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Other States District Attorney's Using Performance Based Budgeting, These other county DA's account for how crimes are prosecuted and DON'T feel controlled, somehow these DA's are finding ways to count their cases, to differentiate between those who were indicted for the crime as charged and those who accepted plea bargains, between class D felonies and traffic violations. If Mr. Marquis were as intelligent as his supporters keep screaming at our Board of County Commissioners that he is, why hasn't he been able to find a way to provide the same for our county?
Lane County DA effectively uses performance based budgeting to show how budget cuts have made his department reduce filings of felonies and midemeanors. An effective and accountable department head uses Performance Based Budgeting to show how his staff's time is being spent and how services to the community can be expanded if given adequated funding.
Oregonian Article
Sunday, October 28, 2007
LORI TOBIAS
The Oregonian Staff
A STORIA -- Next week, Clatsop County voters will decide whether Joshua Marquis becomes one of the better paid district attorneys in Oregon's smaller counties, putting to rest a question that has roiled this community for months.
But though the vote will settle Marquis' pay, it's unlikely to resolve much else. At the heart of a ballot measure about how much the district attorney is paid is not money or politics or even a man's worth, but a clash of personalities that has grown so toxic that both sides say their poisoned relationships might not be salvaged.
"If this fails, and if I am looking at dealing with the county commissioners in the manner in which I have been dealing with them over the last three months, I'd have to think hard about whether I could continue doing this job," Marquis said. "This has become intensely personal."
But some say Marquis has brought the problems on himself. They say his constant search for the media spotlight makes them weary of speaking to him, and that the aggression that helps Marquis in the courtroom also makes him a poor team player.
This most recent skirmish came to a head about six months ago, but troubles between Marquis, the county manager and some commissioners have brewed for years.
"It's about the district attorney feeling that he's independent and above all the requirements in Oregon statutes about turning in his budgets," said Dan Bartlett, the retired Astoria city manager and a citizen member of Clatsop County's budget committee. "It's about who's the alpha male in the group."
Last spring, commissioners voted to cut the $13,500 stipend the county pays to supplement Marquis' state salary, effectively handing him a 15 percent pay cut. At the time, Marquis' state salary was $79,512. He's since earned a raise from the state and is now paid $84,360.
The motion to cut Marquis' county stipend came from first-term Commissioner Jeff Hazen, who said he is philosophically against the stipends. But the three other commissioners who supported Hazen's motion said they wouldn't have if Marquis had made an effort to give them performance measures for his office that they repeatedly requested.
"For three years, he's known this was going to be a requirement and this year was absolutely the deadline," Commissioner Patricia Roberts said. "We pay $1 million for him to run a county office to prosecute people, and we are trying to get budgetary information on that office so we can prioritize his needs. His office didn't even try."
Commissioner Sam Patrick voted against cutting the stipend because, he said, Marquis should not have to answer to commissioners.
"Josh is a constitutionally elected officer, and he is responsible for the operation of the district attorney's office and responsible to the people for how he runs that office," Patrick said. "The commission wants to run the district attorney's office the way they do all the other offices. They would like the district attorney to bend to their will."
Only a handful of counties request performance measures from district attorneys, according to Kevin Neeley, lobbyist for the Oregon District Attorney's Association. Jackson County District Attorney Mark Huddleston is one of them. He's never had specific instruction about what he should measure but includes numbers on criminal cases, training and juvenile proceedings, he said.
"They control the purse strings, and they need to be convinced that we are spending county tax dollars appropriately," Huddleston said.
Pay would be law
Clatsop commissioners approved the cuts in June. In August, organizers of the Committee to Retain the Independence of the Office of the District Attorney turned in enough signatures to put an initiative on the ballot amending the county charter to pay Marquis at least 90 percent of the salary of a circuit judge.
Opponents also have organized.
Carrie Bartoldus, spokeswoman for Citizens for Clatsop County Charter Integrity, said she got involved because she loves performance-based budgeting.
"It's an excellent way to prove why you need money, and it's really clear even to lay people, said Bartoldus, a mother of five who describes herself as civic-minded with an absolute disdain for party politics. "I was very excited when they started this three years ago, and I am ticked off that this individual is holding up this process."
If voters approve the measure Nov. 6, Marquis will earn at least $100,018 a year. In 2008, judges get a raise to $114,468, meaning Marquis will earn at least $103,021.
Commissioner Ann Samuelson said she fears the charter amendment would set a dangerous precedent. "Now, the state will never pay district attorneys more money because the county will be expected to pony up the money because Josh has written this ballot measure. Where will it end?"
She also said she believes opponents will challenge the measure in court as unconstitutional, further hamstringing the county from getting on with business.
Samuelson was behind a move by commissioners to retain an outside attorney to draw up a memorandum of understanding with Marquis. The agreement would pay Marquis a negotiated fee in exchange for the district attorney turning in performance measures like other department heads.
"I want to fix this," Samuelson said. "I want to pay him to get these performance measures so this whole county's financial picture is in sync."
Marquis sees it differently. He said commissioners have "lawyered up," and because they have, he can no longer speak to them.
"No other district attorney has ever been asked to sign anything like this," Marquis said. "The best interpretation I have of this is that it is an attempt to say, 'If Josh will just follow the budget procedures, we'll pay him his stipend.' I'm not going to sign it."
Soon, it will be time for the county to draft a new budget, and the two sides will have to figure out a way to get beyond the tension that has worn on everyone. Exactly how they will do that no one seems certain, but Commissioner Patrick has one suggestion.
"Some people really have to reassess what they are doing and how they are performing their jobs," Patrick said. "That would include Josh and the commissioners and the county manager. You don't have to like somebody to work with them. They have to be more professional than what they've been and not let their emotions control their mind and their mouth."
Lori Tobias: 541-265-9394; loritobias@aol.com
Mr. Marquis' budget, the budget as expected from a Clatsop County department, other DA's using performance based budgeting in Oregon, State of Oregon's Department of Justice Key Performance Measures and the National District Attorneys Association study on Performance Based Budgeting.
Further additional documentation can be found here.
