Clackamas Chairman John Ludlow Asks Oregon Bar to Return Complaint Filed Against Former City Attorney

Clackamas County Commission Chairman John Ludlow is trying to make a bar complaint filed against a former county attorney go away.

WW broke the story yesterday that Clackamas County Counsel Stephen Madkour filed an Oregon State Bar complaint against fired Assistant County Counsel Scot Sideras. In the complaint, Madkour alleges that Sideras improperly used his position to hatch a plan to oust County Administrator Steve Wheeler.

Sideras, who was fired by Madkour on Feb. 7, told WW he made the plans at the behest of Ludlow after he was elected in November.

Ludlow wrote the Oregon State Bar Tuesday, saying Madkour sent the complaint without the county's approval.

"Clackamas County has not consented to the disclosure of information related to the complaint, and I request the complaint and all the supporting material be returned to the county," he writes. "This will allow the Board of Commissioners to consider whether to consent to the release of the information."

Wheeler quit on Feb. 25 and is staying until his replacement can be found. Madkour's complaint includes hand-written documents by Sideras outlining the best way to get rid of Wheeler, and also a detailed resume Sideras sent to Ludlow on Nov. 25, 2012.

Sideras says he thinks he was fired because of his work with Ludlow.

"I genuinely believe there is not a consensus among the commissioners that Mr. Madkour should have fired me," he says. "He's probably dealing with his own problems with the board of county commissioners now."

Madkour also wrote to the bar asking to remove the complaint from the public record. However, Oregon State Bar Assistant General Counsel Troy Wood wrote back to say that what's been done can't be undone: the complaint and the documents are now public record.

WWeek 2015