BY JACOB PALMER | OB DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
BY JACOB PALMER | OB DIGITAL NEWS EDITORExamining the governor’s rapid fall from grace in a “bizarre” and “unprecedented” saga.
BY JACOB PALMER | OB DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
Gov. John Kitzhaber’s rapid fall from grace leaves behind clear winners and losers.
[READ OUR LIVE UPDATES TRACKING KITZHABER’S SLOW MARCH TOWARD RESIGNATION.]
As of 11 a.m. Friday — “it appears to be a very fluid situation,” as Secretary of State spokesman Tony Green told us yesterday — Kitzhaber had yet to step down, despite mounting calls from members of his own party to call it quits.
Click through to read our list of winners and losers.
1. Willamette Week | winner
The alternative weekly hit the ground running with its story last year about Cylvia Hayes and hasn’t let up since. Reporter Nigel Jaquiss hit the jackpot again Thursday, when he published a story about the governor attempting to purge his emails from the state server.
(Kitzhaber appears to be channeling that old Scooby Doo joke: “and I would’ve gotten away with it if it weren’t for you meddling kids.”)
Praise for WW and Jaquiss broke out across Twitter following the email-destruction story — or as one KGW reporter called it, “the silver bullet.”
Notable: This whole Kitzhaber scandal was broken open by the @wweek — one of the last thriving alt-weeklies
— Tim Dickinson (@7im) February 12, 2015
Good as time as any to give a #ff to reporter @NigelJaquiss, the Galactus of Oregon politics.
— CJ Ciaramella (@cjciaramella) February 12, 2015
I know I’ve said this before, but @NigelJaquiss is a stud.
— Steve Herman (@HermanatorInPDX) February 12, 2015
Willamette kept up the coverage all the while dancing around their own potential conflict of interest challenge: publisher Richard Meeker is married to the woman investigating Kitzhaber and Hayes, state attorney general Ellen Rosenblum.
2. Kitzhaber | loser (clearly)
Kitzhaber was the first Oregon governor to be elected for a fourth term; he is now the first governor to be the subject of a criminal investigation.
One look at the tweets for the @GovKitz handle paints a grim picture for Kitzhaber’s legacy.
I’m sad about what’s going on in Oregon. @GovKitz has been so much a part of my experience in the Beaver State, & I hate to see him implode.
— Devin Driscoll (@short_pants) February 13, 2015
@GovKitz You have to resign, Governor. Asking to have your emails destroyed was the last straw. I can’t defend you anymore. #Resign
— PortlanDon (@portlandon) February 12, 2015
Please resign, @GovKitz. I still think you’re basically a good guy. But man, you really blew this one. Please don’t make it worse.
— robneyer (@robneyer) February 12, 2015
3. Kate Brown | winner
Barring unforeseen circumstances, she will soon be governor of Oregon. In a statement, Brown said she “is ready, and [her] staff will be ready, should he resign.”
Brown also issued a remarkable statement capturing the surreal nature of the previous day’s events: At Kitzhaber’s request, Brown headed home early from a conference in DC, only to be told by Kitzhaber on her arrival that he does not intend to resign:
If/when Brown assumes office, she will be the second woman governor in the state’s history.
4. Democrats | losers
This was supposed to be their session: With wide majorities in both the House and Senate and an ally in the governor’s mansion, this was supposed to be the year that Democrats would pass a range of favored bills on green energy and worker benefits.
But only two weeks into the legislative session, the Kitzhaber scandal has distracted policymakers and called into question the viability of green energy legislation like the clean fuels bill, now forever linked to Cylvia Hayes.
From Thursday’s press conferences in the House and Senate:
House Speaker Tina Kotek: “The work of the state has to go on, and he’s not able to focus on that right now. It has become clear to [me and Senate President Peter Courtney] that the ongoing investigations surrounding the governor and Cylvia Hayes have resulted in the loss of the people’s trust. Our actions today and our actions going forward are focused on rebuilding the public’s trust in state government.”
(SOURCE: OregonLive.com)
