XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: billsteele@change.com   
      
   Another white woman with no class or scruples.  She'd marry an   
   illegal black immigrant to circumvent immigration law like a   
   typical liberal slut democrat.   
      
   PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber is considered   
   the front-runner in next month's election, but his fiancee's   
   stunning admission that she was paid to illegally marry an   
   immigrant in 1997 — plus other allegations about her — have   
   suddenly complicated the race.   
      
   Wiping away tears at a Thursday news conference, 47-year-old   
   Cylvia Hayes said she accepted around $5,000 to marry the   
   immigrant so that he could remain in the United States.   
      
   "It was a marriage of convenience," Hayes said. "He needed help   
   and I needed financial support."   
      
   Ashamed and embarrassed, Hayes said she had kept the marriage   
   secret from Kitzhaber until a Portland alternative newspaper,   
   Willamette Week, began asking questions.   
      
   The Democratic governor has not publicly addressed his fiancee's   
   secret marriage, but the issue could come up when he debates   
   Republican state Rep. Dennis Richardson on Friday.   
      
   Hayes said she was "associating with the wrong people" while   
   struggling to put herself through college when she agreed to the   
   sham marriage. Hayes was twice divorced and just shy of her 30th   
   birthday when she married an 18-year-old Ethiopian man.   
      
   "It was wrong then and it is wrong now and I am here today to   
   accept the consequences, some of which will be life-changing,"   
   Hayes said.   
      
   Hayes said she was "ashamed and embarrassed," and did not tell   
   the governor about the marriage until the newspaper's questions   
   this week. She appeared alone before a podium in a downtown   
   Portland office building, saying she asked Kitzhaber not to join   
   her because she can't look at him without crying.   
      
   When she told Kitzhaber about the marriage, "he was stunned and   
   he was hurt," Hayes said, pausing to fight tears. "And I will be   
   eternally grateful for the beautiful, loving way he has   
   supported me in this."   
      
   Hayes apologized to Kitzhaber, her friends and family, and to   
   Oregonians, saying she deeply regrets not being upfront about "a   
   serious mistake." The couple confirmed in August that they're   
   engaged.   
      
   Hayes said they never lived together, met only a handful of   
   times and have not had any contact since the divorce was   
   finalized in 2002.   
      
   Hayes, 47, has openly discussed her hardscrabble childhood in   
   Washington state and her struggle to support herself financially   
   since high school.   
      
   Kitzhaber met Hayes when she ran unsuccessfully for the state   
   Legislature in 2002. Kitzhaber, who was governor from 1995 until   
   2003, divorced his second wife, Sharon, shortly after leaving   
   office. Kitzhaber made a political comeback in 2010.   
      
   Though they have yet to marry, Kitzhaber refers to Hayes as the   
   "first lady," and she has embraced the role of political spouse   
   while continuing her work as an energy consultant. She has been   
   active in developing Kitzhaber's energy and environmental   
   policy. A story in Willamette Week on Wednesday said that Hayes   
   has used her title as first lady and her role in advising the   
   governor to advance her private consulting business.   
      
   Hayes said she'll step back from her work advising Kitzhaber for   
   now.   
      
   Richardson, trying to gain traction before voters begin casting   
   ballots next week in Oregon's all-mail election, has tried to   
   shift attention to another story about Hayes. A Willamette Week   
   story on Wednesday said she used her positon as first lady to   
   advance her consulting business.   
      
   "It's clear from her past history that the first lady has had no   
   qualms with breaking the law in order to make financial gains,"   
   said Meredith Glacken, a spokeswoman for Richardson.   
      
   Hayes said she's been cautious in trying to avoid conflicts of   
   interest between her business and first lady work.   
      
   "The kind of issues that I work on, we've been working on these   
   things together the entire 10 years we've been together," Hayes   
   said.   
      
         
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)