Background
Lee was born on June 2, 1915, the son of Myrtle Lee.
Lee was born on June 2, 1915, the son of Myrtle Lee.
A controversial lawyer, he served on the Oregon Court of Appeals and made an unsuccessful attempt at joining the and was the defendant in several cases that made their way to the state’s highest court. His attorney records were the subject of a lawsuit that opened lawyer discipline records up for public scrutiny. He was not related to the Jason Lee of the Methodist Mission from Oregon’s pioneer history.
The family resided in Salem, Oregon, where Lee was an attorney.
A Democrat, Lee ran for Congress in 1956 to represent Oregon first congressional district. In 1965, he was admonished for ethics violations and narrowly avoided being suspended from practicing law for one year.
As of 2004, this was the last time an incumbent appellate judge in Oregon lost an election. Tanzer"s campaign committee then sued claiming Lee had lied to voters in campaign statements in violation of Oregon’s election laws.
Lee lost the jury trial, but the reversed the decision and ordered the Secretary of State to put him back on the fall ballot.
Jason Lee filed to run for an open seat on the Supreme Court in 1975. This led reporter Russell Sadler to request Lee’s disciplinary records from the Oregon State Bar (OSB). The OSB refused, even after the Oregon Attorney General ordered the agency to release the files under Oregon’s public records disclosure law.
Sadler then sued OSB, with a jury finding in the OSB’s favor, but the overturned the decision and ordered the release of the records in June 1976.
Once released, the files contained many complaints, a letter of reprimand for improperly contacting a judge, and weighed a total of 15 pounds. Meanwhile, in March 1976, Lee lost another decision in the Supreme Court with the court ruling he had misappropriated funds from his daughter’s trust fund.
He then withdrew from the race for the On February 19, 1980, Jason Lee died in office at the age of 64.
He won the Democratic Primary, but lost to incumbent A. Walter Norblad by a 54.8% to 45.2% margin. In 1974, he won a primary election over incumbent judge Jacob Tanzer for a seat on the Oregon Court of Appeals. He won the election as the only person on the ballot, defeating Tanzer who waged a write-in campaign. Tanzer won election to the court in 1976, and the two served on the court together until January 1980 when Tanzer was elevated to the.
