Prosecutors' pay cut caught in controversy

E-mails allege pressure

February 24. 2010  |  by Nick Budnick  |  bendbulletin.com

SALEM — Last July, Deschutes County District Attorney Mike Dugan learned that he and Oregon's other elected top prosecutors had each lost about $5,000 pay. Not only that, but his own wife, Rep. Judy Stiegler, D-Bend, had, like other lawmakers, voted for the bill that slashed his salary in the final days of the 2009 legislative session — not knowing it would hit the elected DAs personally.

For many district attorneys, $5,000 is almost a month's paycheck. And that sum, it turns out, is enough to affect how a public debate plays out at the Capitol. >>>Read More