Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (right) and her wife, Aimee Kotek Wilson, arrive at the Salmon Street Springs in Portland in this in a Nov. 10, 2022, file photo. Kotek’s office has seen a stream of departures this year, following concerns raised by some staff about Kotek Wilson’s role in the administration. (Kristyna Wentz-Graff/OPB)
A former top aide to Gov. Tina Kotek is officially leaving the office, months after going on leave in a shake-up tied to first lady Aimee Kotek Wilson.
According to a resignation letter obtained in a public records request, Lindsey O’Brien, a former deputy chief of staff for Kotek, will serve her last day as a governor’s office employee on Oct. 11, more than six months after she last worked there.
O’Brien and two other top aides to Kotek departed the office abruptly earlier this year, after records show they registered concerns about the increasingly influential role Kotek Wilson was taking in the governor’s administration.
One of the women, Chief of Staff Andrea Cooper, appears to have been fired, then given a highly paid temporary role in another state agency as a form of severance. Another, special adviser Abby Tibbs, left to resume a former role at Oregon Health & Science University.
But while O’Brien hasn’t completed any work for the governor since going on paid leave April 5, she technically never left Kotek’s employ. That changes with the resignation letter, sent to Kotek on Sept. 12.
“It has been an absolute honor to work with you and serve Oregonians as part of your administration,” O’Brien wrote in the letter, making no mention of why she was leaving. “I will be rooting for you and the team as you continue all of the important work ahead.”
O’Brien declined comment.
Records released by Kotek’s office this year show that O’Brien, Cooper and Tibbs all raised objections and concerns as Kotek Wilson pursued a more formal role in Kotek’s administration. That included pressing for a formal Office of the First Spouse and her own chief of staff.
In the wake of the women’s departures, scrutiny of Kotek Wilson’s role led Kotek to apologize and abandon plans to grant her wife a chief of staff or create a first spouse office. The Oregon Government Ethics Commission ultimately declined to launch an investigation into the matter, and the agency’s director has said there is no sign Kotek Wilson’s involvement runs afoul of ethics laws.
Meanwhile, others departed the governor’s office. Former deputy general counsel Lindsey Burrows, communications director An Do, and Juliana Wallace, who led Kotek’s behavioral health work, have resigned since concerns about the first lady emerged in March. None cited Kotek Wilson as the reason they departed.
Kotek has filled many of the vacancies with existing staff members. Her office announced Thursday she has hired Amy Baker, the executive director of a mental health and addiction treatment provider in Clatsop County, to serve as the office’s behavioral health director. Baker will begin that job Oct. 28.
Kotek promised more than four months ago to create a “first spouse manual” that would delineate Kotek Wilson’s role in the administration. The office said Wednesday that document is still not complete.
This story was originally published by Oregon Public Broadcasting, a Capital Chronicle news partner.