John Kitzhaber
In a stunningly quick descent, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber
announced on Friday that he would resign his post,
effective Wednesday, following revelations that his fiancée, Cylvia Hayes,
had failed to disclose six figures' worth of payments from a clean energy concern at the same time as she was advising the governor on energy policy. Kitzhaber, a Democrat, won re-election to a fourth term last fall, and ordinarily, an issue like this would seem insufficient to knock an incumbent from his perch.
But in an out-of-nowhere editorial last week, the state's largest newspaper, the Oregonian, called on Kitzhaber to resign over the controversy. Things then snowballed with remarkable speed, and Kitzhaber himself asked the state's attorney general to investigate the matter, even though a state ethics commission already had an inquiry underway.
That wasn't enough to deter Kitzhaber's detractors, though. Republicans began launching recall efforts, but far more problematic for the governor, many Democrats were reluctant to rally to his side for a variety of reasons. Among them the was fact that if the long-serving Kitzhaber were to quit, he'd automatically be replaced by a fellow Democrat, Secretary of State Kate Brown.
In fact, Kitzhaber actually summoned Brown—who was attending a conference in Washington, D.C.—back to Oregon on Wednesday, launching one of the strangest episodes in recent political history. Kitzhaber's office spent all day refusing to comment, as did Brown's, and stories flew that Kitzhaber was about to resign. But then on Wednesday night, Kitzhaber released a statement claiming he had "no intention of resigning" after all.
A new round of media reports then emerged saying that Kitzhaber had indeed planned to quit but then changed his mind—but it was far too late to change his fate. Brown put out her own statement saying that upon meeting with the governor, he asked her why she'd returned home so quickly, and she called the entire situation "bizarre." Over the course of the day, more top Democrats publicly abandoned Kitzhaber, including the state Treasurer and state Senate president. Making matters uglier, the local press reported that Kitzhaber had asked state officials to destroy thousands of his emails just last week.
Without any allies left—a fact Kitzhaber bitterly pointed out in a defiant departing statement—the governor finally decided to give up the ghost, and now Brown will take his place. She won't, however, serve out the rest of his term. Instead, Brown will have to go before voters in a special election in 2016, though if she were to win (and she'd be favored against any Republican in a presidential year in blue Oregon), she'd be eligible to run for a full four-year term in 2018. Brown, who became the country's first bisexual statewide official when she was first elected in 2008, will also be the first openly LGBT person to assume gubernatorial office.
It's a very sad and disappointing end for Kitzhaber, a medical doctor who was often admired for his thoughtfulness. But he has spared his party and his state some potentially serious agony, and Oregon Democrats seem excited about Brown. It's a new day in the Beaver State.