Salem-area lawyers slam Paige Clarkson campaign mailer

About a dozen Salem-place attorneys are calling for a public apology from Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson, who they say defamed them in a mailer despatched by Clarkson’s marketing campaign versus her opponent Spencer Todd.

Todd, 33, declared his candidacy for Marion County District Legal professional previous tumble towards incumbent Clarkson, 48, in the impending May well 17 primaries in Oregon, marking the first time in at minimum 38 many years the nonpartisan district lawyer seat is contested.

The campaigning has been vitriolic.

Clarkson, who has two decades of experience as a prosecutor in the county, has accused Todd of missing encounter and owning a”gentle-on-criminal offense” solution. Todd, who has labored as a demo law firm for eight a long time, criticized the way Clarkson runs the District Attorney’s Office, accusing her of lacking”on-the-ground” leadership and needing a additional nuanced tactic to how the office handles situations.

The mailer was sent very last 7 days and paid for by Friends of Paige Clarkson, a marketing campaign committee that lists Clarkson herself as the treasurer. The mailer has a photo of Todd and claims, “You know a male by the company he keeps … so why is Spencer Todd paling about with defense attorneys & convicted criminals?”

The flyer then lists “an military” of 11 prison defense legal professionals, together with Marion County Affiliation of Defenders Govt Director Olcott Thompson.

The flyer also mentions a number of of Todd’s current marketing campaign contributions, together with a $50,000 donation from Aaron Boonshoft, a Portland trader. Boonshoft, as previously reported by Willamette Week, donated a lot more than $1 million to the Urban Justice Center’s Intercourse Personnel Venture, a New York-primarily based authorized nonprofit that “defends the human legal rights of sex workers.”