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Oregonians
must have felt a little bit like Venezuelans on election night this May,
because never were so many coups attempted so unsuccessfully.
Oregon has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, and its tax and
regulatory climate make the state an uncompetitive place to do business,
which is why business owners and opinion leaders have known for some time
that this state is in trouble, real trouble. Maybe that’s why business
leaders took this election so seriously and made a number of attempts
to transfer power away from Oregon’s professional political class
and the institutional rot they’ve built up over 16 years.
Failed
Coup #1: Business leaders took on the GOP party establishment
and three failed legislative sessions when they supported the candidacy
of Ron Saxton. For much of the month the plan looked brilliant and Saxton
seemed on the verge of pulling off the impossible. The three Democrat
candidates even picked up the threads of his pro-business themes in their
primary. But then Saxton’s liberal positions on social issues leaked
out and hurt his campaign at a critical moment. Was Elaine Franklin’s
influence too strong?
Failed Coup #2: Property owners once again took a stand
against the most aggressive central planning in the nation when Oregonians
In Action put Measure 26-11—to repeal Metro’s density requirements—on
the ballot. For a time during the campaign even Portland’s liberal
weekly Willamette Week was questioning the planners’ agenda…“the
sanctity of farmland may be misguided…and adding more light-rail
lines can’t solve all the traffic problems.” But after a coordinated
blitz by local government officials, the measure failed.
Failed Coup #3: Status-quo educational leaders felt the heat from Rob
Kremer’s campaign for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Kremer
supporters hoped to take the conversation about education in Oregon beyond
the mind-numbing platitudes of “more money,” and “standards,”
and “class size.” Meanwhile, Kremer’s opponent, Susan
Castillo, was ridiculed by both Willamette Week and The Oregonian. Amazingly
enough, in spite of their doubts and outright ridicule, The Oregonian
sheepishly endorsed Castillo. The result: Kremer finished ahead of Bunn
but lost to Castillo. Hopes for a brighter future at Oregon’s Department
of Ed. are dashed. Hopes for a better dialogue remain possible, but delayed.
This was, perhaps, the most disturbing race this primary season. After
all the whining about our education “crisis” and talk of looking
for fresh ideas, new leadership and smart resourceful new candidates,
these same institutional minds snubbed the best prospect for responsible
change in our education doldrums the state has seen in years—Rob
Kremer. Instead they stayed with the safe institutional bet, the easy
way out—Susan Castillo, who they said, “shows no independent
thinking from the teachers’ unions that support her. On most education
issues, Castillo has not moved beyond the soundbite—and that’s
insulting to educators and the public alike.” But endorse her they
did.
Willamette Week said, “We have rarely interviewed a mainstream candidate
so unprepared and unconvincing.” At least they had the courage to
endorse someone else.
Failed Coup #4: Ethics advocates and U.S. Constitution
defenders fought the political anointing of David Schuman for Oregon’s
Court of Appeals by running property rights lawyer Dave Hunnicutt. Schuman’s
legal conduct, a weak defense of Measure
7in the state attorney general’s office and his mulligan
for a tardy voter’s pamphlet statement, raised questions about a
political double standard being permanently etched in Oregon’s judiciary
system.
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In
the end, Governor Kitzhaber and University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer
cut a TV commercial attempting to polish Schuman”s questionable
legal reputation. The result: Schuman defeated Hunnicutt. Or was it Kitzhaber/Frohnmayer
who defeated him?
Failed Coup #5: Downtown real estate owners and neighborhood
activists tried to realign the power grid at Portland City Hall with The
Good Government Initiative. Portland Tribune columnist Phil Stanford derisively
referred to opponents of the initiative as “the white wine and Volvo
set, spearheaded by Commissioner Charlie ‘Skateboard’ Hales,
who likes to keep things they way they are.” For a time the idea
of reforming City Hall captured the imagination of many. But the Mayor
and the four sitting commissioners discovered a technical flaw in the
writing of Robert Ball’s measure—that was enough to burst
the reformer’s public relations bubble. The result: The Good Government
Initiative lost badly.
ELECTION SCOREBOARD:
Coups Attempted: 5
Coups Accomplished: 0
Voters cast
their ballots against change on Primary day, but it is a rare election
when business leaders work as hard as they did in this election cycle
to wrestle power from the professional political class. Moreover, the
message sent from business owners was not that they were attempting to
wrestle power from the governing class for their own self-interest, but
rather because they were concerned about the general state of disrepair
in Oregon. The election results showed that voters may not realize the
state is in trouble,
but business owners and other opinion leaders think the state is very
much in trouble. Sometime soon the “real world” bottom-line
problems business owners are having will “trickle down” to
voters, and maybe then the public will be more engaged, and have a greater
desire for change. One way or another, a message is being sent. Voters
don’t have to listen…yet.
THE SOUREST GRAPES…
(Comments made post-primary to The Oregonian)
Metro President Mike Burton crowing about the loss of Measure 26-11, offered
this arrogant, elitist comment, “I feel good about the fact that
we whipped them this time. One of the pleasing aspects of this win is
taking these people and showing them for who they are.” Is Burton
referring to the 105,515 voters who said yes to the measure? The people
he represents?
Elaine Franklin, who the day after her campaign for Ron Saxton lost, threw
a public temper tantrum, abandoned the Republican Party, and declared
that a lobbyist who
had challenged Saxton’s positions should, “butt out of this
race or don’t knock on my door again.”
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