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Oregon Rep. Greg Smith Pays $12K Fine. It's His Second Ethics Penalty This Year.

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Oregon’s Longest-Serving Rep Faces Second Ethics Penalty in 2026

Oregon state Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner, will pay $12,000 in civil fines to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission after the commission found he used his position as director of a publicly funded eastern Oregon development authority to improperly raise his own salary and approve his own time off. This is his second penalty from the commission in 2026, and it resolves only two of four active investigations opened against him in the last 18 months.

The violations stem from Smith’s role as executive director of the Columbia Development Authority of Boardman, a federally funded intergovernmental agency that includes the Port of Umatilla, Umatilla County, Port of Morrow, Morrow County, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Smith manipulated a federal grant application through the Office of Local Defense and Community Cooperation to give himself a $66,000 raise on top of his existing $129,000 annual salary.

“But for his position as the Executive Director of the CDA, Greg Smith would not have been able to pursue and obtain a pay increase through the [Office of Local Defense and Community Cooperation] grant application.”

Oregon Government Ethics Commission report, August 7, 2026

When the authority’s board discovered the maneuver, they ordered Smith to return roughly $33,000 in excess pay he had already received. As of the commission’s report, he has not returned the money. The commission noted he “continues to stand ready to repay the wages upon further direction” of the Port of Morrow, the authority’s fiscal agent.

Smith Approved His Own Vacation Time for Three Years

The commission’s report details a second pattern of violations. Smith signed his own time cards and approved his own paid time off without any written CDA contracts or policies governing vacation accrual. Between December 2024 and August 2025 alone, he took more than 54 days of vacation and was paid $26,248 for that time.

Over three years, Smith’s self-approved vacation cost the publicly funded authority more than $51,000.

Smith did not respond to calls, texts, or emails seeking comment on August 7, 2026, according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle. Two more investigations remain open.

What You Can Do Now

  1. Contact the Oregon Government Ethics Commission at (503) 378-5105 and ask whether the commission intends to refer the unrepaid $33,000 to the Port of Morrow or Morrow County for civil recovery. The funds came from federal grants intended for public redevelopment, not personal compensation.

  2. Call the Oregon House Republican caucus at (503) 986-1400 and ask whether leadership will call on Smith to step down from any committee assignments while two additional investigations remain open.

  3. Contact your own Oregon state representative by name through the Oregon Legislative Assembly’s directory at oregonlegislature.gov and ask them to support stronger CDA oversight requirements, including mandatory written employment contracts for all publicly funded authority directors.

  4. File a public records request with the Columbia Development Authority through the Port of Morrow, listed as the fiscal agent, to obtain the full accounting of salary and vacation disbursements to Smith between 2022 and 2025. Oregon’s public records law covers intergovernmental authorities that receive federal funds.

Sources

[Callout: Second ethics penalty in a single year, with two more investigations still open.

Oregon’s longest-serving state representative. Oregon Capital Chronicle]

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