News Earlier this week, WW reported that lawyers for Mark Long, the former director of the Oregon Department of Energy, are seeking $432,000 in legal fees for their representation of Long in a case against the Oregon Department of Justice. Marion County Judge Thomas Hart previously awarded Long's lawyers at the Harrang Long Gary Rudnick firm fees in the case, Long v. Kroger, which centered around the claim ...   More

News As long expected, the former interim director of the Oregon Department of Energy, Mark Long, has filed a lawsuit against outgoing Oregon Attorney General John Kroger, his former chief criminal attorney, Sean Riddell, and the Oregon Department of Justice, over their conduct during an investigation.The lawsuit was filed today in Marion County Circuit Court. It was expected because Long filed a tort claim ...   More

News Lawyers for Mark Long, the former interim director of the Oregon Department of Energy, have asked Gov. John Kitzhaber to direct Attorney General John Kroger to appoint a special prosecutor who would investigate the deletion of emails by former Department of Justice criminal chief Sean Riddell."We write to urge you to direct Attorney General John Kroger, pursuant to ORS 180.070, to conduct immediately ...   More

News WW has learned that four Oregon Department of Energy employees will be reinstated today, marking the latest twist in story that began with an Oregon Department of Justice investigation into ODOE contracting practices that last August.The investigation has received intense scrutiny because the employees were accused of steering state business to Cylvia Hayes, the long-time companion of Gov. John Kitzhaber.The ...   More

News Lawyers for the former director of the Oregon Department of Energy, Mark Long, filed a bar complaint (PDF) on May 13 against Sean Riddell, chief counsel for the Oregon Department of Justice's criminal division. The complaint levels serious accusations against Riddell, a top lieutenant to Attorney General John Kroger. "In the course of conducting a criminal investigation, Mr. Riddell repeatedly and ...   More

News The battle between former Oregon Department of Energy interim Director Mark Long and Attorney General John Kroger's Oregon Department of Justice continues to escalate.Bill Gary, Long's attorney, filed a lawsuit last week in Marion County Court accusing Kroger of withholding records related to the racketeering theory that Justice Department criminal investigators pursued in last year's probe into the ...   More

News As the probe continues into whether the Oregon Department of Energy unlawfully steered business to a company co-owned by Gov. John Kitzhaber's longtime companion, two well-connected defense lawyers have gone on the offensive against the chief investigator in the case.WW has obtained a 30-page letter (PDF) in which Dave Frohnmayer and Bill Gary outline a series of accusations against Sean Riddell (in ...   More

News Last week, Attorney General John Kroger's office issued a statement marking the end of his investigation into contracting practices at the Oregon Department of Energy. "We are currently of the opinion that we could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any state employee committed Official Misconduct in the First or Second degree while awarding the Energy Assurance Grant," wrote Kroger's ...   More

News Gov. Ted Kulongoski ratcheted up the pressure today in his desire to see a thorough investigation of the Oregon Department of Energy's contracting practices. Last week, the Oregon Department of Justice completed its investigation into one ODOE contract that involved Gov.-elect John Kitzhaber's longtime companion Cylvia Hayes, finding it "could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any state ...   More

News The former interim director of the Oregon Department of Energy, Mark Long, has filed a tort claim notice [PDF] with the State of Oregon, threatening to sue for what his attorneys term the "warrantless search and seizure, without probable cause" of his work computer. The tort claim notice, which WW obtained yesterday under a public records request, increases the likelihood that controversy will ...   More