For more than a year, those of us at the Grants Pass Tribune have reported on dysfunction, cronyism, and a persistent erosion of public trust within Josephine County government. We’ve raised concerns about secretive contracts, abuse of authority, shady hirings, and backroom decision-making. For our efforts, we were called conspiracy theorists. Fake news. Troublemakers.
But the truth has a way of clawing its way to daylight.
This week, now former Josephine County Budget Officer Simon G. Hare submitted a fiery resignation letter that reads like a confession, an indictment, and a call to arms all in one. In it, Hare confirms what many residents have feared and what this newspaper has been saying all along: the county is not being run by its elected officials, but rather by a small group of unelected insiders operating without transparency or accountability.
At the center of the firestorm is Commissioner Andreas Blech—appointed, not elected—who Hare accuses of operating in secret to push through a potentially million-dollar compensation package for County Operations Manager Michael Sellers. Sellers, previously the county’s IT Director, was quietly promoted to an interim position that absorbed HR and Finance duties, granting him broad authority with little public scrutiny. His total compensation, according to Hare, now tops $388,000—about $1,500 per day. That’s nearly double the salary of comparable public officials in other Oregon counties.
Hare alleges that this massive compensation package was never vetted through public meetings, never justified with comparable data, and never subject to the transparency standards the county claims to uphold. It was, he says, the result of weeks of “closed-door, backroom meetings” between Blech and Sellers, with Commissioners Chris Barnett and Ron Smith offering no resistance.
“This is what happens when a county hands over its future to a shadow government,” Hare wrote. “The citizens deserve better than blind delegation of power, rubber-stamped appointments, and zero oversight.”
The revelations are damning—but they don’t stop there.
Hare also exposes a controversial Voluntary Resignation Program (VRP), spearheaded by Sellers and supported by former HR Director Sandy Novak. The program was sold as a cost-saving necessity due to the end of Secure Rural Schools (SRS) funding. But Hare contends this was a deliberate misrepresentation: timber receipts—SRS’s backstop—had actually increased. Despite warnings, the county greenlit over $633,000 in buyouts for 18 employees, most of whom won’t be replaced. Many were non-essential or underperforming staff who could have been let go with no payout. Instead, taxpayers footed the bill.
“These were not the actions of a government operating in the light,” Hare said in the letter. “They were the actions of people who knew no one was watching—or worse, assumed no one would dare to stop them.”
The resignation also brings into question the legality of these decisions. According to Hare, Sellers has been running the county—unilaterally hiring, firing, and issuing directives—without public oversight. His title and authority appear nowhere in county code. “The position of Operations or Efficiency Manager doesn’t even exist legally,” Hare emphasized. “It’s a creation of political convenience.”
That convenience may have come at great cost. Since Sellers assumed his role, Hare reports that routine operations have descended into chaos. Budget decisions are made in silos. Staff fear retaliation. Key policy decisions are ignored or buried. Hare says meetings are scheduled with less than 24 hours’ notice and packed with trivial items while major issues, like the 4-H lease and the library, are punted.
The county’s septic inspection system is eight months behind. Road safety meetings with ODOT are nonexistent. Meanwhile, the Commissioners boast about economic growth while ignoring the hollowing-out of operational competence.
“This is no longer just about inefficiency—it’s about the willful sabotage of good governance,” Hare wrote.
He may be right. Since Blech’s appointment to fill a vacancy earlier this year, the Board of Commissioners delegated him the role of Chair and reportedly allowed him to take control of hiring, firing, and policy implementation with minimal resistance. Barnett and Smith—both newly elected—have done little to check his power. According to Hare, when the issue of Sellers’ contract was brought to their attention, they offered no comment and took no corrective action. When pressed by Hare and a witness during a Friday meeting, their response was silence.
“They had every opportunity to right this wrong. And they chose to do nothing,” he said.
So now the question falls to the public: What are we going to do about it?
Hare’s letter ends not just with condemnation, but with a call to accountability. He urges voters to demand resignations from Barnett, Smith, and Blech, or begin the process of recall or petition before June 14. “Blech must be held to account for breaking public trust,” he wrote. “The people of Josephine County deserve to know who’s really running their government—and why.”
We couldn’t agree more.
For months, we’ve asked tough questions about who is making the decisions in Josephine County and why. We’ve highlighted the lack of transparency in contract awards, the suspicious relationships between elected officials and appointees, and the erosion of public confidence in what is supposed to be a representative government.
Now, with Mr. Hare’s resignation and whistleblower statement, we finally have confirmation. This is not paranoia. This is not partisan politics. This is reality.
We commend Mr. Hare for stepping forward and doing what too many others have failed to do—putting truth ahead of politics. His courage comes at great personal and professional cost, and it should not go unnoticed.
But this isn’t the end. This is the beginning of something bigger. Citizens of Josephine County must seize this moment. Demand transparency. Demand accountability. Demand answers.
It’s time to pull back the curtain on the chaos and rebuild our local government from the ground up—with the people, for the people, and in full view of the public eye.