Dr. Pernsteiner votes again in Lane County

OUS Chancellor George Pernsteiner owns a house in Portland (OUS gives him $26,000 in state funds  to help with the mortgage) and he spends most of his working time at his office at PSU. But he votes in Lane County. He’s been doing this since 2004 – it’s part of the pretense that the state owned Treetops mansion in Eugene is his “actual residence.” In Oregon it’s a felony to make a false statement on a voter registration card:

And Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown came down hard about voter fraud in the Oregonian:

… Perhaps the greatest deterrents are the penalties for a Class C felony. That’s the crime when someone ineligible casts a ballot, votes under a false name, forges a signature on a ballot envelope or falsely registers to vote. If they do manage to get by our security checks, the Oregon Department of Justice will prosecute and then we’re talking five years in prison, a $125,000 fine and, when appropriate, deportation.

But apparently that’s the deal for poor people, not the well connected 1% like Pernsteiner.

Last March I filed a complaint with Lane County Elections, asking them to investigate the legality of Pernsteiner’s Lane County registration. Lane County Elections supervisor Roxanne Marshall told me that her office would not pursue a complaint against someone who formally stated that they intended to return to Lane County, someday – no matter how farfetched the claim. It probably didn’t hurt that Pernsteiner hired attorney Bill Gary to write this letter for him. Or that he’s a registered Democrat like Brown, and a big campaign contributor. Or that Gary  is a Kate Brown supporter.

Nice little beach community they’ve got here, and they aim to keep it that way.