Cylviagate or Oregon's First Lady

In My Humble Opinion
1

Cylvia Hayes, government consultant and fiancee of Oregon’s incumbent governor John Kitzhaber, has been in the news a lot lately, at least around here. Last week, she tearfully admitted to entering into a “green-card marriage” in 1997 with an Ethopian man, a fellow college student, so he could stay in the US and get a college education. She received $5,000 for it.

Yesterday, sources claimed that, around that same time, she and another man purchased property in Washington state for an illegal marijuana grow operation. (They failed to make the mortgage payments [she says it was his property, not hers] and the seller reclaimed the property. The seller says the property was littered with equipment and other evidence of a grow operation; that is how we “know” what its use was.)

Ms. Hayes admitts now to having been involved at that time in an “abusive” relationship with a “dangerous man.” He bought the property. According to her, she had nothing to do with it and, shortly after the purchase, “escaped” the situation, moved to Central Oregon and began anew.

There is no mystery around the timing of the accusations against Ms. Hayes: Governor Kitzhaber is running for re-election and the opposition is pulling out all the stops to tarnish the governor via his ladylove’s past choices. An important sidenote: Ms. Hayes swears that she never told the governor about either of these situations. He learned about them first from the media.

In my position as a past president of the Society of Women Who Have Done Really Stupid Things That We Came to Deeply Regret Later, Ms. Hayes has my sympathy. I’d hate to have the press snooping around in my dirty laundry, although I haven’t done anything as blatantly illegal as breaking federal law by marrying to provide someone with a green card. But there was that time . . . well, never mind.

Folks around here are of several minds: She reflects badly on the governor and is a poor choice for Oregon’s First Lady. Or, we’ve all made mistakes and we’re electing him, not her, so what’s the big deal? I think we should try to forgive and forget, but the public really won’t be able to and everything she says and does from this day forward will be overscruntized. Some are saying he should dump her. Others are saying that love should trump politics.

Thoughts? Insights?

2

Politics is a blood sport. This is a nasty ploy, but as long as the allegations are true, the Governor appears to be in a no-win position. If he dumps the fiancee, he’s no gentleman. If he doesn’t, he condones felonious conduct.

3

Count me in the “who cares” camp. She’s not the one being elected.

4

Thread over in 2 replies. Oakminster tells how it is; **even sven **tells how it ought to be.

5

Too long ago to be relevant to the election. It’s between her and law enforcement, if they decide to pursue it.

The issue now is the ethics of her contracts with the state, and that she is working out of an office in Mahonia Hall. He has requested an investigation by the ethics commission.

6

I agree. Oakminster nailed it for me, too, and I agree with even sven. I feel badly for both Kitzhaber and Hayes and am hoping that they will work through this together.

The statute of limitations on both crimes is long past, but I can see the value in a look into ethical violations.

I think I’m just surprised at how judgmentally some folks have responded to the revelations. I’m very glad they’ve never made any mistakes or missteps in their lives. Must be nice up there on the moral high ground.

7

As one op-ed columnist put it: I’m more annoyed with the spelling of “Cylvia” than I am about anything she did 17 years ago.

8

I agree, did she start spelling it that way as a teenager or did her parents actually name her that/

9

Kinda torn on this one.

She did some stupid things in the past. Though I will note these are “long term you fricking knew it was stupid” stupid stuff and not momentary “what the hell was I thinking” stupid stuff.

However, she did NOT pay the price for her stupidity then. The bill is coming due now.

So, its a toss up for me.

10

The response has much less to do with actual judgment of her choices, and more to do with their dislike of the governor and an opportunity to cause some political damage. You’d see the same outrage from different people if something similar came out about Richardson’s wife.

Kitzhaber should be judged by how he treats people today, not the poor choices made by his girlfriend 17 years ago before he knew her. And as Chefguy says, the current ethics investigation is a stickier issue.

11

[QUOTE=jayrey]

I think I’m just surprised at how judgmentally some folks have responded to the revelations. I’m very glad they’ve never made any mistakes or missteps in their lives. Must be nice up there on the moral high ground.
[/QUOTE]
Let he who never married an Ethiopian for money cast the first stone.

Well, Cylvia has been involved with a wide variety of abusers, crooks and assholes. Now she is involved with him. How reassuring.

Regards,
Shodan

12

Is your point that she’s a terrible person and should be shunned now? Or is that because she associated with a “wide variety” (??) of abusers, crooks and assholes, ipso facto Kitzhaber must be an abuser, crook and asshole? Because those are both pretty ridiculous arguments.

13

US states have First Ladies too? I can barely get my head round the idea of a federal First Lady.

14

I’m going to go with “her judgement meter is mis-calibrated”. To me, even 17 years ago isn’t that long ago. What suggests that her judgement meter has somehow slipped into correct calibration? What does it say about Kitzhaber that he didn’t know any of this? Any halfway astute politician running for Governor of a State would surely work through all of this. So, my conclusion is that he is not halfway astute.

15

I’m saying Kitzhaber should have learned not to stick his dick in the crazy if he wants to avoid highly entertaining train wrecks.

I doubt this is going to make much difference, as he is 10 points up or so in the polls, so this is more good for smutty giggles than serious politics. Although I plan to keep tuned for the next episode of The Young and the Restless (And Their Green Cards, Drug Farms, and Other Shenanigans).

Regards,
Shodan

16

Keep digging that hole until you reach bedrock. He has stated that he had no knowledge of her illegal marriage, nor of her attempt at “farming”. Hooking up with abusers is usually the result of being abused, and there is nothing “crazy” about her behavior. Your cheap attempt to smear the governor by implying that he is also “an abuser, crook and asshole” is low, even for you.

17

I don’t agree that 17 years isn’t that long ago; I think it’s plenty of time for people to change their life and “recalibrate their judgment meter.” She doesn’t get off scott-free - she should suffer some consequences, and she certainly is now. But that said, everyone has different levels at which they’re willing to forgive, and I can respect if you feel it still reflects on her character.

But I’m less understanding of how that should reflect on Kitzhaber. They started dating after he’d completed his second term and supposedly had no plans for continuing in office, so I’m sure he didn’t vet her in the way he might have were he running at the time. Maybe he did run a background check when he returned to politics, knew all this stuff, and is lying now. I expect nothing less from any politician, unfortunately. But I’m guessing he respected her privacy and didn’t dig too deep, realizing that as a generally liked governor in a blue state, some past mistakes by a girlfriend weren’t going to be enough to change an election.

So option 1 - she’s a crazy woman and should be shunned.

18

She’s not running for governor. She didn’t rape a child, or rail against homosexuality while having sex with a prostitute, etc.

19

Nah, she chose to go after a public figure, knowing her own history and knowing how the media is about public figures. I would say her judgement is still lacking.

20

One who had left public office and who was unlikely to run again, given Oregon’s political history. She hardly “went after” him, according to this bio. Sounds more like a relationship that developed normally over time.