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Valor Investigations

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The Records WarLatest

What Two Months of Quiet Actually Bought

A bathtub, a phone call, and a federal contractor's paper trail

The records fights weren't the only thing happening. A family got a working bathtub. A congressional inquiry into a CMS hospice contractor turned up matching handwriting on both sides of a quality review.

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Institutional Accountability
Before You Vote

Before You Vote

The Facts About the Swapped Newspaper, the Quiet Lawsuit, and Matt Scarfo's Third Term

Ballots reach Union County mailboxes this week. The county filed a lawsuit to strike voter-approved term limits, won uncontested, and now Commissioner Matt Scarfo is running for a third term. Here is what the court records, the ethics filings, and Scarfo's own campaign interview actually say when compared to the documentary record. A motion to set aside the judgment is pending in Union County Circuit Court. The Oregon Government Ethics Commission has voted 7-0 to open an investigation into Scarfo for using his official position for personal financial gain and for failing to declare an actual conflict of interest before voting.

Institutional Accountability
Published 65 Miles Away

Published 65 Miles Away

Union County Voters Approved Term Limits by 68%. Three Commissioners Quietly Killed Them.

In 2016, Union County voters passed term limits for county commissioners with overwhelming support. In 2025, all three sitting commissioners petitioned a court to strike them down -- and published the legally required notice in a Pendleton newspaper, 65 miles from La Grande. Nobody in Union County contested. A motion to set aside the judgment as void has been filed.

The Records War
Bakke v. Oregon DHS

Bakke v. Oregon DHS

Public Records Suit Set for April Hearing on Motion to Dismiss

A neutral case summary of the public records lawsuit against Oregon DHS as it heads to an April 16 hearing on the State's Motion to Dismiss. Filings, dates, and both sides' positions, drawn from the Marion County Circuit Court docket.

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