page_title: Governorship of John Kitzhaber
section_title: Resignation
hierarchical_section_title: Governorship of John Kitzhaber / Resignation
caption_attribution_description: Cylvia Hayes at the U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters in Washington, D.C., on February 27, 2012.
context_page_description: John Kitzhaber served as Governor of Oregon for three and a half terms. He is Oregon's longest serving governor and the only governor to serve non-consecutive terms. He served as the 35th and 37th Governor of Oregon.
context_section_description: Despite his efforts to focus on policy, Kitzhaber continued to grapple with controversies related to his fiancée and her work as a consultant and for the state. At a press conference on January 30, 2015, he said Hayes would play no further role in his administration, although he confirmed the couple still plans to marry. The Oregonian, which endorsed him in his 2010 and 2014 campaigns, called on him to resign, though Kitzhaber refuse to do so. Senate President Peter Courtney, Speaker of the House Tina Kotek, and State Treasurer (and later Portland Mayor) Ted Wheeler all released statements calling on Kitzhaber to resign. On February 12, the Willamette Week reported that Kitzhaber's executive assistant had tried to have thousands of the governor's emails deleted the previous week. The next day, Kitzhaber announced his resignation (effective February 18, 2015). After 28 months of investigation, in 2017, the federal government declined to continue its investigation.
  In January 2019, Kitzhaber agreed to pay $20,000 in civil penalties to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission for conflicts of interest involving Hayes while he was Governor. That month, Hayes also agreed to pay the Commission fines totaling "$44,000 for ethics violations arising from her use of public office for personal profit."
caption: First Lady Cylvia Hayes. The subject of Kitzhaber's scandals.
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