The Oregon Senate needs a new member from Southern Oregon to replace Sen. Jeff Kruse, the Roseburg Republican who resigned in disgrace after he was found to have inappropriately touched many women at the Capitol.

One man being vetted for the job, Douglas County commissioner Tim Freeman, also came under a cloud related to his interaction with women while serving in the legislature.

In 2012, Freeman, then a member of the Oregon House, was among a group of Republican representatives who visited a topless bar while vacationing together in California. Then-Republican House Leader Kevin Cameron abruptly resigned from that leadership position in part because of the scandal. Freeman was re-elected months after the controversy. He did not seek re-election in 2014 because he ran for, and won, a seat on the Douglas County Board of Commissioners.

Freeman's decision to visit the topless bar was an isolated incident that occurred almost six years ago.

Still, Jim Moore, a Pacific University political science professor who studies Oregon politics, said it could strike voters as tone-deaf for Southern Oregon Republicans to appoint Freeman to replace a man who resigned over his mistreatment of women. "The optics are bad on that," Moore said.

Freeman told his hometown newspaper, the Roseburg News-Review, Tuesday that he would not accept the seat if nominated. On Wednesday and again on Thursday, he declined to tell The Oregonian/OregonLive if he was seeking the job.

With Freeman's track record as a city council member, state representative and county commissioner, "his experience is what you'd expect and hope to find in a replacement senator," Moore said. "But what he got caught up in does not really fit with 2018 political culture, especially with Kruse's resignation."

A former House Republicans colleague disagreed.

"I think he'd be phenomenal in the Senate," said Katie Eyre Brewer, an accountant and Hillsboro Republican who served in the House with Freeman.

She said Freeman is an "extremely hard worker" adding, "His policy record will stand for itself." Freeman is best known for helping to write legislation setting up health care coverage networks known as coordinated care organizations.

Although Freeman told the Roseburg News-Review that he won't seek or accept the Senate appointment, he has said and done things that make it appear he is indeed vying for Kruse's seat.

Freeman did not deny he is angling for the Senate seat when asked Wednesday and Thursday. Instead, he declined to comment to The Oregonian/OregonLive, citing a conflict of interest because, as a county commissioner, he will take part in selecting Kruse's replacement. County commissioners from the five counties spanned by Kruse's district will appoint the new senator.

"I'm in a weird spot," Freeman said. "I'll have one of the votes, so I don't think it's really fair for me to discuss my personal plans."

Freeman's denial to his hometown paper that he will seek the Senate appointment also contradicts Capitol chatter.

"We have heard that he's interested," said Senate Republicans spokeswoman Tayleranne Gillespie. One Republican senator said Freeman is the "leading replacement" for Kruse. The county commissioner has also been spotted in the halls of the Oregon Capitol's Senate wing multiple times in recent weeks.

Coos County Commissioner John Sweet said that although no one has officially said they want to replace Kruse, Freeman would surely be a candidate.

"There's some scuttlebutt around but no one has put their name in the hat that I know of," Sweet said, adding that Freeman's name "would be one that I would suspect would come up."

Sweet acknowledged that two state representatives – Rep. Dallas Heard, R-Roseburg and Rep. David Brock Smith, R-Port Orford – whose districts make up Kruse's Senate district, may also be interested in the seat. Heard and Brock Smith did not return messages seeking comment.

Eyre Brewer, the former House Republican who served with Freeman, said rather than his topless bar visit, what is important is whether Freeman believes the women who accused Kruse of sexual harassment.

"I think the real question is does he believe the people who came forward?" Eyre Brewer said.

Freeman said he has "no way of knowing" if the women who accused Kruse of unwanted touching and groping told the truth because he "didn't witness" Kruse's alleged conduct. He said he has not read an independent investigator's scathing report that concluded Kruse inappropriately touched at least 10 women at the Oregon Capitol.

-- Gordon R. Friedman

503-221-8209; @GordonRFriedman

Correction: An earlier version of this article inaccurately stated that former House Republican Leader Kevin Cameron resigned from the Legislature because of controversy over a 2012 topless bar visit. Cameron did not resign from the Legislature, but did resign from his Republican leadership position because of the scandal.