Mayor Julie Hoy keeps on lying as her ethics violation is finalized

There’s a lot not to like about Salem Mayor Julie Hoy — notably including how an Oregon Government Ethics Commission investigation found that Hoy was the ringleader of an illegal secretive scheme to get rid of city manager Keith Stahley that violated numerous provisions of our state’s public meetings law.

But I’ll say this much regarding Hoy: she is consistent… in her lies about her ethics violation.

I listed three of her lies in a November 2025 post, “Mayor Julie Hoy lied about not wanting Keith Stahley gone. That’s her third lie about Stahley.”

Lie #1: Hoy claimed that in her illegal private conversations with members of the City Council, a majority wanted Stahley to resign. Actually, the Ethics Commission investigation found that zero city councilors wanted him to resign. Only Hoy favored this.

Lie #2: Hoy claimed that she never told council president Linda Nishioka a majority of the city council wanted Stahley to resign. The Ethics Commission investigation concluded that this did happen, confirming Stahley’s statement to that effect in his resignation letter.

Lie #3: Hoy claimed that her motivation in talking with city councilors about Stahley’s employment status was his performance audit that showed some deficiencies in his management style. But this wasn’t true, since Hoy wanted Stahley gone for reasons that had nothing to do with the performance audit.

Yet even though Hoy was found by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission to be guilty of violating our public meetings law, she never admitted wrongdoing even though Hoy failed to submit any evidence that contradicted the findings of the commission’s investigator. So last Friday the commission issued its default order against Hoy.

An April 10 Statesman Journal story by Whitney Woodworth, “Ethics commission finds Mayor Julie Hoy violated public meetings law,” says:

The ethics investigation into Salem Mayor Julie Hoy over public meeting law violations tied to the sudden resignation of former City Manager Keith Stahley concluded on April 10 with a default order.

The Oregon Government Ethics Commission voted unanimously on the default final order.

Hoy is the only Salem leader involved in the investigation that did not agree to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission‘s finding and sign an agreement.

Since Julie Hoy is seeking to be reelected as mayor in the May election, voters should keep in mind that while Hoy was the undisputed ringleader of the secretive scheme that drew in unwitting city council members, Hoy refused to admit that she did anything wrong, despite solid evidence to the contrary, and she never stopped lying about her attempt to get rid of the city manager.

Here’s some excerpts from a Salem Reporter story by Joe Siess, “Ethics commission makes final ruling Hoy broke state meetings law.”

Despite Hoy’s insistence that she never lied and didn’t break the law, her version of events was at odds in several places with the commission’s findings, based on testimony from other councilors. It was those findings that informed the commission’s decision to make its final ruling.

Hoy said she never asked councilors for their positions on Stahley; commission found otherwise 

What Hoy claimed:

“It may be that at some point I have to sit down with Keith (Stahley)…and ask for his resignation,” Hoy told the commission about her conversations with councilors. “I am not calling to count votes. I cannot do that. I am simply calling to make you aware that this is a possibility and we’ve got some work to do in this regard.”

“When asked by councilors how others felt I responded, I am not able to talk about conversations with other councilors.” Hoy told the commission. “I can’t even ask you how you feel about this. I simply want you to be aware.”

What the commission concluded:

“On each occasion Julie Hoy communicated with individual city councilors to share her concerns about Keith Stahley, and to ask about their positions on his performance, information was shared between members of the city council, and this information was related to a decision within the jurisdiction of the city council,” the commission’s Sept. 29 report said

Hoy said she never relayed councilor views; commission found she did 

What Hoy claimed: 

“In the communications with individual councilors, Mayor Hoy expressed her concerns about the audit’s findings, but she did not share her opinion regarding whether the Council should ask for Mr. Stahley’s resignation,” Hoy’s attorney Jill Gibson told the commission on Hoy’s behalf. “Also, she did not share councilors’ feelings about Mr. Stahley with other councilors, and she did not ask the individual councilors how they would vote on the issue of asking for Mr. Stahley’s resignation.”

What the commission concluded:

“Julie Hoy was gathering information from city councilors that could be used by the city council to make a decision about Keith Stahely’s ongoing employment with the city. Julie Hoy weighed this information and determined that a majority of the city council was in favor of Keith Stahley’s resignation,” the commission’s report said. “Julie Hoy then shared this determination with multiple members of the city council, including Council President Linda Nishioka.”