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IT Manager Who Leaked Kitzhaber Emails Won't Be Charged

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Former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber resigned in February amid a criminal ethics investigation.
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The state worker who leaked thousands of former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber's emails to the press won't be charged with a crime.

IT manager Michael Rodgers turned over emails to the Willamette Week newspaper when Kitzhaber aides seemed to suggest they should be deleted from state servers. The Marion County District Attorney's office said Wednesday that justice would not be served by filing criminal charges against Rodgers.

But at the same time, the prosecutors said that in their opinion, Rodgers did violate state law when he leaked emails to the press. They said Rodgers appeared to act outside of the proper process of disseminating potentially sensitive information.

The messages included ones sent to and from Kitzhaber's personal email address. Kitzhaber resigned in February amid a criminal ethics investigation.

Copyright 2015 Northwest News Network

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Chris Lehman
Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.