Andrea Cooper, Gov. Tina Kotek’s Former Chief of Staff, Gets Temporary New Gig at Oregon Department of Administrative Services

Another piece of information is emerging about the sudden March 22 departure of Andrea Cooper, Gov. Tina Kotek’s chief of staff.

As WW reported earlier, Cooper and two other top Kotek aides, special adviser Abby Tibbs and deputy chief of staff Lindsey O’Brien, announced their departures that day. (Tibbs is heading back to Oregon Health & Science University, while O’Brien is on indefinite leave.)

But Cooper will not immediately leave state government. A copy of her confidential “transition agreement” with Kotek, which WW obtained through a public records request, shows Cooper will continue to collect her $303,000 salary as a special adviser to Berri Leslie, director and chief operating officer of the Oregon Department of Administrative Services.

People familiar with the workings of Kotek’s office say that the governor fired Cooper. Absent a tort claim notice—the precursor to a lawsuit—the state does not pay severance to terminated employees. Cooper’s “transition agreement” appears to be the result of a negotiation between Cooper’s attorney and the state.

DAS, which performs payroll, human resources, budgeting and other functions for the state, has sometimes served as a transition spot for high-level political staffers.

When Gov. John Kitzhaber returned to office in 2011, a chief of staff from his earlier administration, Steve Marks, who had worked on Kitzhaber’s 2010 campaign, landed a spot at DAS before going on to serve as director of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. And when then-Secretary of State Kate Brown hired a new chief of staff in her second term as the state’s top elections officer, her former chief, Barry Pack, moved into a spot at DAS before later landing the job as the director of the Oregon Lottery.

In her new position—which has a limited duration, ending Nov. 29, 2024—Cooper is supposed to conduct “comprehensive organizational assessments” and advise Leslie on a variety of topics, including “change management, organizational design, team effectiveness and leadership development.”

The transition agreement “may be terminated earlier by mutual agreement of the parties or by Cooper upon finding alternative employment.”

Elisabeth Shepard, Kotek’s spokeswoman, declined to comment.