State Rep. Paul Evans earlier this year wrote a blistering letter to the Salem YMCA.
The Monmouth Democrat accused unnamed board members of “inappropriate profiteering.” He said the nonprofit was controlled by “Salem elites.”
And he demanded the nonprofit act on allegations that a board member had been subjected to racist remarks.
Evans chronicled what he described as his “outrage” at the treatment of Soraida Cross, a Keizer city councilor who was in line this year to become the president of the Family YMCA of Marion and Polk Counties.
He said he would no longer support the nonprofit – and would discourage others.
But Evans didn’t disclose to YMCA officials that he’d had a recent romantic relationship with Cross.
He confirmed the relationship in an interview and acknowledged that Cross stayed overnight at his Monmouth home during a time her husband was divorcing her. However, he said he didn’t write his letter because of that relationship.
“It wasn’t a personal thing,” he said.
Cross, elected to the Keizer council in 2022, didn’t respond to written questions or excerpts of this story provided for review.
“Moving forward I will not support anything your organization does. I shall not attend (ever) another fundraiser.”
–State Rep. Paul Evans in letter to YMCA
The disclosures again put a spotlight on Cross and her connections with public officials concerning personal matters. She is under a state ethics investigation for calling on Keizer’s police chief and the Marion County sheriff in the middle of the night in May as she faced arrest for criminal harassment.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office, responding to a public records request, released texted messages that night between Cross and Sheriff Nick Hunter. “I need you now” she wrote in one as Salem police were at her Keizer home investigating an assault.
That incident came two months after Evans put heat on the YMCA.
Established in 1892, the Salem YMCA is a major nonprofit in the community, operating on an annual budget of $9 million and serving thousands of children. The YMCA is based in a new downtown facility funded by donors – and state legislators.
The trigger for Evans’ letter was a confrontation earlier this year between Cross and Dan Moore, a longtime board member. The occasion was the start of an internal nominating process to pick the YMCA’s next leaders. Cross, employed in the hospitality industry, was in line to become president.
Tim Sinatra, YMCA executive director, later described the matter in a letter to Evans as a “conflict among two board members.”
In an interview, Sinatra said the organization was still investigating what he described as “concerning” remarks but otherwise wouldn’t disclose details.
Moore, a retired insurance executive, joined the YMCA board in 2013. He recalled the issue arose at a nominating committee meeting in March. He said he raised with Cross that she would have a higher public profile if she became president. He said he cautioned her about her conduct.
He flatly denied making misogynistic or racially insensitive remarks. He said he acknowledged his remarks otherwise were offensive and apologized in writing to all who were at the meeting.
He noted that in five years as board president he recruited Cross to the board and had a hand in recruiting 16 women to serve.
The YMCA executive committee in April suspended Moore from his seat for six months, an action Moore said it had no authority to take.
Evans said Cross came to him to complain about Moore and that he reached out to friends on the board for more information. He then fired off his March 12 letter to Sinatra. The letter was dated six days after the YMCA meeting.
Evans wrote that Moore made “misogynistic, racially insensitive” comments to Cross at the internal nominating committee meeting. “I am gob smacked that so many socially influential people allowed this to occur,” he wrote in a letter that he recently released at the request of Keizertimes.
Cross resigned from the YMCA Board in April. Moore said he understood she did so because the board would not take him off the board as she wanted.
Evans criticized the YMCA for failing to act, accusing Sinatra of protecting “a mean-spirited bully who clearly hates people of color and especially women of color.”
He criticized the organization as “the plaything of a small but powerful group of Salem elites.”
He said the late state Sen. Peter Courtney, a Salem Democrat, “shielded” the nonprofit from “legitimate scrutiny.” He wrote that there were “rumors of fraud and inappropriate profiteering by prominent members of the YMCA community” through YMCA projects “partially paid with public funds.”
Evans said in a recent interview he had no specifics and had not asked for an investigation. Sinatra said he didn’t ask Evans to detail the allegations.
The state legislator noted that he was sponsoring legislation in the 2025 Legislature to provide more state money for Courtney Place Veterans Housing, a YMCA-owned apartment building and another YMCA program. He wrote that he would continue that support, although both measures failed to later pass the Oregon Legislature. He serves on the legislature’s powerful budget-writing committee.
He told the YMCA executive he was done getting money for the Salem nonprofit.
“Moving forward I will not support anything your organization does,” he wrote. “I shall not attend (ever) another fundraiser.”
He added, “I am going to actively encourage others to avoid supporting your organization.”
Evans told Keizertimes on Saturday, Sept. 13, that he was now pushing for the additional state funding that didn’t get approved in the regular legislative session.
He acknowledged that he and Cross had been dating earlier this year “but we decided this was not really for us.” He said that “from time to time,” Cross has stayed the night at his Monmouth house because he didn’t want her driving when she had been drinking.
“I’d rather have her staying on the couch than driving illegally,” Evans said.
Evans said he hasn’t talked to Cross or Sinatra about the matter in recent months.
“What the Y is doing or isn’t doing isn’t on the top of my list anymore,” he said.
Sinatra said the YMCA board is nearing the end of its review of the matter.
In the meantime, newly-released public documents show more about the dealings Cross has had with the Marion County sheriff.
In May, Cross was cited for harassment, accused of shoving a woman off a stool in the garage of her Keizer home. Prosecutors in Polk County later dropped the charge.
Police bodycam video released to Keizertimes recorded Cross telling the investigating officer of her friendship with Keizer Police Chief Andrew Copeland and Hunter, the sheriff. She told the officer she planned to call Hunter.
Text messages show that she apparently did, texting Hunter that night, “Thanks for answering” and sending him an image of her citation.
Cross hasn’t responded to questions about her actions that night. Hunter too declined to answer questions. Instead, he issued a short statement to Keizertimes.
“I received a short call from Soraida Cross the evening of May 14, 2025, and simply advised her to cooperate with law enforcement on the scene,” he said.
He didn’t respond to subsequent questions about what prompted his advice.
The text messages showed Cross turned to Hunter for advice on how to get a restraining order against her estranged husband. At the time, Cross and her former husband shared a Keizer home.
Hunter texted her about the process that required her to go to the courthouse.
The text message exchange shows Cross asked if she could seek an order virtually. She explained she was going to be busy playing in a golf tournament.
Contact Editor Les Zaitz: [email protected]
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