WIRTH SUBMITS OFFICIAL RESIGNATION

Increases In Pay To Staff Raise More Questions

The controversy surrounding Kelley Wirth continues to grow even as
the embattled three-term state representative submitted her official
resignation.

The one-sentence hand-written note on her official state letterhead
was received late Tuesday by the Oregon Secretary of State's office.

As her party, the Benton County Democrats, prepare to nominate a
successor to the District 16 seat next week, state records show that
Wirth has recently increased pay to her staff, including her mother
and a close friend, Marti Barlow, who has been handling media
inquiries for Wirth.

Public records also show it's not the first time Wirth, 40, has paid
family members with her legislative office budget.

In January 2003, Wirth paid her ailing father, Don Panknin, $1,913.
According to Wirth, her father collapsed on the first day of the 2003
session, which was Jan. 8. Yet she cut a paycheck to him on Jan. 30
of that month.

Wirth has said her unexcused absences and record of missed votes, the
worst of any legislator in the 2003 session, were the result of
spending time with her family and her father until his death on March 17, 2003.

Wirth's legislative office expense reports from 2003 also show that
she paid her mother, Kathleen Panknin, a monthly salary of between
$1,565 and $2,400 between January and July that year. Wirth resides
with her mother, who now earns $6,500 a month, a raise given after
Wirth announced her intent to resign effective Nov. 15.

While the expenses are not illegal, state Democratic leaders have
asked Wirth to rescind recent pay increases to her staff in light of
her resignation.

Speaking on her cell phone while on a business trip in Bend on
Wednesday afternoon, Barlow said Wirth didn't tell her that she had
increased Barlow's salary and extended her contract for services at
taxpayers' expense.

Barlow said she would return any money she received from Wirth above
the $1,000 she had agreed to be paid for acting as Wirth's
spokeswoman after the legislator was charged with possession of
methamphetamine last month.

Wirth's recent behavior appears to have strained the friendship that
grew from Barlow knowing Wirth as a fellow working mother, and
deepened when Wirth supported Barlow as she started her own business.

"When I met Kelley, she was a rising star in the state Legislature,"
Barlow recalled. "She was intelligent, vibrant."

Barlow talked about her friend's tragic downward spiral.

"We should all be really sad at what has happened," Barlow said
"She's lost everything. Her career. Her health. Her future."

Barlow said she has not spoken to Wirth since learning Tuesday that
she had been kept on her staff payroll.

"I have my own difficulties reaching her sometimes," Barlow said.

Wirth's attorney, Janet Hoffman, instructed Wirth not to speak to the
media, Barlow said.

Last week in Marion County Circuit Court, Wirth entered a plea of not
guilty to a charge of possessing meth. Police say they found meth in
her vehicle after she was intentionally struck by a car driven by a
woman who was angry at her over an alleged relationship between the
lawmaker and the woman's husband, a janitor at the Capitol.

The driver, Lisa Temple, 23, is charged with attempted murder and is
awaiting trial.

Police investigating the crash searched Wirth's vehicle, which was
parked in front of the state Capitol at the time of the crash.

Other than her court appearances, Wirth has not made any public
statement about the criminal charges or responded to requests for
interviews about changes to her office payroll.

Barlow said Wirth has maintained her innocence to the drug charge.
She said there was no indication before the crash and her arrest that
she was involved with drugs.

"She has denied this allegation to me," Barlow said.

Barlow acknowledged that she saw her friend less often toward the end
of this year's legislative session. Wirth had pledged to improve her
attendance after winning re-election last November, but she again
compiled many unexcused absences and missed votes.

"During the last month of the session, we really didn't communicate
that much," Barlow said. "It was during the end of the session when
these problems and issues arose."

Barlow said she believes Wirth could still make things right and
could even resurrect her political career. First, she must put her
personal life back together.

"She would have to prove herself again to her constituents," Barlow
said. "Inside, there is still the Kelley that started her legislative
career with promise."