Gov. Tina Kotek takes her oath of office, with her wife, Aimee Kotek Wilson, by her side at the Oregon Capitol in Salem on Jan. 9, 2023. (Kristyna Wentz-Graff/OPB)
Gov. Tina Kotek’s behavioral health director is resigning, making her the sixth staffer to leave the administration in the past five months.
Juliana Wallace, who was hired last August to oversee the governor’s behavioral health initiatives, regularly met with Kotek’s spouse, Aimee Kotek Wilson.
In Wallace’s resignation letter, first reported by Willamette Week, she said it was a long journey for her to realize her “skills and impact lies with the people.”
“I am truly a sidewalk Social Worker and find my joy through creation, supporting, and dreaming a better system of care for everyone,” Wallace wrote, saying she will return to working for Central City Concern as Senior Clinical Director of Behavioral Health.
In late March, three of the governor’s top aides suddenly left after raising concerns about Kotek Wilson’s expanded role in the office. There was perhaps no arena in the governor’s administration where the first lady was more deeply involved than behavioral health.
At one point, emails show that Kotek asked Wallace to contact Cascadia Behavioral Health on behalf of one of Kotek Wilson’s friends.
Shortly after the request, one of the governor’s special advisers and an attorney wrote to Wallace and told her the request by the first lady and the governor to call someone’s supervisor was highly inappropriate at best.”
The governor has declined to offer insight into the matter but said it was an issue of workplace safety and she stands behind the decision.
Kotek Wilson has had an unpaid role in the governor’s administration since Kotek took office in 2023.
More recently, the head of the Oregon Government Ethics Commission said there was nothing in state ethics law that would prevent Kotek Wilson from serving as a volunteer in her wife’s office, as long as she doesn’t financially benefit from the position.
The latest decision from the ethics commission could allow for Kotek Wilson to remain involved in the governor’s office. The commission narrowly declined to launch an investigation into Kotek.
The governor’s office has recently added five new members to their staff, including new advisors for natural resource, education, the Columbia Basin and public safety and a new press secretary.
Wallace ended her resignation letter, writing: “It was great to meet you and the First Lady. Please pass my gratitude on to her for her passion towards people struggling with behavioral health issues.” Her last day is September 13.
The governor’s office declined to comment, saying it was a personnel matter.
This story was originally published by Oregon Public Broadcasting, a Capital Chronicle news partner.