Pubdate: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 Source: Corvallis Gazette-Times (OR) Copyright: 2005 Lee Enterprises Contact: http://www.mvonline.com/support/contact/GTedletters.php Website: http://www.gazettetimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2976 Author: Rebecca Barrett, Gazette-Times Reporter WIRTH SUBMITS OFFICIAL RESIGNATION Increases In Pay To Staff Raise More Questions The controversy surrounding Kelley Wirth continues to grow even as the embattled three-term state representative submitted her official resignation. The one-sentence hand-written note on her official state letterhead was received late Tuesday by the Oregon Secretary of State's office. As her party, the Benton County Democrats, prepare to nominate a successor to the District 16 seat next week, state records show that Wirth has recently increased pay to her staff, including her mother and a close friend, Marti Barlow, who has been handling media inquiries for Wirth. Public records also show it's not the first time Wirth, 40, has paid family members with her legislative office budget. In January 2003, Wirth paid her ailing father, Don Panknin, $1,913. According to Wirth, her father collapsed on the first day of the 2003 session, which was Jan. 8. Yet she cut a paycheck to him on Jan. 30 of that month. Wirth has said her unexcused absences and record of missed votes, the worst of any legislator in the 2003 session, were the result of spending time with her family and her father until his death on March 17, 2003. Wirth's legislative office expense reports from 2003 also show that she paid her mother, Kathleen Panknin, a monthly salary of between $1,565 and $2,400 between January and July that year. Wirth resides with her mother, who now earns $6,500 a month, a raise given after Wirth announced her intent to resign effective Nov. 15. While the expenses are not illegal, state Democratic leaders have asked Wirth to rescind recent pay increases to her staff in light of her resignation. Speaking on her cell phone while on a business trip in Bend on Wednesday afternoon, Barlow said Wirth didn't tell her that she had increased Barlow's salary and extended her contract for services at taxpayers' expense. Barlow said she would return any money she received from Wirth above the $1,000 she had agreed to be paid for acting as Wirth's spokeswoman after the legislator was charged with possession of methamphetamine last month. Wirth's recent behavior appears to have strained the friendship that grew from Barlow knowing Wirth as a fellow working mother, and deepened when Wirth supported Barlow as she started her own business. "When I met Kelley, she was a rising star in the state Legislature," Barlow recalled. "She was intelligent, vibrant." Barlow talked about her friend's tragic downward spiral. "We should all be really sad at what has happened," Barlow said "She's lost everything. Her career. Her health. Her future." Barlow said she has not spoken to Wirth since learning Tuesday that she had been kept on her staff payroll. "I have my own difficulties reaching her sometimes," Barlow said. Wirth's attorney, Janet Hoffman, instructed Wirth not to speak to the media, Barlow said. Last week in Marion County Circuit Court, Wirth entered a plea of not guilty to a charge of possessing meth. Police say they found meth in her vehicle after she was intentionally struck by a car driven by a woman who was angry at her over an alleged relationship between the lawmaker and the woman's husband, a janitor at the Capitol. The driver, Lisa Temple, 23, is charged with attempted murder and is awaiting trial. Police investigating the crash searched Wirth's vehicle, which was parked in front of the state Capitol at the time of the crash. Other than her court appearances, Wirth has not made any public statement about the criminal charges or responded to requests for interviews about changes to her office payroll. Barlow said Wirth has maintained her innocence to the drug charge. She said there was no indication before the crash and her arrest that she was involved with drugs. "She has denied this allegation to me," Barlow said. Barlow acknowledged that she saw her friend less often toward the end of this year's legislative session. Wirth had pledged to improve her attendance after winning re-election last November, but she again compiled many unexcused absences and missed votes. "During the last month of the session, we really didn't communicate that much," Barlow said. "It was during the end of the session when these problems and issues arose." Barlow said she believes Wirth could still make things right and could even resurrect her political career. First, she must put her personal life back together. "She would have to prove herself again to her constituents," Barlow said. "Inside, there is still the Kelley that started her legislative career with promise." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth