Oregon Public Broadcasting

There are some scandals so incendiary that a mere whiff is enough to swing an election -- whether or not they're true. In Oregon's 5th Congressional district, voters are being asked to judge the credibility of a story about abortion and politics.

In some ways the story illustrates the old adage, the personal is political. OPB's April Baer reports.

Kristi Oetken agreed to meet me at a coffeehouse in Oregon City.

Actually the coffee's for me. Oetken says considering the turmoil in her life lately, the last thing she needs is caffeine.

Kristi Oetken: "There wasn't a lot of foresight in my 2006 email on either one of our parts on ... how big this could be."

This week, Oetken found herself at the center of a political firestorm.

Two Republicans are competing to run for Congress in Oregon's 5th Congressional District. Kevin Mannix, a canny and experienced former state legislator, and Mike Erickson, a bachelor businessman who's run in the 5th before.

This week, Mannix sent out an incendiary mailer to 60,000 likely primary voters.

Kevin Mannix: "I felt it was important to, one, verify the background information, and two, hold Mike Erickson accountable."

That's Mannix on OPB's Think Out Loud . The mailer included an email authored by Kristi Oetken back in 2006 -- the year of Erickson last ran for this office. Oetken says a close friend of hers -- whose name she will not reveal -- dated Erickson, became pregnant, and was scheduled for an abortion.

The way Oetken tells it, Erickson not only knew about the procedure, but also paid for it, and even provided a ride to the clinic.  But Kristi says Erickson then disappeared and it was she who held her tearful friend's hand through a very difficult day.

Kristi Oetken: "I said we really have to do something because...not right for a politician to gain endorsements...based on lies."

With her friend's consent, she wrote the email and sent it off to several newspapers.  But after the email went out, and the phone started ringing, Oetken says she and her friend found out what it means to go public.

Kristi Oetken: "We were very naive in the sense that we could put this out there, reporters can investigate and we can not be a part of it."

There were questions about the woman's relationship with Erickson, of course. And other questions  about other parts of her personal life.

Had she been seeing anyone else at the time? Who was the father of the baby she'd had before she met Erickson? Why was he still living at her house? Was she sure Erickson was the father?

The stories surrounding abortion are intensely personal and difficult. Journalist Steve Law was checking on Kristi's email that year, working at the Salem Statesman-Journal. He says it was tough to pin  down the story.

Steve Law: "There was  a woman who was not highly experienced, she was 26 at the time, emotionally involved with an older man. That makes things really complicated."

Ultimately Kristi and her friend pulled back from the interviews that would have broken the story. Kristi says her friend has a child -- school age now -- and old enough to understand stories on TV news.

This week, when Mannix chose to make the email public there was no escaping.

The story has been frustrating to some voters -- and reporters -- because of how few details can be verified.

Mike Erickson -- never easy to get hold of -- has stopped appearing in public, and has not given interviews. His campaign spokesman issued a short email refuting Mannix's allegations, but making no mention of the alleged incident.

Kristi says she knows there's more to say, but that she's weighing the need to divulge the truth, with the cost of exposure.

Kevin Mannix denies that he's using abortion as a wedge in what many believe to be a tight primary race.

Kevin Mannix: "My track record is all about validating victims and listening to people, and making sure that our political process is responsive."

But Kristi says she's not sure that making her and her friend out to be victims is in keeping with the facts.  She says she doesn't know  when or if her friend might choose to speak in public about what happened in the year 2000.

The days left for voters to sort through the story are dwindling, with Oregon ballots due next Tuesday.