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Oregon Governor Signs First Post-Kitzhaber Ethics Legislation

Oregon Governor Kate Brown signs the first bill in her ethics package into law.
Chris Lehman
/
Northwest News Network
Oregon Governor Kate Brown signs the first bill in her ethics package into law.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed into law Monday the first ethics bill to reach her desk since she took office in February.

It comes in the wake of her predecessor's resignation in the midst of a criminal ethics investigation.

This measure simply requires the Oregon Secretary of State to evaluate how state agencies are fulfilling requests for information. But it comes just months after critics of then-governor John Kitzhaber accused his office of dragging its feet in producing potentially damaging documents.

Oregon's new governor, Kate Brown introduced a package of measures aimed at reining in public officials.

"In the aftermath of a major scandal that undermined the public's trust in the state's highest office, it's my job that we move forward with integrity and transparency,” the governor said.

But Oregon House Republicans say the governor's ethics measures don't go far enough. They've introduced a separate set of ethics bills that appear to be headed nowhere in the Democratically-controlled legislature.

Copyright 2015 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman
Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.