Former
governor John Kitzhaber resigned from his gubernatorial post last Friday in a
published letter to Kate Brown, the Secretary of State at the time. Kitzhaber
announced his resignation in response to investigations regarding alleged
financial misconduct with his fiancée, Cylvia Hayes. Accusations against the
pair bubbled to a boiling point just weeks after Kitzhaber began his
unprecedented fourth term in office.
Within
the span of a single letter, Oregon lost a prominent politician, gained a new
governor, and opened a groundbreaking chapter in state political history.
Although
Kitzhaber is not the first Oregon governor to have stepped down, he is the
first to do so amidst such controversy and confusion. According to the Oregon
Blue Book, four other governors have resigned since the territory achieved
statehood.
“The
current situation [of Governor Kitzhaber’s resignation] is without precedent,”
said OSU Press author Tom Marsh via email. “True, several Oregon governors have
resigned from office—Douglas McKay being the most recent governor to do so. In
McKay’s case, he resigned to take the cabinet seat of Secretary of the Interior
in the Eisenhower administration. Not so with John Kitzhaber. Never has a
sitting Oregon governor resigned under these circumstances.”
Marsh,
a former state legislator himself, is the author of To the Promised Land: A History of Government and Politics in Oregon,
published in 2012. Marsh’s work serves as the first comprehensive political
history of Oregon, following important political figures and ballot measures
throughout the state’s undulating social and economic narrative. An essential
volume for anyone interested in understanding the foundations of the modern
political climate, To the Promised Land places
Oregon within the greater context of national politics.
Following
the state constitutional order of succession, former Secretary of State Kate
Brown was sworn into the gubernatorial office Wednesday. With her inauguration, Brown became
Oregon’s first openly bisexual governor and only the second female to hold the
seat.*
“This
is a sad day for Oregon,” Brown said in a statement published by CNN. “But I am
confident that legislators are ready to come together to move Oregon forward.”
Oregon’s
first female governor, Barbara Roberts, certainly knew a thing or two about
progress during her governorship from 1991 to 1995. A “trailblazer in a state
that knows something about pioneers,” as Sen. Jeff Merkley called her, Roberts
recounts her story in Up the Capitol
Steps: A Woman’s March to the Governorship. The book follows her own
unlikely rise to power, documenting what leadership is like for a female in
politics.
Both
To the Promised Land and Up the Capitol Steps offer readers a
unique and timely perspective on the current period of upheaval. In order to
fully understand the complications and consequences of today’s world, a
reflective look backwards is often useful.
To
stay informed, here are four of OSU Press’s most topically pertinent and
powerful titles:
·
To the
Promised Land: A History of Government and Politics in Oregon by Tom Marsh
·
Up the
Capitol Steps: A Woman’s March to the Governorship by Barbara
Roberts
·
With Grit
and By Grace: Breaking Trails in Politics and Law, A Memoir by Betty
Roberts, with Gail Wells
·
Remembering
the Power of Words: The Life of an Oregon Activist, Legislator, and Community
Leader by
Avel Louise Gordly, with Patricia A. Schechter
You
can purchase these items on our website by selecting the “Add to Cart” link on
the respective book pages, or by calling 1-800-621-2736.
--------------------------
*Kate
Brown will be the third female to sit as acting
governor in Oregon, according to information gathered by the Statesman Journal.
Carolyn B. Shelton officially served as acting governor for one weekend in 1909
when her boss, Gov. George Chamberlain, left to accept a U.S. Senate position
and his successor, Frank Benson, was too sick to be sworn in immediately. Her
unique position resulted from a small clause in state law that required a
governor’s private secretary to become acting head of state in times of absence
or illness. Ironically, it would not be until 1912 that women were given the
right to vote in Oregon. Most personal secretaries at this time were male.