Amid Another Loss, Kotek Begins Rebuilding Her Staff

On July 25, WW reported that Juliana Wallace, director of Gov. Tina Kotek’s behavioral health initiative, had resigned.

Wallace’s resignation makes her the sixth high-profile departure from Kotek’s office since March 22, when Kotek announced that chief of staff Andrea Cooper, special adviser Abby Tibbs, and deputy chief of staff Lindsey O’Brien were leaving.

Although none of those women has commented, interviews with people familiar with the office and emails Kotek released in May show that conflict over the role of first lady Aimee Kotek Wilson precipitated the sudden departures.

Kotek has since apologized for trying to establish a position in her administration for her wife without sufficient process. But communications director An Do and deputy general counsel Lindsey Burrows also subsequently left, reportedly for similar reasons, although they also declined comment.

Wallace’s position placed her in close proximity to Kotek Wilson, a trained social worker who involved herself in the governor’s behavioral health reforms.

Wallace featured prominently in the emails Kotek released related to Kotek Wilson’s role. Messages showed that Wallace interviewed with Kotek Wilson before getting her job; was expected to have weekly calls with her; and was asked by Kotek to call a manager at Cascadia Behavioral Health because of a concern an employee there raised with Kotek Wilson. In an email, Tibbs told Wallace that Kotek’s request was “highly inappropriate at best.”

Wallace told WW she’s returning to her former employer, Central City Concern, because she prefers clinical work to making policy.

“I’m not leaving because of the first lady’s engagement with the office,” she said in a text.

Elisabeth Shepard, Kotek’s spokeswoman, says any concerns about staff turnover are off base. She notes that Kotek has now replaced two of the staffers who left and filled four other staff positions unrelated to the first lady. Kotek also plans to replace Wallace before her final day, Sept. 13. (Those transferred internally or newly hired may be doing different work than those who left, as some job descriptions have changed.)

“The governor has confidence in her executive leadership team and all the folks who work for her,” Shepard says. “She is grateful to the talented group of people who continue to step up daily to deliver the results Oregonians expect.”