http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/02/13/embattled-governor-resigns/Embattled Oregon governor announces resignation
Published February 13, 2015
FoxNews.com
DEVELOPING ...
Embattled Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber has announced his resignation amid an ethics scandal.
In a statement obtained by Fox News, the governor says he is resigning, effective Feb. 18.
Kitzhaber met with members of his staff late Friday morning to brief them on his plans, The Oregonian reported.
Senate Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli hinted at the resignation earlier in the day, according to the paper.
"What should be a day of celebration (for Oregon) is turning into a day of reflection and mourning," Ferrioli told a crowd of people who had gathered at the state capitol from the Oregon Wheat Growers League. "We appear to be nearing the resignation of our governor and the investiture of a new governor."
ORIGINAL STORY ...
His long political career in jeopardy, embattled Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber reportedly has hunkered down as nearly every top state official nudges -- or outright urges -- him to resign amid an ethics scandal.
The radio silence from the Democratic governor follows his worst week yet in the course of a series of controversies involving his fiancee Cylvia Hayes. First, the state attorney general, who is also a Democrat, confirmed she had opened a criminal investigation. Then, the governor summoned the secretary of state, Oregon's No. 2 official, from Washington, D.C., to meet with him, only to inform her he would not resign -- the governor, according to the Associated Press, briefly decided to resign, and then changed his mind while the secretary of state was en route to Oregon.
Then on Thursday, the two top-ranking Democrats in the legislature called on Kitzhaber to step down.
Kitzhaber has hired prominent Portland criminal defense attorney Janet Hoffman amid the drama. But according to The Oregonian, he's vanished from the public eye and his whereabouts are unknown. The governor’s staff won't answer questions and few seem to know where he is.
Investigations, including another reportedly launched by the FBI, center around Hayes, who has pocketed more than $200,000 as a consultant during the same time she was the acting first lady as well as an adviser to the governor.
On Thursday, Oregon’s Senate President Peter Courtney said he and House Speaker Tina Kotek both asked Kitzhaber to step down.
“I finally said, ‘This has got to stop,’” Courtney said 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.”
Courtney made his remarks after Secretary of State Kate Brown, who would replace Kitzhaber if he resigned, issued a statement calling the developments a “bizarre and unprecedented situation.”
Brown had been attending a conference in Washington when she was summoned back to Oregon earlier this week, fueling speculation Kitzhaber would resign.
But when she arrived for the meeting with the governor on Wednesday, Brown said, "He asked me why I came back early from Washington, D.C., which I found strange."
According to Brown, he also sent conflicting signals about his future plans when she asked what he wanted to talk about. "The governor told me he was not resigning, after which, he began a discussion about transition," she said, adding that she told the governor she would be ready "should he resign."
The spiral is a remarkable turn for a politician in his fourth term as governor, and who has been an elected leader in Oregon for 37 years.
One thing going for Kitzhaber, should he decide to stay and fight, is that Oregon is the only state in the country that does not allow the legislature to impeach or remove a sitting governor. In order for Kitzhaber to be booted out, it would have to be done by a recall.
Calls to Hoffman as well as the governor’s office for comment were not immediately returned.
