EXCLUSIVE: Rosenblum's "special arrangement" for retirement benes revealed
The 2012 Chief Justice order did not require or allow Supreme Court's vote this week to grant former AG exception to pro bono service requirements for benefit hike
The Oregon Supreme Court voted Tuesday to approve former Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, a Democrat, as senior judge, providing, by her estimate provided to The Oregonian, at least an additional $1,000 per month in retirement benefits from Oregon’s budget-busting Public Employee Retirement System, known as PERS.
The vote, and a 2012 order from then-Chief Justice Paul DeMuniz purporting to grant an exception to Rosenblum’s volunteer service requirement to attain more benefits, appear to this lawyer to violate Oregon law.
A retirement, a “special arrangement,” and two more retirements
As reported by Oregon Roundup Tuesday, Rosenblum was first elected Attorney General in 2012. Prior to that time, she had worked as a trial court and then Court of Appeals judge, retiring as a judge effective May 1, 2011. Prior to her retirement as a judge, Rosenblum elected to enter Oregon’s “Plan B” retirement option for judges. Judicial retirement benefits are part of PERS.
Plan B pays retired judges a retirement benefit of up to 75% of their judicial salary in exchange for the retired judge providing 35 days of free judicial services state courts per year for five years following retirement, for a total of 175 hours. Judges who prefer not to or fail to provide the pro bono services default into Plan A, which pays a retirement benefit equal to 65% of their judicial salary. A retired judge who elects Plan B but fails to complete his or her service requirements reverts to Plan A, and its lower benefit level.
Rosenblum’s retirement plans were soon interrupted, however, by the surprise announcement by then Oregon Attorney General John Kroger in October 2011 that he would not seek re-election the next year. Sometime between that announcement and January 3, 2012, Rosenblum decided to run for Attorney General. On that date, she filed a campaign finance account with the Oregon Secretary of State and then-Chief Justice Paul DeMuniz issued an order cancelling Rosenblum’s senior judge status and Plan B judicial retirement benefits while serving as Attorney General. Rosenblum has referred to the DeMuniz order, which has not been previously reported, as a “special arrangement.”
The order provided Rosenblum would be eligible “to the extent permitted by law” (emphasis added) to reinstate her Plan B retirement, and pick up where she left off on her pro bono service requirement.
As of December 31, 2011, according to the order, Rosenblum had accumulated 90 of the 175 pro bono days required for Plan B status.
In April 2012, Kroger announced that he would in fact resign his position early to become the president of Reed College in Portland. Governor John Kitzhaber appointed Rosenblum to fill the vacancy, and she subsequently won re-election to that position until she chose not to run in 2024 and stepped down December 31, 2024, a week before her successor Dan Rayfield (D) was scheduled to replace her.
The Supreme Court’s vote Tuesday, resulting in a brief order re-approving Rosenblum as senior judge eligible for Plan B retirement benefits, consummates what Rosenblum called the “special arrangement” she had with DeMuniz back in January 2012.
In addition to her Plan B judicial retirement, which The Oregonian estimated will entitle her to $8,425 per month before taxes, Rosenblum will receive non-judicial PERS benefits accumulated during her Attorney General service in an amount ranging from $1,000 to $2,400 per month, she told The Oregonian.
Oregon’s PERS system has long required increased contributions from state agencies to stay afloat (it was $28 billion underfunded as of October 2023), most recently requiring schools to pay an extra $670 million into the system, entirely gobbling up expected education funding increases.
“To the extent [NOT] permitted by law.”
The Supreme Court’s approval of Rosenblum’s senior judge/Plan B status this week appears not to have been “permitted by law,” to quote the DeMuniz-Rosenblum “special arrangement.”
To qualify for the up to 10% retirement benefit bonus, Oregon law requires retirees to “serve as a pro tem judge, without compensation, for 35 days per year for a period of five years.” ORS 238.535(1)(c). For Rosenblum, the five-year clock would have begun running by May 1, 2011, the date of her first retirement as a judge. Nothing about either DeMuniz’s order or the Supreme Court’s vote this week changes the statutory requirement.
The Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court may grant an exception to the pro bono service requirement if “the judge fails for good cause to complete the obligation.” ORS 238.535(1)(c). The term “good cause” is defined in the statute to include the judge’s physical or mental incapacity, but specifically excludes
a judge’s affirmative voluntary act that makes the judge unqualified to serve as a judge of this state including, but not limited to, failure to maintain active membership in the Oregon State Bar, acceptance of a position in another branch of state government, or acceptance of a position in the Government of the United States or of another state or nation.
ORS 238.535(1)(d)(B) (Emphasis added).
Rosenblum did not fulfill the 175 day pro bono requirement within five years precisely because she chose to first begin running for, and then accepted the appointment to, the position of Attorney General, which is part of the executive branch of Oregon’s state government, distinct from the judicial branch. She is therefore specifically and explicitly ineligible for the relief granted Tuesday by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, acting in its administrative capacity as it was in re-approving Rosenblum, cannot overrule or contradict statutes, which are passed by the legislature and signed into law by the governor.
Yet, that is what the Oregon Supreme Court purports to have done Tuesday. Each and every current Supreme Court justice was appointed to his or her position by Rosenblum’s fellow Democrats, Governors Kate Brown and Tina Kotek. Rosenblum, who has not faced serious challenges in her re-elections, has been a prolific fundraiser for the Democratic Party of Oregon, contributing over $100,000 to the party over the years.
Rosenblum’s partisan generosity has been an issue before. She said she recused herself from her Department of Justice’s inquiry into the DPO’s misreporting of the source of its largest-ever contribution, $500,000, in 2022. However, she kept that inquiry inside DOJ, performed by attorneys and investigators for who continued to answer to her for continued employment. Last year, DOJ announced it would not seek criminal charges against the DPO or its donor, FTX’s Nishad Singh, who pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance fraud charges.
Rosenblum, who turned 74 Monday, is married to Richard Meeker, president of Rose City Media Company, the parent company of Portland weekly Willamette Week. Meeker previously served as publisher of Willamette Week.
Multnomah County records show Rosenblum and Meeker as owners of two residential properties in south Portland with a total estimated real market value of $1.43 million.
Note: In Tuesday’s story, I mistakenly described Rosenblum’s pro bono service requirement in hours, rather than days. Plan B judges are required to complete 175 days of pro bono service within five years. I regret the error.
You almost get the feeling that laws really don’t matter in Oregon. Especially in regard to Democrats. I hope it doesn’t take a cataclysm like LA is experiencing to wake people up to how bad they are being screwed.
Once again, the political incest which infects this state shows its ugly face.