Editorial: The complicated legacy Neil Goldschmidt leaves for Oregon (2024)

Prior to 2004, any summary of the legacy of former Oregon Gov. Neil Goldschmidt, who died last week at age 83, would have been fairly one-note in tone - a laudatory tribute to a titan of Oregon politics.

After all, the former Portland mayor had championed the progressive policies and transportation investments that showcased Portland as a model of smart planning. Famously charismatic, he served as a cabinet member for President Jimmy Carter and was viewed as a potential presidential candidate himself. As governor, he led a recession-torn state to recovery and economic growth. And even after he left political office, he continued to wield outsized power – a kingmaker who bestowed his connections and support to a constellation of up-and-coming politicians.

But it was in May 2004, under pressure of an investigation by the Willamette Week’s Nigel Jaquiss, that Goldschmidt partially admitted the hideous, predatory behavior that he had long kept secret: While serving as Portland’s mayor in the 1970s, he repeatedly sexually abused a young teenage girl. The scope of his abuse of the girl, starting, she said, when she was 13, was revealed in Jaquiss’ reporting and other media accounts over the years. He was never charged for rape due to time limits on prosecuting such offenses.

Goldschmidt’s death reopens wounds among Oregonians struggling to square the visionary leader and his accomplishments with the rapist who manipulated, used and destroyed a child. The conversation in recent days has centered on the question of what his legacy is or should be.

But there is no such ledger that can weigh Goldschmidt’s achievements against the profound pain and damage he caused. Although Goldschmidt lived out the last 20 years of his life in disgrace, the girl he targeted suffered for much of her life with substance abuse and mental illness. She died in 2011 at the age of 49.

There is a legacy for all of us to acknowledge, however.

It starts with recognizing that the tendency to cast people as heroes or villains closes us off to spotting anything that goes against that narrative. If Goldschmidt weren’t so revered, would those who had witnessed questionable behavior or heard rumors stood up sooner? As Jaquiss reported in 2004, several people in Goldschmidt’s orbit either knew of the girl or heard about her but nearly all kept quiet.

Goldschmidt’s legacy extends to this newspaper as well. We failed to diligently follow up on a tip about the abuse. And we failed in our 2004 portrayal of Goldschmidt’s repeated rape of his neighbor’s daughter, including our notorious headline referencing the abuse as an “affair.” It is a mistake for which we owe the victim an apology – one that comes 20 years too late.

And there’s something for the state to take away from this, too. Because as much as people want to simply bury Goldschmidt as a rapist and move on, the reality is that there are many more children in need that Oregon continues to fail. This state is the worst in the country for the mismatch in behavioral health resources for children compared to the demand. News stories have documented the painful waitlists and lack of treatment for families desperate for help. Youth drug overdose deaths in Oregon have skyrocketed, growing at a faster rate than anywhere else in the country. The state’s Department of Human Services just inked a settlement to end a federal class action lawsuit over severe deficiencies in the child welfare system. These facts do not reflect a state that sincerely cares for the well-being of children who suffer from abuse in its many forms.