Investigation finds Oregon City mayor urged businesses to defy coronavirus order; mayor says he’s vindicated

Dan Holladay

Oregon City Mayor Dan Holladay defended himself after city commissioners criticized his social media posts in which he downplayed police brutality against African Americans.

An independent investigation into Oregon City Mayor Dan Holladay, who is facing a recall election, found he likely encouraged businesses to open in defiance of Gov. Kate Brown’s stay-home orders earlier this year.

While Holladay did not break any laws, the report said, he did violate rules of the city commission, which could sanction his behavior.

Holladay told The Oregonian/OregonLive he saw the report as vindication and that he only encouraged business owners to open their doors during a brief time -- between when a circuit judge in eastern Oregon ruled the governor’s orders unlawful and when that judge’s ruling was put on hold by a higher court later the same day, then later overturned.

“I see it as vindication,” Holladay said. “I’ve been advocating for reasonable ways to control the virus without killing our small businesses.”

The inquiry, conducted by Lori Watson of Watson Law Workplace Investigations, focused on two questions: whether the mayor encouraged businesses to defy the governor’s orders and whether he solicited funds for a Fourth of July fireworks show that also would have violated the orders.

Watson interviewed Holladay, four city commissioners, five city employees and four other individuals, including Liz Hannum, director of the Downtown Oregon City Association.

Hannum told Watson she had received communications from Holladay instructing her to “tell businesses to open” and to “just have them open up.”

Holladay said those conversations happened while the governor’s orders were temporarily invalid on May 18.

“That was the day the Baker City judge ruled to open,” Holladay said. “I said, ‘Here’s your shot. Get it open.’”

Hannum did not follow his directions, and the report said she could not recall the exact date of the conversations in question, only that they were sometime before May 23.

Holladay expressed his wishes to reopen businesses in numerous other ways, including a news conference and on a podcast. But in interviews with Watson, he defended his comments, saying he was only expressing his opinion as an individual, not in his official capacity as the leader of the city.

“Holladay said that in making comments about the ongoing pandemic and the State’s response to it, he was simply exercising his First Amendment Right to express himself,” Watson wrote, though she noted that in many instances when he advocated for reopening businesses, “Holladay was introduced as, and regularly referred to as, the Mayor of Oregon City.”

Holladay’s rhetoric prompted a strongly worded letter from Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, and the City Commission held an emergency meeting declaring it would not be allowing businesses to open in violation of the order.

Watson found Holladay had not raised any money for the fireworks display, despite his comments at a city meeting indicating he had raised substantial funds.

In June, Holladay also came under fire for social media posts that his critics said downplayed police brutality against Black people amid ongoing social justice protests, and some called for his resignation.

Later that month, a group filed a petition that officially began the recall effort.

“His refusal to resign for the good of the city has prompted this nonpartisan grassroots campaign to lead the concerted efforts of those who believe in a better future for Oregon City,” Adam Marl, manager of the recall campaign, said at the time.

Earlier this month, the group announced it had gathered more than 3,000 valid signatures, well above the 2,400 needed to qualify for a recall election. Ballots were scheduled to be mailed to voters no later than Friday and are due by Nov. 10.

Holladay pushed back against those calling for his ouster on Friday as well, saying that Oregon City “is not racist” and does not have a systemic racism problem.

“Nothing I’ve said was untrue. None of the social media posts had anything to do with racism,” Holladay said. “I didn’t get caught in a sex scandal. I’m not taking kickbacks or making shady deals with developers. They just don’t like my moderate views."

The findings of the investigation could leave Holladay open to sanction from city commissioners, if they choose to pursue that route.

-- Kale Williams; kwilliams@oregonian.com; 503-294-4048; @sfkale

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