BEND, Ore. (AP) - A former Bend City Council member who made an issue of what he called a “toxic” environment in the Deschutes County district attorney’s office has unseated Patrick Flaherty as prosecutor after a contentious campaign.
The challenger, John Hummel, won handily, 60 percent to 40 percent. Votes in the nonpartisan primary race were counted Tuesday.
Four years ago, Flaherty defeated a longtime district attorney, Mike Dugan, for whom he’d once worked and been chief deputy.
During Flaherty’s term, the Bend Bulletin reports (https://bit.ly/1jV5QZK), five former or current members of Flaherty’s staff filed lawsuits against him, resulting in more than $1 million in settlements.
Hummel criticized Flaherty for the way he went about making personnel changes, and the two candidates had markedly different ideas of the role of a district attorney.
Flaherty said he’d run a traditional office focused on prosecuting criminals. Hummel said he would focus more on collaboration with outside agencies, managing the office and establishing programs to prevent crime.
Hummel, 44, spent 12 years as a defense attorney in Central Oregon and the Portland area. He moved to Bend in 1996 and served on the council from 2000 to 2006 when he abruptly resigned to work in Liberia for The Carter Center.
He returned in 2012 and announced his candidacy in September.
How the transition goes will be up to Flaherty, he said. “Patrick is the district attorney until January, so he will make any decisions about that, not me,” Hummel said. “I respect that.”
During the campaign, Hummel’s statements about his qualifications and about decisions not to prosecute cases drew criticism.
Flaherty, 57, told The Bulletin he was disappointed in the results.
“People didn’t do the level of research that I think many hoped they would do,” he said. “It’s kind of frightening, frankly, because so many of his statements were just blatant lies.”
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Information from: The Bulletin, https://www.bendbulletin.com
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