Northern Wasco County PUD’s New Legal Counsel Chose Law Over Dentistry
By Rodger Nichols
The flip of a coin can sometimes decide more than just which side kicks off a football game. The city of Portland, for example, owes its name to the flip of a coin in 1845.
The area was called “the Clearing” when Francis Pettygrove, of Portland, Maine, and Asa Lovejoy, of Boston, Maine, vied for the honor of naming it after their hometown.
Francis won the best 2-out-of-3 competition. When the town was incorporated in 1849, it bore the name Portland.
Northern Wasco County PUD’s new legal counsel had a similar personal pivotal event when deciding on a graduate school.
Irene Scruggs had finished high school in Anchorage, Alaska, and college in Spokane, Washington, when it came time to decide her future career. Had the coin landed with the other side up, she would have gone to dental school instead of law school.
“Almost everybody in my family has a ‘D’ after their name, either an M.D. or a Ph.D.,” Irene says. “I was very young and from an overachieving background, so I flipped a coin and it was law school.”
In her younger days, Irene says there wouldn’t have been a question. It would have been dental school all the way.
“I had my heart set on being a dentist when I was a little kid, in part because I hated going to the dentist,” she says.
Irene says their dentist was a close family friend and had a way of overcoming Irene’s aversion.
“Every time I went to the dentist and didn’t bite her, she would give me an out-of-service dental tool,” she says. “It was my reward if I behaved myself in her chair. By the time I was 10 years old, I had acquired a wealth of dental instruments.”
Irene didn’t look back once she decided. She started at the University of Oregon law school and got married during spring break her first year.
“I have a finance background, I have a strong math background and I love numbers,” she says. “My degrees were in political science and finance, and I was going to do tax law or mergers and acquisitions.”
But a legal research and writing professor convinced Irene she needed some courtroom experience before she locked down a specialty.
“After the first year, it’s kind of a big deal if you can get a job,” she says. “I was one of the of the lucky ones and got a job with the Marion County District Attorney’s Office in Salem.”
Salem.” In her clerk’s position, Irene had practical hands-on work with discovery, preparing motions and prepping witnesses.
“That was during my second year of law school,” she says. “If you’re good, and they decide to keep you for the third year, in Oregon the Supreme Court can deem you as a certified law clerk and you can actually go try cases in court. That’s what happened, and by the end of that third year, I had tried a number of cases.”
In the meantime, Irene’s husband, Joel, found a job in Portland. It was too long of a commute for him from Eugene, so Irene transferred to Lewis & Clark Law School.
With a lot of practical trial experience on her resume, Irene had no trouble finding a job. Even before graduation, she had an offer from a large litigation firm in Portland.
“You come out of law school with a lot of debt,” she says. “They throw so much money at you that you know you’re going to say yes. I took the job and started doing a lot of insurance defense work.”
Irene was later recruited by a different firm. She was preparing for a large racketeering case when she got another life-changing offer.
“I was working 80-hour weeks getting ready for this case, and I was tired,” she says. “A good friend came into the office and insisted I join him for lunch. I didn’t want to go, because I was busy, wearing 4-inch heels and a suit. We had to walk three blocks in rainy March weather, with me complaining the whole time. But when we got there, we were met by Mark Thompson, who had gone to law school with my friend.”
Mark was the Oregon Public Utility Commission commissioner. Prior to that role, he had been the general counsel of the Public Power Council, which represents consumer-owned utilities in the Northwest on rate policy and contract issues.
Ultimately, Mark suggested Irene apply for his former position, which hadn’t yet been filled. He put her in touch with PPC’s then-executive director, Scott Corwin. She was hired and spent nearly 13 years at the PPC.
“I will be forever grateful to Mark Thompson and Scott Corwin for introducing me to the energy world,” Irene says.
The PPC represents 90 consumer-owned utilities in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana, from large municipals, such as Seattle Light, to small cooperatives. Much of the organization’s work involves negotiations with Bonneville Power Administration, which sells power from dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers to the utilities.
Why would Irene step down from that to work for Northern Wasco County PUD?
“Roger Kline,” is her answer.
“He was not only general manager and CEO of Northern Wasco County PUD, but he was also the unpaid chair of the PPC for two years during some very tough times, including COVID,” Irene says. “I got to know and respect him and admired his ability to get things done despite some very big challenges.
“I also wanted to work on the nitty-gritty of how utilities translated those big policy issues into practice. When Jim Foster retired after 35 years representing the PUD, I had the opportunity to come work with Roger and his board and executive team. I’ve been here since January, and it’s been great.”
Irene splits her time working remotely from her home in suburban Portland and in the office in The Dalles. When not working, she and Joel are busy with their daughters, ages 6 and 10.
“We have a whole bunch of family activities,” Irene says. “If it’s not soccer or music or dance, we’re usually outside somewhere. Pretty much anything outdoors will do, and the Northwest is the right place for that.”