Harassment and retaliation complaints in the Oregon Capitol are supposed to be handled by the legislative equity officer. But lawmakers have been unable to fill the position since 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
A civil rights enforcer from Vermont is Oregon lawmakers’ choice to police the Capitol for improper harassment, retaliation or hostile conduct.
In a meeting Monday, the Legislature’s Joint Conduct Committee planned to put forward Bor Yang, executive director of the Vermont Human Rights Commission, as its recommendation to serve as the state’s new legislative equity officer. Once approved by the committee, a resolution formalizing Yang’s appointment would go before both the House and Senate.
Yang’s background seems a good fit for the state’s next legislative equity officer, or LEO, a position central to the Capitol’s system for dealing with harassment and other problematic behavior. The equity officer provides workplace training, fields complaints about misconduct, helps launch investigations, and is often subject to immense political pressure.
The role has been vacant for nearly two years, but past LEOs tackled high-profile cases in which lawmakers were accused of harassment, sometimes leading to professional consequences.
As head of the Vermont Human Rights Commission since 2019, Yang leads an agency responsible for battling discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations in that state. She oversees a budget of more than $600,000, manages five employees, serves as chief counsel and has routinely been quoted in news stories about enforcement actions taken by the commission when it found discriminatory practices – be it by police, landlords, summer camps or other entities.
Prior to becoming director, Yang investigated complaints for the agency. She moved to the United States when she was three, after her family fled Laos, according to a 2019 profile in a Burlington newspaper. She received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and a law degree from the University of Minnesota.
Yang did not immediately respond to an email on Monday.
Lawmakers have been working to hire a new equity officer since 2021, when the former LEO, Nate Monson, resigned under pressure. But after twice posting the job with no success, legislators turned to a professional headhunting firm, agreeing to pay up to $100,000 for a successful recruitment. High-priced private attorneys have been performing many of the duties of the equity officer under contract as lawmakers work to find a replacement.
The chairs of the Joint Conduct Committee, which oversees the equity role, have spent much of this year finalizing a selection. But until Monday, the identity of their choice had been kept secret. Yang’s name came to light in an amendment posted to the Legislature’s website, ahead of a hearing naming her as the finalist of choice.
It’s not clear how much lawmakers plan to pay Yang for the role. A memo to the Legislature from recruitment firm Spelman Johnson last year laid out significant challenges that the person who assumes the role of LEO will face. They included a workplace that has been described as toxic, lawmakers who are ill-prepared to oversee employees and what some called a “feckless” complaint process.
The memo also said the Legislature’s salary range for the next equity officer was too low. According to a job posting, the role pays up to $166,128 a year.
