News Cylvia Hayes, the Bend green energy consultant and long-time girlfriend of former Gov. John Kitzhaber, issued a statement this afternoon concerning her role in a federal and state investigation into "potential contracting irregularities" at the Oregon Department of Energy. Memorandum To: Oregon Media Outlets From: Cylvia Hayes, CEO, 3E Strategies Date: September 24, 2010 On ...   More

News Former Gov. John Kitzhaber has issued a statement addressing some of the questions WW raised in this week's cover story about an unusual loan Kitzhaber and his then-wife Sharon obtained in 1999 when he was governor. Here's the statement released last night from Kitzhaber: (Portland, Oregon) – “This week's Willamette Week raises a question of whether or not I received a VIP home ...   More

News Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley is still struggling to articulate a message beyond lower taxes but that seems an attractive pitch for many of his supporters, as measured by recent campaign donations. As of today, all Oregon races enter a new reporting period for campaign contributions: candidates must report contributions within seven days of receipt from now until election day ...   More

News On Sept 23, the Democratic Party of Oregon held a news conference to publicize a letter that party chairwoman Meredith Wood Smith and others sent to the Oregon Department of Revenue asking for an investigation into whether Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley committed tax fraud when he claimed to be a Washington resident from 1994 to 1998. As WW and The Oregonian reported earlier, ...   More

News A candidates forum last night at Emmanuel Temple Church in Portland turned contentious when an audience member who was filming remarks by Democratic gubernatorial nominee John Kitzhaber was hit after refusing repeated requests to turn off his camera. The video shows Kitzhaber speaking at the forum (Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley was invited but did not attend) put on by the ...   More

News In response to WW's request for more information about a 1999 loan then-Gov. John Kitzhaber obtained from the stock brokerage firm Bidwell & Company, Kitzhaber this afternoon released three years worth of Internal Revenue Service form 1098s. Those forms [PDF] for tax years 2002, 2003 and 2004, show the amount of interest that Kitzhaber paid to Bidwell and Ameritrade, the brokerage firm that ...   More

News Before we start talking about the latest big money in Oregon's governor's race, let's look southward for just a moment. The California gubernatorial race between Republican Meg Whitman and Democrat Jerry Brown is setting all kinds of records. Whitman, eBay's former CEO, has now contributed $119 million of her own money to her campaign, which makes the combined $6 million that Oregon's two major ...   More

News Oregon GOP chairman Bob Tiernan asked Gov. Ted Kulongoski today to suspend Cylvia Hayes from the governor's Renewable Energy Working Group. Hayes, who is Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Kitzhaber's girlfriend, co-chairs the renewable energy group. And Tiernan complains in his letter to Kulongoski of a "double standard" because Hayes remains in the working group while the Oregon Department ...   More

News In the absence of other information, the Rasmussen poll released this morning is about all Oregonians have to go on in the governor's race. Like the earlier Rasmussen poll released two weeks ago, today's numbers show Republican Chris Dudley with a lead over Democrat John Kitzhaber, although the difference this time is 49 percent to 44 percent. That's slight enough that Rasmussen calls the race ...   More

News There's a lot we don't know after Thursday night's first—and perhaps only—Oregon gubernatorial debate: will Democrat John Kitzhaber's state-wide school weatherization plan actually work? Why did he obtain a sweetheart loan from a campaign contributor? What's changed since he left office in a huff seven years ago? What is Republican Chris Dudley's position on reproductive choice? ...   More