SALEM — Two years after John Kitzhaber’s scandal-plagued administration ended, the Democrat-controlled Oregon Legislature has largely decided against adopting sweeping ethics reforms.
Gov. Kate Brown, along with some current and former legislators, says it’s not for lack of trying.
Still, her pledges of new transparency on public records, a crackdown on financial conflicts and tighter public accountability remain mostly that — unfilled promises. And Oregon remains the only state without a process for impeaching its governor.
Brown and some lawmakers in both parties say they are chipping away at getting those fixes made.
There have been some isolated successes, and the governor says she is confident sweeping public records reform will get accomplished this year.
Brown, who became governor after Kitzhaber resigned and won reelection last fall to finish his term, said she has only so many tools to push legislation that fits her agenda: a bully pulpit, her relationships with lawmakers and talking tough – or as she terms it, “being clear with folks.”
“Just because I support something doesn’t necessarily mean I can get it through the Senate or the House,” she said. “I’m the governor, not the queen.”
Ethics bills backed by Brown in 2015 were largely piecemeal.
Many of the most-sweeping measures pushed by rank-and-file lawmakers ran into roadblocks in 2015 and 2016. That included legislation Brown says she supports, such as campaign finance reform and a measure creating an impeachment process in Oregon.
Interviews with Brown and legislators suggest those bills died for myriad reasons. Some say members of the Democratically controlled Senate have killed reforms. Others chalk it up to the enigmatic complexities of politics.
This year, Brown and other lawmakers have sponsored new reform legislation. But Sen. Chuck Riley, D-Hillsboro, the Senate ethics committee chairman, and some other top Democrats say Oregon’s ethics laws do not need an overhaul.
“We can always improve things,” said Senate Majority Leader Ginny Burdick, D-Portland. “But I don’t see a crying need for sweeping reforms (at) this time.”
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Brown made talk of ethics reform a staple during her early days in office.
She pledged in her first public speech as governor to forgo accepting speaking fees. She also said her family members and staff would not accept payment for any work relating to state business — both references to still unproven allegations that Cylvia Hayes, Kitzhaber’s fiancee, profited from her relationship to the then-governor. Hayes won a few lucrative consulting contracts and accepted speaking fees that critics charged were payments designed to curry favor with Kitzhaber.
Brown used her first inaugural address to suggest she’d steer ethics practices 180 degrees, in part via legislation. “We must seize this moment to work across party lines to restore the public’s trust,” she said, calling on lawmakers to pass “meaningful legislation” that expands the state ethics commission and ensures proper handling of public records.
“We should not leave here without getting this done,” she said.
Some of that did happen. In 2015, Brown pushed three ethics bills that passed with bipartisan support. One increased the number of members on the Oregon Government Ethics Commission and enacted stricter timelines for its investigations. Another clarified that the governor’s partner or spouse is indeed a public official and must disclose their financial holdings and interests. A ban on speaking fees also applied. The last called for an audit of state agencies’ handling of public records policy.
Auditors did review Oregon’s public records procedures and found them wanting. Routine records requests for a few pages of documents were generally handled well, auditors said. But complex requests for large quantities of data or documents often faced delays — sometimes taking a year or more.
Brown appointed a public records adviser and said her administration had worked to clear a backlog of public records requests. More than 400,000 pages of records have since been released, she said. Many were related to Kitzhaber.
Brown also signed an executive order telling state agencies to comply with a 2011 public records law mandating new procedures for handling public records. Michael Calcagno, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s Office, said that until last year, only a handful of the 70 state agencies under the governor’s purview had complied with that law. It required agencies to review and consolidate their rules for retaining records, including texts, emails and voicemails.
Brown’s order brought all the state agencies into compliance, he said. The Department of Administrative Services last week rolled out a standardized approach to determine the fees for fulfilling records requests.
The Legislature passed other Brown-backed ethics-related bills in 2016. One provided more protection for public employee whistleblowers. Another requires lobbyists to be more transparent about who they work for.
This year, the governor and Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum have said they will shepherd public records reform bills. Rosenblum’s bill would establish deadlines for public bodies when asked to release public records. Currently, public bodies must only release records “without unreasonable delay.” Brown’s bill would create an advocate position to mediate disputes over the release of records.
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As lawmakers passed initial ethics fixes in the wake of Kitzhaber’s resignation, the push for systemic reform appeared to fade within the Capitol. Brown’s inaugural and State of the State addresses from early on in her administration were frontloaded with promises of ethics reform. As other problems surfaced, however, Brown’s speeches last year included fewer mentions of government accountability. The state’s $1.8 billion budget deficit, along with a need for a massive spending package to upgrade the state’s crumbling infrastructure, took precedence.
Rep. Julie Parrish, R-West Linn, a supporter of wide-ranging ethics reform, said the ethics bills that passed in the wake of Kitzhaber’s resignation were merely “window dressings.” She worries that little will be accomplished this year.
“The momentum to do something has disappeared,” Parrish said. “But people got to go out and campaign like they did something.”
Does Brown see momentum receding? “Absolutely not,” she said. “Clearly I am going to be adamant about some of the legislation I’ve introduced.”
Brown said much of the last two years were spent cleaning up Kitzhaber’s mess and focusing on targeted reforms, like creating rules for the governor’s partner or spouse and passing laws to protect whistleblowers.
Now, she said, she hopes to focus on more systemic changes. Chief among these is her bill to create a public records advocate.
“I’m expecting that the Democratic-controlled Senate move forward on the public records advocate,” Brown said. “I’ve had this conversation with the Senate majority leader. We agreed not to move forward in 2016. It’s my expectation that we move forward in 2017.”
Legislators are also floating other ethics bills.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has proposed legislation to keep lawmakers from hand-picking their successors. House lawmakers are also considering changes that would make lobbyists disclose which bills they have attempted to influence.
Rep. Knute Buehler, R-Bend, who is seen as a likely gubernatorial challenger to Brown in 2018, has proposed legislation to ban so-called pay-to-play politics, where officials receive campaign donations from businesses that hold contracts with the state. Brown indicated she thinks Buehler’s bill is unconstitutional.
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Many of the most sweeping reform measures proposed in the wake of Kitzhaber’s resignation have died in committee. Others stalled in the Senate, in what Brown described as “a blockade.”
One bill, sponsored in 2015 by Rep. Val Hoyle, D-Eugene, and Rep. Jodi Hack, R-Salem, would have created a process for the Legislature to impeach Oregon’s governor and other elected executives. It passed the House with bipartisan support but stalled in the Senate.
Hack has refiled her bill to create an impeachment process. She said she’s looking for a Democratic co-sponsor. Brown said she supports Hack’s bill but has asked that she “refine her proposal.”
Burdick, the Senate majority leader, said she’s opposed to the idea because Oregon’s governor can be thrown out via a recall election.
“We have a process in place,” she said. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”
Asked about committee progress on Brown and Rosenblum’s public records bills, Riley, the Senate ethics committee chairman, said, “We’re working on sorting that out.”
“The governor’s role is suggestive,” he said, implying that lawmakers make the ultimate decision on policy.
Riley and Burdick questioned whether further ethics reforms are needed at all.
Kitzhaber’s resignation was “publicly damaging” for the Legislature, Riley said, but the allegations remain unproven, so there’s no need for wholesale reform. He said news media over-hyped the accusations against Kitzhaber.
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Parrish, the West Linn Republican, expressed frustration at seeing ethics bills pass the House, only to die in the Senate.
“We’ll take the vote in the House and make our folks look good, and it’ll die in the Senate,” she said. “It’s all very scripted.”
Burdick, the Senate Democratic leader, rejected that.
“It’s not scripted,” she said. “We’ve been around longer,” referencing the seniority held by many members of the state Senate.
Riley said bills also get passed in the Senate only to die in the House — but added that in his view, Senate members are “more deliberative” than their House counterparts. He also rebutted the notion that the Senate has been a sticking point for ethics bills.
“We haven’t blocked anything because we’re still working,” he said. “We want to make sure we get it right the first time.”
Whatever the reasons for lack of progress, Brown says she will press on.
“I think we’ve certainly moved the ball down the field,” she said.
— Gordon R. Friedman
gfriedman@oregonian.com; 503-221-8209
@GordonRFriedman
— Anna Marum
amarum@oregonian.com; 503-294-5911
@annamarum
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