Donald Trump seems to have a way of picking the wrong person for the job. 

OPB reported today that Vance Day, a former Marion County Circuit Court Judge, has joined the U.S. Department of Justice.

“I can confirm that I received an appointment to serve as ‘Senior Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General of the United States,’” Day told OPB in an email. He began work at the Justice Department on Tuesday, Feb. 18.

The deputy attorney general is the second in command at the Justice Department and oversees an agency that includes the FBI, a sprawling federal prison system and U.S. Attorneys across the country, OPB reported.  

Given Vance’s background, it’s like Jason coming back to life in the Friday the 13^th franchise.

In January 2016, the Oregon Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability, dealing with a 13-count complaint, found Day had violated the Oregon Code of Judicial Conduct on eight of the counts relating to his judicial and public behavior. The Commission unanimously recommended Day’s removal from the bench and filed its recommendation with the Oregon Supreme Court.

The Commission also took issue with efforts by Judge Day to tie the Commission’s actions to his refusal to perform same-sex marriages.

Day argued that he was being persecuted for his Christian beliefs. “Throughout the Commission’s prosecution of Judge Day is an open disdain and hostility towards the religious beliefs of those whose faith honors marriage between one man and one woman,” his attorneys said in a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Prior to the hearing in this case,  Day engaged in an organized media campaign designed to create the impression that the only reason for the investigation of his conduct is his position regarding same sex marriage,” said the Oregon Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability’s Commission’s Jan. 25, 2016 Opinion. “To this end, Judge Day made repeated public assertions that he was being unfairly attacked by this investigation due solely to his religious beliefs concerning same sex marriage. Judge Day made these statements despite the fact that his position on same sex marriage was not discovered by the Commission until after the investigation was well underway. His assertions in this regard were intentionally deceptive to the public.”

On Sept. 3, 2015, the Oregon Government Ethics Commission approved an application to create a legal defense fund for Day, permitted under an Oregon law that allows public officials to create a trust fund to defray the cost of legal bills related to their duties.

Subsequently, Randall J. Adams, a Mt. Angel, OR attorney, established the Vance D. Day Legal Expense Trust Fund with Adams as its trustee. A  Defend Judge Day website also went up saying Day’s defense “will likely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars” and soliciting donations.

In the beginning, donations didn’t exactly roll in by the barrel. But on May 1, 2017, Eberle Associates, a Virginia-based professional direct-mail fundraising company, signed on. 

By Sept. 30, 2018, fundraising revenue totaled $2,008,658.54. The whole effort seemed like quite a success story. But fundraising expenses, including $1,290,383 in payments to Eberle and $6,021.38 in payments for other related services, totaled $1,296,404.38.

In other words, Eberle chewed up 64 percent of all fundraising receipts. According to NonProfit Quarterly, “The agencies that set acceptable fundraising percentage limits say that on average an organization’s fundraising expenses throughout the year should not represent more than 35 percent of the donations raised, and most organizations come in significantly below that benchmark.” Some professional fundraisers say the best practice target should be 12-20 cent per dollar raised.

After all the fundraising payments, that left just $712,254.20 for other expenses, principally for lawyers. And there was a slew of lawyers at the trough. The two firms pulling in the most money were Hart Wagner Trial Attorney, Portland, $167,640.96, and Sherlag DeMuniz LLP, Portland, $161,827.63.

All the money, lawyers and investigators sounded pretty impressive. How could Judge Day lose with that kind of firepower?

But he did.

• Despite Day’s efforts to explain and defend his behavior, the Oregon Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability unanimously recommended his removal from the bench
• The Oregon Supreme Court imposed a three-year suspension, without pay, on Day.
• The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from Day, leaving in place the three-year suspension against him imposed by the Oregon Supreme Court.
• Criminal charges against Day were dropped, but only because  a key witness declined to participate.

Day tried to salvage the whole mess by declaring, “I’m the first person to ever push back against the decades of liberal elites in Oregon government.”

Now Vance is aiming for a resurrection, I guess, with his appointment to the Department of Justice.  

As with many of Trump’s cabinet appointments, the United States deserves better.