Lack of deference to the other constitutional officers in the state of Oregon, mission creep, empire building, naked political ambitions, and just pissing off his underlings could be the undoing of John Kroger. Or, they could make him an even bigger force in Oregon politics. Judge for yourself. I believe John Kroger has established himself as a hyper partisan whose politics infuse his every move. And you can see why. See where he’s cut his political teeth. H/T Oregonian:
Politics: Democrat; served as legislative aide to then-House Speaker Tom Foley, D-Wash., and then-Rep. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; served as deputy policy director in Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign; finance chairman Oregon Democratic Party
But the story’s just getting interesting:
Some people can be partisan and not let it infuse their jobs. Not Kroger. Here’s an incomplete list I’ve put together:
- A) His aim is to beef up his investigation of environmental crime. That’s right, go after companies that commit environmental crimes. That’s his priority. We are a hub of child prostitution and we’ve got Mexican drug cartels carving up the national forests to put in their marijuana grows. Are they his top priority? No.
- B) One of his first hires to beef up his environmental agenda is the head of a far left environmentalist group. He was on the record as being against Liquified Natural Gas and, in fact, was lawyering on behalf of his environmental group against it. Kroger got the governor to give the lawyer an ethics waiver. Together they have been running a political campaign against LNG out of the AG’s office. When a little lady who runs a blog on the coast found out about the waiver and everything else she put out the story. The lawyer was gone and Kroger has been hiding.
- C) Portland’s mayor admits having sex with an 18 year old teenager, but had been grooming him for months before (if not having sex). The Mayor’s attorney pays a late night call (11pm) to the teen and, over a period of hours, coerces the kid into signing an affidavit which says they didn’t have sex before he turned 18. Kroger cites difference between the document and the real story the kid tells the media as the reason he can’t bring charges against the pervert. The lawyer later loses a judgeship, which was surely his before this incident, because of the unethical nature of getting that affidavit. The “ethics” of the document is never commented upon by Kroger. He will investigate the far left, gay, pederast mayor no further. A recall of the mayor fails due to their being no charges. The mayor doesn’t have class enough to resign. Odd, isn’t it, that a guy who will seek out wrong doing or supposed wrong doing by any other party–especially evil polluters–isn’t the least bit curious about the back story and rights of a teenager predated upon and wronged by a mayor?
 |
| Willamette Week Photo |
- D) Attends a rally by SEIU in favor of government health care. It just seems odd that a guy who’s the top law enforcement officer chooses to spend his time politically advocating for socialized medicine. It’s his right, but just the same, odd.
- E) When 20 + other AG’s decide to fight Obamacare due to the unfunded state medicaid mandates, 10th amendment concerns, individual mandate I ask Kroger if he’ll join. Instead, he issues a press release saying he thinks socialized medicine is such a great idea that he’ll use taxpayer funds to write an amicus brief in favor. Even when his side gets its way Kroger has to go in for the political kill.
 |
| Oregonian Photo |
It looks as if the Zero’s picked up on this, too, by getting a copy of the review Kroger’s gotten from his workers and printed some not so flattering findings. See it here. The owner of Hood River Juice has asked a court to toss out pollution charges against him based on “government misconduct” in prosecuting the case, an allegation that turns in part on the role played by Brent Foster, a former top aide to Attorney General John Kroger. As previously reported, the motion notes that Foster denied taking a water sample last fall near the juice plant that showed extraordinarily high pollution levels, even though he had taken it. The sample result led to a raid on Hood River Juice in October and the arrest of owner David B. Ryan. [emphasis added]
His predecessor, Hardy Myers, had been content to stay out of the headlines, running the agency with a devotion to serving as the state’s lawyer. In contrast, Kroger sees a duty to speak out on state issues. He hasn’t stopped raising funds for his campaign committee. He took in $66,550 last year. By comparison, Secretary of State Kate Brown, a veteran in state politics, raised only $10,000. Kroger’s major donors have included four East Coast law firms, each kicking in $10,000, and Georges St. Laurent, a Vancouver developer who talks economics with Kroger. He has given $25,000.
Kroger even has his own You Tube channel here.
Is Kroger using public resources–a plane?–to politick?
Kroger travels the state regularly, scheduling back-to-back appointments. Last month, he started one day in Portland taking his stepson to school, then traveled across the state to Hermiston for two 15-minute meetings and a visit to the local newspaper. He continued on to Wallowa County, having coffee with a local police chief and sheriff, appearing at a meeting of the Wallowa County Democrats and ending the day with an evening reading from his autobiographical book at Fishtrap.
Gee, maybe he read these parts where he confesses to stalking an old girl friend and misses his old job of putting people in prison. H/T blogger Cara Ellison. She’s been watching Kroger for years as a blogger of all things Enron. Cara Ellison on Kroger’s crushing insecurity here.
I’m sure the head of Hood River Juice Company will feel good about fulfilling Kroger’s fondest wishes of ordering a businessman in cuffs.
