Oregon鈥檚 Public Defense Services Commission decided Thursday it would move to hire Jessica Kampfe as executive director of the Office of Public Defense Services, the state agency responsible for providing attorneys for those charged with crimes who cannot afford them.
Kampfe currently runs Multnomah Defenders Inc., a public defense nonprofit in Portland and has more than 15 years either as a public defender or running nonprofit indigent defense firms in Marion, Washington and Multnomah Counties.
鈥淚 plan to accept the job,鈥� Kampfe told OPB late Thursday. 鈥淩ight now is a really challenging time for public defense and the provider community.鈥�
Indeed, Kampfe will inherit a state agency that鈥檚 currently left hundreds of people without constitutionally-required legal support. On any given day, that includes dozens of people in custody.
While the shortage of public defenders is the most acute crisis, the agency has struggled for years. In 2019, a report conducted by the was so bureaucratic and structurally flawed that the state couldn鈥檛 guarantee clients were getting the criminal defense they鈥檙e entitled to. While some things have changed, many of the report鈥檚 key findings and recommendations have been left untouched.
State lawmakers and the judiciary are revisiting the report as the public defense system has faltered and has now grown into a full-blown crisis.
鈥淭he folks that we serve really need a strong leader who knows public defense well and who can communicate the values that we hold and the challenges that we face to people in power so that we can get the resources that we need to serve our clients,鈥� Kampfe said. 鈥淚 think I can do that effectively.鈥�
Kampfe was one of two finalists for the executive director position, which she said she understood to be a two-year position.
Craig Prins, Inspector General with the Oregon Department of Corrections, also interviewed with the public defense commission. Some public defense providers lobbied the commission against choosing Prins, arguing his professional background in corrections and as a prosecutor was ill-suited. Others suggested the agency should hire both to complement one another.
Prins鈥� background in state government is something Kampfe acknowledges she lacks and said she will need to surround herself with people who can help 鈥渇ill in those gaps for me.鈥� Kampfe said she was 鈥渧ery open鈥� to working with anyone who can help.
In August, the public defense commission as executive director of OPDS. On Wednesday, arguing his lawsuit violated state law.
Oregon鈥檚 public defense system is made up of a largely part-time, contracted workforce. At the trial level, no public defenders are state employees. Often, there have been divisions between public defense nonprofits and consortia, private firms made up of groups of attorneys. At times their policy and political goals are so different that each faction has its own lobbyist.
鈥淭he public defense community needs to be unified and [the Office of Public Defense Services] needs to be a strong leader in unifying that community,鈥� Kampfe said, noting divisions cannot deepen.
鈥淚t absolutely has to change,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f we鈥檙e not all in this together we鈥檙e not going to be successful.鈥�
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