Myers ends tenure as top lawyer

Myers ends tenure as state's top lawyer
He has held attorney general position, with top praise, since 1997

January 3, 2009

Even if Hardy Myers never had been elected attorney general — a position he will leave Monday after 12 years — he would have left his mark on Oregon government.

As speaker of the Oregon House in 1981, he spearheaded the effort for a state takeover of trial-court operations in 36 counties starting in 1983.

As chairman of the Oregon Criminal Justice Council — and out of elected office — in 1989, he led the effort to set state guidelines for felony sentencing. Those guidelines remain in effect, though voters set mandatory minimum prison sentences for some violent crimes through Measure 11 in 1994.

But even before his former neighbor — now-Gov. Ted Kulongoski — persuaded him to run in 1996, Myers had his eye on being the top lawyer for state government. Myers, however, did not want to run against Dave Frohnmayer — the Republican who occupied the office during the 1980s — or against fellow Democrat Kulongoski, elected in 1992.

"That opportunity is special in a democratic society controlled by the rule of law," Myers said in an interview Tuesday. "It helps ensure that the laws passed by the Legislature are constitutional, and that the operations of state government are kept lawful."

When Kulongoski ran in 1996 for the Oregon Supreme Court, Myers said, "I realized I was reaching an age where if I wanted to be the attorney general, it was now or never."

After 31 years with Stoel Rives and its predecessors in Portland — Stoel Rives is Oregon's largest private firm — Myers made the move to become the elected head of Oregon Department of Justice with its 1,300 employees, about 300 of whom are lawyers.

Myers defeated Kevin Mannix of Salem in the 1996 primary, when Mannix was a Democrat, and defeated Mannix, who became a Republican, in the 2000 general election.

He has received the highest honors from his peers at the National Association of Attorneys General and the Oregon State Bar.
Attorney general's role

Unlike counterparts in other states such as California and New York, the attorney general in Oregon can initiate some prosecutions, notably in election-law violations, organized crime and public corruption. But district attorneys in 36 counties prosecute most crimes, although the attorney general provides help — especially in death-penalty cases — and defends convictions in the appellate courts.

Although Myers' successor, John Kroger, is a former federal prosecutor, most recent attorneys general — including Myers — have not been prosecutors. But Myers' chief deputy of eight years, Pete Shepherd of Salem, is an experienced prosecutor.

Myers has been vigorous in efforts against sexual assault — largely by promoting improved training for police, prosecutors and professionals who treat medical and psychological effects — and for improved restitution for crime victims generally.

"The Legislature has made it clear it wants the attorney general to be the leading force in respect to aiding victims of crime," he said.

Also, largely behind the scenes, he and his staffers have been active in negotiations that have resulted in landmark multistate settlements with tobacco companies and drug manufacturers.

Although Myers was not among the half dozen attorneys general negotiating directly with tobacco companies — Washington state's Chris Gregoire, now governor, was one of them — Oregon received a larger share of the 1998 national tobacco settlement than most other states as a result of the amount of legal work it had done to advance the case.

Myers said one of the most important points in the settlement had nothing to do with the $246 billion payout that tobacco companies will make to the states during 25 years. It has to do with new restrictions on the marketing of tobacco to teenagers, who are most likely to continue smoking if they start when they are young.

"From a longterm health perspective, the most important provisions of the settlement were nonfinancial," he said.
Drug settlements

In contrast, Oregon has been a leader — the leader in some instances — in a series of multistate lawsuits against and settlements with big drug manufacturers in the past five years, as recently as Oct. 22.

There are big corporations involved — Eli Lilly, Merck, Pfizer and Purdue Pharma — with brand-name drugs such as Celebrex, OxyContin and Vioxx, and settlements of millions of dollars, some of which came back to Oregon to enable the state Department of Justice to pursue future investigations and enforce consumer-protection laws.

"Important provisions of these settlements bear on reforming future corporate conduct," such as how they promote their drugs, Myers said.

Myers gives credit to David Hart, a senior assistant attorney general who took Oregon's lead.

"To me, it seems an important issue of public health involving large numbers of consumers," Myers said.

source: http://w ww.statesmanjournal.com/article/20090103/STATE/901030320/1042