Gov. John Kitzhaber decided to resign Tuesday but then changed his mind, insisting Wednesday afternoon that he's staying, The Oregonian/OregonLive has learned. 
 
 Events developed as the Democratic governor, now in a historic fourth term and fighting multiple investigations, faced eroding support from other elected officials and even his own advisers. 
 
 The governor decided to pull back from resigning - set for Thursday or Friday -- after meeting with his attorney, Portland lawyer Jim McDermott, and his fiancée, Cylvia Hayes. Hayes' role in his administration has been the source of much of his troubles. 
 
 The account of the tumultuous 24 hours was developed from a half-dozen sources with knowledge of the events. 
 
 The governor met with Senate President Peter Courtney on Tuesday to talk about where he - and equally important, the legislative projects that are central to his legacy - stood. 
 
 He then met with House Speaker Tina Kotek for the same discussion. At issue: the damage to his work from the onslaught of news reports, day after day over the past two weeks, raising questions about his fiancee's propriety in her state work and on federal tax forms, and ultimately, his own ethical standards in addressing it. 
 
 The message wasn't good. He had lost credibility. The projects he planned to devote the next four years instituting were in danger of being drowned in the rising tide of controversy. 
 
 The news wasn't easy to deliver. 
 
 "I know he's hurting," Courtney told reporters. "It's been a painful time." 
 
 The mood in his office had been tense for days. Many understood that, without resigning, he risked permanent damage to his central policies and legacy. 
 
 To resign, Kitzhaber needed Secretary of State Kate Brown, who would succeed him if he steps down. But Brown, 54, was in Washington, D.C., for a conference of the National Association for Secretaries of State. 
 
 Kitzhaber called Brown on Tuesday afternoon, telling her she needed to return to Portland for a face-to-face meeting as soon as she could. She was on a plane by Wednesday morning. 
 
 The governor's staffers set to work Wednesday morning, planning for a resignation announcement that all understood was imminent. 
 
 But word soon got back to Oregon that Brown had been called back, leaving Washington two days earlier than she planned. 
 
 As news reporters began calling for comments from his office, Kitzhaber met with Hayes and McDermott. 
 
 Both pushed back against the planned resignation. It's unclear what arguments Hayes and McDermott used to pull Kitzhaber back from the brink. 
 
 The governor decided then against resigning. 
 
 McDermott left the meeting and not long after, publicly doused all reports of a pending resignation. 
 
 "I have every reason to believe he is not going to resign," McDermott told The Oregonian/OregonLive around noon. "I hope he will be making that statement himself later today. The governor has a squeaky clean ethical record." 
 
 McDermott later decried what he said had been "this rush to judgment. The governor is entitled to a thorough review and vetting of the facts." 
 
 At 2:36 p.m., the governor's office released its own statement. 
 
 "Let me be as clear as I was last week, that I have no intention of resigning as Governor of the state of Oregon," the email read. "I was elected to do a job for the people of this great state and I intend to continue to do so." 
 
 Later, he met privately with Kate Brown, who by then had arrived back in Portland. The details of the conversation couldn't immediately be established. 
 
 -- Laura Gunderson and Nick Budnick 
 
 lgunderson@oregonian.com 
 
 503-221-8378 
 
 @LGunderson 

 Updated at 1:27 p.m. 
 
 Senate President Peter Courtney and House Speaker Tina Kotek met with Gov. John Kitzhaber on Thursday morning and told him it was time to resign. 
 
 Senate President Peter Courtney statement concerning Gov. John Kitzhaber: "He served in the Oregon House as a Representative. He served in the Oregon State Senate. He was the President of the Oregon State Senate for a record number of years. He was elected and has served as Oregon's governor for more than 12 years - longer than anyone else. No public servant has given more to Oregon. "And there is another side. He is a friend. He is a son. He is a brother. He is a father. He is a human being. "It is all of these things for which I hope he is remembered. I hope all of these things are his legacy. He deserves that. Governor John Albert Kitzhaber, MD. I am sorry. "I know that together Oregon and her people will get through this." 
 
 At a 1 p.m. press conference to discuss the meeting, Courtney said the discussion with Kitzhaber was difficult. 
 
 "He was upset," Courtney said. "He was defiant. He was struggling." 
 
 "This thing is evolving by the second." 
 
 Courtney said that he and Kotek have been trying to get security for Secretary of State Kate Brown, who would become governor if Kitzhaber were to step down. 
 
 Courtney said that he had received a note from the governor's staff earlier in the day saying that Kitzhaber was attempting to reach the secretary of state to "set up the transition." 
 
 "I don't know what that means," Courtney said. 
 
 Kotek said later that the governor has been consumed by all the legal investigations and media inquiries. 
 
 "The work of the state has to go on," she said, "and he's not able to focus on that right now." 
 
 "It has become clear to both of us that the ongoing investigations surrounding the governor and Cylvia Hayes have resulted in the loss of the people's trust," Kotek said. "Our actions today and our actions going forward are focused on rebuilding the public's trust in state government." 
 
 Courtney also confirmed on Thursday that he had met with Kitzhaber on Tuesday. Courtney said that he left their meeting believing that the governor was going to resign. 
 
 "He led me to believe he was going to resign. He wanted to do it over a transition period with the secretary of state," Courtney said. "I supported that. I even had a statement prepared." 
 
 Adding that he had been sworn to secrecy, Courtney continued "the next thing I knew a bombshell happened yesterday... I can't fix that." 
 
 Courtney and Kotek had met with their fellow lawmakers earlier Thursday to let them know about the meeting with the governor. 
 
 As Sen. Rod Monroe, D-Portland, left that meeting, he said simply, "Sad day." 
 
 "I've known John Kitzhaber longer than anyone else in the building," he said. "This is a sad day for Oregon." 
 
 The news comes following an unusual statement issued by Secretary of State Kate Brown on Thursday morning. Brown described how she had received a call from the governor on Tuesday afternoon asking her to return to Portland for a face-to-face meeting. 
 
 "I got on a plane yesterday morning and arrived at 3:40 in the afternoon. I was escorted directly into a meeting with the Governor. It was a brief meeting. He asked me why I came back early from Washington, DC, which I found strange. I asked him what he wanted to talk about. The Governor told me he was not resigning, after which, he began a discussion about transition," she wrote in the statement. 
 
 "This is clearly a bizarre and unprecedented situation." 
 
 Lobbyists and legislators said Brown's statement added to a a political drama that was unlike anything they had ever seen before. 
 
 "This is flat-out Greek tragedy," said Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, D-Portland. "Kitzhaber has done so many good things for the state." 
 
 We'll continue to add to this story. 
 
 -- Laura Gunderson and Jeff Mapes and Ian Kullgren 

 SALEM, Ore. – Oregon’s top Democrats, Senate President Peter Courtney, House Speaker Tina Kotek and Treasurer Ted Wheeler said Thursday they have asked Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber to resign because they believe he can no longer be an effective leader. 
 
 >>Full Coverage: Kitzhaber's trail of trouble 
 
 The calls to resign came amid allegations of influence peddling within the governor’s office involving his fiancée, Cylvia Hayes. Kitzhaber has denied any wrongdoing. 
 
 Courtney said during an afternoon news conference that he and Kotek met with Kitzhaber in the morning and asked him to resign. He said the governor told him Tuesday he would be resigning. 
 
 Watch Sen. Courtney's news conference: 
 
 
 
 But apparently, the governor changed his mind and announced Wednesday afternoon that he would be staying put. Courtney described Kitzhaber as struggling and defiant during the morning meeting. 
 
 "I finally said, 'This has got to stop,'" Courtney told reporters after he and Kotek met with the governor. "I don't know what else to do right now. It seems to be escalating. It seems to be getting worse and worse." 
 
 The Senate president seemed as confused about the turn of events this week as anybody and said he was caught off guard along with everyone else when it seemed the governor did an about-face. 
 
 Shortly after Courtney's news conference, Kotek met with reporters and publicly called for Kitzhaber to resign. 
 
 “It has become clear that the ongoing investigations surrounding the governor and Cylvia Hayes 
 
 Rep. Tina Kotek's news conference: 
 
 
 
 have resulted in a loss of the people’s trust and undermined his ability to effectively lead as our state’s chief executive," she said. 
 
 Early in the afternoon, Wheeler released a statement which also called for Kitzhaber's resignation. 
 
 “It is with deep sadness that I ask Governor John Kitzhaber to resign his position as Governor of Oregon," Wheeler said. "He has accomplished many great things during his long career, and history will be kinder to him than current events suggest." 
 
 Their action came hours after Secretary of State Kate Brown, also a Democrat, said she had a "strange" and contradictory conversation with Kitzhaber about succeeding him as governor. 
 
 The secretary of state is next in line should an Oregon governor resign or die in office. 
 
 On Wednesday, a bizarre turn of events unfolded. Brown rushed back to Oregon, cutting her trip to a conference in Washington, D.C. short. The abrupt return fueled speculation that Kitzhaber was planning to resign. 
 
 On Wednesday night outside his Portland home, Kitzhaber told reporters that he called her back to the state to tell her in person that he would not be stepping down. Brown said after she arrived back in Oregon, she immediately met with Kitzhaber and said the governor asked her why she came back early. 
 
 She found that strange and in a statement she said, "This is clearly a bizarre and unprecedented situation." 
 
 Sources told KATU's News partners at Willamette Week and The Associated Press that Kitzhaber planned to resign but at some point changed his mind. 
 
 "Let me be as clear as I was last week, that I have no intention of resigning as Governor of the state of Oregon," Kitzhaber said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. "I was elected to do a job for the people of this great state and I intend to continue to do so." 
 
 Kitzhaber stayed out of sight all day Thursday. 
 
 Reports circulated at the Capitol that Kitzhaber's chief of staff, Mike Bonetto, and his legislative liaison, Dmitri Palmateer, have stepped down from their positions. 
 
 But Palmateer told KATU News late Thursday night that he and Bonetto are still on Kitzhaber's staff. A source at the Capitol, however, told KATU the two would likely resign on Friday. Palmateer declined to comment on that. 
 
 WW's Nigel Jaquiss discusses his story about the emails 
 
 
 
 Meanwhile, KATU's news partners at Willamette Week reported Thursday that Kitzhaber's office requested last week that state officials destroy thousands of records on the governor's email accounts. 
 
 A spokesman for the Department of Administrative Services, which maintains the state archives, later confirmed WW's report to The Associated Press. 
 
 
 
 Matt Shelby said the agency had discovered Kitzhaber's personal emails were being mistakenly forwarded to the server and then informed Kitzhaber's office. He said the governor's office asked that personal emails be deleted from the server, and the agency said it could not do that. He said the governor's office is going through the emails to determine which are public records under Oregon law. 
 
 And in yet another development Thursday, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum ordered Hayes to turn over emails to The Oregonian, which had requested them under Oregon's public records law. Rosenblum said Hayes had seven days to comply. 
 
 Hayes' lawyer had argued that Hayes was not a public official, but Rosenblum rejected that claim. 
 
 Questions about Hayes, have swirled for months, but the pressure on Kitzhaber intensified in recent weeks after newspapers raised questions about whether Hayes reported all her income to on her tax returns. 
 
 
 
 Neither the governor nor Hayes, has been charged with any wrongdoing. But earlier this month, Rosenblum said she was launching a criminal investigation. 
 
 Reporters camped outside the governor's home were joined Thursday evening by Washington County sheriff's deputies. Oregon State Police provide security for Kitzhaber, but sheriff's Sgt. Bob Ray says the agency requested extra help because of the large media presence. 
 
 The Associated Press, On Your Side Investigators Anna Canzano and Joe Douglass contributed. 
 
 Statement from Sen. Courtney: 
 
 “He served in the Oregon House as a Representative. He served in the Oregon State Senate. He was the President of the Oregon State Senate for a record number of years. He was elected and has served as Oregon’s governor for more than 12 years – longer than anyone else. No public servant has given more to Oregon. 
 
 “And there is another side. He is a friend. He is a son. He is a brother. He is a father. He is a human being. 
 
 “It is all of these things for which I hope he is remembered. I hope all of these things are his legacy. He deserves that. Governor John Albert Kitzhaber, MD. I am sorry. 
 
 “I know that together Oregon and her people will get through this.” 
 
 Statement from House Speaker Kotek: 
 
 This morning the Senate President and I met with Governor Kitzhaber and asked him to resign. 
 
 
 
 It has become clear that the ongoing investigations surrounding the Governor and Cylvia Hayes have resulted in a loss of the people’s trust and undermined his ability to effectively lead as our state’s chief executive. 
 
 
 
 Our fundamental priority is to accomplish the people’s work throughout our state. I’m committed to moving ahead and having a productive legislative session focused on supporting our schools, balancing our budget, tending to our transportation needs, and expanding opportunity for all Oregonians. Our actions today and our focus going forward will be rebuilding the public’s trust in state government. 
 
 Statement from Treasurer Ted Wheeler: 
 
 It is with deep sadness that I ask Governor John Kitzhaber to resign his position as Governor of Oregon. He has accomplished many great things during his long career, and history will be kinder to him than current events suggest. 
 
 Unfortunately, the current situation has become untenable, and I cannot imagine any scenario by which things improve. Oregon deserves a Governor who is fully focused on the duties of state. 
 
 I hope the Governor will do the right thing for Oregon and its citizens. 
 
 Full coverage of the controversy:
– With things looking worse for Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber by the minute, staff members appear to be dropping like flies. A source tells KATU that Kitzhaber's chief of staff, Mike Bonetto, and his legislative liaison, Dmitri Palmateer, will step down today. The Oregonian reports Kitzhaber himself planned to resign this week, but he changed his mind after a last-minute meeting with his lawyer, Jim McDermott, and fiancee Cylvia Hayes, whom the majority of the scandal surrounds. Now, Oregon's Senate President Peter Courtney and House Speaker Tina Kotek, along with other top Democrats, have told Kitzhaber the time has come to leave his post. "He was upset," Courtney tells the Oregonian after a meeting with the governor yesterday. "He was defiant. He was struggling." Secretary of State Kate Brown, who will become governor if Kitzhaber steps down, says Kitzhaber asked her on Tuesday to return to Portland from a conference of the National Association for Secretaries of State. In a meeting a day later, though, "He asked me why I came back early from Washington, DC, which I found strange. I asked him what he wanted to talk about. The governor told me he was not resigning, after which he began a discussion about transition," Brown says. "This is clearly a bizarre and unprecedented situation." Kotek maintains that "the ongoing investigations surrounding the governor and Cylvia Hayes have resulted in the loss of the people's trust." Click for more on the scandals facing the governor.