FILE - Oregon Governor Tina Kotek speaks to a crowd in May. Kotek is on the verge of tapping the third chief of staff of her first term in the governor's office.
Eli Imadali / OPB
Gov. Tina Kotek is once again shaking up leadership in her office.
As she works to make a case to voters for another four years, Kotek announced Tuesday she has asked her chief of staff, Chris Warner, to lead the troubled Oregon Department of Transportation.
In Warner’s place, Kotek is naming Emerald Bogue her new chief of staff. Bogue, a Port of Portland executive, joined Kotek’s office on a temporary basis earlier this year. She has been functionally on loan from the port during that time, but will officially become a member of Kotek’s staff at the end of June.
Warner, meanwhile, will assume the role of ODOT interim director in place of Lisa Sumption. Sumption was director of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department until earlier this year, when she agreed to lead the transportation department after long-time agency Director Kris Strickler resigned. She will return to the parks department, Kotek’s office said in a news release.
“I’m grateful to Lisa and Chris for being willing to step in and serve the people of Oregon who depend on a safe and reliable transportation system,” Kotek said in a statement. “Their efforts allow the state to take the steps needed to find the best director for Oregon’s transportation future. Chris has the experience needed to keep the organization moving at this truly critical juncture. He has my full confidence.”
The game of executive branch musical chairs announced Tuesday touches two of the more closely scrutinized posts in state government.
The role of Kotek’s chief of staff generated intense public interest two years ago, when former chief Andrea Cooper was fired after expressing concerns about First Lady Aimee Kotek Wilson’s growing role in the administration. Cooper’s termination was accompanied by the departure of two other high-level Kotek staffers, and prompted questions about whether the governor had put her wife ahead of the public interest.
Warner, who joined Kotek’s administration as a deputy chief of staff in 2023, ascended to the role of chief of staff. While he is viewed as an experienced and pleasant government operative, critics say the departure of Cooper and others helped to stall progress on Kotek’s top issues.
But if the governor’s office has its share of challenges, so does ODOT. The agency has been forced to slash spending and leave vacant positions unfilled, after a road-funding bill passed by lawmakers last year was referred to voters – and subsequently trounced on the May 19 primary ballot.
ODOT is currently lacking funding to finish a suite of major highway projects that have been promised for nearly a decade. As costs have outpaced its revenue streams, the agency says it’s struggling to provide basic road maintenance services.
Warner is taking the lead of the agency at the same time Kotek has convened a new task force charged with helping create a new funding proposal. Lawmakers are expected to take that up next year.
Transportation policy is not new for Warner, who previously spent more than four years as head of the Portland Bureau of Transportation, and as an advisor on transportation policy for former Gov. Ted Kulongoski.
The state’s Department of Administrative Services is currently conducting a national search for a full-time ODOT director.
Bogue, 46, spent four years in Multnomah County government before landing a role at the Port of Portland in 2015. She most recently served as the port’s government affairs director, guiding lobbying at the federal, state and local levels, according to her LinkedIn profile.
