Ex-Governor withholds execution emails
Counsel cites attorney-client privilege, need for 'frank communication' with staff as rationale for refusing release
Kitzhaber has a God Complex- he overturned voter approved laws at least twice- the NO Drivers licences for illegals ( which is why you see so many mexicans with Washington Plates in Columbia county or California plates) and the death penalty He gave free medical to pregnant illegals and children but Oregonians had to pay for their medical. I am so glad he is gone . Not to mention free tuition to college for illegals in Oregon,but legal citizens have to take out loans and go into debt.
Gov. John Kitzhaber's administration is refusing to release more than 150 emails dealing with internal advice the governor received prior to his controversial decision to grant a reprieve for condemned killer Gary Haugen and to ban capital punishment while he's in office.
The action came last week in response to a public records request filed by the Statesman Journal.
-Kitzhaber's ban on capital punishment effectively nullified Oregon voters reinstatement of the death penalty in 1984. Accordingly, Oregonians have a right to know, in much greater
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detail than Kitzhaber has revealed to date, how and when he decided to take his extraordinary stand against the death penalty. The withheld emails could shed light on his decision-making process.
-The public interest served by disclosing the emails trumps the governor's office stated desire to keep the messages secret in order for his advisors "to give uninhibited advice" to Kitzhaber.
-Keeping the emails under wraps runs counter to the governor's call for "all Oregonians" to engage in a "long overdue debate" about capital punishment.
Debate opens
The Democratic governor threw open the door for such a debate on Nov. 22. Speaking at a Capitol news conference, Kitzhaber slammed Oregon's capital-punishment system, describing it as "broken" and "a perversion of justice."
At the same time, the governor stunned many Oregonians — pleasing some, angering others — when he announced that he won't allow any executions to happen under his watch. In issuing a temporary reprieve for Haugen, Kitzhaber unilaterally canceled the scheduled Dec. 6 execution of the 49-year-old, twice-convicted killer, who dropped his appeals and repeatedly stated his desire to be executed.
A former emergency-room physician, Kitzhaber allowed two executions to take place during his first term in the 1990s, those of serial killer Douglas Wright in 1996 and Salem double killer Harry Moore in 1997.
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-In September, the Corrections Department turned down a request from Sister Helen Prejean, a famous author and anti-death penalty activist, to pay a visit to the condemned inmates housed on death row at the state penitentiary in Salem.
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-A St. Helens woman who described herself as Haugen's "foster sister" sent an email to the governor's office on Nov. 17, imploring Kitzhaber to allow the execution to happen, as Haugen requested."He is a very intelligent man and knows exactly what he is doing," wrote Barbara Arellano. "I am so frustrated with the people against the death penalty now asking you to stop his execution."Arellano noted that she lived in the same home with Haugen in the 1970s and now corresponds with him by mail and speaks to him several times a week by telephone.
"I know it sounds crazy to beg you to let my brother die, but I understand why he wants this and will be in total respect of his wishes," she wrote."I know where his head is and this needs to just be done with."
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agustafs@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6709, or follow at twitter.com/agustafs1
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