3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2016
Kitzhaber says Cover Oregon settlement vindicates him
No word on
FBI inquiry
By NICK BUDNICK
Capital Bureau
Former
Gov.
John
Kitzhaber says he is feel-
ing somewhat “vindicated”
by the recent settlement with
California software giant
Oracle over the $300 million
Cover Oregon website iasco.
As for the long-running
joint FBI-IRS inluence ped-
dling probe of him and ian-
cee Cylvia Hayes?
“I have no idea,” he says.
“It’s been 19 months and I
haven’t heard a word. I’m
getting on with my life.”
Kitzhaber last week
shared some thoughts after
making his third promi-
nent public appearance since
resigning as governor in Feb-
ruary 2015, at a health care
conference at the Portland
Hilton downtown.
Kitzhaber’s words took on
greater signiicance because
they come at a time when
state leaders’ best hope to
salve the state’s bleak iscal
outlook rests once again on
the vision he articulated as
governor.
To close a billion-dollar
gap in the state heath care bud-
get, lawmakers next year must
hope Kitzhaber’s prescription
for health care reform again
results in a large federal pay-
ment, as it did in 2012.
Re-entering public life
Kitzhaber’s speech came
at an important time for him
personally as well, serving
as the latest installment in
his long-term plan to re-en-
ter public life and establish a
new post-government career
of consulting. In the nearly
400-member audience at the
Sept. 28 “State of Reform”
conference were plenty of
potential customers, includ-
ing executives of hospital
systems and Medicaid care
organizations.
He’s no longer in ofice,
but “I would take exception
with the statement that I’m
out of it,” he said, referring to
the dialogue on health care.
He’s been “just doing a lot of
thinking, speaking, doing a
little consulting.”
Approached after his talk,
Kitzhaber declined to revisit
the circumstances that led to
his downfall, including his
complaints about the media
coverage of how Hayes,
while serving as his adviser,
accepted more than $235,000
from groups seeking to inlu-
ence Oregon policy.
But on health care, he was
happy to speak, including the
Cover Oregon legal after-
math. His contention: that
Oracle settled the long-run-
ning legal war he started
mainly because it knew it
would lose. He said he felt
somewhat vindicated at the
settlement, noting that inter-
nal corporate documents
EO Media Group
Former Gov. John Kitzhaber says he is feeling somewhat
“vindicated” by the recent settlement with California soft-
ware giant Oracle over the $300 million Cover Oregon
website fiasco.
attempt to follow the path he
charted and secure additional
funds from the federal gov-
ernment to support the Ore-
gon Health Plan.
Five years ago he secured
a $1.9 billion payment from
the federal government over
ive years to support Ore-
gon’s reforms to the Ore-
gon Health Plan, which in
turn is funded by the federal
low-income health program
Medicaid.
The state is now seeking a
slightly lesser amount, $1.25
billion.
But at least initially,
unearthed by the state indi-
cated that the company had
done shoddy work — or, as
Kitzhaber put it, employed
“bad technology” on the
project.
“From my standpoint,
they were partially responsi-
ble for what happened, and at
least the settlement suggests
that they knew that they were
culpable and they didn’t want
to go to trial. … I’m con-
vinced they would have lost
at trial.”
Perhaps more surprising
was what Kitzhaber said in
his speech about Oregon’s
Kitzhaber said, he expects
the federal Centers for Medi-
care and Medicaid Services
to pan Oregon’s high-stakes
request.
“From my perspective, I
don’t think CMS is going to
give us that money just to
maintain the status quo” as
the state has requested, he
said.
What’s necessary to
improve Oregon’s chances,
Kitzhaber said, are further
changes to how the state’s
hospitals and health care
organizations operate.
Speciically, he called on
his audience of health care
oficials to embrace more
spending on social invest-
ments, such as housing, edu-
cation and social services,
and for the state to put that
commitment in writing in its
federal request.
“I think the likelihood of
success goes up dramatically
… if we use that $1.25 billion
to leverage a redeployment of
resources (into) social invest-
ments,” he said.
Kitzhaber cited statistics
showing that other countries
spend more on social ser-
vices and also enjoy better
health outcomes for its pop-
ulation as a whole, relect-
ing the notion that socioeco-
nomic status, not health care,
plays a major role in an indi-
vidual’s health.
The notion of remaking
the Oregon Health Plan to
include more spending on
social services comes even
as the state takes stock of its
reforms, with even sympa-
thetic lawmakers questioning
whether the Medicaid “coor-
dinated care” organizations
Kitzhaber created enjoy too
much latitude on spending,
and too much secrecy.
When Kitzhaber resigned,
some health care oficials and
lawmakers openly wondered
what would come of his Ore-
gon Health Plan changes.
But last week Kitzhaber
said he’s not worried about
his reforms. “There’s a lot of
momentum out there, there’s
a lot of people who are very
committed to this within
the (state’s coordinated care
organizations). I think they
can carry it.”
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
Re-elect
Deborah
Boone
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State Representative
HD 32, Democrat
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Native Oregonian
Rural homeowner in HD 32 since 1974
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Jennifer Crockett is the new director of the Liberty Theater.
Liberty Theater
hires new director
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
After a ive-month search,
the Liberty Theater has hired
Jennifer Crockett, a profes-
sional musician, as the venue’s
new director.
The board of directors
hired Crockett, 39, for the full-
time position at an August
meeting. She began work in
mid-September.
The interim director, Carol
Shepherd, plans to move back
to Eugene after Saturday’s
Storm Large concert.
As director, Crockett will
handle bookings for the theater
and its McTavish Room and
Paulson Pavilion. She will also
oversee the building’s retail
properties.
Crockett replaces Rose-
mary Baker-Monaghan, the
Liberty’s longtime executive
director who resigned in April.
“We are very fortunate to
have Jennifer Crockett as our
new director,” Christine Lol-
ich, president of the Liberty
board, said in a release. “She
brings new energy, creative
ideas and a rebirth of the Lib-
erty Theater.”
Crockett was chosen
because of her background
in arts and management. She
graduated from the DePaul
University School of Music in
Chicago with a performance
degree in clarinet and bass
clarinet.
“She also came very pre-
pared with what she wanted
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tive,” Lolich said.
Crockett, who has per-
formed in the Astoria Music
Festival, plays with a variety
of organizations, including
symphony orchestras, cham-
ber groups and pit orchestras.
“After playing clarinet pro-
fessionally for a number of
years and also having busi-
ness experience, I’m excited
to merge the two together into
arts administration,” Crockett
said in a release. “I’ve realized
as I’ve gotten older that music
needs champions both on the
stage and behind it, and the
Liberty is the perfect place to
make a measurable difference.
“Like the arts in general,
the theater took a beating over
the years and has survived. I’m
excited for the opportunity to
help it continue to thrive,” she
continued.
Crockett lives just blocks
from the theater with her hus-
band, Nathan Crockett, the
iddle player from the band
Horsefeathers.
Last summer, Horsefeath-
ers was the opening act for
the theater’s inaugural Sun-
set Series, an indie folk con-
cert series intended to attract
theatergoers from a wider age
range, particularly younger
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Asked what she’s most
looking forward to, Jennifer
Crockett said, “I’m excited to
just throw open the doors and
get as many people in as we
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