To Be Perfectly Blunt

State Sen. Kim Thatcher weighs in on Shemia Fagan’s downfall

In 2020, business owner and State Senator Kim Thatcher (R-Keizer) ran for Oregon Secretary of State on a platform of “accountability and government transparency,” and a promise to carry on in the same manner as Dennis Richardson.

Thatcher lost to then-State Senator Shemia Fagan (D-Portland), who campaigned almost exclusively on voter access and protecting the integrity of Oregon’s elections, and who greatly outspent Thatcher.

Fast forward to now, as Fagan’s career has collapsed stunningly under the weight of her own self-interest and Willamette Week’s unrelenting journalism. The scandal has taken with it at least some of the public’s trust in their government, and likely all of Fagan’s future political aspirations.

When reached for comment on her former opponent’s resignation, and the loss of confidence in the office that she once sought, Sen. Thatcher told me, “What [Fagan] did doesn’t surprise me. Voters couldn’t see it and they chose poorly.”

Thatcher did not respond to my questions about Fagan’s application to have her law license reinstated by the Oregon State Bar — an agency Thatcher is quite familiar with through her work as the Vice-Chair of the Senate Committee On Judiciary.

The Bar will likely reactivate Fagan’s license, unless criminal charges are filed against her for what some are calling “legal violations;” or if Fagan was found to be practicing law for La Mota while on inactive status, rather than simply “consulting.”

The Bar does almost never prosecutes such violations of the statutes that protect the public from unlicensed lawyers. But if the Bar did prosecute such violations, and if Fagan was shown to be practicing law without an active license, Fagan could owe restitution to La Mota, as the victim of her unlawful practice.