The Patriot Post® · Oregon Dem Governor Resigns Amid Scandal

Oregon’s Democrat governor John Kitzhaber was sworn into office for his fourth term last month, but that’s all come crashing down. Kitzhaber succumbed to scandal involving his fiancée, Cynthia Hayes. National Review’s John Fund summed it up: Hayes “was taking money as a private consultant to environment groups and then pushing their policies in her public role as ‘First Lady’ of the state. Most infamously, she ordered state employees to follow a policy she was being paid $25,000 by an advocacy group to promote. Apparently, some of the money also wasn’t reported on tax returns.” The governor’s initial response was to destroy the evidence and hope it blew over. And given that he’s not a Republican and stubborn as a mule, it almost worked. But then some of his fellow Democrats called for his resignation, and, on Friday afternoon, he announced he would do so effective Feb. 18. By the way, the episode also highlights that environmental groups often need such, er, assistance to get their proposals enacted because they can’t win the argument on the merits. More…