Why did Lidz resign?

6/2/2010: Greg Bolt of the RG has a story on the Jerry Lidz resignation, here, suggesting Frohnmayer deserved more of the blame for the Bellotti payoff than he got. Which was none. Meanwhile the lawyers are in an uproar over Lidz – this is the third of AG Kroger’s top appointments to leave. Here are some of the questions:

• Is Melinda Grier going to sue UO and/or the DOJ? By concluding she provided “deficient legal representation” the DOJ report makes her essentially unemployable. And DOJ spokesperson Tony Green will not release the details of the investigation, “Because there remains a risk of litigation around the underlying issues, …” Bellotti got $2.3 million from UO – and surely signed an agreement not to sue. So maybe Melinda is looking for hers?
• In his resignation letter below, Lidz says “I’m sure it won’t surprise you that I disagreed strongly with the process and outcome of the “”Bellotti Investigation.”” Did Lidz obey the DOJ conflict of interest rules preventing his involvement in an investigation that included his wife?
• What sort of outcome did Lidz expect? Former UO President Dave Frohnmayer, who is also a former Oregon Attorney General, obviously had a large role in the scandal. But he gets barely a mention in Kroger’s report. Frohnmayer is a quasi-religious figure among the old guard at the DOJ, and many state politicians still think very highly of him – or are in his debt. Did Lidz really expect that Kroger would give Frohnmayer some of the blame, rather than putting it all on Grier?
• The investigation took 321.8 hours and cost the DOJ $44,086.60, not counting the time for David Leith and Keith Dubanevich, the DOJ attorneys in charge. The final summary report Kroger released was only 5 pages long. (For comparison, the DOJ spends about $60,000 preparing the ~400 page Public Records Manual every two years.) So what is in the rest of the material that was collected during this investigation?