Three pages of the manual are made up of formal advice given earlier this year by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, that nothing limits the role the first lady can play as long as she doesn鈥檛 seek to profit from her volunteer role.
And the manual makes clear that first spouses will get a state police detail and their own office space. While Kotek Wilson has used both, that hasn鈥檛 been a uniform approach by past governors.
鈥淓ach First Partner has their own choices to make when it comes to how involved they may choose to be during their partner鈥檚 tenure as Governor,鈥� the manual says. 鈥淎s the highest public office in the state, the Governor, the First Partner, and Governor鈥檚 Office are held to the highest standards of accountability and ethics.鈥�
The manual didn鈥檛 come cheap. , Meliah Masiba, nearly $12,000 a month for duties that include helping coordinate the first lady鈥檚 schedule and creating the first partner document. Among her directives, according to an official job description, was to 鈥渟pell out policies and procedures related to that role, including protocols for addressing any staff concerns or complaints.鈥�
That was a response to serious concerns raised in March, as Kotek Wilson鈥檚 role was becoming a flashpoint within Kotek鈥檚 office. In a scathing March 15 email, Abby Tibbs, one of the soon-to-depart aides, laid out a litany of steps that the governor鈥檚 office needed to take when it came to the first lady. Among them was creating 鈥漚n articulated plan to address power dynamics and reporting structure for a [first spouse].鈥�
But if Kotek has created such a plan, it is nowhere to be found in the new handbook.
鈥淕overnor鈥檚 Office staff may have questions regarding the First Partner鈥檚 perceived influence and power within the office,鈥� it says. 鈥淭o address this, any official request from the First Partner to staff should be clear and consistent, and staff should have access to the Office鈥檚 human resources protocols should any issue arise.鈥�
Kotek Wilson鈥檚 role went largely unnoticed during Kotek鈥檚 first year in office, but exploded into view in March, when three of the most influential figures in the governor鈥檚 office all departed.
Former chief of staff Andrea Cooper appears to have been fired. Tibbs, a former special adviser, returned to a previous role at Oregon Health & Science University. And former deputy chief of staff Lindsey O鈥橞rien went on a monthslong paid leave that will .
Public records showed that all three women had raised increasing concern about Kotek Wilson鈥檚 role, as Kotek and her wife took steps toward creating a formal office of the first spouse and hiring a chief of staff for Kotek Wilson.
While neither step is rare nationally, the revelations got immediate attention in Oregon because of a recent scandal. In 2015, then-Gov. John Kitzhaber stepped down, after his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, profited off of access she could offer to the state鈥檚 highest office. He鈥檇 won a historic fourth term as governor just months before.
Kotek Wilson, in contrast, does not have paid employment. Kotek earns $98,600 a year.
In response to outcry in the weeks after her aides left, Kotek for how she鈥檇 handled the matter and walked back her plans to create a formal office for her wife. But the governor declined to say what else would change about Kotek Wilson鈥檚 role, saying she would await guidance from the ethics commission.
A former social worker, Kotek Wilson has taken a keen interest in the behavioral health policies her wife has pursued, and records show she has on the subject. But by the governor鈥檚 office suggest the first lady is less involved than she once was, no longer sitting in on regular staff meetings.
Public records show that Kotek鈥檚 office was well on its way to creating a 鈥減rocess and procedure manual鈥� for a first spouse鈥檚 office in early March. The manual unveiled Monday contains some very similar passages to that document. But the new handbook is much more general, containing far fewer specifics about how Kotek Wilson will interact with her wife鈥檚 employees.
