Tina Kotek describes herself as a hands-on governor. That’s an understatement. 

“I came at political life as a policy person, as a detail-oriented person. I do ask a lot of questions,” she said. 

Since being sworn into office Jan. 9, the ex-Portlander has been a political whirlwind, traveling the state, emphasizing her key priorities and tackling myriad challenges: Homelessness everywhere. Contaminated groundwater in Umatilla County. The OLCC fiasco. Expansion of broadband internet service. Selection of a new secretary of state, LaVonne Griffin-Valade, to replace the disgraced fellow Democrat Shemia Fagan. Continual bad news emanating from Portland. Drought so severe that it encompasses 19 counties, including coastal Lincoln, and affects 3.6 million Oregonians.

On Thursday, Kotek sat down with me in the Governor’s Office conference room at the Oregon State Library to discuss her first 255 days on the job.

“I expected it to be challenging. I expected to learn new things. So that has come true, right? I took on the job because there are things we need to fix, and so that was exactly what I expected,” she said. “What I didn’t expect, actually, I think are the personal changes. 

For example, on a January morning when she and first lady Aimee Kotek Wilson were out of eggs for breakfast, she couldn’t just hop out to the grocery store to buy some. As governor, she has an Oregon State Police security detail that drives her everywhere. Rather than bothering the troopers, the couple forwent eggs. 

Kotek has driven just once since becoming governor: a jaunt around the neighborhood to say good-bye to her trusty 2004 Honda before selling it. The couple now have an electric vehicle, which Kotek Wilson uses.

Ensconced since January in Mahonia Hall, the official governor’s residence in South Salem, they sold their North Portland house this month for $585,000, according to The Oregonian. 

Kotek defined her gubernatorial role as comprising three buckets:

One is hands-on management. She meets regularly with top staff, especially ones working on her key priorities of housing and homelessness, behavioral health, and early learning.

For example, this week they discussed House Bill 3198, a literacy bill that the 2023 Legislature passed with strong bipartisan, bicameral support. It took effect when Kotek signed it into law on July 31. 

“It’s not just finding out what they’re doing, but we wrestle with questions,” she said. “Now the question is, ‘Well, how’s the implementation going? How’s the rulemaking going? What are we doing with [school] districts?”

Kotek will return to the Legislature in February, seeking money for literacy grants to community groups. “For me, the work doesn’t end with a bill. It doesn’t end with getting money allocated by the Legislature,” she said.

If asked by a young person to describe her job, Kotek says she goes to a lot of meetings, spends a lot of time on Zoom and reads a lot of reports. 

“I’m asking how things are going. I’m curious what the details are,” she said. “I ask questions for the purpose of making sure state government is actually doing what it’s supposed to be doing.”

Kotek described the second job bucket as being a convener and a spokesperson – “someone that moves things forward.” She cited her Portland Central City Task Force.

“Every part of the state I’ve heard from knows that they’re worried about Portland,” she said. “Portland’s an economic driver. It’s a statewide issue, and therefore the governor should be involved. … 

“This is a public-private partnership,” she said of the task force, which meets in private. “And while we have city and county leaders there, it’s bigger than their local government. It’s bigger than the state government. It’s … about prioritizing Portland because it’s good for the state. And doing it in a fashion that says we’re not just going to talk; we’re actually going to produce an action plan. And we’re going to implement the action plan.

“I think we’re all tired of bad press from national newspapers.” 

The third part of the job is as commander of the Oregon National Guard, along with working with first responders: “I keep our state safe by taking calls at all hours of the night about fire. That is one part of the job that you really can’t train for because there’s only one person who gets to do that job.”

Self-disciplined, Kotek remains focused on her top priorities. I asked her to evaluate their progress.  

On housing and homelessness, “I think we are doing the things we need to do to move us towards more housing production, as well as more capacity for people who are unsheltered. It’s an incomplete process, but I think I feel good about where we are.”

The 2023 Legislature emphasized homelessness programs, handing her a big win. Her emphasis for the 2024 Legislature will be housing production, following up the recommendations from her Housing Production Advisory Council.

On behavioral health, “I believe we need to do even more.”

Kotek said the Oregon Health Authority’s behavioral health efforts that she inherited were not in good shape.

“We have spent the first months of my administration hiring new people, setting some new priorities,” she said. “We routinely speak with people on the One Oregon Listening Tour about behavioral health issues. It’s affecting every corner of the state. I’m happy about some of the progress, but we need to be doing more.” 

On early literacy, “Well, I’ll be very honest. I wanted more money from the Legislature for early literacy. But they did give us a good chunk of money, and Dr. Williams and I are very focused on the implementation,” she said, referring to Charlene Williams, whom Kotek picked to lead the Oregon Department of Education.

“I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that we focus on reading and literacy for our youngest kiddos. I’m really worried about where they are. And we’re pushing hard to get every district to engage on this.”

The state education assessment results released Thursday morning were, in Kotek’s words, “terrible” and “unacceptable.” 

“Let’s always have a little bit of grace coming out of the pandemic, but I’m not satisfied with the results,” she said. “We can do better. We have to do better.”

She’d asked this year’s Legislature to finance summer learning programs. Lawmakers said no. Kotek will ask again in February.

“I firmly believe that summer learning is a critical piece of getting young people back on-track,” she said. “I think we have to have the conversation as a state of whether or not we’re going to have long-term regular funding for summer programs. We’re probably way off from going to year-round school, so let’s make sure this summer has the community programming, the school-based programming, that our kids need.”

As for those politicians and interest groups who still hope Kotek will call a special legislative session to handle their particular issue of the day, forget it.

“No plans for a special session, OK?” she said. “We’ll be back in in February.”

Kotek had even more to say. Look for a follow-up Capital Chatter next week.