Oregon Governor Tina Kotek’s team have been accused of playing a sneaky trick on her after she hopped on social media to praise an ice cream brand that threatened to leave Portland over rampant crime and violence.
Kotek jumped onto the social media platform X to gush over the Portland born and bred ice cream brand Salt & Straw, accompanied by a photo of her holding a cone with two scoops of ice cream in front of the brand’s signage.
‘Salt & Straw started in Portland in 2011 and grew from a neighborhood scoop shop into an internationally recognized brand rooted in creativity, local ingredients and collaboration with Oregon makers and farmers,’ the governor wrote on Monday.
‘Another reason #WeLoveOregon365.’
But the unfortunate post comes after the brand announced they were considering leaving the deep-blue city due to rampant violence and crime.
Co-founder Kim Malek said in 2022 that the brand’s headquarters in Southeast Portland may up and move over safety concerns.
‘If we can’t make it safe, I can’t stay here,’ she told Oregon Live. ‘It’s just not responsible of me to put my team in that position.’
According to the outlet, the company and its employees had faced numerous safety concerns, including one employee being held at gunpoint as well as a nearby fire that shut power off from the headquarters.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek jumped onto the social media platform X to gush over the Portland born and bred ice cream brand Salt & Straw, as she came under fire for taxes and crime
The post comes years after the brand announced they were considering leaving the deep-blue city due to rampant violence and crime
Co-founder Kim Malek, seen above, said in 2022 that the brand’s headquarters in Portland may up and move over safety concerns. ‘If we can’t make it safe, I can’t stay here,’ she said
‘We would consider all options. We don’t have concrete plans,’ Malek said at the time. ‘But our intention is to be at the table working with the city and county to find a solution and not move. Portland is part of the soul of our company. We love this city. This is about having a safe place for our team to work.’
Malek, who founded the company with her cousin Tyler Malek, said that she was especially interested in cutting off the city’s drug supply that she believed fueled crime at the time.
‘Our intention is to work through this. I cannot stay here if we don’t,’ she added.
Not long after, Malek told KEZI that she was seeing the issues ‘get worse and worse.’
‘I don’t know what option I have,’ she said. ‘I can’t stay there. I can’t do it…I just literally drove to City Hall in tears begging for help…’
While the ice cream brands headquarters remained in Portland, the governor’s post raised eyebrows for onlookers who believed her team could have only been playing a trick on her for showing public support for the brand.
‘Tina’s comms team hates her and I’m here for it,’ one user wrote on X. ‘@saltandstraw has threatened to leave Oregon due to crime, homelessness and drug use.’
Salt & Straw threatened to quit Portland during the governorship of Kotek’s predecessor Kate Brown – but Kotek has been accused of doing little to end the social issues that have plagued the woke state since taking office in 2025.
While the ice cream brands headquarters, seen above, remained in Portland, the governor’s post raised eyebrows for onlookers who believed her team could have only been playing a trick on her for showing public support for the brand
The social media post, however, reached beyond the company’s threats to leave, as many took issue with Kotek’s ‘plan to drive all small business from our state’
‘We are all curious if you’re planning a tax by scope for Salt & Straw? Can you talk about your plan to drive all small business from our state and how long that will take you?,’ one user commented.
‘We’ve all seen your work thus far but honestly curious how much you can destroy here in our state,’ they added.
Another user chimed in and said: ‘Another business that she will destroy or send packing if she is reelected.’
‘Reminds me of a nice coffee company who started in Grants Pass and became enormously successful. Under your watch, they moved to Arizona this year,’ a third commenter wrote, in reference to Oregon coffee company Dutch Bros. It was created in Oregon in 1992 but moved its headquarters to Tempe in Arizona in 2025.
‘I’m sure they will move out of this state soon. They can’t take the punitive taxes either,’ one more comment read.
‘Your team burned you on this one. Kudos to them,’ another user said.
The Daily Mail contacted Salt & Straw and Governor Kotek’s Office for comment.
The vexing post comes after a survey discovered that around 40 percent of residents were considering leaving the Democratic state over taxes and violence.
Out of around 600 voters in the Portland tri-county metro area, 36 percent were revealed to be considering moving out of the area within the next five years, Oregon Live reported.
A survey found that, of around 600 voters in the Portland tri-county metro area, 36 percent were considering moving out of the area within the next five years
Portland has been handling a years-long crime wave and quality of life issue since 2020, however it has managed to see violent offenses decrease from its record highs as of recently
Frustrations weren’t strictly confined to the city either, as 58 percent of respondents in the metro area and 49 percent in Portland said they would leave the state of Oregon altogether.
For Dean Suhr, a 68-year-old Republican, retirement and looking to stretch his money further are large reasons for leaving and told the outlet: ‘I’ve raised my kids here. I’ve had a good life up here, but as we’re getting older and our income becomes more fixed, we need to look at how we can make what we’ve got stashed away last.’
Suhr added that ‘taxes and spending seem to be the standard solution to everything.’
Portland was recently ranked the second highest income taxes in the nation below New York City, according to the nonprofit organization Tax Foundation.
Among some of the areas highest taxes include state personal income tax with a top rate of 9.9 percent, state corporate income tax, a TriMet tax, a Multnomah County Preschool for All tax that begins at 1.5 percent on those who earn more than $125,000 per year as well as a tri-county homelessness tax, or the Metro Supportive Housing Services tax, of 1% on those earning over $125,000, according to Tax Foundation.
The metro area saw taxes as one of the top reasons for leaving among 62 percent of respondents, and in Portland 55 percent agreed that taxes were a major issue, the outlet reported.
Peggy Fisher, a vice president for a manufacturing company, told the outlet: ‘It would be a really tough decision [to leave] because my kids and grandkids live here. But it’s difficult to watch the state I love completely fall apart.’
Fisher, who did not declare a political party, said that those high taxes haven’t helped battle crime or improve schools, which has added to the feeling of frustration.
Pictured: Elephants Delicatessen in Portland caught on fire after authorities say a woman accidentally lit garbage cans near the business. The resulting blaze spread to the roof and into the interior of the building
Keith Moore, 42, told Oregon Live that he felt that Oregon had ‘not been a particularly business friendly state.’
‘There is not as much future for me in Oregon,’ Moore, a Republican working as an electrical systems blueprint and diagrams drafter, said.
‘It has never been particularly easy to get to work.’
Moore also noted that public safety was a concern of his and added: ‘I have pretty distinct memories of what Portland used to be like. I remember in elementary class being able to go up and down the streets of Portland and it was this bright, clean, pretty, nice city. And now it’s just not.’
Portland has been handling a years-long crime wave and quality of life issue since 2020, however it has managed to see violent offenses decrease from its record highs in recent years.
Last month, Elephants Delicatessen was set on fire after a woman using a torch to look inside nearby garbage cans accidentally ignited a piece of trash. The flames quickly spread to the deli’s roof and interior.
The blaze left the deli’s future uncertain, with its reopening in doubt.
A nearby BottleDrop, where people can recycle cans and bottles for change, announced it would be closing due to the area becoming a magnet for drug dealers and users to gather.
The Daily Mail observed a homeless man inhaling a bubbling substance from a scrap piece of aluminum
Neighboring businesses have said it is common to see ‘canners’ – those redeeming the bottle deposits – passed out in the parking lot or sidewalk outside.
In May 2025, reporters from The Oregonian observed people using drugs outside a BottleDrop site.
Several businesses that shared space with the troubled location, including a Dick’s Sporting Goods, chose not to renew their leases, with some citing the presence of homeless people as a factor in their decision.
The Daily Mail also observed a man inhaling a bubbling substance from a scrap piece of aluminum. He said he was homeless after losing his job.
Another person broke into a vehicle, smashing the window, before being arrested.
‘Crime out here is just really common, this is extremely common – you can usually hear the smashes, the police don’t care – they’re not going to stop them’, Dahlgren told the Daily Mail.
