Oregon is celebrating its anniversary of statehood tomorrow and could very well have a new governor by then.
The Cliff Notes version: Gov. John Kitzhaber barely won an unprecedented third term in 2010 (he stepped aside for a few years after his first two terms) and ran again last year. There were several high profile missteps, including the botched Cover Oregon health care fiasco. But the Republican challenger, Dennis Richardson, wasn't exactly the strongest challenger.
Last October, stories started coming out about the governor's fiance' doing some unethical things, most notably taking advantage of her position to secure sweet contracts worth big money. In spite of that, Kitzhaber won pretty handily, thanks largely to Portland voters.
Since then, the scrutiny has continued to mount. Two weeks ago Kitzhaber held a press conference in which he acknowledged questions about his fiance' were legitimate, but most who watched or attended that conference agree it was a disaster. Last week The Oregonian -- which had lukewarmly endorsed Kitzhaber in early October and stuck with the endorsement, even in light of mounting questions -- called for him to resign. Things have reached a fever pitch this week with many top Democrats in the state now calling for the same thing.
Since Oregon has no lieutenant governor position (one of only five such states), the Secretary of State would be next in line. She was in a conference in D.C. this week. According to her, the governor called her and asked her to return to Oregon at once. She did and met with the governor, only to be asked why she had returned.
I'll try to post some links later, but needless to say this has been quite the bizarre month so far in Oregon.
The Cliff Notes version: Gov. John Kitzhaber barely won an unprecedented third term in 2010 (he stepped aside for a few years after his first two terms) and ran again last year. There were several high profile missteps, including the botched Cover Oregon health care fiasco. But the Republican challenger, Dennis Richardson, wasn't exactly the strongest challenger.
Last October, stories started coming out about the governor's fiance' doing some unethical things, most notably taking advantage of her position to secure sweet contracts worth big money. In spite of that, Kitzhaber won pretty handily, thanks largely to Portland voters.
Since then, the scrutiny has continued to mount. Two weeks ago Kitzhaber held a press conference in which he acknowledged questions about his fiance' were legitimate, but most who watched or attended that conference agree it was a disaster. Last week The Oregonian -- which had lukewarmly endorsed Kitzhaber in early October and stuck with the endorsement, even in light of mounting questions -- called for him to resign. Things have reached a fever pitch this week with many top Democrats in the state now calling for the same thing.
Since Oregon has no lieutenant governor position (one of only five such states), the Secretary of State would be next in line. She was in a conference in D.C. this week. According to her, the governor called her and asked her to return to Oregon at once. She did and met with the governor, only to be asked why she had returned.
I'll try to post some links later, but needless to say this has been quite the bizarre month so far in Oregon.
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