After months of turmoil capped off by bizarre behavior just a couple of days ago, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, barely one month into his 4th term, has announced his resignation.

This time, compared to the other two times he threatened to resign, its the real deal. Nigel Jacquiss of Willamette Week broke the news:

Gov. John Kitzhaber, Oregon's has resigned. Will be replaced by SOS Kate Brown. Timing of transition not unclear. http://t.co/Z4Z9cJOmir

— NigelJaquiss (@NigelJaquiss) February 13, 2015

Kitzhaber sent a one-sentence resignation letter to OR Secretary of State Kate Brown. It states:

Dear Secretary Brown: Effective February 18, 2015, at 10 a.m., I am resigning my position as Governor of Oregon. Sincerely, John A. Kitzhaber, M.D.

He also released a letter to the media. That letter is much longer than what he sent to Sec of State Brown. He is not happy about having to resign. Not happy at all. KEZI has the text of his letter. In addition to a lengthy list of his accomplishments, this letter also includes the following:

I am announcing today that I will resign as Governor of the State of Oregon.
It is not in my nature to walk away from a job I have undertaken – it is to stand and fight for the cause. For that reason I apologize to all those people who gave of their faith, time, energy and resources to elect me to a fourth term last year and who have supported me over the past three decades. I promise you that I will continue to pursue our shared goals and our common cause in another venue.
I must also say that it is deeply troubling to me to realize that we have come to a place in the history of this great state of ours where a person can be charged, tried, convicted and sentenced by the media with no due process and no independent verification of the allegations involved. But even more troubling – and on a very personal level as someone who has given 35 years of public service to Oregon – is that so many of my former allies in common cause have been willing to simply accept this judgment at its face value.

I ran for a fourth term as your governor to continue that progress. But the questions that have been raised about my administration – specifically allegations against me concerning the work done by my fiancé Cylvia Hayes and the contracts she obtained during my last term – and the escalating media frenzy that has stemmed from this – has clearly reached the point of no return.

I am confident that I have not broken any laws nor taken any actions that were dishonest or dishonorable in their intent or outcome. That is why I asked both the Ethics Commission and the Attorney General to take a full and comprehensive look at my actions – and I will continue to fully cooperate with those ongoing efforts. I am equally confident that once they have been concluded Oregonians will see that I have never put anything before my love for and commitment to Oregon and faithfully fulfilling the responsibilities of the public offices I have held

The full audio of John Kitzhaber reading his resignation statement can be found here. In the meantime, whether Kitzhaber likes it or not, the influence peddling scandal won’t go away, the debacle over Cover Oregon is on-going, and the criminal investigation of Kitzhaber and his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes will continue. What a sad and inglorious end to a 36-year political career.