Neil Goldschmidt, former Oregon governor who confessed to sex with a minor in the 1970s, has died

Neil Goldschmidt, who as mayor of Portland was credited with starting the city on its path to becoming a magnet for the young, hip and liberal but whose reputation unraveled after it was revealed he had sex with a 14-year-old, has died. “In the 35 years since I failed this young woman, her family, and my family, the pain has never eased,” Goldschmidt told The Oregonian in an email after the victim died in 2011. The scandal reverberated among Oregon’s political elite, where rumors circulated about who knew Goldschmidt’s secret and kept it quiet. “He had as many ideas as the trigger would pull.” A legal aid attorney in Portland from 1967 to 1969, Goldschmidt began his political career as a city commissioner in 1971 and was elected mayor the following year. In 1986, Goldschmidt entered the Oregon governor’s race, which saw him locked with Republican Norma Paulus in one of the state’s closest gubernatorial contests.