Murmurs: One Kitzhaber Inquiry Ends, Another Resumes

In other news: A Portland whistleblower gets his job back.

John Kitzhaber (Leah Nash)

One Kitzhaber Inquiry Ends, Another Resumes

The Oregon Government Ethics Commission on Tuesday announced it will reopen its investigation of complaints against former Gov. John Kitzhaber and former first lady Cylvia Hayes. Oregon ethics laws prohibit public officials from using their positions for private gain. Whether Hayes did so and whether Kitzhaber benefited from her contracts were the subjects of ethics complaints filed against the pair in 2014. Oregon law requires that ethics probes be suspended if there's a criminal investigation on the same matter. The long-running federal investigation into alleged influence peddling in Kitzhaber's administration officially ended last week with U.S. Attorney for Oregon Billy Williams' announcement that he would not bring charges against either Kitzhaber or Hayes. The investigation began shortly after a WW cover story in October 2014 reported that Hayes was both serving as an official adviser to Kitzhaber on clean energy and economic development and seeking private consulting contracts on those topics. Hayes obtained contracts worth more than $225,000. Kitzhaber, 70, the longest-serving governor in state history, resigned Feb. 18, 2015. Last week, he blamed the media for his demise. "As I have said from the beginning," Kitzhaber said June 16, "I did not resign because I was guilty of any wrongdoing, but rather because the media frenzy around these questions kept me from being the effective leader I wanted and needed to be."

City Rehires Whistleblower Who Reported Hazing

The city of Portland's new investigation into allegations of violent hazing and mismanagement in the Portland Bureau of Transportation's maintenance department produced its first result this week. Russ Wilkinson, a PBOT employee, was fired just short of finishing his six-month probationary period after he cooperated in an earlier city investigation. On Monday, Wilkinson got his job back—although not in PBOT but in the Water Bureau. Brendan Finn, chief of staff to Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who oversees PBOT and ordered the investigation reopened in response to WW's story, confirmed Wilkinson's hiring. "I'm happy to be back working for the city again," Wilkinson says.

Court Official Cleared in ICE Escape

Judicial referee Monica Herranz of the Multnomah County Circuit Court has been cleared of wrongdoing in a state inquiry into the help she offered an undocumented immigrant who eluded arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Herranz was not aware the ICE agents outside her courtroom were specifically seeking Didier Pacheco Salazar when she allowed him to exit through a side door of her courtroom. "At no time did [the four ICE agents] have any contact with Judge Herranz or notify anyone that they were in the courthouse to detain Pacheco Salazar," Barbara Marcille, a court administrator, wrote in her investigative report, as first described in The Oregonian.
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