Pay for Ore. DAs varies

Monday, July 30, 2007 10:29 AM PDT

ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) — In Oregon, district attorneys are state employees with salaries set by the Legislature. District attorneys in counties with a population of more than 100,000 get a state salary of $94,332. District attorneys in counties with fewer than 100,000 get $79,512.

But within those rigid guidelines, there are wide disparities based on supplements approved by county commissioners. In Multnomah County, for example, the DA gets an extra $47,000. In Linn County, it’s $16,000.

For Josh Marquis, the district attorney in Clatsop County, the supplement is $0, as it is for about a dozen other DAs in Oregon.

‘‘There are DAs in Oregon who are adequately compensated,’’ said Kevin Neely, a lobbyist representing the Oregon District Attorneys Association. ‘‘Unfortunately, there are a great number of district attorneys whose salaries are far below that of their peers across the state and the nation.’’

Though district attorneys are state employees, their staff members are county employees. Traditionally, counties paid district attorneys the supplement in exchange for managing that county staff and for providing legal advice. But most district attorneys no longer act as county counsels, and over the years, many small counties have stopped paying the supplement.

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Marquis, the Clatsop County district attorney for almost 14 years, found that out the hard way. County commissioners voted last month to cut his $13,500 supplement, handing the district attorney a 15 percent pay cut. His salary is now less than his chief deputy’s.

Coos County District Attorney Paul Burgett also does not get the supplement, meaning he makes about $17,000 less than the Crook County district attorney — even though the population there is two-thirds smaller.

‘‘The bottom line is the state should pay a fair salary to every DA, and in my opinion eliminate the salary supplement system, or require counties to contribute,’’ Burgett told The Oregonian newspaper.

Burgett first lost his supplement in the 1980s. That decision came after his father-in-law challenged one of the county commissioners for election, Burgett said. The supplement was later reinstated, but revoked again in 1999.

‘‘If county commissioners can eliminate a supplement, it puts a lot of pressure on the district attorney to not displease them, not support their opponents for political office, not prosecute someone they don’t want prosecuted and give special deals to certain people,’’ Burgett said.

The Oregon District Attorneys Association is lobbying to have DA salaries aligned with those of trial judges. The association wants district attorneys in counties of more than 100,000 to earn 125 percent of a circuit judge’s salary, while district attorneys in counties of fewer than 100,000 would earn a salary equal to that of a judge. For Marquis, a pay raise could come sooner. A group in Clatsop County is trying to put a measure on the ballot that would set the salary of the Clatsop district attorney.

at not less than 90 percent of a circuit judge’s salary.

If it makes the ballot and passes, Marquis would get a raise of almost $20,000.

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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com