The Financial Foibles of Linda Flores

Carla Axtman

We live in tough economic times. Our financial system is scrambling to avoid a global meltdown and lots of folks are having trouble making ends meet. And despite the gum-flapping lip service to low key place for government's role in economics, even the Bush Administration has decided to jump in to help keep things afloat.

So when I started hearing that GOP Rep. Linda Flores (running against Democrat Brent Barton in House District 51) has been in trouble for not paying bills, I figured it was probably just a result of current sketchy economic times.

Nope.

Flores has a rather storied history of personal financial foibles stretching back to at least 2002. That year, Ford Motor Credit won a judgement in Clackamas County (Case# LCV0112054) against her for $5,990.98. Flores's legislative wages were eventually garnished in June 2004 through October 2005 to satisfy the judgement.

I'd have made a copy of the case to post here, but I ran out of money copying the other cases like this that Flores has been tangled in.

In 2003, Flores lost another judgement (Case#CV03120195) in Multnomah County in association with Greenpro Yard Services, the business she owned with her husband, Armando. This one was a little more expensive: $9970.24--which included court and attorney fees, plus interest. Again, Flores legislative wages were garnished starting in February 2008. From what I could tell, that garnishment is still in effect.

In 2004, the Oregonian reported on Flores' financial woes. I can't find the link anymore, but a Lexis search turned this up:

Company Garnishees State Legislator's Wages The Oregonian, August 3, 2004

An automobile finance company has garnisheed a portion of legislative wages paid to Rep. Linda Flores, R-Clackamas, to help cover a 3-year-old automobile debt.

The matter reawakens questions of personal debt, which became an election issue two years ago when Flores defeated a Democratic incumbent.

The House Democratic campaign office released copies of court documents Monday that outline the garnishment of $434.82 from Flores' legislative pay on July 30.

In 2001, Ford Motor Credit Co. repossessed Flores' 1998 Mazda for failure to make lease payments. Court documents show that Flores owes $4,688.64 to Ford Motor Credit, as well as costs and attorney fees totaling $1,287.50.

In 2002, Flores defeated then-Rep. Jan Lee, D-Clackamas, in a campaign that brought up debt problems for both candidates. Lee had filed for personal bankruptcy in 2000. Flores' debt to Ford Motor Credit also became public, along with other debts owed by her and her husband in connection with a yard-care company they owned.

This one also came up:

Candidates Differ On Politics, Issues The Oregonian, October 24, 2002

Lee filed for personal bankruptcy in 2000. She said she ran into money troubles after a divorce and helping to pay medical bills for an adult daughter who suffered from a prolonged illness.

Flores said she doesn't expect Lee's bankruptcy to become campaign fodder.

"I certainly hope not. It won't come from me," she said.

Flores and her husband, Armando, operate Greenpro Yard Services, a yard care firm. The couple owe the IRS more than $37,000 in unpaid employee withholding taxes or unemployment compensation payments that piled up between 1998 and 2001. The couple also owe the state Employment Department about $3,000 in taxes and penalties.

Flores' 1998 Mazda was repossessed last year for failure to make lease payments, and she owes the automobile finance company more than $6,000, according to Clackamas County court records.

Flores said her husband underwent back surgery, and the economic slump lowered demand for lawn and garden services.

She plans to pay off the debts. "It's in the process of being taken care of," Flores said.

I'm still following up on the tax lien stuff. Its taking more hours up than I first anticipated to unwind what's beeing going on with those. I'm probably going to have to bust open up my piggy bank to pay for copies, too.

Its certainly understandable that extenuating circumstances can cause people to hit the financial skids. But creditors are still having to drag Flores to court in order to get her to meet her obligations. And how many years does a person get to do this before the "deadbeat" label starts getting tossed around?

In July of 2007, a collection agency went to court against Flores to get paid:

The entire court document is 11 pages...which is more than I can really post here. And I don't have the Adobe software to make PDFs, unfortunately. So if you wanna see the whole thing, let me know in comments and I'll send it your way.

In any case, the $3,894.72 judgement on this case went against Flores:

And yeah, they're garnishing her again:

For this one Flores is still being garnished as far as I can tell. Court documents show garnishment up through August of 2008--and its not marked as "satisfied". Again, its more stuff than I can post here given my Adobe-free computer. Let me know if you want to see the full boat that I have on this.

A different collection service won a small claim judgement against Flores in November of 2007.

Here's the claim:

Here's where Flores doesn't show up to court and loses (thwack!):

And voila...another garnishment:

From what I could tell, this was one was satisfied via garnishments at the end of May.

To recap, Flores has had at least six years of being yanked into court to be forced to pay her bills. For someone whose articulated reason for being in the legislature is accountability...this doesn't look so accountable.

By Carla Axtman Sept. 19, 2008