SALEM, Ore. -- Oregon's top Democrats urged Gov. John Kitzhaber to resign Thursday, saying he cannot lead the state effectively during a growing ethics scandal involving his fiancee, a renewable-energy consultant accused of using her relationship with the governor to land contracts for her business.
Senate President Peter Courtney said he and House Speaker Tina Kotek asked for Kitzhaber to step down.
"I finally said, 'This has got to stop,'" Courtney said after he and Kotek met with the governor. "I don't know what else to do right now. It seems to be escalating. It seems to be getting worse and worse."
The state treasurer also joined in the call for Kitzhaber, a Democrat, to step down.
"Unfortunately, the current situation has become untenable, and I cannot imagine any scenario by which things improve," said Treasurer Ted Wheeler, another Democrat. "Oregon deserves a governor who is fully focused on the duties of state."
Their statements came hours after Democratic Secretary of State Kate Brown said she had a "strange" and contradictory conversation with Kitzhaber about succeeding him as governor.
Brown said the governor had asked her to fly back to Oregon from a conference in Washington, D.C., but when she arrived, he asked why she had returned.
"This is clearly a bizarre and unprecedented situation," Brown said in a statement.
She said Kitzhaber told her he's not resigning, but then began a discussion about a transition. Brown would automatically become governor if Kitzhaber steps aside.
Kitzhaber told some of his aides that he was stepping down and summoned Brown from Washington, then changed his mind while she was traveling, according to three people with direct knowledge of the situation. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about private discussions.
Kitzhaber, a four-term governor who handily won re-election in November, issued a vague statement Wednesday explaining that he was not resigning.
Republicans already had called on him to leave office over the allegations involving his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, who has been under increasing scrutiny since October, when a series of reports chronicled her work for organizations with an interest in Oregon public policy. That work came about when she was serving as an unpaid adviser in the governor's office.
As the scrutiny grew, Hayes revealed that she accepted about $5,000 to illegally marry a foreigner seeking immigration benefits in the 1990s. Later, she acknowledged purchasing a remote property with the intent to illegally grow marijuana.
Kitzhaber has denied any wrongdoing, saying he and Hayes took steps to avoid conflicts of interest. The pressure on Kitzhaber intensified in recent weeks after newspapers raised questions about whether Hayes reported all her income on her tax returns.
Neither the governor nor Hayes has been charged with any wrongdoing, but earlier this month, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said she was starting a criminal investigation.
Late Thursday, Rosenblum ordered Hayes to release emails from private accounts that discuss state business after a public-records request was filed by The Oregonian. Hayes has seven days to comply or appeal.
Also Thursday, a spokesman for the Department of Administrative Services, which maintains the state email archives, confirmed a newspaper report that the governor's office had asked that Kitzhaber's personal emails be deleted from the archives.
Matt Shelby said the agency had discovered that Kitzhaber's personal emails were being mistakenly forwarded to the server and then informed Kitzhaber's office.
Shelby said the governor's office asked that personal emails be deleted from the server, and the agency said it could not do that. He said the governor's office is going through the emails to determine which are public records under Oregon law.
A Section on 02/13/2015