Oregon GOP Chair Asks “Is this the Governor’s Idea of Cleaning House?”
Wilsonville, OR – More disturbing details continue to emerge regarding Democrat Governor Kate Brown’s egregious lack of transparency in dealing with the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Director’s shocking plans to publicly vilify a Portland-based healthcare provider using public resources. Not only did Brown refuse to take any immediate action against top OHA staffers who crafted the plans, it has now been revealed that she has hired one of them onto her own team for an economic development position in Eastern Oregon.
The Register Guard reports:
”If it were up to Gov. Kate Brown, you wouldn’t know that her former advisor, Richard Whitman, is ‘very intelligent and well-spoken and very well-versed in Oregon environmental and natural resources policy.’
You wouldn’t know that a recruitment firm, which Oregon paid $65,000 to find the department’s next leader, ‘strongly recommended’ Whitman. Or that the recruiters thought the other finalist, Leanne Tippett Mosby, should be strongly considered but would need orientation before starting
Brown’s office deleted the opinions offered by the state’s recruiters before releasing records about the search process requested by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
The information would’ve remained a state secret — except the state Department of Environmental Quality already released the same records to the newsroom without redactions, offering a complete picture of what Brown tried to shield from public view…
Records previously obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive have revealed contradictions in Brown’s reasoning for firing the appointees. While the governor has repeatedly said she supports Whitman, she has also said she was unhappy with the almost year-long search that netted him. Emails have shown that Brown tried to prevent Whitman’s hiring, threatening to pick the next environmental quality leader herself.
The contradictions have cast a shadow over the new director at a time when he’s supposed to be leading major change at the agency in charge of protecting Oregon’s air and water.
Brown’s redactions are particularly remarkable since they were made by a governor for whom transparency has been a hallmark since she replaced Gov. John Kitzhaber in 2015.”
“Governor Brown not only seems incapable of restoring Oregonians’ trust in state government, but now we are finding out that she is staffing her office with the very same ‘dirty tricks’ operatives implicated in the OHA scandal,” stated Oregon GOP Chairman Bill Currier. “Is this the Governor’s idea of cleaning house?”
“For a Governor taking office promising accountability and transparency in the wake of disgraced Democrat Ex-Governor John Kitzhaber’s scandalous resignation, Brown is proving to be at the heart of Salem’s Dirty Government corruption problem.”
“Every week brings more stories that suggest that Kate Brown’s leadership is just a continuation of her party’s corrupt insider culture to further their own ends,” added Currier. “It is becoming more obvious that she is unfit to serve another term as Oregon’s chief executive.”
The Oregon Republican Party is the state’s arm of the Republican National Committee. Its Chairman and officers are dedicated to promoting Republican principles within the state of Oregon and to improving the lives and livelihoods of Oregon’s working families through economic freedom and equal protection under the law.
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