This week’s Southern Oregon Government Watch contains both facts and opinions but overall should be considered an opinion column this week. In full disclosure the author is a defendant against a lawsuit filed against him by John West, the main subject of this article. But like all the author’s articles over the last two years in the Grants Pass Tribune, the author stands by all statements which are presented as fact. John West, recalled by 62% of voters that cast a ballot in December 2024, has brought a lawsuit against four different individuals that supported his recall campaign. In our opinion, these are frivolous lawsuits that are trying to take away our constitutional rights to free speech. As of today’s publication date, no court of law has ever reviewed a claim made against a writer or article in the Grants Pass Tribune based on the merit of the claim and judged any such writing was false or defamatory.
John West’s campaign for Josephine County commissioner made a very costly mistake on Saturday, May 9th and Sunday May 10th in our opinion. Saturday morning, May 9th, the “Elect John West” Facebook page released the following statement, accusing the current Board of Commissioners of violating law in three different ways and stating that they are “willing to violate the county charter.” No evidence was provided to support these serious allegations.
The Grants Pass Tribune reached out to John West by email on Saturday May 9th seeking clarification regarding these serious allegations. John West chose not to answer or provide any proof of these serious allegations, the same behavior John West exhibited during the two years he was in office before being recalled by voters.
This author sent many emails to John West during his two years in office, some requesting a meeting to discuss ways to increase revenues for the Sheriff’s office without increasing taxes. Mr. West never responded to any of those emails while in office.
But the John West commissioner campaign did release another statement the next morning on May 10th, clearly in response to our email request. The clarifying statement was released on Facebook as follows:
And now at least one current county commissioner is now evaluating legal options due to John West making this statement accusing the Board of breaking the law without providing any proof. John West’s clarifying statement saying “not intended as statements of proven criminal wrongdoing” is also an interesting statement given his law-breaking allegations of the current Board would be civil and not criminal in nature.
But what is most interesting of all is the statement by West saying, “My comments were part of protected political discussion.” Because the May 9th statement by West accusing the current Board of Commissioners of violating laws in three different ways is significantly worse than public statements made by local citizens who have been political critics of John West and John West is suing these critics for millions of dollars for false statements and defamation.
If these comments made by John West on May 9th are protected political speech, then the many lawsuits John West has filed against his local citizen critics should also be considered protected political speech, just as has been argued in court but not yet fully decided by court in most of these cases filed by John West.
Last weekend’s statement and clarifying statement by the John West campaign will likely prove to be very costly for West, as West has multiple frivolous (in our opinion) defamation lawsuits outstanding against citizen political critics. No court of law has yet proven that any of West’s critics have made defamatory statements based on the merits of such claims, and most cases are still in the Oregon anti-SLAPP dismissal argument stage, with defendants claiming protected political speech.
The only anti-SLAPP case that has been decided at the lower court level is the case against the chief petitioner for the John West recall petition. Five of six major parts of that case were dismissed at the lower court level, with the judge not receiving enough information to rule definitively on the 6th claim. Both sides are appealing the portions that they lost, and at present John West owes the defendant almost $30k in legal fees because of the lower court decision.
If what John West stated on Facebook last weekend is indeed protected political speech, every lawsuit John West has filed against his political critics should indeed be dropped immediately for the same reason. This is especially true for the most recent lawsuit filed by John West against a political critic just a few months ago in early 2026.
In January of this year, John West sued a local citizen and political critic JJ Scofield for $2 million for alleged defamation due to Facebook comments made by Scofield that hardly anyone even saw. The Facebook comments by Scofield were so obscure that we couldn’t even find them at the time that West brought this latest frivolous (in our opinion) lawsuit.
The $2 million lawsuit against Scofield, dated January 14, 2026, stated that in December “Scofield stated in a Facebook post that: “[Herman Baertschiger] and [John] West had illegal meetings every week.” It’s unclear whether Scofield made a post saying this or whether this was just a reply comment on Facebook because despite being active on Facebook we never even saw this comment on Facebook by Scofield.
The question now worth millions is…How can John West can be suing Scofield and others for public statements made about poor behavior by West while he was a commissioner, when West himself prominently made a statement on Facebook last weekend which he calls protected political speech saying the current Board of Commissioners has broken several laws?
In another lawsuit by John West against another political critic (the author of this article), JJ Scofield stated the following in a sworn declaration submitted to the court in that case: “While I was at the Grower’s Market last year spring or early summer, West approached me. He told me he intended to hurt me financially. He then said he was going to sue me for lying about him. I stated that I was not impressed by his threats and would get 15 people to all testify that I was telling the truth. He said it didn’t matter as I would spend so much on attorneys, I’d end up homeless. In my opinion West has followed up on that threat. He has sued anyone he blames for his recall ballot measure loss.”
That pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? If John West’s statements last weekend on Facebook are in fact protected political speech as West claims, West should immediately drop his many frivolous lawsuits against local journalists and local citizen political critics.
And as for West’s empty claims that the current Board has broken the law in various ways, West should remove that post immediately unless he can back up those claims with proof. But we won’t hold our breath because West doesn’t have a stellar history of being able to back up his campaign statements with proof.
The bottom line of what is going on with commissioner candidate John West is his critics and the defendants in his many frivolous lawsuits have backed up all their claims and opinions with proof, but John West doesn’t like those opinions and so he pretends they are defamatory false statements. John West’s legal arguments are littered with reasons he made the decisions he made rather than reasons the statements are false. And that, my friends, means West is suing people over protected political speech.
The First Amendment guarantees the right to petition the government (or our politicians) for a redress of grievances, allowing citizens to ask for changes to policies, laws, or actions without fear of punishment. But John West seeks to punish anyone locally that doesn’t agree with his votes and actions.
Should the current Board of Commissioners take legal action against John West for his statements on Facebook last weekend, similar to the legal actions John West has taken against local citizen critics?
It would be best for all parties concerned if we simply dropped all this silly lawfare and restored our First Amendment rights in Josephine County politics. We’ll never be able to work most effectively together to make Josephine County a better place if we can’t even offer constructive criticism without the fear of retaliation by our local politicians and local governments.