"Oregon governor pressured to quit" Associated Press February 13, 2015
SALEM, Ore. — Oregon’s top Democrats urged Governor John Kitzhaber to resign Thursday, saying he cannot lead the state effectively amid a growing ethics scandal involving his fiancée, a green-energy consultant accused of using her relationship with the governor to land contracts for her business.
Senate President Peter Courtney said he and House Speaker Tina Kotek asked Kitzhaber, a Democrat who recently started his fourth term, to step down.
‘‘I finally said, ‘This has got to stop,’ ’’ Courtney told reporters after he and Kotek met with the governor. ‘‘I don’t know what else to do right now. It seems to be escalating. It seems to be getting worse and worse.’’
The state treasurer also joined in the call to Kitzhaber to step down.
Newspaper editorial boards and Republicans have called on him to leave office over the allegations involving his fiancée, Cylvia Hayes, who has been under increasing scrutiny since October, when a series of reports chronicled her work for organizations with an interest in Oregon public policy. That work came about when she was serving as an unpaid adviser in the governor’s office.
Amid the attention, Hayes revealed she accepted about $5,000 to illegally marry an immigrant seeking immigration benefits in the 1990s, and acknowledged buying a remote property with the intent to illegally grow marijuana.
She was simply planning ahead of legalization!
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"Ore. governor resigns amid ethics inquiry" by Kirk Johnson, New York Times February 14, 2015
SEATTLE — Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, long regarded as a wily survivor of state politics, resigned Friday amid a spiraling crisis that included a criminal investigation of the role that his fiancée played in his administration as well as crumbling support from his Democratic colleagues.
It was a rapid fall for the 67-year-old Kitzhaber, a former emergency room doctor who won an unprecedented fourth term as governor in November.
The resignation will take effect at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Kate Brown, the Oregon secretary of state and a fellow Democrat, will become governor, as specified by the succession plan in the state constitution.
During the last election, Kitzhaber has been plagued by questions about his fiancée, Cylvia Hayes, and whether she had violated ethics rules or criminal laws in advising him about clean-energy issues while she was a consultant on the topic.
Before November’s election and after, he repeatedly denied any wrongdoing by Hayes, 47, or his office, and pledged cooperation in the various inquiries, including one initiated this month by the state’s attorney general, Ellen Rosenblum, a Democrat, which could result in criminal charges.
In recent days, some senior Democrats in the heavily Democratic state abandoned him and called for his resignation.
Brown, 54, was among those who distanced herself, releasing a statement Thursday describing what she called a “bizarre” meeting with Kitzhaber.
According to Brown, Kitzhaber had asked her to rush back to Oregon from a conference in Washington, D.C., this week to speak privately with him. But at the meeting, Brown said, she found him uncertain about why she had come.
“This is clearly a bizarre and unprecedented situation,” Brown said in her statement. “I informed the governor that I am ready, and my staff will be ready, should he resign.”
Brown, a lawyer who practiced juvenile and family law before entering politics, served in the state House and Senate before her election as secretary of state in 2008 and is regarded as a liberal — which covers a wide range of positions in Oregon. She also will be the state’s first openly bisexual governor.
In a statement released by his office, Kitzhaber said, “I am confident that I have not broken any laws nor taken any actions that were dishonest or dishonorable in their intent or outcome. That is why I asked both the Ethics Commission and the attorney general to take a full and comprehensive look at my actions.”
He also criticized the media and erstwhile allies who had not stuck by his side.
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UPDATE:
"Ore. governor focus of intense inquiry" Associated Press February 16, 2015
PORTLAND, Ore. — Legal analysts say a subpoena used in a federal grand jury investigation into Oregon’s fallen governor and his fiancée indicates that authorities are investigating possible violations of public corruption laws and financial crimes including wire or mail fraud, bribery, and tax evasion.
I'll bet Oregon's economy is in good shape.
The subpoena was sent to the state’s administrative agency on the same day Governor John Kitzhaber announced his resignation.
‘‘Typically you don’t see this extensive of a subpoena unless it’s a top-priority investigation,’’ said Laurie Levenson, a former assistant US attorney who teaches at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. ‘‘It’s a pretty extensive investigation. Given that this involves a governor, I would expect this is being supervised at the highest level’’ and includes the US Department of Justice’s Office of Public Integrity, the Internal Revenue Service, and the FBI.
It may be that the grand jury reviews the material and finds no reason to bring charges, Levenson said.
She noted that the authorities used a subpoena to collect records, not a search warrant, which would have required a showing of probable cause. But Levenson added: ‘‘It’s too early to say whether there will be charges, but none of this is good news for the governor.’’
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FURTHER UPDATES:
"Kate Brown sworn in as Oregon governor; predecessor resigns" by Jonathan J. Cooper, Associated Press February 19, 2015
SALEM, Ore. — Kate Brown was sworn in Wednesday as Oregon’s governor following an influence-peddling scandal that prompted the resignation of fellow Democrat John Kitzhaber, who had been the state’s longest-serving chief executive before his swift fall from grace.
Brown assumed Oregon’s highest office during a ceremony at the state Capitol. Brown, formerly the secretary of state, becomes the first openly bisexual governor in the nation.
In a speech to the Legislature after her swearing-in, Brown praised Kitzhaber for his contributions but also said ‘‘we must restore the public’s trust.’’
Good luck.
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Meanwhile, Kitzhaber, in one of his final acts as governor, commuted the prison sentence of a young inmate who’s serving a 12-year sentence for attempted murder and other charges.
The commutation document, obtained by the Associated Press, doesn’t reveal why Kitzhaber decided to release Sang Dao more than three years early. However, last summer his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, who’s at the center of the ethics scandal that prompted Kitzhaber to step down, spoke at a correctional facility where the 25-year-old Dao received a college degree as part of a rehabilitation program.
Hayes faces allegations that she used her relationship to enrich herself.
Kitzhaber has denied wrongdoing and has consistently maintained that he and Hayes worked hard to avoid conflicts between her public and private roles.
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Brown, a 54-year-old Minnesota native, came to Oregon to attend law school in Portland, the state’s largest city, and established a family law practice before her first run for the Legislature.
Kitzhaber handily won reelection in November to an unprecedented fourth term after surviving the botched rollout of Oregon’s online health care exchange, which turned into a national embarrassment.
But the allegations surrounding Hayes’s work were more harmful, dominating headlines in the state following his victory.
A series of newspaper reports since October has chronicled Hayes’s work for organizations with an interest in Oregon public policy. At the same time she was paid by advocacy groups, she played an active role in Kitzhaber’s administration, a potential conflict of interest.
What did Kitzhaber do wrong or who did he offend to warrant such treatment?
The spotlight on Hayes led to her revealing that she accepted about $5,000 to illegally marry a man seeking immigration benefits in the 1990s. Later, she acknowledged purchasing a remote property with the intent to grow marijuana.
Though questions about Hayes have swirled for months, the pressure on Kitzhaber intensified recently after newspapers raised questions about whether Hayes reported all her income on her tax returns. She has not publicly addressed the allegation and Kitzhaber has declined to as well.
Both state and federal officials have launched investigations.
Brown addressed the scandal at her swearing in.
Brown will not serve the full four years to which Kitzhaber was elected. Instead, the state constitution calls for a special election that will come in November 2016....
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Related: Oregon highlights whether states really need lieutenant governors
The big fish is now a minnow.
