Love, Oregon Style

Oregon's first lady admits illegal marriage to Ethiopian immigrant

John Kitzhaber and Cylvia Hayes

No, it's not quite what you might think. The "First" Lady of Oregon is not married to the governor, she's merely the fiance thereof, although she has the official title (How very French!). And it turns out she once sold her hand in marriage for a herd of goats few thousand bucks.

Oregon first lady Cylvia Hayes admitted Thursday she illegally married an Ethiopian immigrant because she needed money and he needed help to stay in the United States.

Hayes said she married 18-year-old Abraham Abraham in 1997 during a "difficult and unstable period in my life." She said she was ashamed and embarrassed by the marriage, and for that reason, she never disclosed it to her current fiance Gov. John Kitzhaber.

"This is the most painful part for me," she said. "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."

Hayes' admission comes after the Willamette Week discovered she had been married and divorced three times - not two - and that the previously undisclosed third marriage was to Abraham. She told Willamette Week that Kitzhaber did not know about the third marriage until Tuesday afternoon.

The marriage with Abraham took place on July 19, 1997 in Washington state when Hayes was 29 years old, according to the Washington State Department of Health certificate of marriage.

"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," Hayes said.

Immigrants can obtain citizenship in the U.S. through marriage, but the U.S.government doesn't recognize relationships as marriages if the purpose is to evade U.S. immigration laws.

As pointed out by Jazz Shaw at Hot Air, this isn't just picking on the Democratic governor's girl friend because it's easy, she is actually a political player in Oregon:

Hayes isn’t just the governor’s squeeze; she’s a political consultant who’s “taken an active role in . . . developing the governor’s energy and environmental policy.”

All I want to say is that America's a great country; where else can a girl go from flat broke and selling herself to foreigners to political power 16 years?