Did Governor Kitzhaber himself financially gain by directing lucrative contracts to Cylvia Hayes?

That’s the main legal issue this graft, corruption and influence peddling case boils down to. If Cylvia Hayes were part of his household, then John Kitzhaber would personally benefit from the contracts Kitzhaber and his staff sent her way.

So, is (or was) she part of his household when the alleged illegalities occurred? Before they were accused of being crooks, the answer was yes. After scrutiny, Kitzhaber cast doubt on his previous claims. 

Note the Kitzhaber ‘meaning of ‘is’ is’ moment at the Governor’s recent news conference.

Governor Kitzhaber answers questions about the first lady

Governor John Kitzhaber held a press conference to read a statement and then answer questions about Cylvia Hayes, the first lady

Let’s go over what we know.

• He insisted we call her the ‘First Lady.’
• Hayes was gifted with branding of First Lady on government websites and allowed to use the title for personal gain in her professional life.
• He ensconced her at the Governor’s mansion and counted her as part of his household for years. 
• She kept her animals at Mahonia Hall even though she still held onto her Bend home.

Let’s go over real questions of whether she was legally part of his household. Some of these statements are from professionals who deal with these kinds of questions frequently.

• The definition of ‘household’ is in a gray area. 
• Which house is Hayes’s or Kitzhaber’s primary residence, vacation home, who gets a deduction for which place, etc., is key.
• The governor may legally have an out on this when it comes to the SEI ethics filings. It is ambiguously applied. The problem is that Kitzhaber has claimed Hayes as part of his household in other applications, but is now suggesting “except in the case of the application of any ethics’ laws”. 
• She might technically be a transitory member of his household and therefore arguably not a member. 

Of course the public questions about whether Hayes was a member of the household came only after investigators’ big beams of scrutiny penetrated the forcefield of Mahonia Hall. It was then Governor Kitzhaber did his best ‘hummmmina hummina hummina act and pretended not to know if Cylvia Hayes really was a member of his household.

He was, in effect, taking his trango barracuda and slicing that rope leaving her to swing from her own anchor.

Whoa, watch those wind gusts, Cylvia.

Well of course, she was never any lady and she certainly wasn’t first. John Kitzhaber did what he had to do: Say he loved his obviously unethical, greedy, grifter girlfriend while technically trying to cut her loose from his quickly troubling legal case.

Would that the Governor have cut loose Cylvia’s ideas of graft and influence peddling when they started.