The Oregon Secretary of State’s Elections Division proposed a civil fine of $ 225 for Portland Police Station Commander Erica Hurley after her investigation determined that Hurley had violated the election law of the State due to comments she made twice about Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt.

In a November 22 letter, the electoral division wrote to Hurley that “by opposing the nomination and promoting the recall of Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt” she violated an Oregon law relating to political campaigns by civil servants.

“You violated [Oregon law] twice because you promoted Mr. Schmidt’s recall on October 8, 2020 and opposed Mr. Schmidt’s candidacy on January 14, 2021, while you were at work during working hours and acting in an official capacity Wrote the Elections Division.

The agency opened an investigation on March 17, after receiving a complaint sparked by WWThere’s an article published the same day describing comments Hurley made in January 2021 at a meeting of the Lents Neighborhood Livability Association.

The electoral division also cited Hurley’s comments in October 2020, also at a meeting of the Lents Neighborhood Livability Association. The letter indicates that on both occasions Hurley made the comments during “working hours”.

Related: A district commander of the Portland Police Department suggested that residents should vote against the district attorney for being lenient on the crime

At the January meeting, Hurley suggested to residents that if they wanted to see more arrests for drug offenses, they should topple Schmidt, who won the election with 76% of the vote in May 2020. ( She was also wearing her full uniform, badge and weapon when she made the comments.)

“So the drug activity that you see, there’s nothing I can do about it,” Hurley said in January. “I can’t stop them. I can’t send them to jail. I can not do anything. I can’t control this. Who controls this is you, because when the prosecutor’s office asks you what you want to do, you have to send e-mails to the district attorney and phone calls to the district attorney. When the vote comes back — because the reality is he won the vote with over 70% of the population — you have to vote no, right? And you have to vote.

The law that Hurley broke according to the electoral division, ORS 260.432 (2), states that “no public employee shall solicit money, service, etc. to promote or oppose candidates or measures while he is at work during working hours ”.

“[Oregon law] prohibits a public employee from promoting or opposing the recall of a public office holder or the appointment or election of a candidate while in office during working hours, ”wrote the Elections Division in its letter to Hurley. Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt has served and met the legal definition of ‘candidate’ during the period covered by the complaint. Mr. Schmidt accepted contributions and incurred expenses before and after October 8, 2020 and after January 14, 2021. Although to our knowledge, Mr. Schmidt has not announced his candidacy for re-election (or re-election). election to any other office), [state law] recognizes that this factor is not relevant in this context.

Hurley has the right to request a hearing before an administrative judge if she wishes to challenge the Secretary of State’s decision. An attorney for Hurley did not immediately respond to WWrequest for comments.

The prosecutor’s office and the police office did not immediately respond to WWrequests for comments.