My father worked with Kitzhaber years ago when he was an ER physician. My dad never was a huge fan of his politics (my dad is a fairly independent libertarian), but he always voted for Kitzhaber because he knew him and said he was a good, honest man who genuinely cared about people.
I haven’t been following the news lately, so this came as a shock. My hometown of Roseburg, Ore. is overwhelmingly conservative and I’m sure there are numerous parties being planned tonight. Here in Portland, most people don’t care, as they know that a democrat will still hold the reigns.
Kitzhaber has been somewhat famous for not succumbing to much pressure, from either party. During his first years as Governor he earned the nickname “Dr. No” due to his habit of wearing out his veto pen. I have no idea if he does this, but either way it’ll be interesting to see how Kate Brown will hold up. Oregon is a blue state and she’s a democrat, so I suspect it’ll be business as usual.
To be honest I’m kind of surprised he stepped down. I figured he’d be another arrogant politician who wouldn’t voluntarily step down until this scandal drug out for a while. Yes I obviously think that he and his fiance are guilty as sin.
So what all is he accused of? It looks like to me he was basically steering contracts to his girlfriend’s company. Is that mostly it? I see some news reports talking about how she didn’t report the money she made consulting. Would it have been OK if she had, or was it more egregious than that?
I’m from Oregon, and this is sad news. I always thought he was a decent guy, and was so excited when he made a “comeback” in 2010 as governor once again.
I know nothing about Kitzhaber other than the (D) after his name, but after the revelations of the past few days, he was toast, pure and simple. I’m glad he didn’t drag it out any more than he did.
Oh yes, this guy. Too bad - half the entertainment has gone out of Oregon politics now. Or perhaps his bisexual successor’s husband will be involved in some other diverting shenanigans.
What a pointless cheap shot (expected, but cheap); what does her sexual orientation have to do with anything?
Kitzhaber did the right thing by resigning. I’m convinced that he knew he was stepping over the ethics line, as he asked some flunky to delete his personal emails from the server. Cylvia not reporting $118,000 dollars on her tax return is an intentional and criminal act, but it’s unknown if he was complicit or even knew about it. Certainly, he knew that he was helping her make money by her association with the Governor’s office.
Resigning is no small matter. The man is not wealthy by any means, and by resigning, he loses the right to establish a defense fund. His income after expenses for mortgage, child support and alimony is about $1500/month, so hiring an attorney will likely bankrupt him. It’s a sad end to a productive public service career. The poor in Oregon owe him a huge debt of gratitude for supporting health care options before Obamacare was the law of the land.
And the US Dept of Justice has launched a criminal investigation and issued subpoenas for records. The State of Oregon is also conducting its own investigation.
And the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating the disaster that was the Cover Oregon health plan. A huge, expensive failure that had to be scrapped after millions were spent.
Odd. The thread to which you linked seems to be about debates and fan things in Florida. There is brief mention of some stuff in Oregon in its OP, but none of the responses make any direct reference to the content of the OP. So I guess that much is amusing.