NEW: Senate GOP Leader Demands Resignation from ODOT Director for Lying

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Wednesday, November 18, 2015

GoLocalPDX News Team

Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli called for the immediate resignation of Oregon Department of Transportation Director Matthew Garrett.

Ferrioli issued the call after reviewing documents from a public records request related to the 2015 session transportation package negotiations that reveal Director Garrett misled transportation workgroup members by providing inaccurate carbon reduction numbers.

Click here for relevant public records

"In June, following the implosion of transportation negotiations, I demanded Governor (Kate) Brown immediately request the resignation of Director Garrett due to gross incompetency at best and dishonest manipulation at worst. Whether Director Garrett knew the numbers ODOT provided the workgroup were wrong or he simply failed to provide the updated numbers in his possession, his decision to surprise workgroup members with new numbers in a public hearing without any advance warning led to the demise of a critical, bipartisan transportation infrastructure package for Oregonians that would have resulted in real carbon reduction. Director Garrett must resign effective immediately so ODOT can begin repairing its broken credibility and we can move forward with new negotiations to finally fix Oregon's roads and bridges," said Ferrioli.

Transportation funding discussions ended on June 24 after Garrett announced in a Senate Special Committee on Sustainable Transportation hearing that carbon reduction numbers provided by ODOT were overstated.

Click here for a timeline of the negotiations

In emails obtained by the Senate Republican Office via a public records request show Director Garrett knew the greenhouse gas emissions estimates provided to the workgroup to guide carbon reduction discussions were inaccurate as early as June 10th.

Though Garrett was aware of the inconsistencies, Garrett failed to have ODOT staff vet the numbers until less than 24 hours before he was scheduled to testify before the Senate Sustainable Transportation Committee.

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