I don't have a dog in this fight, but...

[Lamplighter]

The NY Times has seen fit to write an entire editorial about The Scooter.
Here is the gist, for those of you who are not just interested in $ and budgets...


NY Times (Editorial Board) 2/6/15
Gov. Walker’s ‘Drafting Error’

It was not enough for Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin suddenly to propose
a destructive 13 percent cut in state support for the University of Wisconsin’s widely respected system.
His biennial budget plan, released Tuesday, reached gratuitously into the university’s
hallowed 111-year-old mission statement to delete a bedrock principle:
“Basic to every purpose of the system is the search for truth.”

The budget — patently tailored for the governor’s conservative
campaign for the Republican presidential nomination
— inserted language that the university should be more narrowly concerned with meeting
“the state’s work force needs.”

Brazenly deleted as well from the mission statement, which is
nationally appreciated in education circles as the Wisconsin Idea,
were the far from controversial goals
“to educate people and improve the human condition” and “serve and stimulate society.”
It was as if a trade school agenda were substituted for the idea of a university.

But Mr. Walker badly miscalculated — <snip><snip><snip>

If nothing else, Mr. Walker is sharpening the debate within the Republican Party
about whether it can win despite its own extremists.

Besides all that: It looks as tho I do have a dog in this fight.


.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Well if the University can't turn out graduates who have the skills Koch Industries needs, we shouldn't be using public money to teach them. What good are public institutions if not to serve the ruling class?

Besides all that: It looks as tho I do have a dog in this fight.

You always have and always will, just like everyone else... but you knew that.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

...

You always have and always will, just like everyone else... but you knew that.

Not in the GOP primaries !

[xoxoxoBruce]

Sure you do, the outcome affects us all because some are more beatable than others.

[Lamplighter]

Well, I really do have a dog in the this next fight...

And let it be a warning to all who are in politics and live with their "fiance"...

John Kitzhaber controversy: Oregon attorney general launches criminal investigation

The Oregonian - 1/20/15

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum announced Monday that she has opened an investigation
into the allegations of public corruption against Gov. John Kitzhaber and Cylvia Hayes

Rosenblum announced the unprecedented criminal investigation nearly two hours after Kitzhaber
released a letter he sent asking her to open a "full and independent factual review."
Calls for a more rigorous investigation increased, however, after recent questions about
whether Hayes reported $118,000 in payments on tax returns, and after Kitzhaber deflected
questions at a contentious Jan. 30 news conference.
<snip>
Former Oregon Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer confirmed Monday that the
attorney general can - and must -- investigate any possible corruption.
"The fact that you represent an agency in its official capacity doesn't preclude you from investigating
individual wrongdoing," Frohnmayer said. "You represent the institution, not the person."
…

And besides all that:

"I would have thought it better to ask for an investigation by a special prosecutor from outside
the state or outside the political system," said Senate Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day.
"The question is only how does it look to have the Democrats investigating Democrats."

[glatt]

You would think that after the Virginia governor was found guilty for the same thing, all the other governors would perk right up and take notice and stop that shit. You can't even have the appearance of impropriety any more.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by glatt

You would think that after the Virginia governor was found guilty for the same thing,
all the other governors would perk right up and take notice and stop that shit.
You can't even have the appearance of impropriety any more.

I agree. But I'm betting our Governor will end up in a bed of roses, because legally they are not married.
So he could/would/might not have known or been responsible for her failure to declare her $118k income.

JK has been a good Governor, and he certainly seemed emotionally shaken during the earlier
press conference when he (first ?) learned of her IRS issues.
Also, this woman has already had revelations of 2 other questionable issues in her past.

But you can be sure the Republicans will throw a fit if JK comes out OK, in part because JK has been
a strong supporter of what came to be known as Obamacare.

[Happy Monkey]

And don't count on the Virginia governor doing time. It sounds like he's got a fan in the appeals court.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

Well, I really do have a dog in the this next fight...

And let it be a warning to all who are in politics and live with their "fiance"...

John Kitzhaber controversy: Oregon attorney general launches criminal investigation

The Oregonian - 1/20/15

Well, when you're in trouble you find out who are your friends. Today, the dam burst.

Although last night JK told the Press that he was not going to resign,
and the Press has not reported any specifics about possible "criminal activities, ...
almost every elected Democrat in the Oregon Legislature is calling for Kitzhaber to resign.

It has being reported that JK sent out an email telling State employees to delete
his "personal" emails from the State servers, and that the employees have refused to do so.

The Press is loving it, and saying: "It is only a matter of time"

Today is a tempest, maybe in a tea pot or maybe over the entire State of Oregon.

.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by glatt

You would think that after the Virginia governor was found guilty for the same thing, all the other governors would perk right up and take notice and stop that shit. You can't even have the appearance of impropriety any more.

Tell it to Cuomo. As governors they suffer from big fish little pond syndrome. They really expect to get away with stuff because they've always gotten away with stuff.

[Lamplighter]

Local news is reporting Governor Kitzhaber is resigning, effective Feb 18th.
Still nothing specific is being reported.

Next, we play a reverse musical chairs of office holders moving - up(?)

The (local) media is beginning a "self-evaluation" of how they reported these events.

ETA: John Kitzhaber has served 2 separate terms, the first was 1995-2003
During that time, the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility for women was built, and opened in 2001

Wouldn't it be ironic if it turns out that he is the one who built the future home of his "fiance", Cylvia Hayes

[Lamplighter]

I'm quite sad about all this.
I believe that my dog in this fight has turned out to be a bitch.

This is the first article I've seen that puts it all in perspective, and I don't disagree with much of anything in it.
But I have sniped out a lot of stuff that has been reported before about Kitzhaber, himself.

For me now, it's another instance of: "He knew, or he should have known..."

Oregon Gov. Kitzhaber + Cylvia Hayes: Political Valentine gone wrong?
Christian Science Monitor - Brad Knickerbocker, - February 14, 2015

ASHLAND, ORE. — In the end, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber stood alone in the harsh political spotlight.
In the end, he really had no option but to resign as an ethical scandal involving his fiancée Cylvia Hayes kept growing.

The essence of the scandal is that Ms. Hayes, in her unofficial capacity as first lady,
used her position as an advisor and confidante to the governor
– she had an office at the State Capital in Salem – for financial gain.
The state ethics commission had begun an inquiry, and state Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum,
a fellow-Democrat who had called the allegations against Kitzhaber
“very serious – and troubling,” launched a criminal investigation.
<snip>
Ms. Hayes is alleged to have used her position close to the governor
– they lived together and had been a couple for years –
to land clients for her environmental consulting business.
Emails show Hayes directed state employees how to implement a new policy
while she was being paid $25,000 by an advocacy group to promote it.
It was also reported that Hayes earned $118,000 over two years for a fellowship
with the Clean Economy Development Center, and that the money didn't match the earnings reported on her tax returns.
<snip>
The spotlight on financial issues also led to Hayes’s admitting to have accepted about $5,000 for
illegally marrying a young Ethiopian man seeking immigration benefits in the 1990s,
which she called "the biggest mistake of my life."
Later, she admitted to having purchased a remote property with the intent to grow marijuana.
…
Hayes was raised in rural poverty in Washington State,
for a time in a home without electricity or running water.
She ran away from home when she was 16, marrying for the first time at 17.
There was a point in her early life when she lived in her car and a tent on public land.
<snip>

Over the years, Oregon does seem to have had a distinctive brand of politics
– relaxed and progressive without being particularly partisan,
a place as comfortable with moderate Republican governors like Mark Hatfield
and Tom McCall as it is with incumbent Democratic US senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley.

Ironically, as Reid Wilson pointed out in the Washington Post this week,
Oregon is the least corrupt state in the nation, according to Justice Department data
showing that fewer public officials were convicted in Oregon over the last four decades than in any other state.

[orthodoc]

I heard this on the radio, driving home yesterday. Sad for the (soon to be former) governor; but at the same time, he had to have known what his fiancee was up to. Unfortunate for Oregon.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Ironically, as Reid Wilson pointed out in the Washington Post this week,
Oregon is the least corrupt state in the nation, according to Justice Department data
showing that fewer public officials were convicted in Oregon over the last four decades than in any other state.

Left out racist.

[Happy Monkey]

Least corrupt politicians, or most corrupt prosecutors?