Apparently, Oregon Doesn't Always Send Its Best to Washington - The Source

It all sounds so familiar: A high-ranking official is accused of inappropriate behavior.

Nothing to see here, the White House says — it’s obviously the work of a disgruntled employee.

Next come allegations against the official’s spouse. A few days of news reports, vague details of calls to the police related to sexual assault, and then, in a sad repetition, no charges are filed. No real investigation commences.

In these times, this is what we have been taught to expect when it comes to allegations of misconduct against members of the current administration.

Perhaps we should thank “The Daily Show” for its moment of levity on this situation: Amid the invasions of Venezuela, the occupations of American Heartland cities and the Epstein files, the accusations against Lori Chavez-Deremer (formerly our representative in Congress) of an affair with an employee, using official travel for personal purposes and drinking on the job feel like the “old days,” when those were among the worst things politicians got caught doing. As “The Daily Show” put it, they’re “relieved to see a Trump cabinet member ruining her life instead of the country.”

It’s already weird enough that an Oregon doctor who’s not employed by the federal government is spending his free time hanging out with staffers inside the mundane bureaucratic offices of The Swamp.

But “The Daily Show” made those comments back when it was just the Labor Secretary who was embroiled in scandal. Since then, her husband, an anesthesiologist with a practice in the Portland metro area, is facing his own set of accusations for actions that allegedly took place inside the offices of the Labor Department in Washington, D.C.

It’s already weird enough that an Oregon doctor who’s not employed by the federal government is spending his free time hanging out with staffers inside the mundane bureaucratic offices of The Swamp — but add in the fact that Shawn Deremer is accused of sexually assaulting not one but two different women there, and it goes from weird to just downright concerning.

Apparently, Oregon doesn’t always send its best to Washington.

At this moment, when public officials and even former royals are facing consequences for their inclusion in the Epstein files, perhaps the best we can hope for — barring an actual investigation that might signal to the women that someone cares about and believes their stories — is just what happened: The doctor from Oregon should be banned from the Labor Department’s headquarters.

Shawn Deremer does not have any “board actions or closed malpractice claims on file,” Willamette Week reported.

“When Donald Trump and his team were assembling their second-term Cabinet, former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer appeared to be one of their least controversial choices,” MS Now opined, speculating that the pile-on of accusations against the couple may intensify calls for Lori Chavez-Deremer’s resignation.

For a former mayor of a Portland suburb and one-time House member, Chavez-Deremer has certainly done well for herself. Heck, even being covered in “The New York Times” – however unflatteringly – is a signal that you’ve arrived. But given the level of criminality and ethical and moral failings we are seeing in this administration, we’re not holding our breath on seeing any real consequences against her, or her husband.