The Oregon Government Ethics Commission has opened a preliminary review into whether Keizer City Councilor Soraida Cross violated state law in her dealings with police responding to her home in May over an assault report.
The ethics commission acted in response to a complaint filed last week by a Salem resident troubled by how Cross used her position as she faced arrest. Paige Barton said she based her complaint on the July 18 report by Keizertimes that included a portion of a police officer’s body camera video.
Cross didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.
In the May 14 incident, Cross was cited by Salem police for harassment, accused of injuring a Keizer woman by shoving her off a stool onto a concrete floor. The charge was later dropped, but police reports said the victim and Cross’s former husband both reported that Cross encountered them in the garage of the Cross home.
During questioning by Salem police, Cross alerted the officer that she was a city councilor and invoked the names of Keizer Police Chief Andrew Copeland and Marion County Sheriff Nick Hunter as friends. Cross hasn’t responded to questions about those remarks.
Oregon ethics law prohibits public officials from using their position for personal benefit, including avoiding financial costs.
“The body cam footage is outrageous,” Barton said in an email to Keizertimes. “It appeared to any reasonable person that Ms. Cross was attempting to use her law enforcement relationships to pressure the responding officer from treating her like anyone else. This cannot become acceptable under any circumstance.”
Barton, who is chair of Marion County Democrats, said the video “shows a clearly prohibited use of public position by Councilor Cross.”
Barton filed her complaint Tuesday, July 22, and Susan Myers, the executive director of the ethics commission, notified her by letter the next day that “a preliminary review of this complaint has been opened.”
Myers explained that the review, to be completed within 60 days, would determine if there was cause to conduct a more complete investigation. She said the commission’s work on the review would remain confidential until its findings are considered by the ethics commission.
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