Democratic leaders tell John Kitzhaber: It's time to resign

[brooklynite]

Source: The Oregonian

Senate President Peter Courtney and House Majority Leader Tina Kotek met with Gov. John Kitzhaber on Thursday morning and told him it was time to resign.

At a 1 p.m. press conference to discuss the meeting, Courtney said the discussion with Kitzhaber was difficult.

"He was upset," Courtney said. "He was defiant. He was struggling."

"This thing is evolving by the second."

Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/02/democratic_leaders_tell_john_k.html#incart_maj-story-1

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I'm guessing he'll be out by Saturday.

[KamaAina]

1. What did he do?

And who's the Lt. Gov.?

[Bluenorthwest]

3. No Lt Gov, Sec of State Kate Brown would become governor....

She's great. Some background on the Kitz story
http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-23957-murmurs_what_john_kitzhaber_can_still_do.html

[KamaAina]

6. Oh, that.

I thought that was all a bunch of repuke hooey. To think, if the repukes had pushed it harder, and fielded a candidate who wasn't dipping into Rush's stash of Oxy, they might have won.

[marble falls]

12. I hope hope this doesn't sound GOPish but whatever it takes to gain good governance....

GOPish: Its OK to end run the voters, cause after all its only a game, right?

[hack89]

5. Here is a good summary

The governor is pretty clearly holding onto his career by a thread. As summarized over on GovBeat, first lady Cylvia Hayes was guiding state employees on the implementation of a new policy even as she was doing private consulting work for a group pushing the same policy. The story has taken several turns, most recently with the Oregonian, the state's largest newspaper, calling on Kitzhaber to resign. A recall effort has also been launched, as has a criminal investigation by the state attorney general. And tangentially, there's that whole matter from last year about Hayes having married an 18-year-old Ethiopian to secure a green card for him in exchange for $5,000. She neglected to inform the governor of this before the media unearthed it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/02/12/the-long-strange-and-dumbfounding-saga-of-oregon-gov-john-kitzhaber/

And the Secretary of State Kate Brown will take over - Oregon has no Lt Gov position.

[marble falls]

9. Jeez. Its criminally stupid, but how serious is this? The financial benifit from everything couldn't

be worth more than a quarter million. I hope he married for love. Do these two deserve each other?

[hack89]

11. When there is overwhelming public sentiment that you go then it is serious enough. nt

[marble falls]

13. Criminally stupid is not a quality I want in my Governor. In some ways, particularly if the US....

develops a viable third party, we ought to require a more parliamentary system where Governors and Presidents might have to call for votes of confidence to remain in power or to stay in office for a full term or to step down and call new elections. Proven incompetence ought to be a recall-able offense. But we would not want it easy to do what Grayson had done to him as Governor of California.

[marble falls]

2. Link to source?

[brooklynite]

4. Sorry - don't know why it didn't take

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/02/democratic_leaders_tell_john_k.html#incart_maj-story-1

[marble falls]

7. S'k! I couldn't get my search engine to find anything. I knew you'd fix it!

[TwilightGardener]

8. He seems to be behaving very erratically. Not good.

[brooklynite]

10. UPDATE: Kitzhaber ordered emails deleted

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141013218

[Shrike47]

14. As an Oregonian, I am tired of my governor being led around by his dick.