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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 30, 2004)
| Global update | Governor removes Goldschmidt from council Diana Goldschmidt is under investigation after refusing to resign from Oregon Investment Council BY WILLIAM MCCALL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PORTLAND — An investigation was launched Wednesday into the role of the wife of former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt in the proposed $2.35 billion purchase of Enron subsidiary Portland General Electric. TUesday Gov. Ted Kulongoski re moved Diana Goldschmidt from the Oregon Investment Council after she refused to resign following questions about the timing of her vote to ap prove a $300 million investment in Texas Pacific, the company that plans to buy PGE from bankrupt Enron. The Oregon attorney general’s of fice began the investigation at the re quest of Kulongoski and state TYea surer Randall Edwards, said Kevin Neely, spokesman for Attorney Gen eral Hardy Myers. Diana Goldschmidt approved the Texas Pacific investment the same day the buyout firm asked her hus band to lead the PGE takeover. The couple has repeatedly denied it knew Texas Pacific would make an offer to Neil Goldschmidt. Texas Pacific declined to comment on the investigation. Last year, Kulongoski named Neil Goldschmidt chairman of the Oregon Board of Higher Education to lead a sweeping reform, but Goldschmidt resigned from the board at the same time he resigned as chairman of Ore gon Electric Utility Co., which was formed by Texas Pacific to manage the PGE takeover. The resignations followed a con fession by Neil Goldschmidt that he sexually abused a 14-year-old girl when he was Portland mayor in the 1970s. Neil Goldschmidt has since avoid ed any public involvement, but Di ana Goldschmidt remained on the in vestment council, which manages $60 billion in state investments, in cluding the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund. Questions about Texas Pacific and Diana Goldschmidt have lingered. “It’s my desire that we take every measure to maintain the highest de gree of ethical behavior when it comes to investing public funds,” Ed wards said. 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Bishop Kurt Krenn, who had over all responsibility for the seminary where authorities found up to 40,000 lurid images on computers - includ ing child pornography - sent a letter to Pope John Paul II saying he was stepping down, Austrian state radio said. The newspaper Der Standard quot ed Krenn in its Thursday edition as saying: “Yes, I am resigning immedi ately as bishop of St. Poelten,” the diocese 50 miles west of Vienna where the seminary is located. Neither Krenn nor diocesan offi cials were immediately available for comment. The Austrian Bishops Conference declined to comment Wednesday evening, saying it would await an offi cial announcement from the Vatican. The pope appointed another Aus trian cleric, Bishop Klaus Kueng, as an “apostolic visitor” to investigate the affair, which has deeply embar rassed the Roman Catholic church. Police have been conducting a sepa rate criminal investigation. Last month, Kueng shut down the seminary, where trainee priests also had snapped photographs of each other kissing and fondling one anoth er and their older religious instruc tors. Some of the photos were pub lished, triggering an uproar that church officials disclosed last week has prompted as many as 10,000 be lievers to formally withdraw from church rolls. Calls had mounted on Krenn, 68, to resign or be fired by the Vatican af ter his dismissive comments charac terizing the downloading of the pornography at the seminary as noth ing more than a “childish prank.” In an interview with Der Standard, Krenn said he was stepping down voluntarily from the post he has held for 13 years, and not because of pres sure from Rome. Prosecutors investigating the child pornography aspect of the case have charged a 27-year-old former semi nary student from Poland with pos sessing and distributing illicit materi al, a federal offense punishable by up to two years in prison. The scandal, and a separate affair involving allegations that a promi nent Austrian priest sexually molest ed at least 10 youths in the 1980s, have prompted believers to leave the church. STUDENT ID SPECIALS • Show Your Student ID • Order by Number 1 South Campus 2870 E. Willamette $8.99 - One Large 14" Mopping Pizza $12.99 - Two Large 14" Mopping Pizzas Valid on Pan, Thin 'N Crispy® or Hand-Tossed Crust Limited Delivery Area. Delivery Charges Apply. Offer Expires December 28,2004 1 $11.99 - One Large 14" Mopping Pizza, 5 Breadsticks and a 2-Liter of Pepsi Make it Cheesesticks or Cinnamon Sticks tor Only $1 More. Valid on Pan, Thin ’N Crispy® or Hand-Tossed Crust. Limited Oelivery Area. Delivery Charges Apply. Offer Expires December 28,2004 ine-ln Special! $11.99 - One Large 14" Mopping Pizza, 10 Breadsticks and Up to 4 Fountain Drinks
