Voting for a Umatilla County judge is an important decision. It’s my opinion that John Ballard does not have the high moral standards or judicial temperament that we expect of our Umatilla County Circuit Court judges.

Here is what a panel of three judges wrote about candidate John Ballard in 2014. “… the Trial Panel unanimously disapproves of Ballard’s conduct. … An attorney snatching and holding the opposing party’s sole means of transportation reflects poorly on all lawyers. … The Trial Panel found it offensive for Ballard, as an attorney and officer of the court, to be directly involved in surreptitiously taking and holding the vehicle used by wife. …” Finally, the panel wrote that it “disapproves of Ballard’s actions as rude, sharp, and in bad form.” If you’d like to read the entire opinion you can find it at https://www.osbar.org/_docs/dbreport/dbr28.pdf (starting on page 22).

I represented the wife in that case. See also the East Oregonian article dated April 22, 2016, and the opinion letter of Kittee Custer published in the EO on April 29, 2016. Despite the dressing down by the trial panel, in the EO article Mr. Ballard doubled down and stood by his conduct.

I have been an active member of the Umatilla County legal community since 1998. I am familiar with attorneys’ work and reputations in this area. It is my opinion that Mr. Ballard’s moral compass did not change after 2014.

Arron Guevara

Hermiston