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OTHER VIEWS Other Views: A chastened Kitzhaber must tend to business Comment By The (Eugene) Register-Guard MailTribune.com By The (Eugene) Register-Guard Posted Nov. 15, 2014 at 12:01 AM By The (Eugene) Register-Guard Posted Nov. 15, 2014 at 12:01 AM » Social News It ought to have been a moment of unalloyed triumph: Capping a career in state politics unsurpassed in Oregon history, John Kitzhaber had just been elected to a fourth term as governor. But on Tuesday night, Kitzhaber felt obliged to admit to supporters that "Oregonians stuck with me under difficult circumstances" and that "we have some healing to do." He was right on both counts, and the governor can make his last four years in office a success by taking to heart the critique offered by his Republican opponent, state Rep. Dennis Richardson. Richardson's take on Kitzhaber was that the Democratic governor excels at offering big ideas and bold visions, but stumbles when it comes to executing them and choosing people to make them work. The analysis conformed to the facts — the problems of poor follow-up and bad staffing are the threads that tie together the worst stumbles of the governor's third term. Rudy Crew was the wrong man to put in charge of Oregon's education reform project. An integrated social services and health insurance website looked good on paper, but Cover Oregon was a costly failure in practice. The two-state partnership for a new Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia River fell apart. And then in the final weeks of the campaign came the embarrassing revelations about Cylvia Hayes, Kitzhaber's companion and now his fiancee. Oregonians were probably prepared to overlook blemishes in Hayes' past that occurred before she and Kitzhaber met, such as a fraudulent marriage for immigration purposes. But Hayes had claimed for herself the title of Oregon's first lady, and traded on that status to advance her professional interests. Whether any rules or guidelines were broken remains to be seen, but a governor more watchful for either the fact or the appearance of conflicts of interest would have seen what was happening in his office and put a stop to it. Richardson wasn't able to persuade voters that all this added up to a reason to turn Kitzhaber out of office. He lost by 70,000 votes, compared to the 20,000-vote margin by which Kitzhaber defeated Chris Dudley, the Republican candidate in 2010. But Kitzhaber would have won by a much wider margin — a landslide on the order of Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley's 250,000-vote win over Republican Monica Wehby — if it weren't for the fact that even before the Hayes stories broke, Oregonians heard a ring of truth in Richardson's characterization of the governor as being inattentive to detail. Kitzhaber has great opportunities in his fourth term. He'll begin with strengthened Democratic majorities in the Legislature and an economy that is moving in the right direction. With no re-election worries, he can set political calculations aside. No Oregon governor has ever been in a better position to put his ideas into action. But unobserved problems and pesky details made Kitzhaber's re-election campaign tougher than it might have been, and the same could happen to his fourth term. Kitzhaber needs to clear up all questions about the propriety of Hayes' dealings as quickly as possible, and guard against future situations in which the line between private and public interests can become blurred. And he needs to recognize that a governor must take his eyes off the horizon every now and then to avoid stepping in a puddle. If Kitzhaber learns that lesson from his final campaign, Richardson will have done him a big favor. By The (Eugene) Register-Guard MailTribune.com By The (Eugene) Register-Guard Posted Nov. 15, 2014 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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