Drew Layda, a Republican candidate for Oregon's legislative House District 31 has been speaking out against what seems to be a dishonest move on the part of Democrat Brad Witt, who recently announced that we would not run for re-election for representation of Oregon House District 31.

HD 31 is all of Columbia County and portions of Multnomah and Washington counties.

Witt resides in Clatskanie, and has represented the district since his appointment in January 2005. He announced that he would not run for re-election following his sexual harassment scandal which led to him being stripped of his committee assignments. However, on March 8th, the second to last day to file to run for office, Witt filed to run for a completely different district. His new district that he wishes to represent is House District 19, comprising of Salem

The Republican candidate Drew Layda sent a letter to four effected county clerks (Columbia, Multnomah, Washington & Marion), the Secretary of State elections division, the Chief Clerk of the Oregon House of Reps & the House Majority & Minority leaders.

The letter reads as follows:

"We had noted that Brad Witt, currently seated State Representative for Oregon House District 31, has declared candidacy for Oregon House District 19 on March 7th, 2022."

"How can Rep. Witt be eligible to do both at the same time? If he is eligible by standard of inhabitancy to be a declared candidate for House District 19, is he not ineligible by standard of inhabitancy to continue serving as State Representative for House District 31?" "On December 27th 2021 Rep. Witt Amended his Candidate Committee PAC address from 21740 Lindburg Rd. Clatskanie OR 97016 to 348 18th St. SW Salem OR 97301, an address outside his elected district, and amended the election/office section from House District 31 to House District 19." "This means the currently seated State Representative for House District 31 does not have a Campaign Committee PAC associated with the office they currently occupy, and hasn’t since last year."

"On March 3rd 2022 at 5:06PM, Rep. Witt filed his candidacy for House District 19, declaring his residence address was 348 18th St. SW Salem OR 97301: arguably since at least late December."

"As Rep. Witt has declared he moved his residence to House District 19, he is no longer eligible to serve as House Representative for House District 31, and has not been since at least December 28th 2021." "If Rep. Witt plans to finishes his term as State Representative for House District 31, he should not be eligible to declare a candidacy for House District 19." "I would ask that the County Clerks involved, the Secretary of State, Chief Clerk of the House, work together to make a Determination of Inhabitancy of Rep. Witt as per ORS 249.052, to clarify which of the House Districts, HD19 or HD31, he is eligible to seek or hold office in." "If I am mistaken, and this is somehow an allowable practice, my suspicious concerns into the fairness and integrity of our elections process will be further enhanced."

--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-03-09 19:43:53

Last Update: 2022-03-09 20:48:32