The state AG isn’t investigating Don Orange
Last week, The Columbian had a story about the behind-the-scene efforts to remove Port of Vancouver commissioner candidate Don Orange from the ballot. Relying on leaked emails, we revealed how the campaign of Orange’s opponent, Kris Greene, coordinated with local Republican activist Carolyn Crain who spearheaded the challenge.
Anyway, judging from the comments on the story, Crain wasn’t happy about the story.
“I just keep wondering WHY you aren’t doing a story on the AG investigation into Don Orange,” she wrote. “Your bias is showing hard core.”
An AG (presuming Crain was referring to the state attorney general) investigation into Orange? That could be a great story tip.
Except it wasn’t because, as far as I can tell, there is no such investigation.
After reading Crain’s comment, I contacted the press office at the AG’s Office. They would neither confirm nor deny any investigation existed.
I’ve found that government agencies are shy when it comes to commenting on investigations. I’ve also found that if you request documents they’ll fork them over once the investigation is complete. So I requested documents related to any investigation regarding Orange. I noted in my request that if the records were unavailable because of an ongoing investigation, I wanted them when they became available.
Here’s what I got back:
We have searched our records utilizing the information contained within your request. Unfortunately, we have been unable to locate any complaints or investigation documents regarding Mr. Don Orange in response to your request.
A lot of tips don’t pan out. But keep them coming, Carolyn! You can email me any time.
