All Eyes on Bynum, Fahey and Rayfield. Have They Failed as Mandatory Reporters?

Rep. Julie Fahey, Rep. Dan Rayfield, Rep. Janelle Bynum

Fox NEWS first broke this story when they obtained a complaint that was filed July 2024 with the state’s Legislative Equity Office against Janelle Bynum. The complaint alleges that Bynum failed as a mandatory reporter to deal with and report the allegations that a man who was a field organizer on the campaign had sexually assualted a minor volunteer who worked on her campaign during the 2022 campaign cycle.

The complaint filed says that when Bynum was confronted about the allegations she was dismissive.The Fox story focused on the text messages and emails between Bynum and the mulitple staffers of Future PAC House Builders. Future PAC House Builders is the campaign arm of the Oregon House Democrats which staffs local democrat campaigns. Sources in the article stated that Future PAC was aware of the allegations and were told they would address concerns AFTER the campaign concluded. So who directs Future PAC House Builders?

At the time of the alleged assault Rep. Julie Fahey & Rep. Dan Rayfield were the directors.

Future PAC trains and staffs the Democrat house campaigns. The Fox article stated that “Congressional Black Caucus PAC Senior Advisor Chris Taylor told Fox News Digital that Bynum is not to blame for the complaint. “Future PAC and the Oregon Speaker of the House, Julie Fahey ought to take responsibility for the alleged HR failures in their organization…”

At the time of the alleged complaint Julie Fahey was a named director as well as

Dan Rayfield who was Speaker of the House. Rayfield has since stepped down from his position to run for Oregon’s State’s Attorney General position.

So do we have three legislators that failed to report an incident between a FUTURE PAC paid staff memeber and minor aged volunteer?

Legislators are public officials and according to Oregon law are mandatory reports. What are the duties of a mandatory reporter?

Mandatory reporter law in Oregon

As per Oregon law “a public or private official having reasonable cause to believe that any child with whom the official comes in contact has suffered abuse or that any person with whom the official comes in contact has abused a child shall IMMEDIATELY report or cause a report to be made in the manner requred.”

Notice the requirement of IMMEDIATELY report.

If a public or private official violates this and does not report they are commiting a CLASS A violation.

As reported by the Capitol Chronicle and Fox news, Future PAC staff and Janelle Bynum knew of this alleged behavior. Kellie McWilliams who worked on Bynum’s campaign in the 2022 election cycle filed a complaint with the Legislative Equity Office two months after the election was over. The Legislative Equity Officer Bor Yang has emailed Bynum to confirm that she was not under investigation. Oregon State Police Captain Kye Kennedy also received a complaint and is investigating, according to the Capitol Chronicle.

So is this just another case of

“nothing to see here”?

Three high profile Oregon legislators at the center of a controversy. This one involving alleged sexual harrassment and assault involving a minor which requires

IMMEDIATE REPORTING.

Yet, nothing was done.

Oregonians are you tired of this yet?

It is time to be done with FAILING leaders.