For the rest of the country who need to consult Wikipedia to learn his name, the fact that governor John Kitzhaber of Oregon has been dealing with something of an embarrassment over the last several months is doubtlessly news. I consider it more of an embarrassment than a scandal because it concerns his fiance Cylvia Hayes, who appears to have something of a colorful past. She married an Ethiopian citizen so he could gain US citizenship in return for money. She was involved in a plot to grow a crop of marijuana back in 1997. And some other things which I can't remember, but few politicians relish being associated with.
So far, all of this have clearly shown that Kitzhaber's choice of potential marriage partners might not be impeccable, but nothing that questions his ability as governor. Up to now Hayes has been more of a chronic distraction to Kitzhaber's historic fourth term as governor, a sideshow almost as bizarre as the usual bizarre antics of the RWNJs in the local Republican party. Then came a new discovery that Hayes had developed her own personal revenue stream out of her relationship with the governor.
Now we are a bit unusual here in Oregon by having fairly clean politics here; political corruption is rare & infrequent. I don't know if that's because we are an honest bunch here, or just too stupid to figure out how to make money in graft. It's been years since the last scandal -- the guy in charge of the parking meters here in Portland was found to be receiving kickbacks for favoring certain parking meter manufacturers -- so Cylvia Hayes' bit of corruption has attracted media attention. So much attention that The Oregonian came out with an editorial demanding Kitzhaber resign.
So just how much has Hayes benefited from all of this? Well, according to The Oregonian's own editorial, there was $113,000 from one source, & $75,000 from a non-profit. The guy who arranged the $75k grant subsequently landed a job that pays $165,000. All in all, we are talking about a few hundred thousand dollars -- a rounding error in the amount of tax subsidies various corporations receive from state government here.
So why would The Oregonian, the newspaper with the largest circulation here in Oregon, demand Kitzhaber resign over such a trifling amount? Welcome to yet another chapter in the decline & fall of the American News media.
Here in Portland, Oregon we used have an arguably decent newspaper. Not a great one, mind you, & it's arguable that calling The Oregonian (or the Big O as the locals have come to call it) good would be stretching the truth, but it was definitely not a rag. The reporters made an effort to cover more than sensational crimes & rewrite corporate press releases, & the editorials actually offered a useful insight measurably more often than a blind sow finds an acorn.
Sadly, all of that has changed.
One of the puzzling responses print media has to the rise of the Internet & online news sources, & the corresponding decline in circulation, is for editorial boards to take a hard tack to the radical right. Which might make sense in a Red State like Kansas or Alabama, but Portland is mostly a left-of-center population. Citizens here are in favor of causes like land-use planning, mass transit, & better pay for all, although we still have a long way to go (Google for "police brutality in Portland, Oregon"). Thru the 90s & the first decade of the current millennium, the people running the Big O understood that, & the editorial viewpoint drifted from a conservative/Republican stance to a more moderate, almost slightly-left-of-center one.
Then an upheaval came. Possibly the biggest clue of this was management's decision to promote syndicated columnists of a conservative bent in order to "provide balance" to the "liberal" journalist staff. (Why is it when media talks about "providing balance" it is always to justify giving the right more space, & not the left? When was the last time a newspaper picked up a socialist columnist to "provide balance"?) Needless to say, this did not improve their circulation numbers -- although someone in charge realized that printing quotes from Ann Coulter was not warmly welcomed, & stopped that. Then they hired a managing editor who was a self-professed Libertarian, & whose most memorable contribution was an indigent opinion wherein he protested that he did not eat children.
Things simply spiraled downwards from there. Circulation continued to decline, & the editorial stance shifted more to the right: May 2012, one Erik Lukens was hired to replaced the editorial page editor, who has shown to have a political point of view in harmony with The Wall Street Journal, & The Daily Standard, if not the Koch Brothers. The blog Our Oregon documents Lukens' record. The first most visible change under his tenure was to decline to endorse anyone for president in 2012. As Edward Ashley explained at Blue Oregon back in August 2012:
This is about pragmatism, not philosophy. What is most likely at play here is that the two men now driving editorial policy at the O — publisher Chris Anderson and editorial page editor Erik Lukens — understand it would be bad business to endorse Romney. But both would just about die rather die than endorse Obama.
Circulation at the Big O has since declined to the point where it is no longer delivered to subscribers five days a week, reporting staff has been slashed, & its influence in Portland politics has been marginalized. I dropped my subscription back in 2012 for this reason. (I was offered a free 6 month subscription last year, which I dropped after two weeks. The Big O had deteriorated even further.
To provide some perspective, here's how two other Oregon daily newspapers has responded to revelations about Cylvia Hayes.
From the Eugene Register-Guard:
Kitzhaber faced reporters in the wake of fresh disclosures about contractors' payments to Hayes, which The (Portland) Oregonian found did not match income claimed on tax forms she had provided to the newspaper. The governor couldn't settle questions about those matters -- he and his fiancee file separate tax returns, he said, and Hayes is traveling in Europe. All that Kitzhaber could say is that Hayes will have no future policy role in his administration.
Too late: Opponents of reduced-carbon standards for vehicle fuel have already latched on to Hayes¿ role as a paid advocate for green energy policies as a reason to reject a renewal of the standards. Kitzhaber told The Register-Guard's editorial board earlier this month that he would "fight hard" for renewal. But first he'll have to persuade critics that his enthusiasm is unrelated to his fiancee's consulting work.
From the
Salem Statesman-Journal:
Unfortunately, some participants used up time by asking silly or leading questions: In Kitzhaber's dealings with Hayes, had he been blinded by love? He said no. (What else could he say?) Aren't the allegations regarding Hayes akin to the government-corruption convictions last year of former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell and his wife, Maureen? Kitzhaber said no. (What else could Kitzhaber say, especially since the Oregon "scandal" is small-time in comparison with the McDonnells' wrongdoings?)
...
Serious questions remain about whether Hayes inappropriately used her first lady role, including her access to state officials and state facilities, in conjunction with her private consulting business. The state ethics commission will take up those matters on March 13 and may decide whether to pursue a formal investigation.
In the meantime, there is no reason for the Legislature to delay discussion of the low carbon fuel standard or other environmental issues on which Kitzhaber and his fiancee have similar views. It is not surprising that the governor and Hayes would agree on issues; it would be wrong to automatically assume that her work as a private consultant influenced his environmental policies.
As for the low carbon fuel standard, the only reason to postpone legislative action is that the program could be bad for Oregon.
The news story here is not the misbehavior of governor Kitzhaber's fiance, but the fact anyone is paying attention to what the Big O thinks. And I'm feeling discouraged that the local television stations are playing echo chamber to this inappropriate demand.