Former Oregon governor admits sex with girl, 14

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001922222_neil07m.html

Friday, May 07, 2004 - Page updated at 12:02 A.M.

Former Oregon governor admits sex with girl, 14

By Harry Esteve and Gail Kinsey Hill
Newhouse News Service

PORTLAND — Former Oregon Gov. Neil Goldschmidt admitted yesterday he had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl when he was 35 and mayor of Portland, and said he is resigning all his public and private positions to "rebuild my life."
In an extraordinary and emotional 50-minute confession to The Oregonian, Goldschmidt said he has lived for 30 years with the "enormous guilt and shame" of the nine-month relationship. He said deteriorating health — heart arrhythmia and blocked arteries — and knowledge that media accounts of the sex scandal were about to unfold, made him come forward.

"I'm just living with this personal hell," said Goldschmidt, 63, occasionally choking back tears. "The lie has gone on too long."

His sudden withdrawal from public life, just months after being named president of the state Board of Higher Education, throws into disarray a planned overhaul of the state's university system. He has resigned from the board and taken a leave of absence from his consulting firm, Goldschmidt Imeson Carter.

It also complicates the proposed sale of Portland General Electric. Goldschmidt, who would have been the chairman of the state's largest utility, said he is stepping away from the deal.

(more)

The article hides his political affiliation. Relationship? Adult males don't have relationships with l4 year olds...Sir it is called jail bate...child molestation.

The guy climbed up the political and private execute latter, knowing that he was a child molestor. If he had been a private citizen, he would have been jailed, but he's a politician and big shot executive rich white guy, he got away with it. Now he's living a personal hell because he's near death. Sir, you have no christianity, no humanity. Your dark God is waiting for you. You'll be in great company, such as ted bundy.

<snip>
At age 32, he became the nation's youngest big-city mayor, going on to become transportation secretary for the Carter administration and Oregon governor from 1986 to 1990.

Goldshit's a Democrat, but more of an uncaring mercenary than anything ideological.

Although I question anybody's liberalism who would serve on the board of Nike.

Too bad. Sad as it sounds, I do tend to enjoy stories of moralizing right-wing freaks publicly humiliated for some vice offense or other.

OTOH, the guy does sound like a conservative DLC type, so it's not like a big champion of liberal values going down.

Goldschmidt has drawn criticism in recent years for his recent activities. In 2002, he lobbied business and political leaders to support Weyerhaeuser in its hostile takeover of Willamette Industries. More recently, he headed a purchase of Portland General Electric funded by Texas Pacific Group, which put on hold city and county studies to acquire by condemnation Portland General Electric.

From Wikipedia

same thought: no such thing as adult (for the record, any adult, male or female) 'relationship' with a 14 year old (male or female).

crime, plain & simple.

His editorializing against the P.U.D.'s was a major contributor to their failure at the polls. Then it turned out he was a tool of another Texas-based utilities holding company, not unlike Enron who fucked PGE over to begin with, planning to buy out PGE.

Goldshit is a backstabbing little turd. I hope he rots in his "personal hell" and stays the hell out of politics for the rest of his life.

http://www.ulct.org/resources/site_archive/conferences/1998_annual_conference/neilg.html

Neil Goldschmidt has served as Governor of Oregon, Mayor of its major city, U.S. Cabinet Secretary and executive officer of a Fortune 500 corporation.
Today he has a small law practice focused primarily on strategic planning and problem solving for national and international businesses. He serves a limited number of clients on a continuing basis. In addition, he served on the boards of five private corporations, chairs Drug Strategies, Inc. and the Oregon Children’s Foundation. He is also a member of the Board of Oregon Health Sciences University.

snip

Since completing his term as Governor, Mr. Goldschmidt has continued his interest in children’s issues through the Oregon Children’s Foundation, created in 1991 by Goldschmidt and the Ater Wynne Hewitt Dodson & Skerrit law firm. The Foundation’s initial effort, SMART, is an early literacy program for children in kindergarten through second grade. The Foundation recruits SMART business and organization sponsors to allow their employees to leave work during the day to tutor children in public schools. Currently more than 5,000 volunteers are reading to and with 5,000 students each week.

That guy should have to register as a sex offender according to Oregon's own laws. He and the child's mother kept it a secret all these years!

The person who was 14 back 30 years ago is now 43. This is well past the statute of limitations legally, and if it's a "therapy" issue, well... I'll keep my professional opinion to myself.

Did he do something wrong? Yes. He should have known better, and should have gone in for some sort of help after his first mistake, not continued this relationship for months. Does it matter? Not really. Slow news day, apparently. It doesn't change anything. It does sound to me like there was some hope of blackmail back in the early 90s. Legal or illegal, however it shakes out. On Edit: And no, I don't think he should have to register as a sex offender - that's retroactive law. That's not okay. Retroactive laws are bad juju.

While her mother should have been more aware of the legal ramifications, and more forthcoming, the fact remains that this woman has had 26 years to come forward. I do have to ask, why now? Or why in 1994? What was the motivation?

Not to defend the man, but when I was groped - once - as a teenager, I hollered holy hell. However, when I had a consensual relationship with someone many years my senior, while I was still a legal infant, I CHOSE it, and kept it to myself. I CHOSE that relationship, and it may be that the now middle aged woman who was that 14 year old chose her actions as well.

And please don't give me a line about a 14 year old not being able to make such decisions. If we say that a 14 year old is old enough to start making decisions about where to go to college, what to do with the rest of her life, activities that will get her into a good school, whether to and how to use birth control and anti-depressants, then that 14 year old is probably also old enough to make decisions about a transient, self-selected relationship. Do note qualifiers - your mileage may vary. And there was familial consent, or at least acquiescence. That changes a lot of things, at least from a social and psychological standpoint.

I'm sure this is going to get me flamed, blasted, and it will probably be deleted, but that's the risk I run. Legal infancy does not always, automatically equal emotional and intellectual infancy, nor does legal adulthood always equal emotional maturity and good behavior. (Thus, a certain set of publications that will remain nameless, but tend to congregate here with the "bash the liberals" mentality.)


Politicat

this sick bastard had no right to TAKE ADVANTAGE OF A CHILD.

In Oregon, anyway. The state has been evenly divided between holier than though Republicans and Live-and-Let-Live Democrats for the entire 25 years I've lived here.

I cheered the Multnomah County commissioners decision to grant same-sex licenses a couple of months back even though it gave some fuel to the pseudo-conservatives. The revealing of one of Oregon's champion democrats as a child molester is a huge set back for Portland liberals and the republicans will find a way to tie it to gay marriage.

I write this in dread. The last thing anyone should do is try to minimize this situation, let alone try to minimize Goldschmidt's Democratic roots. The man is a Democrat - we have to face up to this. Passing the buck is the other party's M.O., not ours.

He's not been any kind of real force in politics for a long time- His revelations won't hurt the Democrats anymore than Maybon's or Sizemore's revleations hurt the Republicans, as a party.

is also that it's only when this story is "outed" does he make known his regrets. This man is scum. What kind of a real man in his 30's preys upon 14 yr. old girls?

He only admits regret when he is outed? What, you expected him to out himself. Please, no-one would do that. It's not something you would want the whole world to know about no matter how much you regretted it.

Having said that, obviously you have to be one sick puppy do to something like that.

*snip*
Throughout his political career, rumors of extramarital relationships circulated around Goldschmidt. He tacitly acknowledged yesterday that the rumors had merit.

"If people work hard enough, I think you'll find indiscretions," he said, "but nothing as ugly as this."
*/snip*

That doesn't really sound like the other affairs were with minors; more like that was a one-off, which even he admits was beyond the pale. Once is bad, and he certainly knew better, and should have resisted whatever impulses he gave in to; but I don't think this is really child molester stuff, at least as reported thus far.

Not excusing anything in any way; just saying there is a degree of difference between a one-time screw-up and a pattern of reprehensible sexual perversions.

Last point, there should be a full-blown investigation to ensure this was a one-time thing, and that whatever legal penalties can be applied should be applied.

I have great grandmothers who were only a year older than 14 when they got married. They married older men. They had children and lived well into old age with relatively few regrets.

nt

and then seek an illegal abortion for her?

He's born again.

Goldschmidt was an amazing force in Oregon. I cannot even begin to put into words all the wonderful things he did for this state. He spent time in Mississipi in 1964 working to register people to vote during the civil rights campaign. At some point, he was young, idealistic and a hell of a political force.

With that said, he's done. At some point, he sold out and the appeal is gone. The Texas Pacific Group deal was the turning point for most people- those that wouldn't think of his dealings as selling out could no longer ignore the apparent truth. He wrote a letter to the editor just before the last election, arguing against the PUD. Just after the election, it was revealed that he was an investor and partner in the group trying to buy the Enron subsidiary (the group is Texas Pacific Group).

Despite his selling out, it is unfortunate that he did this all those years ago. This crime takes away from all the good he ever did, and nothing can balance that out. Nothing.

The statute of limitations on the crime is three years, according to the morning newspaper.

Anyone who lived in Oregon in the 1970s like me knows the enormous potential Neil Goldscmidt once had. Elected mayor of Portland at age 31. Transportation Secretary under the Carter administration. Returned to Oregon as a very effective and well-liked governor. There was even talk of being chosen as a VP running mate, or even Neil himself as a presidential candidate. I met the man as a young adult and was in awe of his articulation, power, and integrity (so I thought). He was probably the most influential Oregonian of his time, except for Sen. Mark Hatfield.

I was a HUGE fan of this guy. Then, he dropped out of politics to become a backroom power broker. He made a fortune for himself and others and stepped away from the spotlight.

When he came out as broker for selling the state's largest electrical utility (now owned by Enron) to another group of Texas crooks, I was stunned. Revelations continued when it was revealed that he was paid ENORMOUS fees for consulting with the head of the State Accident Insurance Fund. I could never figure out why the guy with such talent just dropped out of politics and instead started dealing with the devil.

Now, I know why. The man was living a lie for over 30 years. What a shame. He not only sold himself out, he took the rest of us with him.

Thanks a lot, Neil. You could have had it all. Damn you.

Apparently, according to the article I skimmed, someone was about to go public with the "news" of this 28 year old crime. Goldschmidt is apparently in declining health, and has not been a populist Democrat for a decade or more. His career lately has been a money grab, selling his fading reputation for corporate gelt. Also according to the article, Goldschmidt made some kind of financial settlement with woman back in 1994, and the news leak was coming from somewhere else. I don't know the motivations or the identity of the person or persons who were threatening to go public, but Goldschmidt confessed to this to avert some of the impact of the scandal.

It's too bad, really. Goldschmidt hasn't been a force for progressive politics for some years, but I and many other Oregonians remember his time in office as Portland's mayor and Oregon's governor fondly.

Keep an eye out for sanctimonious Republican posturing and feigned outrage, and compare it to public pronouncements by Republicans after the Strom Thurmond news came out. The public approbation that Thurmond avoided all his life will be visited doubly on Goldschmidt.

The only thing the sanctimony and posing from the right will sink is PGE/Enron merger messes. Gooldschmidt was the public face for all that crap. Now Goldschmidt is done, and so is all the mergers

The blowback might give a good chance at getting another shot at passing a PUD measure.