Federal Grand Jury Opens Investigation Into Oregon Gov. Kitzhaber

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber answers questions during a news conference Friday, Jan. 30, 2015, in Portland, Ore. Kitzhaber said that legitimate questions have been raised about his fiancee's taxes after newspaper repor... Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber answers questions during a news conference Friday, Jan. 30, 2015, in Portland, Ore. Kitzhaber said that legitimate questions have been raised about his fiancee's taxes after newspaper reports that income from a renewable energy group didn't appear on her tax returns. The Democratic governor said he and Cylvia Hayes file taxes separately, and he would not discuss hers. (AP Photo/Gosia Wozniacka) MORE LESS
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A big investigation has been opened into Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) and his fiancée, Cylvia Hayes by a federal grand jury in Portland, Oregon.

The investigation, which covers a broad swath of topics including Oregon’s 10-year budget plan and a proposed Port of Morrow coal terminal, was reported by The Oregonian on Friday evening.

Earlier in the day Kitzhaber announced that he would resign from office in response to a bubbling ethics scandal surrounding him and Hayes. The couple face allegations that aides to Kitzhaber helped Hayes find lucrative jobs at public policy organizations in the state, with some of those jobs paying as much as six figures, while she was also in a formal advising role for the governor.

Investigators delivered the three-page subpoena as part of the investigation to Oregon’s Department of Administrative Services on Friday, according to The Oregonian.

The subpoena orders state officials to hand over records concerning a number of Kitzhaber’s initiatives related to the climate and the economy. Investigators, according to The Oregonian, are looking through state records for mentions of Hayes and her consulting business, and her role as advising the governor. They’re also after Hayes’ personal tax returns going back to 2009.

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Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for chammy chammy says:

    I don’t get it. It’s his girlfriend who seems to have committed the crime. This is all nuts

  2. This is the result of some bad judgement on Kitzhaber’s part, and a campaign by the Oregonian to get him out of office because they oppose his environmental agenda. Big mistake on their part, since the new governor has two degrees in environmental studies, including her law degree. She’s been in state government for 20 + years, know how things work in Salem, and Democratic majorities in both houses.

  3. Nothing says Grand Jury like a Governor with an ethical conflict. As opposed to an officer with a dead kid.

  4. Avatar for chammy chammy says:

    Thank you. I knew there had to nbe an agenda or a vendetta

  5. Eh-yup: them clear cutting deforesters have got together with the mining-and-some-incidental-stream-and-air-pollution interests and they’re all having theirselves quite a wingding of a whoop-it-up party right now.

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