Back in 2015, Chapman University conducted a random survey of over 1,500 English-speaking Americans to discover what they feared most. The results showed that the greatest fear, above all others, was corrupt government officials. If that holds true for Josephine County, buckle up and prepare for a scary story.
After the filing of a recall petition against Josephine County Commissioner John West in early August 2024, additional unsettling stories have come to light, further supporting the facts listed by the Committee to Recall John West. A 13-page list of recall facts can be found at www.RecallJohnWest.com. In typical fashion, Commissioner John West and top leadership of the Josephine County Republican Party were quick to claim innocence, even before investigating the recall claims.
Even when presented with simple facts, such as clear violations of state campaign finance laws (see the fact sheet referenced on the recall website), West and the Republican Party leadership refuse to admit they’ve been caught and instead deflect by telling false stories about the motivations of recall committee volunteers. We suspect they will react similarly to this fact-based story, but the pesky thing about government business is that almost everything is public information and can easily be verified.
In the summer of 2023, about six months after Commissioner John West took office, the County had already lost a few department directors and needed to hire an Emergency Management Director and an IT Director. According to a statement from Josephine County’s former HR Director, who was involved in the hiring processes, Commissioner West called Commissioner Baertschiger (an illegal meeting) right before a meeting where they were slated to select a candidate to fill the Emergency Manager role.
Commissioner West stated on the phone that the County didn’t need to fill the position, claiming that the County only had to have an emergency management program, not a manager. West wanted to assign the oversight to another person and said this would be a good way to get Sellers a pay bump (referring to Michael Sellers, who was eventually appointed to the newly created position of “Technology / Emergency Services Director”). This was especially troubling to the former HR Director, as Sellers had not yet even interviewed for the IT position.
Also troubling was that Commissioner Dan DeYoung was not involved in the restructuring that combined two department director positions into one, and that Michael Sellers had no actual emergency management experience. Sellers’ resume confirms that he had no experience working in an emergency management department and no real boots-on-the-ground experience in an emergency management incident. Sellers, Vice Chair of the Josephine County Republican Executive Committee and former Chief of Staff for Senator Baertschiger (now County Commissioner), was a close political ally of both West and Baertschiger, which is likely why he got the job.
Both the former HR Director and former Commissioner Dan DeYoung confirmed that the County passed over an emergency management candidate with about 15 years of real experience to give Sellers a pay bump. Former Commissioner DeYoung confirmed in a recent interview that he was so disgusted by the department restructuring and hiring process (which completely left him out of the decision) that when it came time to interview for the newly created Technology / Emergency Services Director position, he refused to participate, knowing that their minds were already made up. Coincidentally, I recently spoke to the emergency manager candidate who had 15 years of experience and was passed up for the job. He confirmed the facts told by the County’s former HR Director and former Commissioner DeYoung.
Even more troubling is that Michael Sellers didn’t disclose that he was also working full-time for the State of Oregon when he was appointed to the Technology / Emergency Services Director position a little over a year ago, and he continues to work full-time for the State of Oregon today. A public records request from the State of Oregon revealed that Sellers earns a gross salary of $7,139 per month working 50% FTE (full-time equivalent) as Chief of Staff for Senator Art Robinson and another $7,139 per month as Legislative Assistant III under Senator Brian Boquist. Sellers is effectively triple-dipping into taxpayer funds.
You might ask, as I did, how one person can serve as the full-time director of two busy Josephine County departments while working full-time for the State of Oregon. Well, you can’t. It’s physically impossible to give full-time hours to each of these jobs simultaneously. In my opinion, this is a clear case of taxpayer waste and abuse.
As a general rule, with Oregon’s high state PERS rates and other benefits, you can add about 35% to 40% to the gross salary of any highly paid government employee to understand the total compensation package. For Michael Sellers, who earns $14,278 per month working for the State of Oregon and an estimated $8,000 per month for Josephine County, his total government salary is approximately $267,000 per year, with a compensation package costing about $361,000 per year. Add in Danielle Sellers (Michael’s wife), who also earns $7,139 per month working as Senator Art Robinson’s District Manager, and the Sellers family has a total estimated compensation package of approximately $477,000 per year from both Josephine County and the State of Oregon.
In a recent interview with former Commissioner DeYoung, we discussed these salary amounts, and it reminded us of the City of Bell, California, which became a symbol of public corruption over 10 years ago when city officials were convicted of misusing municipal funds through exorbitant salaries. I asked DeYoung if it was possible for one person to adequately serve both the State of Oregon and Josephine County in full-time capacities. He said there was no way. He also still recommends keeping the Emergency Management Department separate from the IT Department, with separate directors.
DeYoung shared some stories about his interactions with Sellers during Sellers’ first few months on the job. For example, DeYoung had to sign a travel/mileage reimbursement form for Sellers, but noticed inconsistencies and ineligible mileage claims. When he called Sellers into his office to correct the errors, Sellers became visibly angry. DeYoung also questioned Sellers about jobs he left off his resume, including a towing company where Sellers was allegedly fired for misappropriation of assets. Sellers responded dismissively, saying, “I didn’t need to disclose that.”
After this interaction, Sellers reported to HR that DeYoung harassed him and demanded that DeYoung could no longer correspond or meet with him without legal counsel present. According to DeYoung, Sellers was hired to do the dirty work of Commissioners West and Baertschiger, monitoring County employees’ communications. This aligns with concerns from other County employees about how much time Sellers and the two commissioners spend at the Josephine County Republican headquarters instead of at the courthouse.
Backing up these concerns, former Secretary to the Board of Commissioners, Trish House, was abruptly fired after complaining about Sellers’ behavior. Trish reportedly claimed that Sellers was unproductive, frequently absent, and hired because of his connections rather than his skills. Other employees have voiced similar concerns, including Sellers’ focus on monitoring communications and the purchase of GPS devices for County vehicles without proper justification.
I further explained to DeYoung that I heard a rumor that before Trish House was abruptly fired by Commissioners West and Baertschiger, one of Josephine County’s attorneys advised that they should not fire Trish because in many years of service this was Trish’s first complaint and that they had not followed the required progressive disciplinary process. Rumor is these two commissioners ignored the advice of their attorney. DeYoung didn’t confirm or deny this rumor but commented on how he was soon going to attend a state ethics hearing related to this issue and how the commissioners have been alleged to have illegal deliberations on firing Trish in a private executive session of the commissioners.
Further illustrating Sellers’ inefficiency, Josephine County residents lost out on a broadband grant of nearly $200,000 because Sellers failed to follow through on a project promised by his predecessor. Yet, Commissioner West continues to falsely claim that merging the IT and Emergency Management departments saved the County $95,000 per year. In reality, the budgets for both departments increased by $835,400, or 35.3%, in fiscal year 2025.
In my opinion, Sellers is more focused on his higher-paying state job, and Josephine County taxpayers are paying more while getting less. I did not reach out to the current commissioners for comment, as they have never responded to any of the dozens of emails I’ve sent them over the years. However, I’ll give them an opportunity to comment after publishing this, and I may write a follow-up article based on their response (or lack thereof).
Perhaps Josephine County’s newly appointed commissioner who has only been on the job less than two months will have a fresh set of eyes and will address this significant and concerning abuse of taxpayer funds. I recommend a moonlighting policy that applies to all full-time County employees where the employee would have to seek approval from a director or Commissioner before working any jobs outside Josephine County as well as a prohibition on full-time employees of Josephine County working the equivalent of full-time jobs for other employers. It’s impossible for one person to work two full-time jobs and properly serve both jobs adequately, especially for key jobs such as department directors.
As a lifelong conservative, I call on both the current County Commissioners and the Josephine County Republican Party Leadership to address these alleged abuses of public tax dollars. I’ve heard from too many local republicans that say the current leadership of the Josephine County Republican Party does not represent them or what the Party is supposed to stand for.
What do you think? Drop me a line using jay@VoteJayCPA.com to share your thoughts.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS: (Oregon State Records Request)
Qualifications Listed on Josephine County Application:
In his official Josephine County application, Mr. Sellers acknowledged that he did not graduate from Western Governors University with a degree in Cybersecurity. However, the resume on file with the County Commissioners, which they have been presenting in defense of his qualifications, tells a different story. It lists conflicting details about his education and graduation dates, yet still lacks any degree in Cybersecurity. This resume clearly misrepresents Mr. Sellers’ qualifications.
Additional conflicting resume and application for the State of Oregon showing more discrepancies in education of three-year change in his degree, and skills section:
