“I will make sure you lose your next election if you don’t change your mind.”

Photo credit: Craig Mitchelldyer, AP

“I will make sure you lose your next election if you don’t change your mind.”

That’s what the Democrat candidate for Oregon governor Tina Kotek told her colleague in the legislature when he refused to support her priority bill when she was speaker of the house.

Over 600 days ago, the then-Democrat Representative Diego Hernandez filed a workplace harassment complaint against the then-Speaker Kotek on claims that while fighting for support on a 2019 pension-benefit reform bill, she threatened to: kill legislation, demote, and end his career.

Today, as reported by OPB, a draft of the long overdue report surfaced to reveal her conduct “amounted to politics, and did not constitute a breach of workplace rules.” This conclusion was found after failing to: release the report within the 84 allotted days, conduct interviews with “many people with whom Hernandez shared his account of being threatened,” and respond to requests from Hernandez on the status of the review.

While more will unravel in the coming weeks, Tina Kotek’s dodging on the initial allegations and her silence since the release of the first draft of the report isn’t going to sit well with Oregonians.

“Tina Kotek should be ashamed of her behavior and the long list of workplace harassment complaints against her,” said RGA Spokeswoman Kaitlin Price. “Oregon deserves a governor who will promote respect, transparency, and accountability. Not a bully who will use her power to put her own priorities above the well being of her colleagues and constituents.”