Sources Say: Auction threat works for zombie homes

Delinquent landlords finally step up when Portland puts their properties on the auction block during zombie home crackdown

Portland's tougher stance on zombie homes paid off again when the first two abandoned houses approved by the City Council for auction in 52 years sold before bids could be taken.

The liens on both homes were paid off mere days before the scheduled July 17 auction. That now makes nine homes where delinquent owners reacted after their properties were approved for auction.

Since former Mayor Charlie Hales pushed the council to crack down on abandoned "zombie homes," the City Auditor's Office has begun preparing 57 problem properties for submission to the council for foreclosure auctions. So far, 28 have been resolved, with the city recovering $2.8 million in fees and fines.

One of the recently redeemed properties was a boarded-up house at 15803 S.E. Powell Blvd. with $111,916 in liens and other fees against it. The city had repeatedly cleaned up used tires and other trash dumped there. It was owned by US Bank, which sold it shortly before the scheduled auction.

New York case proves Kitzhaber, Hayes convictions hard

One month after the U.S. Department of Justice dropped its influence-peddling investigation into former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber and girlfriend Cylvia Hayes, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York confirmed that getting convictions would have been almost impossible.

On July 13, the court overturned the 2015 corruption conviction of former New York state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. In its decision, the court cited the subsequent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned the conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell on similar charges. In that case, the court found federal anti-corruption laws unconstitutionally criminalized normal activities of elected officials.

Federal officials reportedly had been investigating Kitzhaber and Hayes for violating the same laws. But the pair from Oregon aren't off the hook yet. The Oregon Government Ethics Commission voted the next day to resume its investigation into Kitzhaber and Hayes that was suspended when the federal probe was announced.

Hayes says she's cleared, will still be investigated

The Oregon Government Ethics Commission's decision to resume its investigation into former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber and girlfriend Cylvia Hayes must have especially upset Hayes. Three weeks after the U.S. Department of Justice dropped its probe, she declared she had been "cleared" of all charges.

During a July 10 interview with KATU-TV, Hayes denied that she had done anything improper by accepting around $200,000 to influence state policies while she was nominal first lady.

"That's not why I was given that work. I was doing a lot of that kind of work for years before I even knew John Kitzhaber," Hayes says.

Now she'll find out if state ethics commissioners agree.