In the aftermath of former Gov. John Kitzhaber’s resignation, there is a lament expressed that is hard to justify.

It’s been on several lips, but James Lussier of Bend articulated it in a letter Thursday in The Bulletin.

According to Lussier, the former head of St. Charles hospital and a Kitzhaber appointee, the governor’s resignation is a travesty.

Not only that, he believes it was spawned by out-of-control media and politicians, “proving that perhaps we have learned a lesson in due process from our friends in the Middle East.”

Hyperbole, I suppose, can achieve art form, but likening those who took exception to the disgraceful behavior of Kitzhaber and his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, to those who decapitate or immolate their opponents?

That’s a comparison I believe — at least I hope — Lussier, an otherwise sound man, will come to regret.

There are two other main points in his attack that are noteworthy.

One ignores the factual record, and the other is the understatement of the decade.

The first is that the voters returned Kitzhaber to his fourth term, and then, “… many chose to incite a riot around the ‘guilty’ before the rest of us even have a partial picture of his supposed transgressions.”

The word “partial” misses the point.

We all may have had an incomplete picture, but that’s no fault of the superb watchdog journalism of many led by Willamette Week and The Oregonian.

No, the reason it was incomplete was that Kitzhaber himself was doing everything in his power to block access to existing public information that was requested by the very reporters Lussier is prepared to condemn. And Kitzhaber’s stonewalling was before, as well as after, the election.

Recently, much more has been revealed, and now there are state and federal investigations into the activities of Hayes and Kitzhaber.

It’s important to remember that investigators are looking at long-standing, continuing activities that took place before the last election.

Had today’s details been known before Election Day, would Kitzhaber have been returned to office?

I’d like to think not, even though The Bulletin endorsed him at the time.

As to understatement, there is this: “Certainly, his partner, Cylvia Hayes, has complicated Kitzhaber’s political life and perhaps impacted his duties …”

That’s akin to suggesting the Titanic tragedy was a minor cruise ship mishap.

There is simply not sufficient space in this column to list the myriad misuses and abuses of her public and private life Hayes scored by herself or in her relationship with the ex-governor.

Suffice it to say the investigators have their work cut out for them to sift through this sordid, complex mess.

Suffice it also to say that Kitzhaber, for all the good he has done in the past, has with Hayes painted one of the bleakest portraits in Oregon history.

Hayes is a con artist, among other things, but not a serious force.

On the other hand, Kitzhaber is, or has been, and the real tragedy is that, after the investigations are complete, he will be very lucky if only his reputation is in tatters.

Finally, Lussier criticized the editorial page of The Oregonian for doing what editorial pages should do. It called for Kitzhaber’s resignation.

I have a conflict responding to this.

The Oregonian’s editorial page’s editor was my colleague at The Bulletin for a decade and a half.

Nonetheless, I’ll offer one response to the offending editorial: I wish I had written it.

— John Costa is publisher of The Bulletin. Contact: 541-383-0337.