What Did Kulongoski Know About Goldschmidt?

[November 1st, 2006] Less than a week before ballots are counted in Oregon, somebody has finally made former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt an issue in the gubernatorial campaign.

Both major-party candidates, Democratic incumbent Ted Kulongoski and Republican challenger Ron Saxton, have long histories with Goldschmidt, which prevented both from trying to link his opponent to Oregon's former king-maker.

But this morning, Counterpunch.com, a website run by investigative journalists Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair (a Portlander), published a scorching essay from former Goldschmidt speechwriter and Kulongoski pal Fred Leonhardt.

In the essay (www.counterpunch.com), Leonhardt repeats allegations he made to The Oregonian two years ago that Kulongoski knew of Goldschmidt's prior sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl when he appointed Goldschmidt to the state board of higher education in 2003.

Kulongoski's campaign issued an immediate denial. "As the Governor has said many times, he never would have appointed [Goldschmidt] had he known, and the revelation not only stunned the governor, but it angered him to his core," says Anna Richter Taylor, a campaign spokeswoman.

Leonhardt says a recent Oregonian editorial blasting U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert for his actions regarding fellow Republican Rep. Mark Foley and a 17-year-old congressional page, rather than any desire to influence the outcome of the current election, caused him to write.

"I think Ted is fundamentally a good man but had an ethical blind spot when it came to Neil," Leonhardt says. "When confronted with what Neil did, Ted lied about it and he needs to be held accountable for that."