Facts

NOTE: All facts on this site are true and verifiable, as required by Oregon election law ORS 260.532.

Lincoln County is facing serious challenges—public safety staffing shortages, financial instability, and repeated failures in transparency and fairness. These issues have occurred over the past several years. This recall asks whether our county deserves leadership that addresses these problems rather than allowing them to continue year after year.

What This Site Is — and Is Not

• This site does not ask voters to agree on ideology.
• It documents actions taken during Commissioner Hall’s current term.
• Every claim is sourced so voters can decide for themselves.

Top Four Issues

1. Public Safety — A critically understaffed District Attorney’s Office, struggling to meet rising caseloads. Watch four short videos on our Public Safety page.
2. Accountability — Ongoing financial instability and repeated audit failures with no course correction.  More on our Four Failed Audits page.
3. Transparency — Key decisions made outside public view, eroding trust in county leadership. See our Transparency page.
4. Basic Fairness — A commissioner repeatedly silenced and excluded from discussions the public has a right to hear. Watch five 1-2 minute videos on our Basic Fairness page.

All the Facts — With Citations

The following facts — after 21+ years in office, but especially over the past 15 months — show why many residents have lost confidence in Commissioner Claire Hall’s leadership.

Immediate Public Harm

1. Hall has declined to authorize the use of already-approved funding for the District Attorney’s office, leaving it 36% understaffed.1 Of 32 budgeted positions, only 21 are filled due to the hiring freeze she supported and enforced, with another essential staffer out on forced leave against the DA’s advice—raising1a the risk of dropped cases and early inmate releases.

During this time, criminal cases have increased1b 24% since 2024; this figure does not include a 360+ case backlog awaiting review. Weapon offenses have increased +112%, property crime: +50%, person crime: +32%, and drug offenses: +310%.

2. Hall oversees a contentious workplace where the County Administrator, Tim Johnson,2 Commissioner Kaety Jacobson,2a and other long-time employees have resigned, many citing workplace conflict as the reason for leaving.

3. Hall has not publicly answered questions on how the county went from a multi-million-dollar surplus to a four-million-dollar deficit3 in just a few months, causing the Board to claim a "hiring freeze." In fact, Hall has approved the hiring of 44 employees3a through decisions made outside public meetings. (see item 4. below)

Separately, Hall voted to hire at least 17 employees after the Oregon Government Ethics Commission (OGEC) informed the Board the backroom votes violated Oregon's Public Meetings Law.

Hall has not publicly explained why the 2021, 2022, 2023, and now 2024 county audits were all found to have significant material weaknesses, the worst kind of audit deficiency. See our Four Failed Audits page for details. 

A Pattern of Non-Public Decision-Making

4. Hall is being investigated by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission (OGEC) for allegedly violating4 Oregon's Open Meetings Law for making decisions privately as far back as 2023, if not earlier.

5. Hall has not initiated an investigation into high-level county corruption first testified5, 5a to by the DA on March 19, 2025. Instead, Hall publicly criticizes5b the DA, and says her office is being investigated, but doesn't say by who, why exactly, the cost, or when the investigation will be over.

6. Hall has stated she will not meet or speak with constituents she “doesn’t trust [so] any communication with me will go through staff, or email. I can’t trust the telephone,” Hall wrote.6, 6a

7. Hall refused to answer Commissioner Casey Miller’s questions and then abruptly7 ended the meeting when Miller respectfully asked for advice on how to do his job after the unsubstantiated anonymous complaint was raised against Miller.

Actions Affecting Board Independence

8. Hall supported spending $65,000 to “investigate” Miller for “bullying” following Miller's 9/18/24 report encouraging Hall and Commissioner Kaety Jacobson to make their long-standing, regular Staff Meetings public meetings, as required by ORS 192.630(2). Miller was found innocent8 of all bullying/harassment charges. The Staff Meetings were permanently cancelled8a immediately afterwards.

9. Hall has refused Miller's requests to place items on the BOC meeting agenda on 41 separate occasions9 between 7/17/24 and 10/31/25. By law, Miller is allowed to bring items before the BOC; denying those requests violates ORS 192.630(2).

10.Hall has refused Miller's requests to meet in executive session on nine separate occasions10 between 7/17/24 and 7/17/25. The BOC has not held any executive sessions since 10/7/21, except those held to purchase $7,013,816.00 in real-estate.10a

11.Hall banned a whistleblower from attending BOC meetings for six months without a warning, violating11 the County’s own rules.

Why was she banned? The constituent alerted11a the BOC to what a high-ranking County official told her about rampant corruption at County headquarters, and the official slandering a respected local judge, a Commissioner, the DA, and the DA’s husband.

Why this matters: If one resident can be barred from public meetings for bringing concerns before the Board, any resident can be.

12.Hall regularly allows investigations into long-time county employees because they do not 100% support Hall’s agenda (which employees have alleged are used as a pretext for termination).12, 12a

Legal and Ethical Consequences

13.Hall has had a $4.5 million civil lawsuit filed against her alleging she authorized the illegal firing of three county employees. Several other high-level County officials are also named as defendants in the suit.13

Hall’s leadership once made a difference. But after 21+ years14 in office, the pattern of secrecy, retaliatory conduct, and broken trust documented above shows how far she’s drifted from the values that once earned her support.

Footnotes

1 Jenna Wallace, Lincoln County District Attorney, BOC Meeting on Nov. 5, 2025 at 01:23:15 — https://youtu.be/2727hQvVy3k?t=1h23m15s (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-1)

1a Lincoln Chronicle, "Oregon Ethics Commission votes unanimously to conduct full investigation of Lincoln County commissioners’ hiring decisions", Oct. 9, 2025 — https://lincolnchronicle.org/ethics-commission-says-county-commissioners-are-violating-public-meetings-laws/ (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-1a)

1b  Newport News Times, "Lincoln County DA outlines ability to prosecute ‘severely impacted’ by county hiring freezes", Sept. 26, 2025 — https://www.newportnewstimes.com/opinion/commentary-lincoln-county-da-outlines-ability-to-prosecute-severely-impacted-by-county-hiring-freezes/article_4e491acc-45a0-477f-89cb-bd9b9ccb2bae.html (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-1b)

2 Lincoln Chronicle, "Lincoln County’s first full-time administrator resigns after almost three years in the job", Feb. 10, 2025 — https://lincolnchronicle.org/lincoln-countys-first-full-time-administrator-resigns-after-almost-three-years-in-the-job/ (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-2)

NOTE: The County Administrator position remains unfilled after ten months of searching. On 11/5/25, Hall was appointed acting County Administrator, but within hours of her appointment, she stepped down, and appointed HR Directory David Collier as acting County Administrator as her replacement. See our Who's Actually Running the County? page for details.

2a Lincoln Chronicle, "Lincoln County Commissioner Kaety Jacobson resigning next month with two years left in term", Jan. 12, 2025 — https://lincolnchronicle.org/lincoln-county-commissioner-kaety-jacobson-resigning-next-month-with-two-years-left-in-term/ (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-2a)

3 Lincoln Chronicle, "County commissioners adopt 2025-26 budget but using hiring freeze to make up $4 million deficit", June 19, 2025 — https://lincolnchronicle.org/county-commissioners-adopt-2025-26-budget-but-using-hiring-freeze-to-make-up-4-million-deficit/ (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-3)

3a Christine Jamison, “44-New-Employees-Since-Hiring-Freeze”, Dec. 7, 2025 — https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LyZlm6zuw1POHikSeG4mWJ6vmZKs1OYL0DJq7dJ3oO8/?gid=0#gid=0

4 Lincoln Chronicle, "Oregon Ethics Commission votes unanimously to conduct full investigation of Lincoln County commissioners’ hiring decisions", Oct. 9, 2025 — https://lincolnchronicle.org/ethics-commission-says-county-commissioners-are-violating-public-meetings-laws/ (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-4)

5 Jenna Wallace, DA, BOC Meeting on Mar. 19, 2025 at 01:01:39 — https://youtu.be/DsqpkUPrBNQ?t=1h1m39s (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-5)

5a Jenna Wallace, DA, "DA Requests External Investigation into County Misconduct", Apr. 16, 2025 — https://www.flashalert.net/images/news/2025-04/7110/180392/DA_Requests_External_Investigation_into_County_Misconduct_4.16.2025.pdf (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-5a)

5b Newport News Times, "DA requests probe into alleged county misconduct", April 27, 2025 — https://www.newportnewstimes.com/news/da-requests-probe-into-alleged-county-misconduct/article_f543573f-4b3e-4f70-a06c-8761fe6c83e0.html (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-5b)

6 Claire Elizabeth Hall, Lincoln County Commissioner, “Claire Elizabeth Hall's Post”, Aug. 17, 2025 — https://www.facebook.com/ClaireHall1959/posts/pfbid035eCyvL6khvyZW5GHA4n88M5okh1BLNdFUbqnrPuuDorioKGX3VUv9fVHYYGxJG2zl (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-6). Archived at (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-6a)

7 Casey Miller, Lincoln County Commissioner, BOC Meeting on Oct. 2, 2024 at 03:10:50 — https://youtu.be/4MWivcrjfOw?t=3h10m50s (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-7)

8 Lincoln Chronicle, "After four-month probe, investigators say Lincoln County commissioner Miller violated one personnel rule but did not harass staff", Jan. 20, 2025 — https://lincolnchronicle.org/after-four-month-probe-investigators-say-lincoln-county-commissioner-miller-violated-one-personnel-rule-but-did-not-harass-staff/ (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-8)
NOTE: Despite multiple requests, the County has so far failed to provide the legal invoices documenting this “investigation” that have been requested. The $65,000 amount was verbally provided by a County employee who requested anonymity, for fear of retribution.

8a Lincoln County, Agendas & Minutes. — https://lincolncoor.portal.civicclerk.com/search?q=%22Staff+Meeting%22&category_id=26

9 Casey Miller, Commissioner, “Agenda Requests & Details (NOT FACILITATED) - October 2025”, Provided to a constituent who requested it on Nov. 3, 2025 —

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11qe2JT-BpW23DC_nMuE7AADODEMpHSXd (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-9)

10 Id. — tinyurl.com/RecallHall-10

10a Christine Jamison, “BOC-Executive-Sessions”, Nov. 8, 2025. — https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tgd6_H550Xy-4GbQUS2S9P4aGc0WepBtHhxQL3hhT-s/htmlview (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-10a)
NOTE: Drawn from meeting minutes posted on https://www.co.lincoln.or.us/129/Agendas-Minutes.

11 Lincoln Chronicle, "Disagreements over comments from county’s attorney leads to woman’s exclusion from commission meetings", July 3, 2025 — https://lincolnchronicle.org/lincoln-county-excludes-sel-rock-woman-from-commission-meetings/ (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-11)

11a Christine Jamison, BOC Meeting on June 6, 2025 at 00:36:35 — https://youtu.be/Dj_3_ARhDzo?t=36m35s

12 Debbie Simmons Howard, "If you have not signed the recall petition, please do. ", Oct. 13, 2025 — https://www.facebook.com/debbiesimmons.howard/posts/10230805035888834 (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-12)

12a  Debbie Simmons Howard, "KNOW your RIGHTS! I won’t be bullied…", Oct. 15, 2025 — https://www.facebook.com/debbiesimmons.howard/posts/10230825871249705 (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-12a)

13 Case 25CV32773: Wallace vs. Lincoln County, et. al., "Amended Complaint”, Sept 22, 2025 — https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VqZ1C09lyDe_wpBXHJHySKs8RZAlWVRx (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-13)

13a Lincoln Chronicle, "Lincoln County fires district attorney’s husband from job in her office; $3.3 million lawsuit filed in May", June 24, 2025 — https://lincolnchronicle.org/after-months-of-turmoil-lincoln-county-fires-district-attorneys-husband-from-legal-assistants-job-in-her-office/ (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-13a)

14 Lincoln County Election Clerk, "November 2, 2004 General Election Results", December, 2004 — https://www.co.lincoln.or.us/DocumentCenter/View/3356 (tinyurl.com/RecallHall-14)

Feedback is appreciated. We value truth above all else, so if you believe any fact is incorrect or if something important is missing, please share it. We will review any documented information right away. We can be reached at info@recallhall.com or via text/voice at 843-732-2555.

Correction: An earlier version of this page misstated Commissioner Hall’s length of service. She is currently in her 21st year in office and will enter her 22nd year on January 1, 2026. The text has been updated. We thank Commissioner Hall for bringing this issue to our attention.

Last updated 1/1/26 9:56am