Oregon Advisory Opinions November 28, 1958: OAG 58-170 (November 28, 1958)
Collection: Oregon Attorney General Opinions
Docket: OAG 58-170
Date: Nov. 28, 1958
Advisory Opinion Text
OAG 58-170.
Secretary of State
You have asked:
"What is the proper fee for space in the Voters' Pamphlet engaged by or on behalf of a candidate for District Attorney?"
Fees to be charged for space in the Voters' Pamphlet are set forth in ORS 255.051 for the primary election and in ORS 255.231 for the general election. ORS 255.231, in so far as pertinent, provides that fees shall be charged for each page of space in the pamphlet as follows:
"(1) The state executive committee or managing officers of each political party or ORGAnization having nominated candidates for election at the regular biennial general election shall pay to the Secretary of State at the time of filing portrait cuts and statements under ORS 255.211 the following fees for pages of space in the voters' pamphlet:
"(c) Portrait cuts and statements pertaining to its candidates for election to the office of President and Vice President of the United States, United States Senator, Representative in Congress or any state office to be voted for in the state at large, $150 per page.
"(d) Portrait cuts and statements pertaining to its candidates for election to any state office other than those provided for in paragraph (c) of this subsection or any district office, when the district is composed of one or more counties, $15 per page.
"(e) Portrait cuts and statements pertaining to its candidates for election to any county office, $50 per page."
To determine the Voters' Pamphlet fee to be charged a candidate for district attorney it is necessary only to determine which of the three categories set forth above includes that office. In other words, is the district attorney a state or county office?
This question has been ruled on previously by the Attorney General. In Opinions of the Attorney General, 1920-1922, p. 535, the following language is found:
"District attorneys are state officers. They derive their salaries from the state. They file their petitions for nominations with the Secretary of State. They receive their certificate of election from the Governor. * * *"
A similar opinion was expressed in Opinions of the Attorney General, 1928-1930, p. 585; 1950-1952, p. 265. See also State v. Douglas County Road Company, (1882) 10 Or. 198, 201.
These authorities confirm that the district attorneys are state officers who represent the sovereign state within their respective counties. They are officials of the state although they also advise county officers, represent the county in legal actions and are elected on only a county-wide basis. See ORS 8.610, 8.660, 8.680, 8.690 and 8.800.
Since the office of district attorney is a state office not voted for in the state at large, it seems clear that the Voters' Pamphlet fee applicable to it under ORS 255.051 and 255.231 is $15.
We are not unmindful that in ORS 249.271, which sets the filing fees for candidates in the primary election, the office of district attorney is set forth with county offices as follows:
"(1) At the time of filing his declaration of candidacy a candidate shall pay to the official with whom the declaration is filed a fee based upon the office he is a candidate for as follows:
"(e) County offices, including district attorney and district court judge, but excepting district offices within the county, $20."
Such a provision might be evidence that the legislature, as far as election laws are concerned, intended to include the office of district attorney with county offices. No other sections bear this out, however, and it is significant that while the office of district attorney is mentioned expressly in the one case, it is not so mentioned in the other, which of itself indicates an intention that it be so included in only the one situation. Further evidence that the two sections were not intended to bear upon nor control each other is the fact that their schedules of fees are not of the same pattern. The wording of the sections providing for Voters' Pamphlet fees is plain and unambiguous, and the primary mode of determining the legislative will therein is to accept the natural and usual meaning of the words and phrases used in the Act. Varrelman v. Flora Logging Co., (1930) 133 Or. 541, 548, 277 P. 97.
Therefore it is the opinion of this office that under the prevailing statutes the proper fee for space in the Voters' Pamphlet engaged by or on behalf of a candidate for district attorney is $15.