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February 16, 2015|10:47 am

Mired in scandal, the longtime Democrat governor of Oregon, John Kitzhaber, finally stepped down from office last week. Plenty of Democrat politicians become embroiled in scandals yet continue serving in office for many years, so what made this different? Kitzhaber took on a powerful government union and failed to implement an Obamacare exchange, the kiss of death for a Democrat. Powerful members of his own party failed to stand up for him in the end, as well as the state's formerly adulatory left-wing newspaper, The Oregonian, which called for his resignation.

The 67-year-old Kitzhaber's problems originated with his much younger fiance, environmental consultant Cylvia Hayes, age 47. Armed with a degree in "sustainability" from one of the most radical colleges in the nation, Washington's Evergreen State College, Hayes obtained several lucrative consulting positions thanks to her relationship with Kitzhaber. She then proceeded to intermingle her private consulting work with the state's official business, holding herself out as part of the administration to exert influence in her personal capacity. Kitzhaber gave her broad authority to direct senior administration officials, which she did without disclosing who her private clients were.

Bizarrely, she gave speeches and performed services as "Oregon's first lady," even though she has never married Kitzhaber. The Oregon Business Council paid for her to have a spokesperson, which cost $35,000 in 2013. At the same time, Kitzhaber promoted the council's business plan, the Oregon Business Plan. Hayes's efforts resulted in exhaustively pushing alternative fuels, sustainability, and padding her own pocket.

In 2009, her consulting firm bid for a contract with the Oregon Department of Energy and came in dead last. Yet a $60,000 contract was still awarded to the firm. The Oregon Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation and found that state officials had steered the contract.

Kitzhaber named Hayes to a seven-member team tasked with writing his 10-year energy plan. Contracts she received no doubt due to her prestigious position of influence included $118,000 from the Clean Economy Development Center and $25,000 from Rural Development Initiatives for a mere five months of work. In January, it came out that she had failed to report the $118,000 in income she'd received over two years from CEDC on her taxes. She brazenly used government staff to book personal trips, calendar private appointments, and she met clients for private business in Mahonia Hall.

At the same time she was being paid by the New York consulting firm Demos; she was helping the state develop a controversial alternative economic measure, the Genuine Progress Indicator. The GPI includes factors like carbon imprint and social justice when measuring economic growth, or GDP. Hayes scheduled meetings of the state's top officials, signing off as Oregon's first lady, although she only became engaged to Kitzhaber last summer. Kitzhaber told a state agency director "we need to find a way" to hire a man who worked with Hayes' advocacy group, Sean McGuire. Sure enough, McGuire was hired for $65,000 to help institute GPI in Oregon. Demos are a left-wing group that is a who's who on the left. Board members include Van Jones and a Director from the National Council of La Raza.

That is just the tip of the iceberg. Willamette Weekly has a comprehensive list of the quid pro quos between Hayes and her private clients, which include Waste to Energy Group, Redmond Municipal Airport, HDR Inc., a global warming project from Resource Media, and Energy Foundation.

ORS Chapter 244, the state's government ethics law, "prohibits public officials from engaging in conflicts of interest, from using their positions for private gain and from using public resources for personal benefit."

Hayes has an equally checkered past. She has admitted she married an Ethiopian immigrant in 1997 so he could stay in the U.S., in exchange for $5,000. That same year, she bought land with her current boyfriend in order to start a marijuana farm.

Excerpt from:
How to Force an Ethics-Plagued Democrat Governor to Finally Resign

Bucks Countys Democrat and Republican organizations are lining up candidates to maintain your criminal court record, process your marriage license, and, quite possibly, autopsy your corpse.

Last week, the parties announced their top choices in four elected positions register of wills, clerk of courts, treasurer and coroner.

The Democrats want Rocco Rocky Dotto III to investigate all sudden, unexplained and violent deaths. A former deputy coroner for Bucks County, Dotto now works as a licensed funeral director at James J. Dougherty Funeral Home in Middletown.

This has been my lifelong dream, said Dotto, who proposes educational outreach presentations by the coroner at local high schools.

The Republicans are sticking with incumbent coroner Joseph Campbell, a podiatric surgeon from Doylestown. Campbell is seeking a fifth term overseeing the county morgue and crime lab in Warminster.

Meanwhile, in Bristol, Robyn Trunell wants to process your last will and testament. The borough councilwoman is the Democrats choice for Bucks Countys next Register of Wills, a seemingly benign position that nonetheless attracts controversy.

Considered a quasi-judicial post, the elected register sometimes conducts legal hearings to manage estates when someone dies. The staff, meanwhile, handles adoptions and marriages in the county.

A corruption scandal rocked the office in 2012. The longtime director Barbara Reilly was convicted on allegations she rewarded county workers for staffing the polls on Election Day.

Reillys eventual replacement, Republican Don Petrille promised transparency, initiated new security protocols, but also, unwittingly, stepped into the debate over gay marriage two years ago.

Under state law, Petrille said he had no choice but to deny the marriage license request of a same-sex couple visiting his office in 2013. The couple sued and the resulting federal lawsuit overturned Pennsylvanias ban on gay unions.

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Candidates line up for coroner, clerk of courts, wills register

Democrat Delegation Returns From Trip to Cuba
A delegation led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi discussed a recent trip to Cuba to speak with government officials -- the first trip of its kind since...

By: Associated Press

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Democrat Delegation Returns From Trip to Cuba - Video

Justice Department officials wont say whether they may bring criminal charges against US Sen. Bob Menendez.

But according to numerous news sources, the New Jersey Democrat is the subject of an investigation into his relationship with a wealthy Florida eye doctor and political donor, including trips to the Dominican Republic on Dr. Salomon Melgens private aircraft and actions Sen. Menendez allegedly took regarding Medicare payments that would have benefited the ophthalmologist. Menendez also is said to have intervened regarding a port security business in the Dominican Republic in which Dr. Melgen had a financial interest.

At a news conference Friday, Menendez strong denied any wrongdoing.

"Let me be very clear, I have always conducted myself appropriately and in accordance with the law," he said. "Every action that I and my office have taken for the last 23 years that I have been privileged to be in the United States Congress has been based on pursuing the best policies for the people of New Jersey and this entire country."

Menendez wouldn't take questions, he said, "because there is an ongoing inquiry." But he portrayed his relationship with Melgen as a friendship that goes back years.

"We celebrated holidays together," he said at the news conference. "We have been there for family weddings and sad times like funerals and have given each other birthday, holiday and wedding presents just as friends do."

The two men also appeared together frequently at Democratic Party and Latino political functions from Washington to Miami. Melgen has contributed nearly $200,000 to Democratic Party candidates since 1998, including $14,200 to Menendez, the Associated Press reports. And in 2012, during Menendez's re-election campaign, Melgen gave $700,000 to a super political action committee that spent more than $580,000 to help Menendez.

The thread of that inquiry goes back several years.

In 2009 and 2012, Menendez intervened with top officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services the agency that oversees the Medicare program about a CMS ruling that Melgen had overbilled the Medicare program by nearly $9 million. Melgen has repaid those funds, Politico.com reports. FBI agents and investigators from the Department of Health and Human Services have searched the Florida ophthalmologists offices twice as part of the probe.

Meanwhile, Menendez has been required to pay thousands of dollars in reimbursement for the flights on Dr. Melgens aircraft.

Read the original:
Sen. Bob Menendez: Will corruption charges stick?

Updated: 03/06/2015 6:04 PM Created: 03/06/2015 4:07 PM WHEC.com

In Sunday's Democrat and Chronicle, an ongoing Unite Rochester Campaign special report focuses on a Rochester organization that is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

The special report focuses on the Urban League of Rochester and the impact it has made on hundreds of thousands of lives. For the majority of those years, the two men at the helm have been current President and CEO William Clark and Bill Johnson, who is being honored by the organization next week.

Janet Lomax spoke with Democrat and Chronicle reporter James Goodman about the report. You can see the full video by hitting play on the video player. And you can read the full report in the Democrat and Chronicle on Sunday.

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Unite Rochester: Urban League of Rochester celebrates 50 years