GPID head wants him off water panel

From The Associated Press

An agreement between a Medford law firm and two lawyers who closed their practice has led to a call to investigate Oregon Water Resource Commissioner Mike Jewett for possible conflict of interest.

Jewett, who announced the legal deal before a March 31 commission vote on a Grants Pass Irrigation District permit, says there's no conflict.

Chairman Dennis Becklin of GPID said last week that his district wants Jewett off the commission.

The situation arose when the firm of Jacobsen, Jewett, Thierof and Dickey agreed to help the civil practice of Ferris and Hunter with transition to retirement.

Bob Hunter, past president of WaterWatch of Oregon, was a principal in that civil practice.

WaterWatch, a public interest group, has been a party to proceedings over GPID's Savage Rapids Dam for a decade.

Hunter served as an environmental community member of the state Savage Rapids Dam task force, which Becklin headed before seeking election to the GPID board.

Hunter, who has since become a staff attorney for WaterWatch, says part of the deal moving files to Jacobsen, Jewett was that he and Ferris remain available for a year to answer questions if they came up.

Hunter says the cases involve no WaterWatch business.

Jewett last week asked the Oregon Government Standards and Practices Commission to look at his conflict of interest statement and give a formal opinion on whether it meets conflict-free standards.

A commission spokesman said this week that no complaint has been filed against Jewett.

Jewett says he has no financial interest in the Hunter and Ferris files, and in fact operates his own legal business as "sole practitioner," even though his name remains on the letterhead of Jacobsen, Jewett, Thierof and Dickey.

He says that the three other partners operate as a professional corporation. They made the split because Jewett's business is all trial work, an estimated two-thirds of it as criminal defense counsel, while the other three lawyers deal in civil cases.

"I keep my fees, they keep their fees" is how Jewett describes the arrangement.

Jerry Jacobsen, managing partner for the firm, declined comment for this story until he could contact Hunter and Ferris. Both men were out of town this past week.

Jewett says he has no knowledge of which cases were transferred and he will continue to stay away from them.