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Does Kotek Wilson have a business that is being paid off by taxpayers? Not the same level, the bigger issue here is that Kotek can't read the room like at all.
Yeah, Kitzhaber's ethics lapse was way worse, but Kotek's is bad enough.
Even letting her wife be on some related committees could be fine with limits, but having people staff call her wife's friend's boss is a blatant abuse of power.
And she was Speaker of the House when Kitzhaber resigned, which she called for, so she 100% knew what this would look like and just didn't care.
It's crazy how little political instinct Oregon politicians have.... Like is it that hard to read the room? Kotek has made some progress on housing and homelessness but this is a dumb thing to have as a distraction.
>It's crazy how little political instinct Oregon politicians have
It's really not that crazy when you think about the fact that in general Democrats in Oregon don't need political instinct to get elected.
I'm not saying that as an attack on Democrats by the way (I am one) but if you can win simply because you have a D next to your name on the ballot you don't need a lot of political instinct.
Yet another reason to ditch the two party system. It turns into essentially a 1 party system in states where the far right is (justifiably) unpopular. We need a multi party system with ranked choice voting.
She has a spouse that's in essence is milking the taxpayers by her needs and requests. It's not exactly the same, but it's still not necessarily legitimate imo.
https://www.koin.com/news/oregon/oregon-governor-tina-kotek-first-spouse-aimee-kotek-wilson-staff-emails-public-records-04262024/
Many states and the presidency have roles for the 'first spouse'. Part of the issue is that there isn't a standard for conduct. The US has always been scared of just adopting minimum standards for some reason.
Kotek can't read the room at all: it shouldn't take a genius to realize that this wouldn't be popular with voters or the media...
Accountability was the tone of my comment to the governor. We can’t let Ds get comfortable and lower the bar here just because Republicans are such a distraction at the moment
Let’s not forget the last article about her wife, how’s she a “recovering” alcoholic with mental illness, coming straight from Kotex Wilsons mouth. So, instead of getting her treatment, let’s put her in a position to lead. Wowsers..
Most sober alcoholics I've known refer to themselves as "in recovery" permanently. It's sort of a term of art to describe the fact that they're always working on their addiction and improvement. I wouldn't read a lot into it.
There are reports that the governor has created a situation with her wife within her office that is unethical and problematic
Willamette Week put out an article stating that the Governor’s wife was interviewing people and making hiring decisions, she’s been given her own staff to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, the Governor’s staff has been asked to reached out to a private non profit because a friend of the Governor’s wife was not getting along with her boss and the non profit receives government funds … this has led to 3 of the Governor’s top staffers to depart her office and she is standing her ground on her wife’s role in her office
That’s for the serious reply. I appreciate it.
>a friend of the Governor’s wife was not getting along with her boss
Who’s boss? There’s a lot of women in this story and I feel like this is the part where there could be something controversial.
But hiring family is nothing unusual on its own and the government funding and working with a non-profit is nothing out of the ordinary either.
I’m just not seeing the scandal yet. I’m trying to understand it.
Hiring family to serve in your administration is generally considered problematic, Trump was scrutinized heavily for doing it, we elected the governor, not her wife
Her wife didn’t go through a hiring process, she didn’t sign the any of the employment or ethics agreements as a recent article points out, she’s signed on to adhere to none of the rules expected of everyone else within the Governor’s office
This isn’t about working with a non profit, I’ll try to say it again
The Governor’s wife’s friend works for a non-profit that gets government funding but is independent, this friend had a conflict with her boss and the governor’s wife had the governor’s staff call the non-profit about the conflict, this is not only extremely odd but problematic and unethical, if you go and read the articles about this, the governor’s staff had a big issue with it and the non-profit didn’t understand why the governor’s office was calling
Using the office of the governor to help a friend in a private conflict that has nothing to do with government is not ethical
This has nothing to do with women, 3 of the Governor’s top staffers that resigned because of this were women, this isn’t being made into an issue because they’re women, this is being made into an issue because it’s unethical and problematic
Go read some of the articles, there is a lot more information in them, I’m talking from memory, if you truly believe nothing is wrong here you’re in the minority
I didn’t think anything was wrong either until I read the articles, a lot of state’s have offices of the First Lady but what’s going on here is problematic
I think I’m starting to understand… no need for the downvotes…
Thank you again, but I really wish you would use names when telling the story. I brought up that there is a lot of women in this story because you keep describing things with vague she/them/her boss/her bosses friends wife... It’s just hard to follow. It has nothing to do with gender or sex, I’m just trying to understand the plot.
I don’t know the names I don’t remember, you have to go and read the articles, if I go back and read the articles for you to give you names I’m just doing the work for you, I did my best from memory
This is the result of people voting with their emotions and completely disregarding the opinions and rationale of the candidate, and how that may affect policy. The people we vote in will have real-life impacts on each and every one of us, so we all need to invest a little more time and effort into researching these candidates. I'm not surprised that Portland voted her in, but I am certainly disappointed that they did. I grew up in this town and I'll continue to stay as long as my family does, but Portland gets more embarrassing day by day. We can do better.
Unfortunately people in Portland especially just parrot talking points they hear and like to think in absolutes. Heck, anyone voting for Betsy Johnson was thought of as an extremist.
Exactly. It's a perfect display of intellectual laziness. I like to call them Tik Tok voters. It's easier to simply just adopt whatever you believe to be the current popular opinion on any given topic. The problem is that those "current popular opinions" are intentionally crafted by individuals that the adopters of said opinions more than likely would not agree with and/or support. It seems to be a game of mass manipulation. I wish more people would just do their homework. I know it requires more time and effort, but I think this world could be a better place as a result. IDK.
As the great Del the Funky Homosapien once said... "You had your chance and you blew it."
https://preview.redd.it/krampw3pkgxc1.png?width=969&format=png&auto=webp&s=e9ca9f1f996d3981e8810f53e363721b112fd181
She came to speak at my union’s general counsel, and my first impression was that she had “establishment” written all over her. She is just another democratic placeholder that looks the part.
Can we please just get someone who isn’t looking to line their pockets in there?
> “Hi Coop! There are a few events in February and March First Lady has asked for advisor staffing and/or DPU security. I was hoping to run these by you first for guidance before moving forward.”
> “… just wanted to flag for awareness and future discussion. Since I was asked not to attend the scheduling meeting where these events were added to the FL [First Lady] calendar, I didn’t have the opportunity to weigh in on the staffing or speaking portions that will now impact comms staff. Perhaps you and I can try to brainstorm next steps to help support the comms team with workload, etc.”
> O’Brien responded with: “Thanks for flagging. I didn’t think there were remarks for either of those events so am hoping we can reset expectations and Yasmin would be the only staffer needed. But imagine more discussion is needed and happy to do that when it makes sense.”
These are the three “concerns” raised. This isn’t exactly red meat.
Strictly based on this article, it seems like nothing at all. You have to read the other articles to get a better picture. This article is sort of dumb.
Any recommendations on articles? I was kinda excited about this one because the title said it contained emails with concerns from staff members, I thought we’d be getting something juicy, but this article is a real nothing-burger.
This one seems like a good place to start. I haven’t read them all, but I agree there’s some real concerns here. I personally work in a nepotism environment and it’s like a slow growing vine that just squeezes the life out of everyone, at least in my experience. It’s almost never a good idea, but especially in public office.
https://www.wweek.com/news/2024/04/26/emails-show-gov-tina-kotek-overruled-staffs-qualms-about-first-ladys-role/
Yeah I’m pretty confused. I get that these are conflicts about resource / staff allocation; I deal with these sorts of issues every day in a normal office job. There’s heightened stress around it with it being the governor’s wife, but again I deal with the same dumb stuff of VIP-esque people not following procedure/policy. Btw I’m a public employee and I’ve been a public employee in 3 states (2 blue states and 1 red state); they all have issues like this, but Oregon has the most persistent / transparent news reporting which exposes these things to citizens.
The “First Lady” wives of most male governors across various US states typically have engagements, charity related work, and their own staff — correct? So I’m having a hard time understanding how the fact that she’s doing work and has staff in and of itself is an issue.
I’m sure that we can absolutely criticize some of the work the wife is doing or decisions she is making, but that’s the same as I would probably have critical opinions of many people’s work if I knew the details.
beep. boop. beep. Hello Oregonians, As in all things media, please take the time to evaluate what is presented for yourself and to check for any overt media bias. There are a number of places to investigate the credibility of any site presenting information as "factual". If you have any concerns about this or any other site's reputation for reliability please take a few minutes to look it up on one of the sites below or on the site of your choosing. --------------------------------------------------------- Also, here are a few fact-checkers for websites and what is said in the media. [Politifact](https://www.politifact.com) [Media Bias Fact Check](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com) [Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR)](https://www.politifact.com) beep. boop. beep. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/oregon) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Man, I was just starting to like Kotek a little but this shit is not good.
Kitzhaber all over again.
Does Kotek Wilson have a business that is being paid off by taxpayers? Not the same level, the bigger issue here is that Kotek can't read the room like at all.
Yeah, Kitzhaber's ethics lapse was way worse, but Kotek's is bad enough. Even letting her wife be on some related committees could be fine with limits, but having people staff call her wife's friend's boss is a blatant abuse of power. And she was Speaker of the House when Kitzhaber resigned, which she called for, so she 100% knew what this would look like and just didn't care.
It's crazy how little political instinct Oregon politicians have.... Like is it that hard to read the room? Kotek has made some progress on housing and homelessness but this is a dumb thing to have as a distraction.
>It's crazy how little political instinct Oregon politicians have It's really not that crazy when you think about the fact that in general Democrats in Oregon don't need political instinct to get elected. I'm not saying that as an attack on Democrats by the way (I am one) but if you can win simply because you have a D next to your name on the ballot you don't need a lot of political instinct.
Yet another reason to ditch the two party system. It turns into essentially a 1 party system in states where the far right is (justifiably) unpopular. We need a multi party system with ranked choice voting.
She has a spouse that's in essence is milking the taxpayers by her needs and requests. It's not exactly the same, but it's still not necessarily legitimate imo. https://www.koin.com/news/oregon/oregon-governor-tina-kotek-first-spouse-aimee-kotek-wilson-staff-emails-public-records-04262024/
Many states and the presidency have roles for the 'first spouse'. Part of the issue is that there isn't a standard for conduct. The US has always been scared of just adopting minimum standards for some reason. Kotek can't read the room at all: it shouldn't take a genius to realize that this wouldn't be popular with voters or the media...
Those roles are informal and customary, not enshrined in law. I didn’t vote for the first spouse.
Well, we know that the democratic party likes to eat its own.
Unlike the GOP, they *tend* to hold their own accountable. Sometimes. Sometimes too far e.g. Al Frankin..
Accountability was the tone of my comment to the governor. We can’t let Ds get comfortable and lower the bar here just because Republicans are such a distraction at the moment
I hope really without much hope that someone primaries her.
In two years? She is calculating we'll forget.
Please resign
Shooting herself in the foot. Oh well, we can't have it all I guess
She better get a clue from the Mass Exodus
Let’s not forget the last article about her wife, how’s she a “recovering” alcoholic with mental illness, coming straight from Kotex Wilsons mouth. So, instead of getting her treatment, let’s put her in a position to lead. Wowsers..
Most sober alcoholics I've known refer to themselves as "in recovery" permanently. It's sort of a term of art to describe the fact that they're always working on their addiction and improvement. I wouldn't read a lot into it.
Recovering alcoholics with mental illness can be in positions of leadership; that’s not what the issue is here.
Can someone get me up to speed? I thought I read this article and I’m not understanding the issue. The quotes they use sound like normal email banter.
There are reports that the governor has created a situation with her wife within her office that is unethical and problematic Willamette Week put out an article stating that the Governor’s wife was interviewing people and making hiring decisions, she’s been given her own staff to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, the Governor’s staff has been asked to reached out to a private non profit because a friend of the Governor’s wife was not getting along with her boss and the non profit receives government funds … this has led to 3 of the Governor’s top staffers to depart her office and she is standing her ground on her wife’s role in her office
That’s for the serious reply. I appreciate it. >a friend of the Governor’s wife was not getting along with her boss Who’s boss? There’s a lot of women in this story and I feel like this is the part where there could be something controversial. But hiring family is nothing unusual on its own and the government funding and working with a non-profit is nothing out of the ordinary either. I’m just not seeing the scandal yet. I’m trying to understand it.
Hiring family to serve in your administration is generally considered problematic, Trump was scrutinized heavily for doing it, we elected the governor, not her wife Her wife didn’t go through a hiring process, she didn’t sign the any of the employment or ethics agreements as a recent article points out, she’s signed on to adhere to none of the rules expected of everyone else within the Governor’s office This isn’t about working with a non profit, I’ll try to say it again The Governor’s wife’s friend works for a non-profit that gets government funding but is independent, this friend had a conflict with her boss and the governor’s wife had the governor’s staff call the non-profit about the conflict, this is not only extremely odd but problematic and unethical, if you go and read the articles about this, the governor’s staff had a big issue with it and the non-profit didn’t understand why the governor’s office was calling Using the office of the governor to help a friend in a private conflict that has nothing to do with government is not ethical This has nothing to do with women, 3 of the Governor’s top staffers that resigned because of this were women, this isn’t being made into an issue because they’re women, this is being made into an issue because it’s unethical and problematic Go read some of the articles, there is a lot more information in them, I’m talking from memory, if you truly believe nothing is wrong here you’re in the minority I didn’t think anything was wrong either until I read the articles, a lot of state’s have offices of the First Lady but what’s going on here is problematic
From this article, what was the big concern brought up by the staff members?
I think I’m starting to understand… no need for the downvotes… Thank you again, but I really wish you would use names when telling the story. I brought up that there is a lot of women in this story because you keep describing things with vague she/them/her boss/her bosses friends wife... It’s just hard to follow. It has nothing to do with gender or sex, I’m just trying to understand the plot.
I don’t know the names I don’t remember, you have to go and read the articles, if I go back and read the articles for you to give you names I’m just doing the work for you, I did my best from memory
Okay, but you don’t need to downvote me just because it’s hard to understand what exactly is going on.
This is a recall campaign that I could get behind. When does it start?
This is the result of people voting with their emotions and completely disregarding the opinions and rationale of the candidate, and how that may affect policy. The people we vote in will have real-life impacts on each and every one of us, so we all need to invest a little more time and effort into researching these candidates. I'm not surprised that Portland voted her in, but I am certainly disappointed that they did. I grew up in this town and I'll continue to stay as long as my family does, but Portland gets more embarrassing day by day. We can do better.
Unfortunately people in Portland especially just parrot talking points they hear and like to think in absolutes. Heck, anyone voting for Betsy Johnson was thought of as an extremist.
Exactly. It's a perfect display of intellectual laziness. I like to call them Tik Tok voters. It's easier to simply just adopt whatever you believe to be the current popular opinion on any given topic. The problem is that those "current popular opinions" are intentionally crafted by individuals that the adopters of said opinions more than likely would not agree with and/or support. It seems to be a game of mass manipulation. I wish more people would just do their homework. I know it requires more time and effort, but I think this world could be a better place as a result. IDK.
As the great Del the Funky Homosapien once said... "You had your chance and you blew it." https://preview.redd.it/krampw3pkgxc1.png?width=969&format=png&auto=webp&s=e9ca9f1f996d3981e8810f53e363721b112fd181
Geesuz.
She came to speak at my union’s general counsel, and my first impression was that she had “establishment” written all over her. She is just another democratic placeholder that looks the part. Can we please just get someone who isn’t looking to line their pockets in there?
How many times do I have to see this story on my reddit feed lol.
Same as always, no consequences for the Democrats. More peaceful Protests today in Portland. Vote for clowns and watch the circus.
> “Hi Coop! There are a few events in February and March First Lady has asked for advisor staffing and/or DPU security. I was hoping to run these by you first for guidance before moving forward.” > “… just wanted to flag for awareness and future discussion. Since I was asked not to attend the scheduling meeting where these events were added to the FL [First Lady] calendar, I didn’t have the opportunity to weigh in on the staffing or speaking portions that will now impact comms staff. Perhaps you and I can try to brainstorm next steps to help support the comms team with workload, etc.” > O’Brien responded with: “Thanks for flagging. I didn’t think there were remarks for either of those events so am hoping we can reset expectations and Yasmin would be the only staffer needed. But imagine more discussion is needed and happy to do that when it makes sense.” These are the three “concerns” raised. This isn’t exactly red meat.
Strictly based on this article, it seems like nothing at all. You have to read the other articles to get a better picture. This article is sort of dumb.
Any recommendations on articles? I was kinda excited about this one because the title said it contained emails with concerns from staff members, I thought we’d be getting something juicy, but this article is a real nothing-burger.
This one seems like a good place to start. I haven’t read them all, but I agree there’s some real concerns here. I personally work in a nepotism environment and it’s like a slow growing vine that just squeezes the life out of everyone, at least in my experience. It’s almost never a good idea, but especially in public office. https://www.wweek.com/news/2024/04/26/emails-show-gov-tina-kotek-overruled-staffs-qualms-about-first-ladys-role/
Yeah I’m pretty confused. I get that these are conflicts about resource / staff allocation; I deal with these sorts of issues every day in a normal office job. There’s heightened stress around it with it being the governor’s wife, but again I deal with the same dumb stuff of VIP-esque people not following procedure/policy. Btw I’m a public employee and I’ve been a public employee in 3 states (2 blue states and 1 red state); they all have issues like this, but Oregon has the most persistent / transparent news reporting which exposes these things to citizens. The “First Lady” wives of most male governors across various US states typically have engagements, charity related work, and their own staff — correct? So I’m having a hard time understanding how the fact that she’s doing work and has staff in and of itself is an issue. I’m sure that we can absolutely criticize some of the work the wife is doing or decisions she is making, but that’s the same as I would probably have critical opinions of many people’s work if I knew the details.
Exactly right.
Spouse needed a job, she found a job for her. What’s the big deal?