IMAGE: Dennis Culver

The state investigation of Sheriff Bernie Giusto does more than call into question the veracity of Multnomah County’s sheriff. The interviews conducted by the state and included in its draft report provide a revealing contrast in the crisis-management skills of two other high-ranking Oregonians, Gov. Ted Kulongoski and NW Natural executive Gregg Kantor.

The allegations that Giusto lied about what he knew of former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt’s sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl depend heavily upon the claims made by former Goldschmidt speechwriter Fred Leonhardt. For three years since WW broke the story about Goldschmidt, Leonhardt has said—and now passed a polygraph test bolstering his account—that he told both Kantor and Kulongoski about the abuse that began in 1975.

Kantor, who was once Goldschmidt’s gubernatorial spokesman, admitted Leonhardt told him about the abuse in the late ’80s and he did nothing about it.

“I just didn’t believe it at the time. I didn’t take it seriously,” Kantor told WW (see “Who Knew,” WW , Dec. 15, 2004).

Kantor says he didn’t share the information with superiors or try to determine its truth. His response, while puzzling, has done nothing to hurt his career.

Earlier this year, NW Natural CEO Mark Dodson—another close Goldschmidt associate—promoted Kantor, the utility’s senior vice president, to company president. As Dodson, 61, moves toward retirement, Kantor, 49, is the heir apparent to run the state’s largest gas utility.

Unlike Kantor, Kulongoski has repeatedly denied Leonhardt’s claims. The governor says he didn’t hear anything about the abuse until WW revealed it in 2004. And also unlike Kantor’s situation, that denial is casting a troubling shadow over the governor’s administration.

While Kulongoski won re-election in 2006, the recent reawakening of interest in Goldschmidt’s abuse has opened Kulongoski up to an investigation by the Oregon State Bar. And it made Kulongoski so defensive that he fled from an Oct. 16 news conference when a KGW reporter asked him about what he knew.

Despite an editorial Sunday in The Oregonian arguing “it’s time to move on” from what Kulongoski knew, that’s not going to happen (in part because of the O’s dogged pursuit of Giusto, whom the daily has decreed must resign).

Both Kantor and Kulongoski owe much to Goldschmidt.

Kulongoski was the 42-year-old golden boy of Oregon politics before a crushing loss to Republican Vic Atiyeh in the 1982 gubernatorial race. But Goldschmidt rescued Kulongoski from oblivion, naming him state insurance commissioner in 1987. Kulongoski parlayed that appointment into successful state runs for attorney general in 1992, Supreme Court in 1996 and governor in 2002.

Kantor was Goldschmidt’s spokesman for four years. After Goldschmidt left the governor’s office in 1990, Kantor worked for Portland General Electric and ran his own public-relations shop before joining NW Natural in 1996. Both utilities have a long history of hiring Goldschmidt acolytes. NW Natural CEO Dodson is married to Ruth Ann Dodson, who was a top Goldschmidt aide for two decades.

It’s ironic that Kantor—who admitted hearing a rumor that Goldschmidt might be guilty of statutory rape, but chose not to share the information—has gone unscathed by the unraveling of the Goldschmidt story, while Kulongoski suffers wounds from his claim that he never heard anything.

In other words, the possibility that Kulongoski is lying is hurting him more than the reality that Kantor heard about the rumor and took no action.

The governor holds a higher-profile position, which explains some of the dissonance.

But leading one of the state’s largest utilities puts Kantor in one of Oregon’s most prominent business roles. And NW Natural has traditionally been a conservative company, sensitive about its public reputation.

Kantor doesn’t see any link between his conversations with Leonhardt and his current post. “There’s no connection,” Kantor says.

One longtime politician says Kulongoski has handled the issue poorly.

“I truly think this is an issue of Ted’s own making,’’ says Jack Roberts, a Republican who headed the state Bureau of Labor and Industries from 1995 to 2003.

“Suppose, when Leonhardt had first come forward, Ted had simply said, ‘You know, there were so many rumors around Neil at that time that it is possible Fred talked to me about this, but frankly I don’t remember it ... If he had said that, I don’t think this story would have had any legs.”

Bill Lunch, chairman of Oregon State University’s political science department, says the fallout affected Kulongoski in the just-concluded campaign for Measures 49 and 50.

“I don’t think the governor has yet arrived at an answer for this situation that he’s comfortable giving publicly,” Lunch said Monday. “That has made him less visible on the current ballot measure campaigns.”

Kulongoski spokeswoman Patty Wentz says her boss is fully engaged. “It hasn’t reduced his effectiveness at all,” says Wentz, adding that Oregonians are tired of what is a essentially a rehash of old news.

“There are always going to be armchair analysts, but anyone who says the governor isn’t operating at full speed isn’t correct,” Wentz says. “It’s hard to make an argument that the Governor’s effectiveness is diminished when he’s raised $800,000 for Measure 50, $300,000 for Measure 49 and is leading the initiatives on health care reform, transportation, economic development, and tax reform.”

Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day) disagrees. “I think Oregonians are pretty well fed up with the idea that anybody—including the governor—gets a pass on this,” he says.