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Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum meets with the Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board on Aug. 7.
(Dave Killen/Staff)
Calling herself "shocked and appalled," Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum confirmed allegations Tuesday that a Department of Justice investigator targeted Black Lives Matter supporters -- including a senior attorney at the agency -- while searching social media for potential police threats.
Rosenblum's comments, including the promise of an independent investigation, followed a stunning letter from the Urban League of Portland that ricocheted around the state's political and criminal justice communities after going public late in the afternoon.
The Urban League's director, Nkenge Harmon Johnson, accused the department of conducting "digital surveillance" of Oregonians who invoked the racial justice movement's name on social media messages.
She wrote that the surveillance came to light after it snared her husband, Erious Johnson -- the director of the department's civil rights division. The letter was signed by top Oregon labor officials and civil rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon.
"It is improper, and potentially unlawful, for the Oregon Department of Justice to conduct surveillance and investigations on an Oregonian merely for expressing a viewpoint, or for being a part of a social movement," Harmon Johnson wrote. "We are concerned that such unwarranted investigations are racially motivated, and create a chilling effect on social justice advocates, political activists and others who wish to engage in discourse about the issues of our time."
Rosenblum, in an exclusive interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive, confirmed that an investigator working in the department's criminal justice division used an online search tool to look up Twitter hashtags, including the tag used by the Black Lives Matter movement, as part of threat-assessment work.
She said the investigator, whom she declined to identify, has been placed on paid leave and that "there may be others." The investigator had looked for uses of the Black Lives Matter hashtag in the Salem area, she said. That's what turned up Johnson's Twitter activity.
Rosenblum said she's hired a special investigator to examine the data collection by the Justice Department's Criminal Justice Division. A statement from Rosenblum's spokeswoman also mentioned a human resources investigation.
A reply from Rosenblum sent Tuesday to Harmon Johnson, obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive, identifies that attorney as Carolyn Walker of Stoel Rives. Walker, who is African American, specializes in employment cases involving retaliation and civil rights claims.
"I need to get to the bottom of this," said Rosenblum, saying she was "appalled" to learn Johnson had been targeted.
Rosenblum, unopposed in a re-election bid next year, said she learned about the matter two weeks ago.
Her deputy, Fred Boss, came to her late one day and said he had "something to tell me about." The next day, Rosenblum said, she told criminal justice chief Darin Tweedt to stop using the online search tool. Two days after that, she said, she gathered Boss and other top officials and met with Johnson to deliver the news.
"I can't imagine what it would be like to be told something like this. It's really devastating," Rosenblum said. "He was shocked - quite upset."
Johnson remains on the job, Rosenblum said. As head of the department's civil rights unit, he handles cases such as housing and wage claims.
Johnson did not return a message seeking comment. Harmon Johnson, the Urban League's director, declined a request for comment Tuesday, deferring to others who signed the letter. She didn't return a message asking about Rosenblum's comments.
Jo Ann Hardesty, leader of the local chapter of the NAACP, said she got a phone call from Harmon Johnson on Monday asking her to sign the letter, saying "it wasn't a stretch."
"I would not be shocked if I find my name on a list," Hardesty said. "I used that tagline all the time."
In a statement, the ACLU's legal director, Mat dos Santos, urged Rosenblum to reveal the "full extent of the state's involvement in this illegal and racially based surveillance."
"In response to these incidents, we are preparing to file records requests to reveal the scope of the program and who else was caught up in this dragnet," he said. A spokeswoman for the ACLU declined to comment on Rosenblum's reply late Tuesday.
Rosenblum defended the criminal justice team's overall work on threat assessment, calling it a "legitimate area." But she said Tuesday that she didn't know how long the searches had been under way or how many people had been identified.
"They were looking for anti-police sentiments -- potential threats to police," she said.
The subject is delicate for Rosenblum, charged with leading a "law enforcement racial profiling work group" under legislation approved this year. She announced the group's members in August -- including Kayse Jama, director of Portland's Center for Intercultural Organizing and one of the advocates who signed the Urban League's letter.
Johnson, she said, was leading a subcommittee focused on police accountability, specifically what to do when law enforcement agencies discover profiling. The work group was scheduled to meet for the last time Tuesday, she said, before issuing a report Dec. 1.
Said Rosenblum: "There's a certain irony here."
Note: Les Zaitz is one of 17 members serving on a separate Department of Justice task force, focused on public records and transparency, also led by Rosenblum.
-- Denis C. Theriault and Les Zaitz
503-221-8430; @TheriaultPDX