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| Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber announces resignation | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber on Friday announced plans to resign amid scandal, marking a sudden and dramatic endpoint to one of the longest careers in the state’s political history. | |
| “I am announcing today that I will resign as governor of the state of Oregon,” Kitzhaber said in a long statement. | |
| “It is not in my nature to walk away from a job I have undertaken — it is to stand and fight for the cause,” he wrote. “For that reason I apologize to all those people who gave of their faith, time, energy and resources to elect me to a fourth term last year and have supported me over the past three decades. I promise you that I will continue to pursue our shared goals and our common cause in another venue.” | |
| Just one month after becoming the first Oregon governor to begin a fourth term in office, Kitzhaber will become the first to resign because of alleged misconduct. He and his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, are being investigated for misusing their influence for personal financial gain. | |
| The governor finally succumbed to mounting pressure to resign after a week in which few things seemed certain. He made plans to resign earlier in the week, then changed his mind. He admitted to making some mistakes in judgment, and later denied them. He convened a meeting with the state’s top elected officials to seek their advice on his future, only to ignore that advice hours later. | |
| But on one matter, at least, Kitzhaber was always steadfast and consistent, even as his career unraveled. “I am in love,” he said again, at one recent press conference, and it seemed to be both a statement of fact and an explanation. | |
| The story of Kitzhaber’s sudden undoing was also the story of his relationship with Hayes, 47, who has lived with him in the governor’s mansion for the past several years and who often refers to herself as the “first lady.” Now the state’s attorney general is investigating charges that Hayes used her relationship with the governor to earn tens of thousands of dollars from private organizations to perform contracting work as a clean energy consultant while also advising the governor on those issues for the state. The apparent conflict of interest was just the latest allegation in a relationship saga that resulted in Kitzhaber’s resignation soon after being elected to an unprecedented fourth term, making him one of the longest-serving governor’s in U.S. history. | |
| By Friday, many top-ranking members of his own Democratic Party were asking him to resign. The Oregon secretary of state called his behavior “strange” and “bizarre” and said she was ready to replace him. Members of his staff reportedly quit. But Kitzhaber’s fate remained largely his to decide, because Oregon had no process for impeachment — and for much of the week, the most ubiquitous politician in the state’s history had all but disappeared from public view. Camera crews, police officers and even some elected officials gathered outside his house at various points this week, awaiting the latest development in a debacle that became more entangled by the hour. Kitzhaber, meanwhile, reportedly met in private with Hayes and state leaders to discuss his options and his future. | |
| “He was upset. He was defiant. He was struggling,” Senate President Peter Courtney said after one of those meetings, in which Courtney encouraged his longtime friend to resign. | “He was upset. He was defiant. He was struggling,” Senate President Peter Courtney said after one of those meetings, in which Courtney encouraged his longtime friend to resign. |
| The scandal seemed uniquely fitted to Oregon, a place of progressive politics and low-key politicians, where the governor once dressed for his own inauguration in blue jeans. Now the first couple’s strange downfall has involved accusations of a marijuana-growing operation and economic zealotry, with one of the biggest conflicts of interest revolving around an attempt to popularize a new economic measure called the “Genuine Progress Indicator.” Even those calling for Kitzhaber’s resignation didn’t seem so much angry with him or suspicious with his intentions as they seemed disappointed. “History will be kinder to him than current events suggest,” said Ted Wheeler, the state’s treasurer, who also called on the governor to resign. | |
| It was only in August that Kitzhaber, 67, proposed to Hayes, 47, with an eco-friendly ring on the banks of the Rogue River, announcing the engagement through a spokeswoman who said the couple “could not be happier or more excited.” In the months since then, their engagement has been disrupted by an ethics commission review, two recall campaigns, a criminal investigation, a possible FBI inquiry and a series of personal embarrassments. First Hayes admitted to a fraudulent marriage in 1997 with an 18-year-old undocumented immigrant who paid her $5,000 to help legalize his status. Then she admitted to having purchased a property in rural Washington, also in the late 1990s, where she had hoped to grow large quantities of marijuana. | It was only in August that Kitzhaber, 67, proposed to Hayes, 47, with an eco-friendly ring on the banks of the Rogue River, announcing the engagement through a spokeswoman who said the couple “could not be happier or more excited.” In the months since then, their engagement has been disrupted by an ethics commission review, two recall campaigns, a criminal investigation, a possible FBI inquiry and a series of personal embarrassments. First Hayes admitted to a fraudulent marriage in 1997 with an 18-year-old undocumented immigrant who paid her $5,000 to help legalize his status. Then she admitted to having purchased a property in rural Washington, also in the late 1990s, where she had hoped to grow large quantities of marijuana. |
| But through it all Kitzhaber continued to defend Hayes and their engagement, even as some of his allies framed his future as a choice between maintaining his relationship and saving his career. Late last month, during the first news conference of his fourth term, he spent the entire 20 minutes talking about the most tumultuous love story in the history of Oregon politics. He winced into the cameras. He stammered until his voice went hoarse and asked an assistant for water. | |
| He spoke about their common interests: “climate change being one, low carbon fuels being one, measuring outcomes and metrics being another,” he said. | He spoke about their common interests: “climate change being one, low carbon fuels being one, measuring outcomes and metrics being another,” he said. |
| He addressed their apparent conflicts of interest: “We have attempted to draw a very clear line between her public role and her outside work.” | He addressed their apparent conflicts of interest: “We have attempted to draw a very clear line between her public role and her outside work.” |
| He announced his final assessment. “Marriage is still on, yes,” he said. “I have no regrets over my personal relationship with Cylvia Hayes. She is a wonderful lady.” | He announced his final assessment. “Marriage is still on, yes,” he said. “I have no regrets over my personal relationship with Cylvia Hayes. She is a wonderful lady.” |
| Theirs has been an unlikely and unconventional romance, from beginning to end. Kitzhaber is an Ivy League-educated physician who served in the state’s House of Representatives and the Senate before rising to governor; Hayes was raised in abject poverty outside of Seattle, in a house with no running water or electricity, until she dropped out of school and ran away from home at 16. During Kitzhaber’s first term as governor in the late 1990s, Hayes was broke and desperate in Washington state, sometimes living out of her car and bathing in a pond. She worked at a chicken plant, drove heavy machinery and eventually fled an abusive relationship, moving to Oregon with her two dogs and living for a time in a tent on government land. | Theirs has been an unlikely and unconventional romance, from beginning to end. Kitzhaber is an Ivy League-educated physician who served in the state’s House of Representatives and the Senate before rising to governor; Hayes was raised in abject poverty outside of Seattle, in a house with no running water or electricity, until she dropped out of school and ran away from home at 16. During Kitzhaber’s first term as governor in the late 1990s, Hayes was broke and desperate in Washington state, sometimes living out of her car and bathing in a pond. She worked at a chicken plant, drove heavy machinery and eventually fled an abusive relationship, moving to Oregon with her two dogs and living for a time in a tent on government land. |
| Hayes put herself through college at age 26 and then earned her master’s degree in sustainability, and she came to Oregon to start a nonprofit advocating environmental issues. She ran for state office in 2002 and lost, but she met Kitzhaber during the campaign. Both of them had already been married and divorced twice and they started to date, going on trips together to ride horses and fly fish. When Kitzhaber decided to run for a third term as governor in 2010 after several years out of office, he made environmental sustainability a major part of his campaign platform. He won election and made Hayes an official, unpaid adviser, focusing heavily on clean energy, even as she continued to get lucrative contracts to push environmental policies for private companies. She sometimes worked from a desk in the governor’s office. She traveled to give clean energy speeches and introduced herself as the “first lady.” | Hayes put herself through college at age 26 and then earned her master’s degree in sustainability, and she came to Oregon to start a nonprofit advocating environmental issues. She ran for state office in 2002 and lost, but she met Kitzhaber during the campaign. Both of them had already been married and divorced twice and they started to date, going on trips together to ride horses and fly fish. When Kitzhaber decided to run for a third term as governor in 2010 after several years out of office, he made environmental sustainability a major part of his campaign platform. He won election and made Hayes an official, unpaid adviser, focusing heavily on clean energy, even as she continued to get lucrative contracts to push environmental policies for private companies. She sometimes worked from a desk in the governor’s office. She traveled to give clean energy speeches and introduced herself as the “first lady.” |
| In many of those speeches, Hayes framed her relationship with the governor as proof of how quickly a life could transform. “I mean, can you believe it?” she said once, referring to the unlikelihood of a woman who had once lived on government land moving into the governor’s mansion. | In many of those speeches, Hayes framed her relationship with the governor as proof of how quickly a life could transform. “I mean, can you believe it?” she said once, referring to the unlikelihood of a woman who had once lived on government land moving into the governor’s mansion. |
| “Everything can change so fast,” she said then. Now, a decade later, their relationship has proved that true once again. |