The race for Governor of Oregon this election cycle presents some clear choices. You can vote for more of what we've had or you can vote for pure special interest control, or you can vote for someone who has had enough excuses and wants to take the harder road toward fixing state government.
You can vote for a former professional basketball player who has leveraged his job in the NBA very effectively but has only recently taken an interest in politics. Chris Dudley, according to associated press, is the odds on favorite to get the republican nomination because of name familiarity and his outstanding fundraising skills.
Insiders put him against John Kitzhaber or perhaps Bill Bradbury. Does Chris know where Salem is? Has he ever actually been there? Yes I know, he's a Yale grad. He knows how to use GPS navigation so if elected he will undoubtedly be able to find his way to the Governor's Mansion.
Chris says if he is elected he will appoint a budget officer within his office and seems to think he will conduct regular agency audits to cut waste..Isn't there already a state agency responsible for that? What a maverick this guy is.....Such a maverick that he never voted in an election
He seems to have little interest in doing much more than winning a popularity contest. After reading his plan for Oregon I was curious about who might have actually written it. It's pure hogwash but it's the kind of hogwash people buy by the gallon in good times and bad. His campaign is about friending on Facebook and he twitters his way around the state.
Phil Knight loves him. Just gave him another $50,000. I think Phil is like most people who would settle for nearly anything to keep John Kitzhaber out of the Governor's office.
Can't republicans do a just a little better than this?
Dudley?
ReplyDeleteNo way?
As important as energy issues are and have been over, at least the last 5 years in the state, the man can only say to my query on his position on LNG Terminal Siting and Pipelines in Oregon and paraphrasing: "We need to look at all sources of energy" clearly shows, in my view, that he is in no way current on this issue.
And he wants to win what his campaign is calling a "Comeback"?
I don't think so and from the other side Bradbury is way in focus over Kitzhaber, in my view and has sidestepped my query on his position on energy as well. Don't forget, just because NSNG's Bradwood is dead doesn't mean, at the moment, the issue is.
John Kitzhaber
ReplyDeleteNo Way?
Got tired of trying to work for a living and decided to get the old tax and spend job back? It's time someone
with new views and a look see steps in and changes the good old boy system. Who that is you decided, but continually reelecting those that bankrupt us is bad politics.
Tom, it's time for change of what we have been stuck with. Oregon needs to head in a new direction.
ReplyDeleteIf Chris Dudley does get the nod, I sure hope you will get behind him with your support.
I think you have been pretty hard on Chris Dudley.
Bob
ReplyDeleteMy needs are very simple. I want the best we can possibly have when it comes to to the top job in Oregon government. I refuse to be swayed by the money thrown at Dudley or the special interests that are fueling his campaign. I find his ideas to be oversimplified and calculated. I've run political campaigns and recognize his approach all too well. Bob, this man had absolutely no interest but his own until someone appealed to his ego and suggested this run. Too hard? No.
I think he will be ineffective in office and Republicans who would vote in his favor with usher a backlash if he wins.
Bob Bridgens said...
ReplyDeleteTom, it's time for change of what we have been stuck with. Oregon needs to head in a new direction.
If Chris Dudley does get the nod, I sure hope you will get behind him with your support.
I think you have been pretty hard on Chris Dudley.
Just curious Bob Bridgens but, tell us exactly what is we need to change....specifically.
I assure you that I will not try to be a smartass here but, I would love to hear it directly from you of all people.
Change? What do we need to change? Try everything in Salem starting with the governor's office. We need to un-do the masses of regulations that are strangling businesses now, have strangled and driven businesses out of Oregon in the past, and are keeping businesses from coming to Oregon for fear of being strangled. We need less government. Period. We have to make a list of anti-business regulatory laws on the books and vote them out of Oregon law. It would take 3 hours to make a great start to that list, beginning with Oregon's Cap and Trade--in fact eliminate the Oregon Dept. of Energy altogether, and then look at each department and agency to see if each bears any relationship to the needs specified in the state and national constitution; if not, eliminate them, probably over the course of two years to be humane, although not sure why we need to be, they haven't been.
ReplyDeleteAs for the governor's race, Mickey Mouse would be better than the existing governor or any Democrat now running for the office. Chris Dudley may indeed be Mickey Mouse, which is why I totally prefer Allen Alley, and voted for him. But if Dudley gets the nod, well, as I say, I'd vote for Mickey Mouse over the Democrats, who have collectively and individually killed success in this wonderful state with their environmental madness at any cost. Dudley, if elected, would at least have better advisors to the governor's office than at any time in the past 35 years. My fear with Chris is his turning into an another Arnold, who represented great promise for California, but gave in to the pressures of career politicians and bureaucrats who wore him down to the point where he's a disgrace as a Republican and certainly to conservatives. Nevertheless, he was better than Gray Davis who he replaced, but he gave Republicans a bad name in the process of becoming liberal, and therefore hurt the chances of a true conservative obtaining leadership there. The real loss is to the state where they desperately needed conservative principles applied to state financial governance, but sadly didn't get it.
Same thing could happen in Oregon if Dudley turned out to make the same mistakes. But I'll vote for him if he makes it to November because this state is certain to fail miserably if Democrats control the governor's office and the Legislature for the next decade. Whereas almost any substitute for the controlling party in Salem would have a better chance to right at least some of the wrongs accrued over the past three decades due to liberal government leadership in this state. The point is that we need conservative fiscal leadership, with leaders who have a depth of authority behind them to say NO to the long list of bloodsuckers who have attached themselves to Oregon's taxpayers. Frankly, if we can elect conservatives and (best of outcomes) control the Legislature, then THEY can lead a Dudley to the right decisions. But if they had to deal with a Democrat governor, we'll see political stagnation while Oregon decays further.
All "Perotism" Art....."A whole bunch of stuff is wrong with government and we got to "Fix it"".
ReplyDeleteI asked you on some local "Cyber Rag" you supposedly have a weekly column, of which you are way behind schedule by the way, what exactly do you plan to do to implement this so-called change you and your ilk are railing about and you still have no answer but the same generalization we hear year after year, election cycle after election cycle.
So I ask you again...Exactly what is the first step you will take to implement all this change?
A fellow Republican I was in conversation with the other day said.."The only Republican that will win this race will be a "Tom McCall Republican"" and right now, I don't see one on the roster, do you?"
ReplyDeleteAn interesting and maybe prophetic message regarding the direction our state party may need to take to get that foothold in leadership missing for so long.
WHAT WE NEED IN THE STATE HOUSE IS WHAT THE GOVERNMENT OF LEBANON, OR.
ReplyDeleteOPEN FOR BUSINESS THAT REALLY DOESN'T HURT THE ENVIRONMENT AND HELPS PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY. I AM TALKING ABOUT THE NEW VA HOME TO BE BUILT IN LEBANON ALONG SIDE THE FIRST NEW MEDICAL SCHOOL IN OREGON IN OVER A HUNDRED YEARS. THESE "BUSINESSES" WILL HELP THE CITIZENS OF THE ENTIRE MID-WILLAMETTE VALLEY ALL BECAUSE LEBANON IS PRO-ACTIVE IN FINDING THE JOBS THAT WILL IMPROVE THE COMMUNITY AND KEEP LEBANON VIABLE IN THIS POST LOGGING/FISHING ECONOMY. I SAW THE EFFECTS OF THE "SPOTTED OWL" TAKE OVER SEEING MY DAD AND OTHER FAMILY FRIENDS LOSE THEIR JOBS. BUT WE GOT UP AND PULLED UP OUR SLEEVES AND NOW BACK IN THE GAME. THIS IS WHAT THE STATE GOVENMENT NEEDS TO DO PULL UP YOUR SLEEVES KULONGOWSKI AND JOHNSON AND wu AND PUT SOME DAMN MUSCLE BEHIND YOUR FRAIL BACKS!