21 memorable Oregon political scandals you have probably forgotten (or never knew about)

Oregon has become famous for its political scandals. Popular governors (Neil Goldschmidt, John Kitzhaber), a powerful senator (Bob Packwood) and a Portland mayor (Sam Adams) have all faced public disgrace in recent years. But these well-known recent shocks are far from the only ones the state has endured. There have been dozens of other scandals down through the decades. With the Legislature abandoning efforts at sweeping ethics reforms, and with former Gov. Kitzhaber returning to the public eye last week, it's time to look back at some of the lesser known political scandals that helped make Oregon what it is today.

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Library of Congress

John H. Mitchell's wild public life

This charismatic 19th-century politician stole money from his Pennsylvania law practice and abandoned his wife and children. Landing in Oregon, Mitchell took on an alias, married the daughter of a powerful businessman and, allegedly thanks to bribery, became a U.S. senator. After years of skating through various inquiries into his dubious behavior -- including his affair with his new wife's sister -- he was finally tripped up. In 1905, at 70, he was found guilty of bribery in a land-fraud scandal that roiled the state. The eastern Oregon town of Mitchell, population 130, is named after him.

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The Oregonian

The petition scandal

Early in the 20th century, Oregon political operator Joseph Gorman became known as "one of the worst offenders in the padding of petitions" for referendums and initiatives. In 1911, police arrested him for producing fraudulent petitions for a referendum on state university appropriations. Evidence came from the famed Burns Detective Agency, though it wasn't made known who had hired the private eyes. An Oregon judge declared "the scandalous conditions" of Gorman's petitions, with the addresses of many signatories turning out to be warehouses and empty lots. This followed a grand jury's quizzing of a Portland councilman about "irregularities" with the circulation of his initiative petition for a competitive paving charter.

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The scarlet fever scandal

Most of Oregon’s political scandals have involved sexual peccadilloes or money-grubbing. But in 1913, the issue was professional competence. The state board of health fired Clackamas County health officer Dr. J.W. Norris, charging him with “failure properly to discharge the duties of his office at the time of the fever epidemic.” The “Scarlet Fever Scandal” saw 19 cases of the disease in Oregon City, including two deaths. Norris was found to have allowed residents to visit houses under quarantine, among other transgressions. Norris would rehabilitate his reputation in the years that followed and even return to the health-department job.

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One of "Osborne's" victims

The prison parole scandal

Oregonians in 1918 closely followed an investigation into allegations that convicts were buying paroles from corrupt Oregon prison officials. This scandal in the out-of-the-way, little western state soon crashed headlines across the country when H.M. Hudson, the “marrying swindler,” became caught up in it. Hudson might have bought his parole from the state prison, following his conviction for stealing money, jewelry and other items from Oregon women he had seduced. Hudson, a.k.a. Charles Wax and Oliver Osborne, had gained national infamy for impersonating the former district attorney of New York. One Oregon state penitentiary guard was eventually charged with selling paroles for $150-$250 each.

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The bridge scandal

The Oregonian called it the “sad bridge muddle.” Voters recalled three county commissioners in 1924 for "gross irregularities" in the awarding of construction contracts for the Burnside and Ross Island bridges. (The winning bid for the Burnside Bridge was more than $500,000 higher than the runner-up's, a huge amount in the 1920s.) A former governor led the recall movement, which easily gained popular support. All three recalled commissioners reportedly were supported by the Ku Klux Klan, and the scandal undercut the Klan’s influence in the region’s politics.

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Mayor George Baker

The George Baker recall attempt

In 1932, a shadowy group of businessmen known as the Committee of 50 sought to recall longtime Portland Mayor George Baker and city commissioners Earl Riley and John Mann. But the bribery allegations that underpinned the recall effort were widely viewed as purely political. The effort to oust Baker, The Oregonian wrote, was met by a “mass of tribute voluntarily paid Portland’s popular leader since he became the political target of the nebulous ‘Committee of 50.’” Columnist Cass Baer Hicks mocked a petitioner seeking signatures as “rat-faced,” with eyes darting “as if he expected to be kicked at any given moment.” Prominent business groups backed the politicians, with one calling the recall push “a racketeering effort to control the municipal government.” Baker, Riley and Mann all successfully fought the accusations and recall movement.

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Mike Elliott's campaign lies

Republicans opposed to the new Democratic Multnomah County sheriff declared in July of 1949 that it had been their opinion that the Multnomah County sheriff “was not qualified to hold his elected position at the time of his election last fall. His six months in office have confirmed our original opinion.” Elliott’s own party came to his defense, but grudgingly. “I’ve been in politics long enough to know that if you look in the closets on both sides, you’ll find a good many skeletons,” Democratic state representative William Robinson said. The transgression that Elliott ultimately couldn’t overcome: that he’d lied about his military and educational background during the campaign. A recall effort quickly gained steam, and he was replaced by fire captain and rising political star Terry Schrunk.

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Jake Bennett's insults

The campaign to recall Portland City Commissioner Jake Bennett in 1952 offered a laundry list of reasons for his removal, including: “Character assassination of all who do not agree with [him]; continuous discourteous, abusive, uncouth, insulting attacks upon public officials; openly expressed hatred for certain lawful business operations; assertions that Oregon courts are corrupt; ... [and] the accusation that members of the council who do not vote with him have been ‘bought off.’” Voters weren’t hard to convince: KGW Radio broadcast council sessions that showcased various Bennett outbursts. Voters booted him from the council and scoffed at his simultaneous attempt to win election as the city’s chief executive, giving him only 5 percent of the mayoral vote.

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The Oregonian

Terry Schrunk's alleged lie

In 1957, the U.S. Senate’s McClellan Committee, which was investigating racketeering, zeroed in on Schrunk, Portland’s popular new mayor, and the city’s longtime crime boss, Jim Elkins. (The year before, The Oregonian had used information from Elkins to uncover the efforts of corrupt Teamsters to take over vice operations in Portland.) Schrunk ended up facing a perjury charge related to accusations that he had taken a bribe from one of Elkins’ men when he was Multnomah County sheriff. The mayor took a lie-detector test to prove his innocence, failed it, but was eventually acquitted by a jury. The World War II hero and former firefighter served as Portland’s top dog until 1973. He was succeeded as mayor by Neil Goldschmidt, who years later would see his reputation obliterated by a sex-abuse scandal.

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The Oregonian

UO athletics and bogus credits

In 1979, Oregon football coach Rich Brooks led the Ducks to their first winning season in nearly a decade. But the huzzahs were soon silenced by a “bogus academic credits” scandal involving some of the team’s players. In December, Brooks offered his resignation to university president William Boyd, who refused to accept it. In Feb. 1980, The Oregonian editorial board concluded that Boyd’s ultimate response to the scandal -- fining Brooks and other coaches a total of $9,000 -- sent the wrong message. The board wrote: “That individuals get caught up, during the heat of competition, by morals-blinding passions to accomplish a mission does not make wrongdoing less wrong.”

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The Oregonian

Oregon's gambling scandalette

In the early 1980s, legal gambling options in Oregon were severely limited. Bingo games were OK, for example, but only if run by non-profit, charitable or religious organizations. “Social gambling” also was allowed. Not surprisingly, shady operators found plenty of ways to take advantage of the laws. In 1983, Oregon Secretary of State Norma Paulus declared that efforts to expand legal gambling in the state were “deader than a mackerel” after a series of troubling incidents, including the arrest of officials at the Church of Conceptual Truth on gambling charges, the murder of a pit boss at an Independence gambling house and the “gangland-style” shooting of two card dealers. Paulus dismissed the brewing scandal over supposedly out-of-control gambling in the state, saying: “In Oregon we don’t have scandals; we have scandalettes.” The gambling landscape soon radically changed, first with the establishment of the Oregon Lottery in 1985 and then with the U.S. Congress’ Indian Gaming Regulatory Act three years later.

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The Oregonian

Mark Hatfield's lapses

The longtime senator was an Oregon legend in his own time, "widely recognized for his principled and often controversial stands on many issues," writes The Oregon Encyclopedia. Which was why Oregonians were so shocked to learn that in the early 1980s Hatfield's wife accepted $55,000 from a businessman who was seeking to gain the senator's support for the construction of a trans-Africa oil pipeline. When the payment became publicly known, Hatfield apologized and donated the money to charity. A few years later, it was revealed that Hatfield also took $42,000 in gifts from lobbyists and others desiring his favor.

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Wes Cooley's campaign lies

The combative Republican rancher and businessman saw his political career derailed in the mid-1990s over his mischaracterization of his military and educational record and questions about why his wife continued to receive federal widow’s benefits after they married. “I know that my decision will be greeted with a morbid delight by some,” he said when he abandoned his 1996 reelection effort. He was subsequently convicted of a felony for making a false statement in an official election document. “It shouldn't have taken this long to get to the bottom of Wes Cooley,” Oregonian columnist Steve Duin wrote. “The guy's not that deep. He's a careless liar, not a particularly inventive one.” After his conviction, Cooley ran for his House seat again in 1998, losing in the primary to Greg Walden. He then tried to get on the November ballot as the Reform Party candidate. He later pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return and was sentenced to a year in prison.

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The Oregonian

Stan Bunn's ethics

“Few political careers in the state have clattered off course as dramatically as Bunn's,” The Oregonian wrote in 2002. “Endorsed by newspapers for years as one of Oregon's most thoughtful and decent public officials, the state ethics commission in January found Bunn guilty of 1,433 ethics violations, mostly for using a state car for commuting and personal trips, and making personal calls to friends, business associates and family on state phones.” The schools chief and former head of the state’s ethics commission eventually agreed to pay $25,000 to avoid trial but insisted he was the victim of conflicting state policies. He lost his 2002 re-election bid and retired from politics.

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The Oregonian

Dan Doyle's financial shenanigans

In 2005, the Republican state representative responded to allegations of campaign-finance irregularities by ... disappearing. He was nowhere to be found for a week before finally resurfacing to hand in his resignation. Doyle, one of the chief budget writers in the Legislature, eventually pleaded guilty to 11 felony counts of falsifying campaign-finance reports. He acknowledged that he used $145,000 in campaign contributions for living expenses. He said he worked such long hours in the Legislature that his law practice suffered, forcing him to dip into campaign funds to stay afloat. His wife Victoria pleaded guilty to filing a false campaign report. At Doyle’s sentencing, Marion County Circuit Judge Terry Leggert said the case only further coarsened public attitudes. “The black mark of this case,” he said, “spreads to all of the other people [in government] who are trying to do the right thing.”

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The Oregonian

The Nazi shrine scandal

Portland Police officer Mark Kruger nailed "memorial plaques" dedicated to five World War II Nazi soldiers to a tree in Rocky Butte Park sometime between 1999 and 2001. He called the shrine an "Honor Tree." He took the plaques down a few years later when he was facing federal lawsuits alleging he had used excessive force on the job, but news of the shrine was already out. He was suspended without pay for 80 hours and wrote a public letter of apology. He insisted he did not admire the Nazis and didn't know that one of the soldiers he included in the shrine was involved in war crimes. This, however, was not the end of it. Kruger later accused a top Portland cop of slandering him, and in 2014 the city of Portland agreed to pay Kruger $5,000 and remove the shrine incident and another incident from his personnel record.

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The Oregonian

The Mean Girls

They started as allies in the early 2000s: Multnomah County Chair Diane Linn and fellow commissioners Serena Cruz Walsh, Lisa Naito and Maria Rojo de Steffey. Then they decided to secretly hatch a plan to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the county, a move that ended up helping a successful drive for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in the state. Linn unilaterally apologized for the hidden decision-making on the issue, angering the other three commissioners. Cruz Walsh, Naito and Rojo de Steffey joined together to make life miserable for Linn, blocking her initiatives and favorite projects. The county board -- soon dubbed the "Mean Girls" -- devolved into dysfunction. Linn's 2006 re-election effort flopped -- she lost to Ted Wheeler by 46 percentage points.

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McCoy

The parking-meter scandal

Cale Parking Systems began bribing Portland parking manager Ellis K. McCoy in 2004 to secure the city of Portland's business. A Cale internal email declared that McCoy's "airtight" process would ensure the company won the city contract for parking meters. Sure enough, in 2006 the city awarded a $1.6 million contract to Cale. The contract later would be increased to $20 million. The Oregonian reported that a Cale executive "promised to pay McCoy $100 per meter after McCoy retires but didn't follow through because federal investigators unraveled the scheme." McCoy pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and other charges in 2012. Three years later, Cale founder George Levey pleaded guilty to wire fraud in the bribery scheme.

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The Oregonian

David Wu's behavior

In 2004, the Democratic congressman faced sexual-misconduct allegations stemming from his college days at Stanford in the 1970s. He won re-election anyway. Six years later, while Wu was campaigning for another term, a “distraught” young woman called his Portland office and accused him of aggressive and unwanted sexual contact with her. Even before the new allegation, Wu had reportedly been acting strangely. “[H]e behaved so erratically,” The Oregonian reported, “that staff avoided scheduling him for public appearances and ran a campaign that relied heavily on advertising.” Soon, Oregon’s U.S. senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, called on him to resign, and he did so. Wu said: “This is the right decision for my family, the institution of the House, and my colleagues.”

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Jeff Cogen's affair

The Multnomah County chairman's political career blew up in 2013 when it was revealed that the married politico was having an affair with county health-department manager Sonia Manhas and may have used taxpayer money to facilitate personal meetings with her. Manhas would tell investigators looking into the allegations that Cogen "used cocaine, frequently smoked marijuana and had at least one other extramarital affair while he was an elected official," The Oregonian reported. Cogen held onto his position for a while despite a no-confidence vote from fellow commissioners but finally resigned. Cleared of official wrongdoing, he went on to work for Democracy Resources, KOREducators and Impact NW.

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The Oregonian

Amanda Marshall's relationship

The married U.S. attorney for Oregon had an "intimate and personal" relationship with a prosecutor on her staff and later harassed him through emails and texts, leading to her resignation in 2015. The U.S. Department of Justice's Inspector General found that she had violated sexual-harassment laws and lied to investigators, The Oregonian reported. "By engaging in that affair, I failed the United States Government, my fellow Oregonians, and most of all, my family," Marshall said in a statement. "I am deeply sorry and will spend the rest of my life trying to make amends."

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The Oregonian

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What exactly was the Kitzhaber scandal all about? In 2015, Time magazine cheekily insisted it could explain all of the scandal's ins and outs with six "Portlandia" sketches.

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