Bynum falsely claims she is not a mandatory reporter of child abuse
"I really can't take anything else on my plate"-gate delivers tense finale to final debate in tight congressional race
The final televised debate between U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R) and State Rep. Janelle Bynum (D) in Oregon’s hotly contested 5th Congressional District ended with a bang last night right here in Bend, Oregon.
During her closing remarks, Chavez-DeRemer went directly at Bynum for failing to properly report allegations that a Bynum campaign worker had a history of improper sexual advances toward girls younger than 18, including allegedly sexually assaulting a minor female during Bynum’s 2022 state house re-election campaign.
When presented with those allegations shortly after the 2022 election, Bynum infamously texted, “I told you not to send me anything and I meant that. I really can’t take anything else on my plate.” That story, broken originally by Fox News Digital October 5, has roiled the race which is one of a handful that will help decide which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives for the next two weeks.
As soon as Chavez-DeRemer began bringing up “I really can’t take anything else on my plate”-gate Bynum began interjecting. You can watch it here, with Chavez-DeRemer’s closing statement beginning about 55 minutes and 15 seconds in.
With the two women talking at the same time, it’s difficult to make out what exactly they’re saying, so I went through it a few times to create a transcript of the exchange:
Chavez-DeRemer: “And last but not least, we saw over this last week her fail a young woman . . .”
Bynum: “That is not true.”
Chavez-DeRemer: “She is a mandatory reporter . . .”
Bynum: “That is not true.”
Chavez-DeRemer: “and she decided . . .”
Bynum: “That is not true.”
The following statements were made more or less simultaneously:
Chavez-DeRemer: “to not report it to law enforcement and she unfortunately did not protect that young woman who did not deserve to be impacted.”
Bynum: “I’m talking over you because you are lying. That is not true. You will not repeat that lie in front of my face.”
Bynum: “You are the liar. You are the Trump supporter. She’s lying. Her time is up.”
Now let’s compare that transcript to what we know happened. Bynum interjected following each of the following claims made by Chavez-DeRemer to say the claim was “not true” or a lie.
“we saw over this last week [Bynum] fail a young woman . . .”
Whether Bynum failed the alleged victim is a subjective question. When her former campaign manager raised the allegations with her, as we have seen, her initial reaction was to express that she did not want to receive the information at all.
Bynum’s spokesperson told The Oregonian that Bynum ended up reporting the allegations to the Democratic House campaign organization Future PAC, which was the legal employer of the allegedly offending campaign worker assigned to her campaign. However, Future PAC denied that any “actionable complaints were made during the 2022 cycle that would have triggered an investigation under the terms of Future PAC’s employment contract.”
Last week, Oregon Roundup asked the Bynum campaign for text messages confirming that Bynum reported the allegations. The campaign has not responded.
There are no public claims that Bynum did anything in response to the allegations other than to report them to Future PAC.
You can be the judge of whether you think Chavez-DeRemer’s claim that Bynum failed the young woman was true.
“[Bynum] is a mandatory reporter . . .”
This is a statement of verifiable fact, which Bynum nonetheless insisted was “not true.” Legislators, as elected officials of the State of Oregon, are required by Oregon law to report to the state Department of Human Services or a local law enforcement agency if they have reasonable cause to believe “any person with whom the official comes in contact has abused a child[.]”
In fact, legislators made themselves mandatory child abuse reporters in a bill that passed the Oregon House just a year-and-a-half before Bynum learned of the allegations against her former campaign staffer. Bynum was a member of the House when it overwhelmingly passed the bill, HB 3071, on April 10, 2021, but was absent for that vote.
Chavez-DeRemer’s claim that Bynum was a mandatory reporter in 2022 was true.
“[Bynum] decided . . . to not report it to law enforcement and she unfortunately did not protect that young woman who did not deserve to be impacted.”
Bynum has not claimed that she reported the allegations to law enforcement, or to the state Department of Human Services, but has claimed she reported them to the PAC that was helping to fund her campaign. Surely, Bynum would have said by now if she had reported the allegations to law enforcement. If she did report to law enforcement, she should correct the record now.
As it stands, Chavez-DeRemer’s claim that Bynum did not report the allegations to law enforcement is true.
Polling shows an incredibly close race between the two women vying to represent Oregon’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House. Ballots arrive for many voters today.
Nothing worse than listening to two politicians talk over each other. Moderators need to be more assertive, equally. But that won't make for good television I guess.
Either way, why do we need rules or laws to protect our children? A clear indicator of the demise of a civilized society. Thanks for continuing to inform us Mr. Eager, no matter how painful.
Jeff, thanks for sticking with this story. Bynum is thin-tempered, race-card at the ready (ironic, considering she runs McDonald's franchises), and not above trying to leverage her position when she had a beef against a security guard doing his job at the Clackamas shopping center. Scary.