neil edward goldschmidt born june 16 1940 is an american businessman and former democratic politician from oregon who held local state and federal offices over three decades after serving as the governor of oregon goldschmidt is widely considered the most influential figure in the states politics both as an elected public official and as a lobbyist and policy consultant his legacy and career were severely damaged by revelations that he had a sexual relationship with a young teenage girl during his first term as mayor of portlandgoldschmidt was elected to the portland city council in 1970 and then as mayor of portland in 1972 becoming the youngest mayor of any major american city he promoted the revitalization of downtown portland and was influential on portlandarea transportation policy particularly with the abandonment of the mount hood freeway and the establishment of the max light rail he was appointed us secretary of transportation by president jimmy carter in 1979 in that capacity he worked to revive the ailing automobile industry and to deregulate several industries he served until the end of carters presidency in 1981 and then served as a senior executive with nike for several yearshe was elected the 33rd governor of oregon in 1986 serving a single term he faced significant challenges particularly a rising antitax movement leading to 1990s measure 5 and a doubling of the states prison population he worked across party lines to reduce regulation and to repair the states infrastructure during his term oregon emerged from nearly eight years of recession his reforms to the state accident insurance fund saif a statechartered workers compensation insurance company were heralded at the time but drew strong criticism in later yearsdespite his popularity goldschmidt left office after only one term becoming an influential and controversial lobbyist over the next dozen years or so he was criticized by editorial boards and oregonians for several of the causes he supported including backing the forestry corporation weyerhaeuser in its hostile takeover of oregons willamette industries and his advocacy for a private investment firm in its attempt to take over portland general electric a local utility company in 2003 governor ted kulongoski appointed him to the oregon board of higher education a position he resigned after admitting he had a sexual relationship with a minor girl 30 years earlier