Neil Goldschmidt

Related PolitickerOR.com coverage: Oregonian publishes interview with woman claiming Erickson paid for her abortion

Eliot Spitzer is just the latest in a long list of political sex scandals that goes back to the Continental Congress. Politicker.com has a list of America’s Top 53 Political Sex Scandals that includes prostitutes, sex with minors, strippers, extramarital affairs, massages, nude swim parties, and even a murder. Oregon has two of the top 10! CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE LIST

New York, where Gov. Eliot Spitzer is involved in a prostitution ring, still has a ways to go before it can catch up to Oregon’s modern day political sex scandals. Robert Packwood served in the United States Senate from 1968 until he was forced to resign in 1995 following allegations that he abused, harassed and sexually assaulted a group of women, including lobbyists and staffers. And Neil Goldschmidt, who served as Governor, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, and Mayor of Portland, met with considerable disgrace after he admitted to having a sexual relationship with a fourteen-year-old babysitter while in his thirties.

Last week The Oregonian ran an editorial backing a move that would make the Secretary of State a non-partisan position, citing the erosion in public confidence prompted by the 2000 recount fiasco in Florida, in which then Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a known Bush ally, was at the core of the election results, as well as Ohio in 2004, when the Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, also served as an honorary co-chair of the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign.

Blackwell’s dual role prompted a number of lawsuits and allegations of voter disenfranchisement, and since then, several states have considered making the position of chief election officer non-partisan, as some areas have seen an increase in partisanship as both Republicans and Democrats hope to gain an advantage.

Life has got to be a bit uncomfortable these days for Governor Ted Kulongoski, who finds himself under some pressure to talk about what he knew (and didn't know) about ex-Governor Neil Goldschmidt's sexual relationship with his fourteen-year-old babysitter. There are calls for Multnomah County Sheriff Bernie Giusto to step down.

Now Goldschmidt's former speechwriter, Fred Leonhardt, is back in the news with renewed claims that he twice told Kulongoski, who was Attorney General when the scandal broke in 1996, about allegations of child abuse charges committed by Goldschmidt while he was serving as the Mayor of Portland in the early 1970's.

Jon Isaacs' FuturePAC campaign for House Democrats in '06 is #3 on the list

One of our regular features at PolitickerOR.com will be a series of lists that we hope you will enjoy. With the launch of our new Oregon-based political news site, we are pleased to offer our lists of Oregon's Ten Best and Worst Campaigns of the 21st Century.

For the most part, we looked at races that were highly competitive. Some campaigns perform extremely well, but of course, they are expected to win. And there are the so-called sacrificial lambs, running for various offices across the state that are not expected to raise money, go in the mailbox, or even send out press releases; we tried not to bother them.

Remember, this list – like all lists – are highly subjective. And as always, we encourage the feedback of our readers.

Oregon's Ten Best Campaigns of the 21st Century

Oregon's Ten Worst Campaigns of the 21st Century