By Les Zaitz
The Oregonian
PORTLAND, Ore. — Mitch Morrow, deputy director of the Oregon Corrections Department, will stay in his job while facing a new investigation into whether he abused his office to help his son.
An investigator from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission recently concluded in a preliminary report that there was a “substantial objective basis” to believe Morrow violated state ethics laws. Based on that 39-page report, the commission last week authorized a full-scale investigation, which could take up to six months.
Morrow will endure more questions about steps he took to get his son, Zachary Morrow, hired by Oregon Corrections Enterprises, a semi-independent state agency that operates prison industries. He has been accused of pressuring OCE executives to give his son preferential treatment, including moving expenses, a pay increase, a job transfer, and a light duty assignment after a football injury.
The Ethics Commission will investigate whether Morrow violated state nepotism laws, which restrict what steps public employees can take on behalf of a relative. The commission also is exploring whether Morrow illegally failed to disclose a conflict of interest.
The commission initiated a preliminary review last year because of two Oregon Justice Department investigations and reports in The Oregonian.
Morrow consistently has maintained his did nothing wrong.
He has spent his career at the Corrections Department, advancing from corrections officer to the second-highest ranking official. Paid $147,324, Morrow is in charge of day-to-day operation of the agency, which runs 14 prisons housing 14,000 inmates.
Corrections Department employees facing investigation sometimes are shifted to different jobs or put on administrative leave. Last year, 53 Corrections Department employees were assigned to stay home for everything from criminal investigations to internal personnel matters.
That won’t happen to Morrow. Betty Bernt, DOC spokeswoman, said that Colette Peters, the agency director, didn’t consider changing Morrow’s work status following the Ethics Commission’s actions.
Bernt said employees are put on leave when they are considered a risk to themselves or others.
“We do not believe this is one of those circumstances,” Bernt said. She noted that a state Justice Department investigation earlier concluded Morrow hadn’t violated the agency’s own rules in dealing with his son’s issues.
Morrow’s attorney, Benjamin Souede of Portland, made a similar argument in attempting to persuade the Ethics Commission to drop the matter. He noted in submissions to the commission that the Justice Department twice investigated Morrow’s actions and found no criminal conduct. He said the Justice Department also cleared Morrow of ethical misconduct.
“The Oregon Department of Justice found that Mitch Morrow did not commit any act that violated ORS 244.040,” Souede said, referring to the state ethics law.
But the Ethics Commission report said that wasn’t so. The report said the Justice Department concluded only that Morrow hadn’t violated the nepotism laws in encouraging prison industries to hire his son. The report noted, however, that the Justice Department didn’t reach similar conclusions about other actions Morrow took on behalf of his son.
Souede didn’t respond to an email request asking the source of exoneration he attributed to the Justice Department.
Morrow’s conduct came into public view a year ago after the Justice Department investigated allegations of misconduct at the Corrections Department. Rob Killgore, then administrator of OCE, claimed that prison officials routinely sought financial favors from OCE, which operates independently of the prison agency. Killgore accused Morrow of using his power to force OCE to favorably treat his son.
The son was hired in June 2009 as a laundry worker at Deer Ridge Correctional Institution in Madras. Morrow told Justice Department investigators he did ask OCE to consider his son, but denied applying any pressure to see he was hired.
When state officials decided five months later to close the Madras laundry, Zachary Morrow was offered a transfer to a job in Salem.
That didn’t sit well with another Madras laundry worker who had been employed by the state longer and lost her job in the downsizing. According to the recent Ethics Commission report, the worker – not named – wrote a complaining note to her supervisors.
The worker was told there were no other jobs, that there was a “freeze.” She noted Zachary Morrow seemed exempt from the freeze.
“He got the job, he got help moving, plus off probation when he moved and a raise,” the worker wrote. “It pays to have higher influence.”
OCE officials who offered Zachary Morrow a new job agreed to his demands for more money for moving and a higher salary. One former OCE official said the enhancements came following demands from Mitch Morrow.
Morrow has consistently denied ordering any increased benefits for his son. Instead, he said, he pressed OCE executives to treat his son no worse than any other employee. Records showed that a key conversation between Morrow and an OCE executive over that issue grew so heated that Morrow reported it to then-DOC Director Max Williams.