On August 25, 2025, a formal request for a criminal investigation was filed with Josephine County District Attorney Josh Eastman alleging serious misconduct by four public officials: County Commission Chair Andreas Blech, Commissioner Chris Barnett, State Representative Dwayne Yunker, and Grants Pass City Councilor Erich Schloegl. The complaint outlines how these officials allegedly misused Oregon’s public records system, retaliated against a private citizen, and published defamatory information for political purposes.
District Attorney Eastman acknowledged receipt of the complaint and confirmed that the matter was also forwarded to the Josephine County Sheriff’s Department and the Oregon State Police Special Investigations Division. Copies were additionally sent to the FBI. DOJ, and the Oregon Government Ethics Commission for review. The move underscores the gravity of the allegations, which reach beyond routine politics into criminal violations of state and federal law.
The controversy began on August 5, when the Josephine County Board of Commissioners abruptly took control of the county’s public records process away from IT Manager Michael Sellers. Chair Blech announced that the commissioners themselves would now oversee and fulfill all requests. Since then, however, not one request submitted by this newspaper has been processed or completed, aside from limited assistance by the District Attorney’s office. The request that triggered this conflict, filed on August 8, was instead routed internally and exposed to the very individuals named in it—an act that directly contradicted Oregon’s public records law, which requires timely and impartial compliance under ORS 192.329.
Rather than fulfill their legal duty, Blech, Barnett, Yunker, and Schloegl allegedly chose to weaponize the request. What followed was a coordinated campaign of retaliation. Representative Yunker published false statements about my personal history without any factual basis or verification. Commissioner Blech, who as custodian of records had the authority to stop this misconduct, instead allowed it to proceed. Commissioner Barnett and Councilor Schloegl then amplified the attacks through social media, escalating the campaign. The intent was unmistakable: to silence dissent, intimidate critics, and damage the reputation of the Grants Pass Tribune within the community.
The complaint argues these actions amount to clear violations of Oregon law, including official misconduct, misuse of confidential information, coercion, and retaliation against a complainant. More importantly, the filing insists that the conduct reveals a disturbing pattern of abuse: elected officials, entrusted to serve the public, using the power of their offices to retaliate against the very residents and voters who placed them there.
This is not merely about one newspaper or one citizen. If public officials can weaponize the records process to attack those who request transparency, then no one in Josephine County is safe from harassment. Instead of responding to lawful records requests, these men used their positions to illegally access and disclose sensitive information, to create division, and to retaliate against residents. The message their actions send is chilling—that they consider themselves above the law, unbound by ethics, and free to punish any citizen who dares to question them.
Unchecked, this behavior sets a precedent that corrodes democracy itself. If officials are using their office resources to investigate private residents, build “huge files” on individuals, and retaliate with public attacks simply because they do not like the questions being asked, then the concept of open government in Josephine County collapses. Such actions strike at the heart of both state law and constitutional protections. They create an environment where people are too afraid to exercise their rights, where asking for accountability means risking personal attacks, and where public records—the cornerstone of transparency—become a tool for political revenge.
These actions cannot go unanswered. To ignore them is to accept governance by intimidation, where commissioners and councilors wield their offices as weapons instead of serving the public. If law enforcement fails to intervene now, Josephine County will descend into a climate of fear, where no resident in their right mind will dare question the government again. Requests for transparency will go unfulfilled, and retaliation will become the standard response to criticism.
What is at stake is larger than one investigation. It is whether the principles of law, fairness, and accountability still apply to those in power. If those entrusted with public office are allowed to flout the law, retaliate against citizens, and divide the community without consequence, then the system of governance itself is broken. The residents of Josephine County deserve better. They deserve a government that answers records requests with honesty, not attacks; that respects the law rather than manipulates it; and that values the people’s right to know above personal grudges.
For context, the Grants Pass Tribune never requested military records, never asked for DD214s, and never wrote or published anything about this request. It was simply an inquiry to determine whether any fraud might be occurring. The officials themselves chose to make the request public, twisting it into a narrative for their own purposes. Their decision to spin and weaponize a lawful request underscores the severity of the misconduct.
For these reasons, the call for a criminal investigation is not merely justified—it is urgent. No public servant is above the law, and no citizen should ever fear retaliation for exercising their legal right to transparency. The question now is whether Josephine County will uphold accountability or slide further into unchecked abuse of power. The answer will depend on whether these allegations are fully and swiftly investigated.