Kotek's costly nepotism play
The Oregon gov elevates her wife, causing an exodus of staff not named Kotek
Well, there I was last week, working on a piece about egg prices, when Willamette Week’s Nigel Jaquiss broke the news that Oregon Governor Tina Kotek lit her administration ablaze so her wife, Aimee Kotek Wilson, could take a more central role in it.
Three high-ranking officials - Chief of Staff Andrea Cooper, Special Advisor Abby Tibbs and Deputy Chief of Staff for Public Engagement Lindsey O’Brien - are leaving, according to Jaquiss, over their “disagreement with Kotek on the first lady’s level of involvement in the governor’s office.”
Oregon has a full-blown nepotism scandal on its already-pretty-full hands. Egg prices can wait ‘til later this week.
The Willamette Week scoop led to a cascade of revelations about Kotek-Wilson’s role in her wife’s administration to date. Kotek-Wilson has her own office in the Governor’s capitol suite. Kotek-Wilson has attended “several” of Kotek meetings on behavioral health initiatives including about Measure 110 “in light of [Kotek-Wilson’s] professional experience as a social worker,” according to Kotek’s spokeswoman, as reported by Willamette Week. “Behavioral health” is a term that describes a wide range of addiction and mental health issues.
Beginning today, a taxpayer-funded advisor will provide staff support specifically to Kotek-Wilson while developing a plan for a formal office of first spouse in the Governor’s office. Some states have a first spouse office; Oregon did not until now.
Waving goodbye to three high-ranking staffers to give your wife a larger role in state government is not an especially good look for Kotek. That’s probably why word of the upheaval came out the afternoon of the Friday preceding spring break for most families with kids in Oregon public schools.
Nonetheless, this is going to be a big problem for Kotek. In the midst of all the controversies and scandals that have plagued her first 14-and-a-half months in office, Kotek has mostly avoided the appearance that she has benefitted personally from her decisions. Sure, she took a bunch of campaign donations from an influence scheme posing as a cannabis company and fired the guy they wanted her to fire. But there’s been no allegation Kotek benefitted from that apparent transaction outside helping her become governor. Sure, the Democratic Party of Oregon secured $500,000 from a cryptocurrency money laundering outfit and spent it to help put Kotek over the top in a close governor race, but she didn’t receive any of that money, personally.
Before now, Kotek’s scandals fit within an image she brought from decades in the legislature: a brass-knuckle political operator who cares about winning over personal benefit. She, famously, drove an old Honda Accord even as she became the most powerful person in Oregon politics. One well-placed Democrat, no fan of Kotek’s, told me a year ago or so that Kotek is tough but, ultimately, ethical. She’s not in politics to benefit personally.
No longer. As of now, there is no evidence that either Kotek or Kotek-Wilson will benefit financially from Kotek-Wilson taking on a bigger role in the Governor’s office. But financial benefit is only one way public officials can benefit from their office. Another way they benefit personally is to use the power entrusted with them by voters to do things their family members want them to do. That’s called nepotism, and that’s exactly what Kotek is engaged in.
Simply put, if Kotek were not governor, Kotek-Wilson would not have an official position in the governor’s office. Her masters in social work would qualify her, presumably, to be a social worker, as it does the approximately 4,215 licensed social workers in Oregon. Her marriage to Kotek is all that separates her from everyone else with the same degree. Yes, personal relationships often lead to government positions, but rarely when the position holder has little to nothing on her resume to justify the appointment.
The real problem for Kotek, though, arises from the fact that her elevation of her wife appears to have caused her chief of staff and two other high-ranking advisors to resign. This means those staffers objected, strenuously, to the move, and Kotek did it anyway. Elevating her wife took precedence over the continued services of the people who have run her office for the last year-plus.
Kotek and Kotek-Wilson now share top billing on Oregon’s “meet the governor” page. Their biographies presented there each focus on their deep, abiding commitment to “equity.” Well, Kotek’s soon-to-be-former chief of staff Andrea Cooper is black. Kotek-Wilson is white. To the degree I understand what people mean by the term “equity,” I’m pretty sure that ain’t it.
Kotek used her public office to scratch a personal itch. Oh, and for what it’s worth, she sold her old Accord last June.
Great piece, Jeff...
Most of the corruption in the progressive machine is so abstract (and uncovered by the fading mainstream press) that the average mouth-breathing Oregonian can't fathom it...and, judging by votes on idiotic measures such as 110, they aren't interested. Too many sour beers on the menu.
This one has legs. It's simple, outrageous, more than slightly sex-creepy, and has happened to a governor who isn't well liked and has left too many political corpses bobbing in her wake. She's never held a real-world job and it's starting to show.
She should pray that Janelle Bynum gets elected to Congress. And that every woman on the progressive bench stays put...otherwise, it's primary-time.
One errant thought: I wonder what the vibe is in the WillyWeek newsroom: two hotshot killer-reporters (Jaquiss and Peel), each head-hunting. Interesting rivalry. Peel took down a Secretary of State; Nigel's got an even bigger target.
Plus they must be wincing over at the Oregonian, having to credit WillyWeek with the monster beat (something the O isn't very fastidious about). GuvTina is one of the Big Girls--and every major slot on the O's masthead is a woman of a certain age, along with the county chair and many others. This will be fun to watch...the sisterhood is getting stressed.
Just because Kotek drove an old car doesn't mean much.
Like all Oregon governors, she now has armed state troopers as drivers, but in Oregon it can be a crime (a misdemeanor called Official Misconduct) if an elected official's family financially benefits BECAUSE of their relationship. That is why "First Others" can be appointed to initiatives or commissions, so long as they do not get a state paycheck or get staff who are paid solely to assist someone who was never elected or hired by the government.
Does it happen in other states? Sure, but in Oregon we were supposed to be different, although as Jeff points out, the members of the party to which I have actively belonged for 45 years, has shown some recent spectacular mis-steps...or worse.