Jennifer Yachnin and Daniel Bush, E&E reporters
Greenwire

Former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) formally resigned yesterday amid allegations of public corruption and questions over whether his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, used her position as an adviser on energy issues for personal gain. But whether Republicans can successfully push the scandal beyond the Beaver State’s borders and make it a key issue in the 2016 election cycle remains to be seen.

In recent days, conservative newspapers and the Energy & Environment Legal Institute…have seized on allegations that Hayes lobbied the Kitzhaber administration to pursue climate and energy policies promoted by the same organizations that paid her for consulting work, arguing that the Oregon scandal should serve as an impetus to examine the ties between government and the renewable energy industry elsewhere…

“Any such investigation must not stop at Oregon’s borders,” wrote E&E Legal Institute Senior Legal Fellow Chris Horner in The Washington Times.

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