Matt Scarfo

R. Matt Scarfo came to La Grande in 1995 on an Eastern Oregon University baseball recruitment from Phoenix, Arizona. He graduated from EOU in 1997-98 with a BS in Business/Economics and began bartending at Benchwarmers Pub & Grill while finishing his degree. Around 2005 he purchased Benchwarmers and the adjacent LongBranch Bar & Eats from Patti and Mark Hankel, the previous owners.

Scarfo was first elected to the Union County Board of Commissioners in 2018, defeating John Lackey, and took office in January 2019. He ran unopposed for a second term in 2022. On January 22, 2025, he joined a unanimous board vote directing county counsel to petition the circuit court for a validation proceeding on Ordinance 2017-01 -- the voter-approved term-limits ordinance that would have barred him from running for a third term.

Judge Thomas Powers ruled the ordinance unconstitutional on August 25, 2025. Scarfo announced his third-term bid on September 11, 2025, the same day candidate filing opened. Jim Mollerstrom -- chief petitioner of the original 2016 measure -- filed an ethics complaint with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission in November 2025. On February 6, 2026, OGEC voted 7-0 to open Case 25-708ECF, authorizing a full investigation into whether Scarfo used his office for personal financial gain (ORS 244.040) and voted on the validation petition without declaring a conflict of interest (ORS 244.120(2)).

Scarfo's signature accomplishment as commissioner is the Union County Fairgrounds wastewater project, funded with $2,539,405 in state lottery bonds via HB 5006 and SB 5531, signed by Governor Tina Kotek on August 7, 2025. Groundbreaking was November 14, 2025. He has cited the fairground project as his primary reason for seeking a third term.