Veteran Republican legislator Greg Smith concedes ethics violation

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State Rep. Greg Smith, the most senior member of the Oregon House, has conceded he violated state ethics law by not disclosing private income from a source that has an economic interest in his legislative office.

Smith, a Republican from Heppner, agreed to a compromise with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission in which he agreed to a violation of ethics reporting requirements. The commission on Friday, March 9, unanimously approved the compromise, voting to issue Smith a letter of education as his sole sanction.

Oregon law provides for a penalty of up to $5,000 for such an ethics violation. The ethics commission, however, has a standard practice of not imposing any fine.

Smith, who has served in the Legislature since 2001, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Ethics commission records show that an investigation established Smith didn’t comply with a new ethics law requiring more disclosure by public officials.

The Legislature in 2023 required that public officials with a private company must disclose when any client of the company accounts for 10% of the company’s income. The disclosure must be made only if the client has an economic interest in the public official’s decisions or vote. No disclosure is required if clients don’t have such an interest in the office.

Smith founded Gregory Smith & Company LLC as he went into the Legislature. Since then, he has built a business that relies in part on contracts with public agencies. Those agencies in turn have often benefitted from Smith’s advocacy on their behalf at the Legislature.

In 2023, for instance, he said in a press release he obtained $1.2 million for Wheeler County for “industrial development.” At the time, Wheeler County was paying Smith $2,500 a month for economic development services. He also claimed credit for obtaining $5 million for Umatilla Electric Cooperative in Hermiston for “industrial development.” Smith’s company is under contract for an undisclosed sum to run the utility’s business resource center.

By April 15 each year, public officials are required to submit public statements to the ethics commission that disclose sources but not amounts of income.

Smith voted three times on the 2023 reform legislation – House Bill 2038 – that required him to disclose certain sources of income from his company, according to legislative records. He voted for the reform in a legislative subcommittee, a full committee and in the full House vote.

In his original submission for 2024, Smith listed his job at the Columbia Development Authority, the Legislature and his company as sources of income. He listed two sources that provided at least 10% of his company’s income – Umatilla Electric Cooperative in Hermiston and Eastern Oregon University in La Grande.

After the ethics commission opened its investigation, Smith amended his disclosure, listing one other source ­­– Harney County in Burns.

Commission records show that Smith advised investigators that his total income from all sources in 2023 was $945,901.

A Morrow County resident triggered the investigation with a complaint that Smith hadn’t disclosed his income from Harney County, which totaled $84,000 in 2023.

In his letter last October, Smith reminded the commission that he has routinely sought advice from commission staff over his business matters. He also said he had supported more transparency by public officials.

“I have been proud to be part of the legislative assembly that has put these reporting tools in place to keep the public informed about their elected officials,” he said.

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