City of Salem hiring Eugene attorney to help with investigation of Betsy Vega’s eligibility to be city councilor

Initially the City of Salem announced that the City Recorder and City Attorney would investigate an allegation that Betsy Vega is ineligible to be a city councilor even though she beat incumbent Mai Vang in the May election. That investigation was expected to be completed by June 22.

But yesterday the City of Salem said that the investigation deadline now is July 7 because a Eugene attorney, Truman Stone, has been hired to help the City Recorder. Here’s a screenshot of part of an email from the Salem Reporter (I’m a subscriber).

This seems like a wise decision. If the City Attorney, Dan Atchison, had remained as the legal expert in charge of determining whether Betsy Vega is qualified to serve as the Ward 6 city councilor, he was going to irritate either Vega or Vang, along with their supporters, depending on the outcome of the investigation.

Outsourcing this to a Eugene attorney, who seems highly qualified, will insulate the City of Salem from criticism that the decision about Vega was biased by local politics.

It would be pure conjecture to make a prediction about what the hiring of Truman Stone (great name for an attorney) means for the investigation. Since I’m a fan of pure conjecture, my feeling is that this increases the probability Vega will be found to have failed to meet the residency requirement under the Salem City Charter to be a city councilor.

I say this because if it was crystal clear that Vega met the residency requirement, likely the City of Salem would have simply said, “Vega can assume the position to which she was elected.” Of course, it could be crystal clear that Vega did meet the residency requirement, and city officials simply want an outside attorney to affirm this.