Oregon is a state enjoying growth and popularity. Many people are moving to the Portland area due to culture, beauty and growing economy. While Portland and Oregon are on a roll, announcements like the recent news that the U.S. Military killed a leading al-Qaeda operative who was born in Oregon is a reminder for all the wonderful people in the state, there are some less than upstanding ones.
GoLocalPDX took a look at some of the biggest scoundrels in Oregon - murderers, racists, terrorists and just all around creeps. While Governor John Kitzhaber and his "First Lady" Cylvia Hayes have given the state a political black eye, they have been discredited, but yet to be convicted of any crimes.
Despite Kitzhaber's corruption case, the state is actually ranked as the least corrupt in the United States.
"But in Oregon, strong oversight and audit rules ensure that state officials keep their hands out of the cookie jar. Data from the Justice Department, compiled by political scientists at Indiana University at Bloomington and the City University of Hong Kong, show that, over a period of 32 years, there were fewer corruption convictions in Oregon than in any other state, when controlling for the number of state workers," wrote the Washington Post in August of 2014.
Oregon is great, but the following group are among the very worst.
Related Slideshow: Oregon’s Greatest Scoundrels
Oregon is a wonderful state full of amazing people, but these are the worst of the worst.
One of the strangest and most bizarre scoundrels in Oregon history was the actions of the followers of an Indian sex guru who tried to take political control in Wasco County.
Specifically, they intentionally tried to poison hundreds to further the political cause of group of followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.
Ultimately 751 were infected and 45 were hospitalized.
“They (the Rajneeshees) hatched a two-pronged plan. First, the Rajneeshees would try to depress turnout among regular voters by poisoning thousands of residents with Salmonella, thus incapacitating them on Election Day. Second, the group would round up thousands of homeless people from nearby cities, entice them with promises of food and shelter, and register them to vote,” according to an article in published in the Atlantic in June of 2014.
Oregon native Gadahn died in a US drone strike in Pakistan. He was one of the most controversial and targeted al-Qaeda operatives. The recent New York Times headline of his death was, “Adam Gadahn Was Propagandist for Al Qaeda Who Sold Terror in English.”
Gadahn grew up playing Little League and was a home schooled Christian. He was a rock musician in California and then went on to move to Pakistan and married a refugee Afghan woman in 1998.
Repeatedly, the media reported he had been killed. In 2008 it was reported in Pakistan that he was killed and in 2010, it was reported that he was captured. Both reports were false.
Mayor of Portland, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Governor of Oregon and creep.
After he left the Governor’s office in 1991, he went on to be a powerful lobbyist representing the corporate clients in lumber and energy.
As Willamette Week published in 2004, “… his (Goldschmidt) incomprehensible involvement with an adolescent babysitter changed both of their lives forever and—although few people knew about it—the secret profoundly affected Oregon history. No one can say with certainty how much of the arc of the woman’s life was shaped by the man who molested her starting when she was 14. But it is clear that today, on her 43rd birthday, living a thousand miles from her friends and family in Portland, she is a haunted woman.”
The story unveiled the perverse, manipulative and destructive relationship that Goldschmidt heaped on a girl starting when she was only 14-years-of-age.
During the tenure of Governor Pierce, the Ku Klux Klan had some of its biggest years. The 1920s were a boon for the Klan. Their membership in Oregon exploded.
By the mid 1920s its membership was estimated at between 14,000 and 20,000 with numerous sympathizers, who were not official members.
The Oregon Legislature, dominated by members of the Klan, passed a number of restrictive laws. The Alien Land Law prevented first-generation Japanese-Americans from owning or leasing land.
The Oregon Business Restriction Law allowed cities to refuse business licenses to first-generation Japanese-Americans.
Pierce, though not a member of the Klan, was supported by the Klan and promoted the Klan’s agenda.
Pierce won his election to the state’s top position in 1922 with the help of the Klan. He also served in Congress from 1932 to 1942, representing Oregon's 2nd District.
One of America’s potentially worse cases of domestic terrorism was the attempt by Mohamud to set off a car bomb during the Christmas tree lighting in Portland in 2010.
While born in Somalia, Mohumud grew up in Beavertown. He graduated from Westview High School and later attended Oregon State University, but dropped out.
The FBI flagged him when they unveiled his emails to a terrorist operative.
Government affidavits unveiled in his trial said that Mohamud told undercover FBI agents, "I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave either dead or injured."
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