SALEM — As controversy swirls around former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt after last week's disclosure of his sexual misconduct, many records from his four years as governor remain off-limits to the public.

The State Archives in Salem has some records from Goldschmidt's one term as governor, but he gave the bulk of them to the private Oregon Historical Society in Portland after he left office in 1991.

He attached a condition that those records not be disclosed without his approval of each request for a record.

State law at the time didn't require Goldschmidt to send his official papers and other records to the archives, but most governors have done so.

The former governor's handling of his records was disclosed earlier this year when state Sen. Vicki Walker sought information in an unrelated inquiry involving $1 million that was paid to Goldschmidt's consulting firm.

Goldschmidt admitted last week that he had an illegal sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl when he was mayor of Portland in the mid-1970s. His admission came after he learned media accounts of the relationship were going to be published.

Goldschmidt's spokesman, Brian Gard of Portland, said Thursday he isn't aware of anything in Goldschmidt's closed records that pertains to his sexual misconduct.

"I know of no such material," Gard said.

Walker said all of Goldschmidt's official records should be easily available to the public. She said the archives reported having 84 boxes of Goldschmidt material and that she was given a list with some items blacked out as confidential.

"The solution is for him to figure out which ones he wants to have as family records, and all the rest should be readily available to the public without having to go through all these hoops," she said.

The Eugene senator became interested in the records issue when she questioned Goldschmidt at a Senate committee hearing in January on his appointment by Gov. Ted Kulongoski to the state Board of Higher Education.

At the hearing, Walker said she was surprised to find that many gubernatorial records weren't in the archives. Goldschmidt said he planned to review the material at the Historical Society and decide what to turn over to the archives.

"I know of no change in that intent," Gard said.

State law now requires outgoing governors to send their records to the archives, but the requirement wasn't made retroactive.

All governors since the mid-1900s have put their records in the archives except Mark Hatfield, whose records are available to the public at Willamette University's Hatfield Library in Salem.

Historical Society spokesman Ken Dubois said Goldschmidt sent his records to the organization on the condition that requests for records would be subject to review by Goldschmidt or a representative.

Dubois said the society has 256 boxes of Goldschmidt records that are "public and private mixed" and that the organization doesn't have enough staff to categorize the voluminous material.

Goldschmidt as governor in 1990 led an effort to reform the state's workers' compensation system. Walker is a critic of SAIF Corp., the state-owned workers' compensation insurer that paid Goldschmidt's consulting firm about $1 million during the past six years.

Walker said Thursday she wanted records related to Goldschmidt's involvement in drafting the reforms, which were passed by a special legislative session in 1990.

Walker, through the state archivist, sought a legal opinion on the issue from the attorney general's office.

Keith Kutler, an assistant attorney general, told Archivist Roy Turnbaugh by letter that Goldschmidt doesn't have a legal obligation to give records to the archives.

Kutler said the archivist could compel that records be given to the state if it was determined that they were not stored safely or were put in a place where public access was no longer available.

Material the state lists as having from Goldschmidt includes scheduling correspondence and reports, general correspondence received and sent, mostly involving state agencies; press releases, newsletters, reports and project records, proclamations and speeches.