Letter: ‘John Lamborn for Grant-Harney circuit court judge’

Published 10:00 am Tuesday, October 13, 2020

To the Editor:

I am writing to enthusiastically endorse John Lamborn for Grant-Harney circuit court judge.

I was honored to serve as Harney County district attorney for 29 years. I had the privilege of working in the courtroom with two outstanding circuit court judges, Frank Yraguen and Bill Cramer Jr. Those two judges shared two attributes — a high level of professionalism and personal integrity. Judges must have a civil and professional relationship with the attorneys who appear before them. Personal conflicts impact the ability to evaluate facts and legal arguments in the impartial and unbiased way that our judicial system requires. It is absolutely critical for judges and lawyers to work collaboratively to ensure and enhance the dignity of the profession of law, thus furthering public trust and confidence in the system. Both Judge Yraguen and Judge Cramer demonstrated the ability to work professionally and civilly with all parties who appeared before them as well as court staff.

The Oregon State Police conducted a background investigation of Mr. Raschio as part of his unsuccessful attempt to be appointed to fill the vacancy created when Judge Cramer retired on Jan. 1, 2020 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hWr_BNeHcgevxGJltNIrVNNAQb8lgqDo/view). That background investigation raises serious concerns about Mr. Raschio’s ability to deal professionally with other attorneys and court staff. In fact, the background investigation lists four potential conflicts of interest for Mr. Raschio: Grant County District Attorney’s Office, Harney County District Attorney’s Office, Grant County Justice of the Peace and circuit court employees in both Grant and Harney counties.

More disturbing was the statement by Judge Cramer that he felt that Mr. Raschio had “withheld or misrepresented information to the court.”

The citizens of Grant and Harney counties deserve a choice in this election to elect a judge who has demonstrated integrity and professionalism and will not bring personal conflicts of interest to the bench. John Lamborn is that choice. John Lamborn will uphold the legacy of Judge Yraguen and Judge Cramer that we have come to expect — professionalism, personal integrity and lack of bias and interest.

Please join me in writing in John Lamborn for Grant-Harney County circuit court judge.

Timothy J. Colahan

Hines

Editor’s note: Judge William D. Cramer Jr. told the Eagle the Oregon State Police interview “leaves out nuances of the discussion that actually took place,” and trial court administrator Tammy Wheeler said some statements attributed to her in the interview by OSP “were not entirely accurate.”

In response to a question about Rob Raschio misrepresenting information to the court, Cramer said, “I absolutely did not indicate that Mr. (Raschio) had a problem with honesty. That is twisting the questions asked. In the interview I was asked has there ever been a circumstance where you questioned the accuracy of what was presented. First that is an incredibly high standard when someone appears daily before you and is constantly advocating for clients. It is easy to conflate cases and facts. I did relate an incident that happened the month before where I was being asked to continue a case. The defense was filing multiple motions to continue when I denied the first one. I felt I was provided inconsistent facts between two separate motions that followed close in time. I was bothered by that but never got a chance to discuss it with him. I denied both motions anyway.

“There are lawyers that misstate the law or case holdings to me as judge. One is never certain if those are careless mistakes, people seeing what they hope to see rather than what the case says, or outright misleading. You learn who does this more often than others. As a judge you learn whom you can rely on and whom you have to check. Mr. Raschio was one who was careful and one on whom I could rely upon when a case was cited. Please appreciate the broadness of the question and focus on the singular incident stated after 15+ years appearing in front of me.”