After Pamplin Media Group published a story about the Clackamas County Democratic Party opting not to grant incumbent District Attorney John Wentworth an early endorsement, Wentworth rescinded his request for endorsement from the party altogether.
As previously reported , the county Democrats decided against an early endorsement for Wentworth, who is running unopposed for reelection, after a member of the party brought up the DA’s handling of the case against former West Linn doctor David Farley.
Farley has been accused of sexual abuse by more than 130 of his former patients, yet no criminal charges have been filed against him. Many of the former patients say that’s because the West Linn Police Department failed to conduct an adequate investigation and prosecutors in Wentworth’s office carelessly prosecuted the case.
Cris Waller, chair of the Clackamas County Democratic Party, clarified that Wentworth still has the opportunity to meet with party leaders to discuss the case if he wishes.
“Our officers are unanimous in that this is not something that we wanted to happen,” Waller told Pamplin Media Group. “This is not something that we orchestrated and we’re upset that DA Wentworth is currently unable to pursue getting endorsed with us in the manner that one normally would because of this press contact and the negative press.”
Waller also explained that the party’s initial decision regarded an early endorsement, which requires a two-thirds majority to approve.
“It was not a vote not to endorse him; it was simply a vote not to provide the early endorsement,” she said.
The party had planned to hold a vote on granting Wentworth a regular endorsement, which has a lower threshold to pass, at its March 12 meeting, Waller said.
“Understandably he was upset about the negative press that resulted from this and that really harmed our ability to be fair to him,” Waller said. “We have no position on the Farley case. We don’t know enough about it at this point to say anything about it. And we simply wanted us and our members to be able to hear from DA Wentworth.”
After a Clackamas County grand jury decided in the fall of 2022 not to bring charges against Farley , dozens of the doctor’s alleged victims sent a letter to Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum asking her to take on the case and lambasting their treatment by West Linn Police Department detectives and Clackamas County prosecutors.
Rosenblum’s office still has not decided whether to open an investigation into Farley, but the city of West Linn recently released an investigative report that outlined a number of mistakes by police during the investigation that lasted more than two years.
Wentworth did not respond to Pamplin Media’s request for comment.
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