Gov. Kitzhaber: 'I am not resigning. I have a job to do'

For about five hours Wednesday, the entire Oregon Capitol was focused on one airplane leaving Washington, D.C.

Secretary of State Kate Brown unexpectedly flew home from the annual conference of a group of which she is president, and no one knew why. At least, no one knew for sure.

That didn't stop the Oregon media from speculating.

Gov. John Kitzhaber must be resigning, the rumors said. It's the only reason his potential successor would have abruptly dropped what she was doing to come back two days early.

At 9:19 a.m., MSNBC reporter Zachary Roth tweeted that Brown had left the National Association of Secretaries of State 2015 Winter Conference without explanation, amid the growing speculation that Kitzhaber might resign.

By 9:30 a.m., the Oregon media was reporting it.

Brown's spokesman, Tony Green, did not explain why Brown left the conference early. She gave a presentation on voter registration at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday morning (11:15 a.m. in Washington), according to the conference agenda, and she left town afterward.

On Wednesday night, the governor told KGW that he asked Brown to return from Washington so he could tell her he was not resigning.

"As a matter of respect, I called the secretary of state, I think it was also Tuesday, and told her that I'd like to speak to her. We met privately today and I told her again my intention was not to resign. She is ... next in line and any decision to resign would obviously affect her."

When asked why he didn't just call Brown, Kitzhaber told KGW, "Because she is the secretary of state, and it's not the kind of conversation I wanted to have on the phone. ... I wanted to have a face-to-face with Kate and make sure that she understood what my intentions were."​

But earlier in the day, rumors continued to fly.

Among them was an assertion that state agency heads were called for a meeting in Kitzhaber's office Wednesday, but Department of Administrative Services spokesman Matt Shelby said that was false.

DAS Director Michael Jordan was in his own office all morning preparing for an afternoon budget hearing, Shelby said.

Kitzhaber himself was in Portland all day, according to staff.

He remained silent on the issue all morning and into the afternoon.

At 2:18 p.m., Senate President Peter Courtney greeted reporters outside his office to confirm what they had heard: Kitzhaber spent Tuesday in private, somber meetings with Courtney and Speaker of the House Tina Kotek, at the governor's request.

"It was not a hi-how-are-you kind of meeting," Courtney said. "It's a very painful time."

Neither he nor Kotek would discuss the subject of those meetings, but neither did Courtney deny Kitzhaber had discussed resigning.

Finally, at 2:34 p.m., Kitzhaber broke his silence with a statement emailed to the media.

"Let me be as clear as I was last week, that I have no intention of resigning as Governor of the state of Oregon," he wrote. "I was elected to do a job for the people of this great state and I intend to continue to do so."

Even so, the speculation is not likely to vanish soon.

Kitzhaber is currently under criminal investigation by Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum's office and is facing a review from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, which has been put on hold until the criminal investigation concludes.

He appears to be the first governor in Oregon history to be the subject of an attorney general's investigation. He and his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, have come under fire for her use of Kitzhaber's office.

Hayes has been scrutinized for apparently using her public role in Kitzhaber's office for private gain, using her policy position to secure contracts for her private consulting firm.

Meanwhile, Kitzhaber has been criticized for apparently giving highly paid jobs to people who gave Hayes contracts.

The governor has repeatedly said it will be up to the Ethics Commission to decide whether he and his fiancee did anything wrong.

However, with the ethics commission review on hold, Rosenblum will have the first chance to release findings. The outcome of her investigation could potentially be severe.

Official misconduct in the first degree is a Class A misdemeanor, and official misconduct in the second degree is a Class C misdemeanor.

The former could earn Kitzhaber or Hayes up to one year in prison and/or a fine of $6,250. The latter could warrant up to 30 days in jail and/or a fine of $1,250.

Rosenblum has declined comment on what potential crimes she is specifically investigating.

Investigations of public officials result in no charges about 70 percent of the time, but it is not uncommon for high-level officials to resign as a result, whether charges are brought against them or not.

The governor insisted he would not be among those people.

"I am not resigning. I have a job to do," he told the Statesman Journal. "I don't believe I broke any laws. I don't think I did anything dishonorable."

hhoffman@statesmanjournal.com, (503) 399-6719 or follow at twitter.com/HannahKHoffman