Oregon governor's fiancée Cylvia Hayes admits to pot growing

SALEM, Ore., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- A retired real-estate broker said Monday the fiancée of Oregon's governor John Kitzhaber, Cylvia Hayes, once had a marijuana growing operation in Washington state.

Patrick Siemion, the broker, claimed she and and her then boyfriend bought the 60-acre parcel to make a marijuana farm.

This follows on the heels of a revelation that Hayes married an Ethiopian man in 1997 to procure him a green card for $5,000. Hayes said the proceeds from the exchange did not go to the growing of marijuana but to pay for her college education.

Hayes told The Oregonian, "the property in Okanogan was intended to be the site of a marijuana grow operation that never materialized. I was never financially involved with it. I did not pay any part of the down payment or mortgage payments."

Siemion indicated her assertion that she never intended to use the land was absurd.

"She has gotten herself caught," he said. "If she 'intended' it to be a marijuana grow, than why did we find cuttings all over the pool table where they were cutting it?"

He said Hayes did all the dealing and was the leader of the operation.

Kitzhaber has defended his fiancee and has said he still intends to marry her.