Governor’s Fiancé Apologizes for Formerly Secret Illegal Marriage

Oregon first lady Cylvia Hayes, engaged to marry Governor John Kitzhaber since the summer, has confirmed a Willamette Week report about her formerly secret third marriage to an immigrant teenager almost 20 years ago, admitting she broke federal immigration laws banning “green card” marriages and accepting $5,000 as payment during a low moment in her life when she was broke and desperate.

Hayes addressed the report at a news conference downtown today—what news reports have described as a teary event where the governor was notably absent, because Hayes had asked him not to show. She also emailed a long statement, which is after the jump. Hayes, last night, had said only that Kitzhaber had never been told about the marriage, let alone its circumstances.

Willamette Week had matter-of-factly reported her having three marriages in a passing paragraph deep in a cover story this week that focused on Hayes’ juggling act as a consultant whose clients might conceivably do business with the state and as a gubernatorial adviser. The paper followed that report late yesterday with another one plumbing the third marriage. It wasn’t clear whether the paper knew all along that something was wrong, or if readers of the cover story flagged the detail about Hayes’ marriages as inconsistent with the two-marriages story she’d previously told reporters and, it seems, Kitzhaber.

The weekly has hammered Kitzhaber notably hard in recent weeks, before the two Hayes stories, getting the governor to report in-kind contributions from adviser Patricia McCaig, airing accusations that he or his staff somehow had gotten rid of an Oregon National Guard jacket, and even questioning his policy goals and achievements.

The Oregonian reported earlier today that Hayes had long since passed the five-year statute of limitations for criminal penalties. There could be civil and immigration penalties, however. But those would only fall on the man she married in secret until their divorce became final in 2002. (Hayes, however, also said she didn’t report the five-grand on her taxes…)

He’s now a 35-year-old homeowner in the Washington, DC, area, according to other reports. He was starting out at Greensboro College in North Carolina when Hayes says she was paid to marry him and graduated with a mathematics degree magna cum laude, according to the Oregonian.

Kitzhaber is still favored against Republican Dennis Richardson in the November general election, even after this latest bit of drama involving his fiancé’s past. Hayes might even remain first lady; she says she wants to “focus” on her relationship with Kitzhaber.

The man she last married, meanwhile, might wind up deported.

We were both living in Washington. I was attending Evergreen State College, and we were introduced by mutual acquaintances. This was a difficult and unstable period in my life. I want to be clear today – I was associating with the wrong people. I was struggling to put myself through college and was offered money in exchange for marrying a young person who had a chance to get a college degree himself if he were able to remain in the United States.

We met only a handful of times. We never lived together. I have not had any contact with him since the divorce finalized in 2002.

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. And I cannot predict what direction this will go.

In the few years after this bad decision I completed my degree, got my feet underneath me and established my home and career in Oregon. I became an active and engaged civic volunteer, community member and I became active politically.

My decision to marry illegally felt very, very distant and far removed from the life I was building. I was ashamed and embarrassed. Therefore I did not share this information even with John once we met and started dating.

This is the most painful part for me. John Kitzhaber deserved to know the history of the person he was forming a relationship with. The fact that I did not disclose this to him meant that he has learned about this in the most public and unpleasant way. This is my greatest sorrow in this difficult situation.

I apologize deeply for my actions and omissions, first and foremost to John, the person I love and respect above all others. I also apologize to my friends, family and colleagues who have trusted and supported me. And to Oregonians, I deeply regret not being right up front about the fact that I had made a serious mistake. I owe you all an apology.

The work that I do on behalf of our environment and trying to make people’s lives better is incredibly important to me — it’s the focal point of my life. I will continue to do my best in that arena going forward.

But for the time being, there are more important issues. I need to take some personal time to reflect and address this difficult situation and to focus on my relationship with John.