Oregon Governor Pressured To Resign Amid Scandal

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) is engulfed in an ethics scandal that has led to calls for his resignation and a campaign to recall him.

Oregon’s largest newspaper has called on him to resign. He is staring down multiple recall petitions, and a state ethics commission has opened an inquiry into his activities. And few, if any, major Democratic allies have stepped up to support him.

The scandal involves Kitzhaber’s fiancé, Oregon First Lady Cylvia Hayes, who was paid for work closely related to her advisory role in Kitzhaber’s cabinet.

The controversy centers around the private consulting and business work of Cylvia Hayes — Kitzhaber’s fiancée and the official first lady of Oregon — and the policies of the governor’s administration, where Hayes had also served an unpaid adviser.

Hayes earned about $200,000 on contracts related to her work in Kitzhaber’s cabinet, and her earnings from those contracts may not match the information she reported on tax returns.

Hayes has come under fire for reports that she earned about $200,000 on contracts closely related to her work in Kitzhaber’s cabinet. Most recently, emails released last Friday showed that Hayes lobbied for Oregon to implement an initiative from a policy group, Demos, that had already given her a $25,000 contract. … Reports also indicate that her total earnings from the contracts don’t match her tax return filings with the Internal Revenue Service.