Coos County Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean's public explanation of his recent bankruptcy filing contains factual discrepancies, The World has learned.

In July, Stufflebean and his wife filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection in federal court in Eugene. In a subsequent interview with Eugene's The Register-Guard newspaper,Stufflebean mentioned five factors contributing to his financial wreckage.

Information available from public records, however, raises questions about each of the five factors. Stufflebean has defended his statements in recent interviews and e-mails to The World, but he has provided neither full details nor any documents to support his contentions.

"I have no comment on issues of personal matters that are over five months in the past regarding my bankruptcy, and my family," Stufflebean wrote in an e-mail to The World last week. "I have already advised you to contact my attorney if you have questions. Matters of me are news once, and I am not going to contribute to your constant dredging up of past information that is no longer news."

Though a public official's personal bankruptcy is essentially a private matter, apparent misstatements in Stufflebean's public comments call into question the cause of his financial difficulty.

Here's what Stufflebean has said about each of the five factors, along with information available in public records:

n Pay cut - In The Register-Guard article, a version of which was reprinted in The World, Stufflebean said he took a $28,000 annual pay cut in 2007, when he left the Oregon Department of Human Services to become a county commissioner. According to the state, however, Stufflebean earned about $46,000 a year as a program analyst. County commissioners are paid just over $60,000 a year. That would mean he received a $14,000 annual salary increase.

"My salary and compensation package was much better then (sic) now," Stufflebean wrote in an e-mail to The World. "My salary and additional compensation was a drastic change. My wife and I totally lost money."

n Layoff - Stufflebean told The Register-Guard his wife lost her job a few years ago. In response to questions from The World, he said she lost her job with the Coos Bay School District a few years ago and also stopped giving private lessons at the Coos Bay City Swimming Pool, where she is the manager.

"She was a teacher's aide, lost her job, then got hired back on months and months and months later as a educational assistant and took a $6 pay cut," Stufflebean said in a subsequent interview with The World.

Donna Thomas, human resources specialist for the school district, reported that Kathryn Bourell-Stufflebean has been employed continuously since 1998. Initially hired as the district's swim program assistant, she was transferred in 2003 to become a part-time educational assistant. In addition, Bourell-Stufflebean has coached the swim team since 1986. According to payroll records, her gross income as a teacher aide, swim coach and pool manager has risen steadily over the past decade.

Stufflebean told The World his wife also held two other jobs, but he would not say where. In an e-mail, he directed all questions about his wife to her lawyer, whom he did not identify.

n Recall costs - Stufflebean told The Register-Guard in July that the May recall election was another financial strain. He recently told The World he incurred extensive fuel bills driving to functions related to the recall campaign.

His campaign finance report to the Oregon State Elections Division, however, listed no financial contributions from Stufflebean to his campaign. The campaign received a total of $5,935 in cash contributions from other people.

Stufflebean reported to the state that he spent $5,499, leaving $436 in the account after the election.

A spokeswoman for the elections office said Stufflebean legally could have spent that leftover money on gas and other campaign costs. Stufflebean dismissed that idea in his e-mail to The World: "$439 is nothing, that would not (have) even covered the gas putting up campaign signs," he wrote.

Stufflebean did not say how much he drove during the campaign. But $436 would have paid for considerable travel.

Gas prices averaged $2.25 per gallon in April. Assuming Stufflebean's sport utility vehicle averaged at least 15 miles per gallon, $436 would have carried him more than 2,900 miles. That works out to the equivalent of 35 round trips between Myrtle Point and Lakeside, requiring about 70 hours of driving.

n Job expenses - Stufflebean told The Register-Guard in July he personally had been paying expenses related to his county job.

"I took about a $3,000 per month loss in revenue," Stufflebean said.

If that's true, then Stufflebean essentially donated more than 60 percent of his salary back to the county. Since he began accepting county reimbursements in 2009, however, he has averaged slightly more than $400 a month in reported expenses. He refused to give The World a list of 2007 and 2008 travel expenses.

In bankruptcy court documents, the couple said they spent $650 a month on travel costs as commissioner and swim coach.

"I have drastically reduced my travels this year as I cannot afford it," Stufflebean responded in an e-mail. "Also gas was much more expensive in the previous years then (sic) now. I cannot say how much I am spending now as I have not been keeping track of it."

n Custody fight - Stufflebean told the Register-Guard he ran up expensive legal fees when the mother of his son filed for custody. Court papers in the case list $1,201 in fees from Stufflebean's lawyer, which the judge ordered the mother to pay.

Stufflebean wrote, "The fees that she was ordered to pay were for a specific court date and very little costs associated with after the trial. She has not paid that amount to me. I had to pay for all the attorney fees and costs associated with the preparation for the trial." He would not specify the amount of any additional fees.

Stufflebean won the recall election and continues to serve as a county commissioner. His wife remains employed at Coos Bay School District. In bankruptcy documents filed this summer, they reported annual income of $122,143. The case awaits settlement before a federal judge.