The Oregon’s Disciplinary Board ruled that District Attorney Eric Nisley lied when he claimed he hadn’t made Wasco County’s finance director the subject of an investigation into improper loans.
John Rosman / OPB
In a rural Central Oregon county, who will be the next district attorney could be decided before any elections take place this year.
Voters in Jefferson County may only see one name on their ballots.
Eric Nisley is a former longtime Wasco County DA who was suspended from practicing law for lying to state investigators while in office. So far, he’s the only candidate running for Jefferson County’s top law enforcement job.
The lack of competition ahead of a March 10 filing deadline comes as the county struggles to keep enough prosecutors on the payroll. Amid its staff shortages, the DA’s office has prioritized the most serious crimes, leaving people accused of lesser offenses waiting while a backlog builds.
Jefferson County hired Nisley as a temporary prosecutor in 2021, after he lost reelection in Wasco County amid ethics controversies. Nisley served as that county’s DA for five terms, from 1999 to 2020.
In 2018, the Oregon State Bar’s Disciplinary Board voted to suspend his law license for 60 days after it found Nisley lied when he claimed he hadn’t made the Wasco County finance director the subject of an improper loans investigation. The county finance director alleged Nisley targeted her after she rejected his sexual advances. Nisley denied the allegations.
He did not respond to multiple requests for comment this week.
Related: Wasco County District Attorney Suspended For Lying To Investigators
Jefferson County officials approved a full-time job and salary for Nisley as chief deputy DA in 2024.
The county’s most recently elected DA, Steven Leriche, resigned from office last year to take a job with the Oregon Department of Justice.
Nisley was the only person who applied to be the interim leader of the office, but Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek passed him over. Instead, Leriche has continued on as acting DA from the DOJ.
Too few prosecutors
Leriche said Jefferson County has a growing stack of possible criminal cases waiting for a prosecutor to determine next steps. After a police agency investigates a crime the findings are referred to district attorneys, who ultimately decide whether to formally charge a suspect. Leriche estimated around 80 referrals are waiting for a prosecutor to act.
The office, he said, should have four deputy district attorneys on staff. Now it’s down to two, not counting Nisley. This week the county approved a contract to continue employing an outside temporary prosecutor.
Attracting and retaining prosecutors to Jefferson County has always been difficult, said Leriche, who has worked in the office for over 25 years.
“It takes a particular type of individual who’s suited for living in a rural area to be a deputy DA,” he said. “It is not always a good fit for young people who have been going to law school in metropolitan areas.”
The county seat is Madras, with roughly 8,000 residents surrounded by rural agricultural lands and the Warm Springs Reservation to the north.
Related: Former district attorney may have violated Oregon law, ethics rules, complaints allege
Starting salaries for prosecutors in Jefferson County are competitive, even outpacing those in neighboring Deschutes County, which has nearly 10 times the population and the urban amenities of Bend. But as Jefferson County prosecutors gain experience, their earning power stalls when compared to surrounding areas, county records show.
Experienced deputy DAs in Deschutes County can earn 25% more annually than they would in Jefferson County, while to the east in Crook County, which is similarly rural and sparsely-populated, the pay gap is 10%.
The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners sets the salary ranges. Over the years, commissioners have discussed raising prosecutors’ pay, but that hasn’t gained traction. Instead, they’ve focused on incentives like temporary housing for relocating attorneys.
So far, Leriche said, no one has taken them up on that offer.
‘Far fewer resources’
The DA’s base salary is paid by the state but their deputies are paid out of county coffers. Jefferson County Commissioner Kelly Simmelink said he would like to see the state fund at least one full-time deputy DA position, to mirror support for public defenders.
“Oregon’s set up to really, in a lot of things, take care of the population centers,” Simmelink said. “And in rural counties, we have the same constitutional obligations, but we have far fewer people and far fewer resources.”
William Condron, a long-time public defender in Central Oregon, said the prosecutor shortage impacts his clients’ daily lives and could lead to broader funding problems.
Related: Oregon Supreme Court rules Wasco County district attorney can’t be ousted for suspension
Condron said that for some defendants, even deciding whether to apply for a job is harder when their cases are in limbo.
“Do they disclose it as being a relevant fact, or do they keep silent, hope they get the job and then hope that the resolution of the criminal charges doesn’t interfere with their ability to keep that job?”
Condron also worried that when district attorney’s offices are chronically understaffed, it creates a backlog that artificially makes it look like there are fewer cases, and this could affect state data used to decide funding for public defenders.
As the only candidate so far, Nisley’s leadership could set the tone for an office facing the compounding consequences of staff shortages.
After his move to Jefferson County in 2021, he weathered more ethics complaints stemming from his time in Wasco County. Bar officials dismissed those allegations in 2023.
Simmelink, the county commissioner, called Nisley a “Madras born and raised guy, a Jefferson County guy through and through,” who can “absolutely do the job.”
