wentz, said that Carter was sick and unavailable for comment.

Wentz didn’t have any comment on the lawsuit, but pointed out that there were errors in the statement by the group. For instance, the group said that House Bill 2009 created Carter’s position. It didn’t; it created the Oregon Health Authority.
It also incorrectly identifies Carter as the co-chair of the “Ways and Means Committee.”