Melinda Grier or Dave Frohnmayer?

10/20/2011: It really didn’t end well last time, but one of them could easily end up advising UO on legal matters again – a side effect of SB 242, which puts part of UO’s legal services up for bid.

The RFP closed September 11. On 8/25 UO’s former General Counsel Melinda Grier set up a Higher Ed consulting firm. The office address, 440 E Broadway Ste 300 Eugene OR  97401, is the same as that for the Gaydos, Churnside, and Balthrop law firm. They even share a fax machine number, (541) 343-1599. And in September Gaydos et al submitted a proposal to handle UO’s legal work. I’ve been trying to get a copy of this proposal from UO’s public records Officer Liz Denecke for 6 weeks now. I wonder what could be taking so long.

Gaydos’s competition for the UO job includes a proposal from Dave Frohnmayer’s firm Harrang, Long, Gary and Rudnick, which Ms Denecke did provide – but only after a petition to Attorney General Kroger. They are quite happy to brag about Frohnmayer’s connections:

Dave Frohnmayer, Part-Time Of Counsel (15 years of government practice/Admitted
in Oregon 1971, OSB #710015). While Dave is not a full-time attorney with the firm, he is available for consultation on matters as UO-PSU-OSU-CO/OUS deems fit (and at your discretion). As you are well aware, Dave is not only a former Attorney General for the State of Oregon, but he also has extensive experience in higher education and with the UO in particular as a former President. As such, Dave has deep connections both in Oregon and internationally (particularly in Germany and the Pacific Rim). He also maintains connections with the Association of American Universities (AAU) and the Society of Attorneys General Emeritus (SAGE) and other groups within the legal community, which may be of benefit to UO-PSU-OSU-CO/OUS. Alternatively, UO-PSU-OSU-CO/OUS may request that Dave recuse himself from some or all matters, or that the firm create a firewall between him and some, or all, firm activities related to UO-PSU-OSU-CO/OUS

I wonder if the Gaydos firm’s proposal mentions Ms Grier? Meanwhile, who is running UO’s search for a firm? None other than Grier and Frohnmayer’s old assistant Randy Geller, appointed UO General Counsel by President Lariviere after the Belotti debacle concluded his boss, Melinda Grier, had provided UO with “deficient legal representation”.