Top Democrats call on Oregon governor to resign

SALEM – Oregon’s top Democrats urged Gov. John Kitzhaber to resign Thursday, saying he cannot lead the state effectively amid a growing ethics scandal involving his fiancee, a green-energy consultant suspected of using their relationship to land contracts for her business.

Senate President Peter Courtney said he and House Speaker Tina Kotek asked Kitzhaber, a Democrat who recently started his fourth term, to step down.

“I finally said, ‘This has got to stop,’ ” Courtney told reporters after he and Kotek met with the governor. “I don’t know what else to do right now. It seems to be escalating. It seems to be getting worse and worse.”

The state treasurer also joined in the call for Kitzhaber to relinquish his office.

“Unfortunately, the current situation has become untenable, and I cannot imagine any scenario by which things improve,” said Ted Wheeler, another Democrat. “Oregon deserves a governor who is fully focused on the duties of state.”

Their statements came hours after Democratic Secretary of State Kate Brown said she had a “strange” and contradictory conversation with Kitzhaber about succeeding him as governor.

Brown said the governor had asked her to fly back to Oregon from a conference in Washington, D.C., but when she arrived, he asked why she had returned.

“This is clearly a bizarre and unprecedented situation,” Brown said in a statement.

She said Kitzhaber told her he’s not resigning, but then began a discussion about a transition.

Under Oregon law, the secretary of state automatically becomes governor if the governor gives up his job.

Kitzhaber told some of his aides he was resigning and summoned Brown from Washington, then changed his mind while she was traveling, according to three people with direct knowledge of the situation.

They spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly about private discussions.

Questions about the governor’s fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, have swirled for months, but the pressure on Kitzhaber intensified in recent weeks after newspapers raised questions about whether Hayes reported all her income on her tax returns.

Neither the governor nor Hayes has been charged with any wrongdoing. But earlier this month, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said she was launching a criminal investigation. Late Thursday, she ordered Hayes to release emails from private accounts that discuss state business following a public records request from the Oregonian. Hayes has seven days to comply or appeal.

The governor issued a vague statement Wednesday explaining he was not resigning.

“I was elected to do a job for the people of this great state, and I intend to continue to do so,” Kitzhaber said.

Also Thursday a spokesman for the Department of Administrative Services, which maintains the state email archives, confirmed a newspaper report that the governor’s office had asked that Kitzhaber’s personal emails be deleted from the archives.

Matt Shelby said the agency had discovered Kitzhaber’s personal emails were being mistakenly forwarded to the server and then informed Kitzhaber’s office. He said the governor’s office asked that personal emails be deleted from the server, and the agency said it could not do that. He said the governor’s office is going through the emails to determine which are public records under Oregon law.