Nothing to see here, move along: Kitzhaber’s Columbia River Crossing adviser also works for the project’s biggest contractor.

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We already know of the obvious conflict of interest concerning now former Rep. Jim Jacks' employment with McKay and Sposito... and, of course, who is it that Tim "The Liar" Leavitt works for?

Now we can add this to the mix:

March 2nd, 2011 NIGEL JAQUISS | News

Serving Two Masters

Kitzhaber’s Columbia River Crossing adviser also works for the project’s biggest contractor.

The Columbia River Crossing has occupied much of Gov. John Kitzhaber’s attention since his election last fall.

Kitzhaber spoke to President Obama about federal funding for the multibillion-dollar project when Obama visited Oregon late last month. And Kitzhaber has met twice in Washington, D.C., with federal Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on the CRC, the first time in November after Kitzhaber’s election and again this past weekend during a National Governors Association meeting.

All of which makes two lines in a Kitzhaber press release last week all the more significant.

“The Governor has asked Patricia McCaig to be his lead advisor on the Columbia River Crossing Project,” read a Feb. 21 statement announcing the hiring of Clackamas County Chairwoman Lynn Peterson as the governor’s transportation adviser. “Ms. McCaig has been serving this role during the transition and will continue this work into the Administration.”

But unlike other Kitzhaber advisers, such as Peterson, McCaig is not—and will not—become a public employee, says Kitzhaber’s spokesman, Tim Raphael.

“The state will not be paying her,” Raphael says. 

Instead, McCaig, who earned $72,000 for managing Kitzhaber’s campaign and working with his transition team, will be drawing pay from another source for her bridge work.

Raphael says McCaig will continue to be a paid consultant to David Evans and Associates, a Portland engineering firm that is by far the largest beneficiary of the $118 million that CRC  records show project sponsors have spent so far. 

CRC figures show David Evans has earned nearly $27 million from the project, about 2 1/2 times more than the next largest private contractor, Parametrix.

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Now, this kind of corruption is, of course, par for the course. That's just one of many reasons why we, the People, should have a vote on this horrific program.
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