(American Spectator) -- At his first public appearance since his forced resignation, former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber said Sunday he plans to “get my name cleared” and then “reengage in the things I have always been passionate about: education, healthcare.” The man who Oregonians elected four times told the Gresham Outlook proudly, “I’ve got runway ahead and gas in the tank.”
The occasion for his reemergence was an event at Mt. Hood Community College honoring Junki and Linda Yoshida. The college was renaming a gym to honor the founder of Yoshida Foods International after the couple’s cool $1 million donation. Kitzhaber described the Yoshidas as his old friends. They are also his financial supporters, having given, for instance, $35,000 toward last year’s successful but disastrous reelection effort.
It was a success because Kitzhaber won. He beat Republican opponent Dennis Richardson by almost 6 percentage points. He didn’t quite get a majority because of third party candidates but Democrats could shrug that off with the excuse that it was such a heavily Republican year, nationally.
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