[2] According to family tradition, it was at this time that he added the "L" to his name; the sign painter, who was putting his name on the door, insisted that all lawyers of substance had a middle name, so Meier suggested an "L".

He also headed the Oregon Commission of the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, and in 1922 attempted to bring a world's fair to Portland in 1925.

The full monthly payment was $175,000; Meier received his portion as cash from florist Tommy Luke, a close friend of Mayor George Luis Baker.

When Meier declined the nomination, the Republican Party selected Phil Metschan, Jr., son of a former Oregon state treasurer and affiliated with the KKK,[3]: 130  as a replacement nominee.

In contrast to a core element of Joseph's platform, Metschan opposed public development of hydroelectric power along the Columbia River.

Akin clearly discovered problems but was murdered the day before he was slated to present it to the Oregon state legislature, and had also begun an investigation of the Portland Water Bureau.

[9] After serving as governor he retired to "Menucha", his estate above the Columbia River in Corbett, Oregon, designed by architect Herman Brookman, where he died in 1937.