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."
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MAP posted-by: Beth