Oregon Secretary of State’s Office staff members consistently informed their previous employer, Shemia Fagan, that she was flexing – if not breaking – state travel guidelines by bringing her family along on state-paid business journeys.
But Fagan neglected her staff’s cautions and did it anyhow.
That’s according to Cheryl Myers, who ended up being acting secretary of state after Fagan resigned May 8 in the middle of another debate – that she was presumably utilizing her public workplace for personal gain by taking a sideline to make additional money.
“Secretary Fagan’s frequent travel with family members was not appropriate for an elected official in her position,” Myers said Thursday. “Staff at the agency frequently pushed back on the plans for these trips, but their advice was ignored.”
Myers’ declaration remained in reaction to an examination by The Oregonian/OregonLive that discovered Fagan looked for – and oftentimes received – countless taxpayer dollars in doubtful compensations from the state for travel costs both big and little. They varied from $15 family pet charges to numerous dollars in state-paid rental automobiles.
The examination likewise discovered Fagan obviously invested 10s of countless dollars in campaign funds on plane tickets for her kids, a family weekend in Sunriver and remains at four-star hotels countless miles from Oregon, amongst lots of other inexplicable costs. It likewise appears possible that Fagan double-dipped, getting compensated both by the state and her campaign for air travel, accommodations and meals.
In light of the news organization’s findings, the Secretary of State’s Office will “re-review” a few of Fagan’s state compensations, said representative Ben Morris, including that if they identify her expenses were improper, they will ask her to pay the money back. Morris said his workplace couldn’t discuss Fagan’s campaign spending due to the fact that it hasn’t carried out a main examination and would just do so if a grievance were submitted.
But critics presume Fagan utilized both taxpayer and campaign money to money minutes of high-end and mini-vacations with her kids, romantic partner, sis and auntie. Before she resigned, Fagan explained that her yearly state income of $77,000 wasn’t sufficient “to make ends meet” as a separated mom of 2.
Through her personal legal representative, Fagan at first decreased to discuss her spending. But Thursday, after The Oregonian/OregonLive provided Fagan and her legal representative with findings into her spending, her legal representative said in an email that Fagan had actually not done anything incorrect.
“Ms. Fagan was always careful to comply with all regulations and policies regarding expenditures reimbursed by the State or her (Political Action Committee),” lawyer David Elkanich composed.
For circumstances, Elkanich said staff “other than herself” authorized Fagan’s state travel compensations.
But according to the Secretary of State’s Office, Fagan – as leading employer of the firm – had the last word. That was regardless of staff’s assistance that Fagan’s travel should be “necessary” and “cost effective.”
“Elected officials have wide latitude to decide what events they will attend and who they will travel with,” Myers said.
The Oregonian/OregonLive discovered that an accounting professional with the Secretary of State’s Office declined a minimum of a few of Fagan’s efforts to have taxpayers bear the expense.
But with Fagan’s campaign financing committee, her spending went practically uncontrolled due to the fact that Oregon has a few of the country’s laxest oversight of campaign money. Fagan’s spending of campaign funds likewise was even more luxurious – from a $177 meal at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington D.C. to a $1,300 remain at Sunriver Resort to $3,300 in air travel to an unnamed location.
“The way the system is set up right now, it creates a temptation that doesn’t need to exist – and I think Shemia bit into that temptation,” said Julie Parrish, a previous Republican state agent from West Linn. Four years after she left workplace, she still keeps an eye on how chosen authorities spend campaign funds.
Parrish said she thinks Fagan, a Democrat, isn’t the only public authorities – Democrat or Republican – raising their way of lives with campaign funds.
“You can’t use this as your personal piggy bank,” Parrish said.
Campaign finance rules state that while a prospect or public authorities might utilize campaign funds to run for workplace or perform their main tasks when chosen, they are not to spend the money for “personal use.” The guidelines, nevertheless, don’t need public authorities to publish invoices or supply anything however the most basic information about how they invested the money.
“Disclosure rules are pretty sloppy,” said Norman Turrill, a campaign financing specialist for the League of Women Voters of Oregon.
The shadow cast over Fagan’s monetary negotiations can be found in plain contrast to the image she cultivated over more than a years, as an increasing star in the Democratic Party. Fagan, 41, resigned last month, acknowledging a principles examination was underway into whether she utilized her public workplace for personal gain by taking a $10,000-a-month consulting job with a cannabis business when her workplace was auditing the market.
In its examination of Fagan’s travel spending, The Oregonian/OregonLive discovered that from the time Fagan took workplace as secretary of state in January 2021 to the date she resigned in May 2023, she invested more than $28,000 from her campaign committee fund – typically compensating herself straight for costs that weren’t totally explained. She was not formally running for any political workplace in those off-election years and the Secretary of State’s Office was compensating her for costs associated with her main tasks.
About $15,000 of the campaign money Fagan invested was for plane tickets. But oftentimes, it’s unclear if the tickets were for herself or for somebody else, where they flew and for what function. However, info offered by the state and Fagan’s own social networks posts appear to suggest that a minimum of a few of those flights were for her 2 school-aged kids. According to the state, Fagan’s kids accompanied her on journeys to Washington D.C. and Chicago. Fagan’s romantic partner, Matthew Westerbeck, joined her on journeys to D.C., Chicago and New Orleans.
Fagan likewise invested more than $4,700 for hotel stays and $1,500 for restaurant meals from her campaign fund considering that 2021.
That happened even in some circumstances when the state spent for her air travel, accommodations and meals.
Fagan has actually declined to supply comprehensive invoices that may clean up any concerns about her usage of campaign funds. Elkanich, her legal representative, informed The Oregonian/OregonLive that he doesn’t believe Fagan is needed to.
“We do not plan to provide any information since Ms. Fagan’s committee is not subject to a public records request,” Elkanich composed in an email.
But in basic remarks, Elkanich said Fagan bewared to prevent double-dipping or spending campaign money for personal usage. He said he thinks Fagan properly utilized funds so her kids might take a trip with her. According to airline company invoices in 2015, her kids were in between the ages of 5 and 11.
“Ms. Fagan shares custody of her young children and was not willing to leave them behind whenever she traveled for official business or political events,” Elkanich composed in an email.
Steve Elzinga, an independently practicing legal representative who worked as legal affairs director for the Secretary of State’s Office from 2017 to 2019 and assisted modify the state’s Campaign Finance Manual, says it’s uncertain whether Fagan breached any guidelines.
“Some of this is gray-area stuff where the law is not totally clear,” Elzinga said.
But he believes if Fagan double-dipped for air travel, hotels or meals by getting repaid from both the state and her campaign funds, that would be “blatantly illegal.”
If she rather invested campaign money on travel costs for her kids or romantic partner, Elzinga kept in mind that a provision in the state’s Campaign Finance Manual enables campaign funds to be invested in “occasional childcare expenses incurred by the candidate or public officeholder that are a direct result of performing their duties.” But Elzinga said it may be a stretch to declare that air travel or hotel spaces for one’s kids fit under the meaning of periodic child care costs.
“I do not think bringing your family with you is part of your duties,” Elzinga said. “I would read the statute to say you can’t use campaign funds for tickets or hotel rooms for family members.”
He included: “I think this is a great example of where it’d be good for everybody for the state to clarify these things.”
Among Fagan’s spending of campaign funds and state money, The Oregonian/OregonLive discovered lots of doubtful or inexplicable expenses:
2022 Washington D.C. journey: The Oregon Secretary of State’s Office and the National Lieutenant Governors Association spent for Fagan to remain 4 nights throughout a spring 2022 work conference at The Madison, a four-star Washington, D.C. hotel a couple of blocks from the White House. Yet Fagan likewise charged her campaign committee $1,573 for lodging at The Madison and an establishment she noted just as “Hilton Hotels” on approximately the exact same dates – enough for another 4 nights of accommodations.
The exact same chose air travel: Even though the Secretary of State’s Office repaid Fagan $765.59 for her air travel, a couple of weeks prior to the journey her campaign committee repaid her $765.59 in air travel. Her kid accompanied her on the journey.
The pattern used to meals, too: Even though all of Fagan’s meals while going to the conference were repaid by the state or she testified on a state form that they were consisted of, she billed her campaign committee for extra meals. That consisted of $111 at the Old Ebbitt Grill and $198 at the Founding Farmers, both dining establishments in D.C.
She likewise billed her committee for different “miscellaneous personal expenditures under $100″ during the dates of the trip. That amounted to a total of $452. She did not specify in disclosure forms what that money went toward.
Lyft rides: Though the Secretary of State’s travel policy forbids employees from seeking reimbursement for “travel to places of entertainment or other personal pursuits,” Fagan looked for repayment and was repaid by the state for Lyft journeys to locations that might have encountered that policy.
For circumstances, while in Washington, D.C. for the National Lieutenant Governors Association’s spring conference, Fagan billed the state $19.99 for a one-mile Lyft trip on April 1, 2022, from the Smithsonian Gardens at the National Museum of American History to White House Gifts, which offers governmental keepsakes. Fagan categorized it as a “Trip to Airport” on the repayment form she sent to the state.
Pet charges: On over night journey throughout Oregon to go to county elections workplaces or jails, Fagan brought her dog. That suggested in some cases hotels added family pet charges as part of her state-paid stays. Karla Willmschen, an accounting professional who keeps an eye on travel costs at the Secretary of State’s Office, composed an email to Fagan’s staff last fall explaining that she discovered Fagan “regularly has these pet charges” and the state shouldn’t be accountable for those charges, which normally varied from $15 to $30 per night. Willmschen recommended that Fagan spend for her accommodations upfront so “the agency is not floating these charges for the personal expenses.”
Rental automobiles: Willmschen likewise composed Fagan’s staff last fall to state Fagan had actually broken state guidelines by utilizing a state-paid rental car to take a trip to Sunriver, obviously for a family weekend in August 2022 after her main deal with a five-day work trip was done.
Willmschen composed, “this vehicle was rented for state business and then kept for personal use which is an ethical violation in a couple of different ways.” She said it’s an infraction of the state’s insurance coverage for Fagan to drive the car for personal factors and the state shouldn’t be spending for it, even momentarily. She asked that Fagan settle up with the state for 2 days’ worth of rental car charges – $182 – “right away.”
“In essence, the agency should not be floating those additional funds for the personal gain of the traveler,” Willmschen composed. “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.”
Willmschen, nevertheless, didn’t request Fagan to pay back the around 150 additional miles worth of gas she utilized driving to the Painted Hills of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument and Sunriver, rather of driving straight home from her last point of business, a conference with the Wheeler County clerk.
A state hotline later on received a confidential grievance about Fagan’s usage of state money for family pet charges, along with bigger rental automobiles and hotel spaces to accommodate her family on journeys. A state detective discovered just “minor issues” however said Fagan’s usage of the rental car to Sunriver would be reported to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission as a possible principles offense. About 6 weeks later on, Fagan submitted a grievance versus herself to the commission, stating she had actually gone to Sunriver to participate in a conference of attorneys. Fagan didn’t point out that she brought her family along, or that the weekend is greatly oriented towards kids and family enjoyable.
The commission eventually decreased to examine, it appears based exclusively on the info in the grievance Fagan submitted.
Mixing business with enjoyment: The state accounting professional, Willmschen, likewise didn’t make a stink about Fagan bringing her kids, auntie and dog on that August 2022 business journey, which began along the southern Oregon coast, ventured into the renowned Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in Northern California and over to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon, prior to ending near the Painted Hills – among the “7 Wonders of Oregon.” She and her family then drove on to Sunriver.
According to Fagan’s main work calendar, she invested more hours checking out leisure websites than she did performing the main factors for the journey: checking out county clerks, surveying a state research study forest, exploring a state jail and going to a state land board conference throughout 5 days.
Fagan’s family stuck with her in state-paid hotel spaces. They likewise rode in a state-paid rental car, although staff informed Fagan it was restricted by workplace policy, according to Morris, the firm representative.
Because Fagan’s family filled one rental car, that triggered the one staffer accompanying Fagan on the journey, senior consultant Molly Woon, to lease another car at the state’s expense. According to the Secretary of State’s Office, Fagan would typically take a trip in one car with staff if her family weren’t with her.
The distinction in rental car expenses, too, stood out. Records offered by the state don’t determine the kind of rental car Woon leased, however it was far more affordable than Fagan’s full-size SUV. Woon’s rental car costs concerned $287, compared to Fagan’s $730. Fagan invested another $370 on gas. Figures on Woon’s gas costs weren’t available.
Woon likewise leased a 2nd car for a weeklong May 2022 trip to go to county clerks and jails in eastern Oregon. Fagan brought her kids, sis and dog on that journey, according to Morris and hotel invoices.
Extended hotel stay: The state footed the $425 costs for both Woon and Fagan and her family to remain an additional 2 nights in Pendleton over that late May weekend, although neither had business scheduled in the area that Saturday or Sunday. The journey began on a Wednesday and mainly was consisted of state-related work gos to on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the ladies’s calendars reveal. But Fagan established sees to 2 state jails the following Monday, so the group hung out in Pendleton, “long known for fun and western entertainment,” according to the regional visitors bureau.
Although the state paid Fagan about $80 each complete day of the six-day journey to cover her meals, Fagan likewise tapped her campaign funds for a $123 “meeting meal” at the Main Event Sports Bar and Eatery in Baker City on May 27, 2022.
Necessary part of the job?: Fagan selected to take a trip prolifically – taking a minimum of 16 over night journeys in Oregon or to other states in her last 16 months as secretary of state, according to her work calendar.
It’s uncertain how a few of those journeys associated with her main tasks. They consisted of a three-day journey to College Station, Texas in February 2023, throughout which her only scheduled business was spending 2 hours on the 3rd day speaking with Texas A&M University trainees about democracy and after that having lunch with some teachers. The university spent for Fagan’s air travel, however the state of Oregon paid $162 for her meals.
Fagan likewise requested for and received $25 per night from the state for lodging throughout the journey. That’s the quantity the state normally pays when authorities remain at the houses of friend or family. According to Morris, Fagan remained 2 nights at her sis’s house.
At least another journey has actually raised concerns about whether taxpayer money – and in this case, campaign money – must have spent for it. In April 2023 – simply one month prior to she resigned – Fagan took a trip to Washington D.C. to participate in the White House Easter Egg Roll with her kids and partner. Morris said staff dissuaded Fagan from going to at the state’s expense due to the fact that they didn’t believe it was a required part of her job. But he said Fagan selected to participate in due to the fact that she was welcomed and “the event seeks to promote public officials with young children.” In all, 30,000 people attended.
The Secretary of State’s Office repaid Fagan for her $877.80 aircraft ticket and the daily cost of her meals, another $138.
Fagan specified on a campaign spending disclosure form that she invested $1755.60 on Alaska Airlines fare, without any supporting information. But an invoice she sent to the state reveals that’s the exact quantity she invested in 2 Alaska Airlines tickets for her 2 kids for those dates.
Fagan likewise tapped her campaign for about $400 in costs throughout the approximate dates of her journey, consisting of a $140 meal at the airport and a number of Lyft trips.
Kate Titus, executive director of the federal government responsibility group Common Cause Oregon, said there might be reasonable factors Fagan invested the money. But she said the optics don’t look good.
“It’s not even a matter of what’s allowable,” Titus said. “It’s how the public would perceive that. Is it a breach of trust? Is it a legitimate use of public funds for her public duty?”
Titus said provided Fagan’s sideline with the cannabis business, the inquiries are necessitated.
“There is reason,” Titus said, “to question her judgment.”
— Aimee Green; [email protected]
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