Brown, Hummel, Russell urge Boddie to withdraw from race

Gov. Kate Brown joined Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel and Bend City Councilor Sally Russell on Monday in calling on Councilor Nathan Boddie to drop out of the House District 54 race. Hummel and Russell also urged him to resign his city council seat.

“I’m not willing to compromise my values over an election,” the governor told Oregon Public Broadcasting. “Time’s up. It’s time for Dr. Boddie to resign his nomination.”

Boddie won the House district’s Democratic nomination in May but is now facing allegations of sexual misconduct that he has denied.

On Friday, Moey Newbold, an environmental worker for a Central Oregon organization, told NewsChannel 21, that Boddie groped her at a bar in late 2012.

She said she came forward about the incident because last month, Oregon Democrats’ campaign arm, FuturePac, withdrew its support, citing unspecified allegations of inappropriate behavior and a homophobic slur.

Hummel issued a statement Monday saying he previously supported Boddie after FuturePac,dropped their support, but after Newbold’s allegations came to light, and the tone of Boddie’s denial, he had a change of heart.

“I believe what she said. And what she said, standing alone, based on my belief in her and based on the details of what she said was troubling and most likely made me withdraw my support of Boddie,” Hummel said.

Hummel said Boddie’s statements about Newbold over the weekend — not just denying her allegation, but accusing the woman of substance abuse — showed he’s desperate.

“He used that to trash her reputation in a desperate effort to save his candidacy. Shame on Nathan Boddie,” Hummel said. “I withdraw my endorsement. I call on him to drop out of the race in District 54 and I call on him to resign his City Council seat. Our community deserves better.”

Hummel said Newbold doesn’t have a political agenda nor was politically influenced, as Boddie implied.

“Her values are Nathan Boddie’s values, with one notable difference– she stands against sexual assault of women. Nathan Boddie sexually assaults women,” he said.

Newbold took to Facebook after an interview with OPB aired late last week, saying she shared her #MeToo story with the media and felt it was the right thing to do for the community.

“This was an incredibly hard decision that I wish I never had to make,” Newbold wrote on her Facebook page.

After Newbold’s allegations on Friday, Boddie responded by denying the allegations and went on to attack her character.

“Yesterday I learned about the latest in a series of strange developments surrounding my race to represent Bend in the legislature. The individual making recent allegations is a friend and someone with whom I have had a great professional relationship for several years, Boddie said. “Alice and I sincerely hope that whatever Ms. Newbold has asserted never happened to her and we hope something like that never happens to anyone. It’s not something I was ever around or with which I was ever involved, and I don’t think I’ve ever been alone with her at all. I hold Ms. Newbold in the highest regard and she is helping lead Bend into the future I know we all envision. She’s recently become involved with local government, urban planning, transportation, and many of the dynamic issues Bend faces today,” Boddie said.

That was the first paragraph of Boddie’s two-paragraph statement. Much of the criticism leveled at him was over his continued remarks, accusing her of substance abuse.

On Saturday, Newbold responded to Boddie’s statement

“Nathan Boddie’s recent statement about me is not true. It is character assassination. It’s sad that he has stooped to this level instead of taking responsibility for his actions. This type of bullying response reinforces why so many women (and men) don’t report assault and harassment,” she said.

Russell, who is also mayor pro tem said the allegations against Boddie and his failure to address these issues are highly disturbing.

Russell is the first member of the City Council to call for Boddie’s resignation.

“He’s clearly not taking responsibility for actions, which, as a leader in Bend, are not appropriate,” Russell said.

Russell also said she plans to introduce a policy that would require elected officials to go through mandatory training regarding sexual harassment.

Deschutes Democrats, Indivisible Bend and the Oregon League of Conservation Voters also have dropped their support for Boddie, whose campaign against Republican Cheri Helt was seen as a key in Oregon Democrats’ efforts to secure a supermajority in the House by taking the seat being vacated by GOP gubernatorial candidate Knute Buehler of Bend.

NewsChannel 21 reached Monday to Bend Mayor Casey Roats and Councilor Barb Campbell for comment on Russell’s call for Boddie’s resignation, but our calls were not returned.

NewsChannel 21 also reached out to Boddie for comment, but our calls and emails weren’t returned.

Councilor Bill Moseley told NewsChannel 21’s Pedro Quintana by text he wants to hear personally from Boddie before weighing in, but added, “I do not think the reported events are good for the community and leadership.”

The clock is ticking on whether Boddie will listen to his party or stay in the race. If he dropped out of the race, a new candidate would have to be chosen by August.

Deschutes Democrats have sharply criticized Boddie’s remarks in a Facebook post and said a meeting or precinct committee persons would be needed to replace or remove Boddie from the ticket.