By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek will appoint Jenna Wallace as Lincoln County’s next district attorney on Friday as Lanee Danforth’s resignation takes effect six months before the end of her troubled four-year term.
Wallace won the May primary to succeed Danforth after the incumbent decided weeks before the primary not to seek re-election. Wallace would normally have to wait until January to take office, but Danforth announced June 3 that she would resign Friday.
In her resignation announcement, however, Danforth asked the Oregon Department of Justice for help in staffing the district attorney’s office that had seen the majority of its six remaining prosecutors resign to take jobs elsewhere.
Wallace, 34, has been a lawyer for 10 years, in Lincoln County for two years and Danforth’s chief deputy since last August.
She told YachatsNews that Kotek’s office suggested the option of being appointed district attorney on Friday and getting some help from the Department of Justice, or having someone from the agency appointed interim district attorney until January and Wallace staying on as chief deputy to handle day-to-day operations.
Wallace said that she and the Department of Justice worked out a different plan – that she be appointed district attorney and focus on rebuilding the office while the state sends in an experienced attorney to work as chief deputy.
“As much as I want to do everything, I’ve accepted the fact that I cannot do it all,” Wallace said. “I can’t rebuild this office on my own …”
Wallace said the state plans to send Toby Tingleaf, a former Marion County deputy district attorney, to be her chief deputy. Tingleaf has been an attorney since 2007, with the Department of Justice for three years and helped when the agency spent 18 months in Klamath County when that district attorney’s office was also in turmoil.
“He will assist me in running the office, allow me to rebuild it and also work with county administration and community partners,” Wallace said Thursday. “I really think this can be the best solution to help us get back on our feet.”
Prosecutors flee office
Wallace is inheriting an office in turmoil, at least as far as prosecutors are concerned.
The district attorney’s office has a yearly budget of $2.9 million, paid staff of 29 and is authorized for 10 attorney positions – the district attorney, a chief deputy and up to eight deputy district attorneys.
Wallace told YachatsNews that support staff positions in the office are filled and functioning well.
“Staff wise we’re great,” Wallace said. “The office is functioning normally, except for the lack of deputy district attorneys.”
While the county budgets for up to eight deputy district attorneys, there were six in early May. Then three announced their resignations May 20 with the last and most experienced prosecutor departing next week. Then a fourth announced his departure – his last day is Friday – leaving Wallace and deputy district attorney Marshall Thompson as the only prosecutors in the office by the end of next week.
Two of the four leaving told YachatsNews earlier that Lincoln County’s pay was too low, their caseloads too high, and the high cost of housing on the coast led them to higher-paying jobs elsewhere.
Wallace met with top county officials last week to discuss those issues and appeared to get assurances that the county will try to address pay.
Another issue is that Lincoln County is one of the few remaining Oregon counties that is not a member of the Oregon Public Retirement System, which hinders attorneys from PERS-member counties from moving to the coast.
Commission chair Casey Miller said he could not comment on the county joining the PERS system because it is in negotiations with employee unions. But he was hopeful that Danforth’s departure and antagonistic approach toward county administration would change under Wallace.
The meeting between Wallace and county leaders last week was the first with someone from the district attorney’s office in years, Miller said.
“That was unprecedented, especially in Lanee Danforth’s tenure,” Miller said. “That to me is a big indicator of progress.”
Wallace also participated this week in a bi-monthly management meeting with other county department heads, including three others who are also elected. It was the first in years that someone from the district attorney’s office was there.
Wallace said Thursday the meeting “was very helpful.”
Rebuilding the office
Danforth, who said in her June 3 announcement she was resigning after 3 1/2 years to concentrate on her health, had been in conflict with other county officials and some of her staff for years and still has an active federal lawsuit against her by a former deputy district attorney.
Miller said he hopes Wallace can change that.
“We’re absolutely going to be as supportive as we can,” he said. “But this might take years. There’s a long game to rebuilding an organization and culture.”
Lincoln County Circuit Court presiding judge Sheryl Bachart said in a statement to YachatsNews that all parts of the justice system “need to be fully funded and staffed” to function properly.
“A fully functioning justice system needs to be a priority both locally and at the state level,” Bachart said. “When one part of the system is broken, the entire system breaks down and ultimately the community suffers. Whether it is a victim who is waiting for a case to be prosecuted or a defendant waiting for a court appointed lawyer, the result is justice cannot be delivered. Broken parts of the system also mean the court cannot meet its constitutional and statutory obligations.”
“The shortage in the district attorney’s office requires a local response to recruit and retain qualified attorneys,” the judge said in her statement. “I hope our community responds to this need and the court will continue to work with community partners to creatively problem-solve during this time.”
Wallace told YachatsNews on Thursday that is one of her goals.
“We all need to take the steps necessary to recruit and retain prosecutors,” she said. “I hope all of this is a step toward rebuilding this department.”
- Quinton Smith is the editor of YachatsNews.com and can be reached at YachatsNews@gmail.com
As a community member that lost respect for the DA’s office, I really wish we could have seen fit to elect Wallace’s opponent, Kathryn Benfield. Someone not so entwined with Lanee Danforth and her dysfunctional methods would put my mind at ease. And the fact that Wallace’s husband is employed by the DA’s office as an investigator, after failing in his job as police office in Coquille, is very concerning. Jenna Wallace needs to be watched closely by Lincoln County and the State of Oregon. There is at least one staff member who should be removed too — the former judge’s daughter who has conducted herself horribly over the years. I wish I had more hope.