The four elected commissioners who work alongside Multnomah County Chairman Jeff Cogen ended their public silence on his affair late this afternoon, at the same time as a formal look into his conduct officially began and questions about his political future continued to swirl.

In a short statement, Deborah Kafoury, Loretta Smith, Judy Shiprack, and Diane McKeel strongly urged a “sufficient inquiry” into whether Cogen ever breached county rules while also signaling they saw the issue mostly as a “personal” one—something for Cogen to battle through with his family.

As the four independently elected county commissioners, we are certainly disappointed by Chair Cogen’s conduct. We consider much of the situation to be a personal matter for him to deal with on his own. However, there are significant questions to be answered with respect to the county’s business and to ensure that the standards of Multnomah County are upheld. We expect a sufficient inquiry by the County Attorney to provide answers for the people of Multnomah County. We remain committed to maintaining the county’s vital services to our citizens and upholding the professional standards that the residents of Multnomah County have come to expect and deserve.

The county attorney’s office, of course, has started its investigation. Earlier today, the Oregonian reported no evidence had been turned up as of yet showing Cogen improperly used his office to help promote the woman he was sleeping with, Sonia Manhas, the county’s health policy adviser. Gary Oxman, the county’s retired public health officer, also came out today pretty quickly to say he also saw no evidence Cogen directly influenced Manhas’ ascent through the ranks.

Cogen said that even though he’s the top of the county’s food chain, he’s not technically Manhas’ direct supervisor. That’s a key distinction. Even a consensual relationship between a subordinate and a direct supervisor defies county rules and could be grounds for resignation.

More than one observer, speaking anonymously, invoked a peculiar word when mentioning Cogen’s rationale: “Clintonian.”

He might skate by on any policy violations. We’ll see. Nothing else embarrassing had better be lurking. No misuse of money or resources and nothing creepy. But Cogen’s good-guy, menschy image was such a major part of his political appeal and charm. Any affair, even something outside the workplace, risked damaging that a little. Now? With the revelation he slept with someone he still oversees, if indirectly? His future could be in trouble—even if what we’re currently looking at is his best-case scenario.

Cogen had a good shot at running for mayor and winning last year. He’s up for re-election next year, but had been talked about as a potential rival for Charlie Hales in 2016. He also could have tried to succeed Governor John Kitzhaber, in the event Kitzhaber decided to pass on a second second term [sic]. It’s hard enough to run for higher office, or any office, without family turmoil to settle though. Add baggage from voters who see any sex infraction, even the ones that aren’t their business, as a sign of moral turpitude, and well… it becomes clear why his supporters are sad.

“He still seems to be a standup person, taking responsibility for his actions,” says Paul Gronke, a Reed College political science professor. “That may ultimately be what Portlanders see. But he shouldn’t be thinking about higher office yet. He’s got to think about the rest of his term and rerunning for this office.”

Denis C. Theriault is the Portland Mercury's News Editor. He writes stories about City Hall and the Portland Police Bureau, focusing on issues like homelessness, police oversight, insider politics, and...

12 replies on “County Commissioners on Cogen’s Affair: “We Expect a Sufficient Inquiry””

  1. “[H]e shouldn’t be thinking about higher office yet. He’s got to think about the rest of his term and rerunning for this office.”

    I don’t know about that. The mayoral election is years away, so this will be very old news by then, unless the investigation exposes something worse than a rinky-dink affair.

    If he runs for mayor and loses, people will say, “the voters just weren’t ready yet,” and he can run again. If he runs for his own job and loses, however, it’s going to be hard for anyone to have that much confidence in him again as a candidate for any significant office, I would think.

  4. @frankieb: The Adams affair information came out after he was elected; unless you’re purely referring to Adams’s gayness.

  5. He lied to the woman and children he supposedly loved and was devoted to. How can he be trusted to do what’s right for his constituents, who he doesn’t share that supposed bond with. His political career should be over after he serves out his term. I’m sure he won’t have a problem landing a cushy consulting gig.

  6. Oh wait, the Merc and most commenters were ra ra for Mr. Personality Defect himself, Jefferson Smith. Trust and character and refraining from being a dumbass when you are running for or serving in office don’t amount for much around here.

  7. @babygorilla Having seen Hales first few months I’m still happy with my vote for Smith, a bunch of old rumors and a lot of who cares on that front.

    This is even less of an issue, he is doing a good job and had a long term relationship with someone who happened to work at the same place that he did while he was married. Would I want him dating my sister, probably not, do I think that he should be judged professionally on his choice of girlfriends rather than his job performance, definitely not.

  8. @BG, he lied to his children? His infidelity to his wife means he won’t be loyal to his constituents? What?

    Are you worried we’re going to catch Cogen two towns over, commissioning some other, done-up-slut of a county?

  9. Its irrelevant who he had sex with and what his choice of partner is and it would be irrelevant if this was some sort of open relationship or separation situation But, from what I gather, the wife and kids were unaware and he lied to the woman and children he supposedly loved and committed to and put his own self interest ahead of that commitment.

    Why should citizens trust that he will honor his commitment as an elected official and put that above and beyond his own self interest?

  10. Babygorilla, people here don’t hold their officials to any standards. We went through all of this with Adams.

    It’s interesting, because most Portlanders don’t follow what the politicians actually do in office either, so they aren’t judging them by their character, and they aren’t judging them by their performance in office. So people around here seem to vote based on a general “I like that guy” feeling, which ironically doesn’t seem affected by shitty behavior on their part.

    Can anyone here tell me what Jeff Cogen has actually done in office?

  11. @Blabby, where’s your libertarianism here?

    None of us work with Cogen, all we can do is judge him by reputation and acts. We have media to tell us about those things. I presume people are competent public servants until proven otherwise, good people doing the best they can, though you can also be a good person who is competitive and ambitious.

    To my knowledge, i.e. the knowledge of someone who reads the alt weeklies every day and votes in every election, this is the only black mark on Cogen’s record – do you know of others?

    If this is truly all there is, how exactly does this reflect poorly on Cogen PROFESSIONALLY?

    If this is all there is, it simply isn’t our business. People do things for complicated reasons that have nothing to do with their fucking jobs. We don’t know the inner workings of his personal relationships and we don’t need or deserve to.

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