Westlund continues run for governor

While his opponents were battling it out at the ballot box last Tuesday, May 16, Oregon Senator Ben Westlund was meeting with Black Butte Ranch (BBR) residents to discuss his effort to become Oregon’s next governor.

The private group of homeowners, not affiliated directly with BBR, chose primary election day last week to hear Westlund’s positions.

“Some people thought we’d have two vanilla flavor candidates in November’s election. Well, now we have a different flavor,” said Westlund.

The flavors are a little different than expected. Instead of staking out the center between incumbent Governor Ted Kulongoski and a right-wing candidate Kevin Mannix, the primary handed the Republican nomination to Ron Saxton, who has long been perceived as a moderate.

Whether a Saxton candidacy shrinks Westlund’s constituency in the center remains to be seen, but Westlund has vowed to continue his independent campaign on the same principles he articulated at the Black Butte Ranch meeting.

Speaking mainly on the financial plight of Oregon, Westlund described his plan for a 5 percent consumption tax that would add money to the state coffers while reducing everybody’s tax burden through cuts to the income tax.

“We have been working on Draft Plan A that will offer a tax cut, create 41,000 new jobs, add $200 million revenue for Oregon and give us a more stable State reserve,” Westlund explained. “Basically, the tax structure is broken and additional money is needed. It’s time to overhaul a tax plan created in the ’70s and bring it up to date. The present taxing structure is destroying Oregon.”

After his brief opening remarks, Senator Westlund answered questions from the 35 people in the audience at the BBR firehouse.

Asked about his strategy to overcome the hurdle of an eastside candidate gaining name recognition in the west side’s population centers, Westlund answered, “We have 350 active volunteers statewide, many of them in the population centers, particularly the Portland area, (the next day radio ads were running in Portland) and I have both Democrat and Republican, conservatives and liberals, supporting my effort. Also, Central Oregon is one of the fastest growing regions in the state.”

He said that “so far, my campaign has raised $550,000 from 860 donors. One person, handing me a check, said it was the first time he had made a political contribution with hope.”

Questioned on the Oregon Health Plan, Westlund replied, “It works. It’s a superlative model and we should be working to save it.”

Westlund described Salem politics as too many people looking for competitive advantage.

“Too many legislators only look to short term benefit for the next election cycle. We need real problems to be solved for Oregonians instead of extreme partisan politics,” he stated. “We need real statesmen who are not afraid of offering solutions in areas that are thought to be too dangerous to touch politically.”

According to Westlund, the three major political problems in Oregon problems are health care, tax reform and partisanship.

“It’s time for a governor that will lead and solve Oregon’s problems and be non-partisan. This will take working with both sides and being a consensus builder,” Westlund said. “Perhaps it’s time to stop thinking as Democrats or Republicans and start thinking as Oregonians.”

After the meeting, audience member Lee Kufchak said, “His words were right on. The public needs to hear him and we need a leader out front knowing the direction we need to go.”

“I’m pretty impressed,” said Linda Rummel. “I’d like more information about his tax package and I’ll be looking at his website (www.WestlundforGovernor.com).”