Federal/Statewide UNITED STATES SENATE
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY Ron Wyden Ron Wyden needs our endorsement about as much as he needs a gift certificate to Weight Watchers. Wyden, Oregon's first Democratic senator since 1969, has a lock on his party's nomination. And he deserves it. Although he's just a rookie in the minority party, Wyden has managed to distinguish himself in the U.S. Senate by taking on some powerful adversaries. The Portland liberal was one of the key architects of a tobacco bill passed last month by the Senate's commerce committee. Wyden's contribution? He pushed for stronger restrictions on cigarette exports and tough monitoring of the tobacco industry's promise to cut teen smoking. Wyden also teamed with fellow Oregonian Sen. Gordon Smith to stare down the Air Force brass and force them to launch a new investigation into the fatal crash of a Portland-based C-130 airplane known as King-56. And he promises to keep pushing for much-needed reforms in the way the military investigates its own accidents. Finally, Wyden has also challenged the secretive rules of the senate itself, prodding leaders to drop the long-standing policy that allows senators to hold up any legislation without revealing their identity or reason for doing so. Although Wyden cannot yet claim victory on these three fronts, he has demonstrated tenacity and sound judgment in fighting these particular battles. At the same time, he's taken progressive stands on issues such as a balanced budget, transportation funding and campaign-finance reform. That's not to say it's been smooth sailing for Wyden since he won the 1996 special election. Two months ago, Progressive magazine named him one of the 10 dumbest members of Congress (mainly for the massive brain cramp he suffered during a 1995 TV pop quiz). Environmentalists have groused that Wyden's been too compromising, and some Republicans complain about his grandstanding. Nothing Wyden has done, however, warrants support for his primary opponent, John Sweeney. A 32-year veteran of Portland's Parks Bureau, Sweeney now calls himself a free-lance writer. His Senate platform features two main ideas: enacting a flat tax and lowering Social Security retirement age--which is the opposite of what most experts say must be done to save Social Security's solvency when a flood of baby boomers retire. Both are bad ideas; so is Sweeney's Senate bid. We think he should work on his writing career. His Voters' Pamphlet statement is riddled with grammatical errors, such as his claim that "many laws are pasted in a rush." Sweeney will get pasted in this race. Deservedly so.
UNITED STATES SENATE
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY John Lim This is no contest at all. There's only one serious candidate in this race: John Lim, a state senator and businessman from Gresham. During his six years in Salem, Lim impressed us with his moderate views, diligent work ethic and integrity. People may disagree with Lim on issues, but you don't hear anyone trashing the way he operates or how he arrives at his decisions. Lim is respected enough that a Democratic colleague, Sen. Avel Gordly, has endorsed him. Owner of a company that sells health and beauty products, Lim's politics are far more in sync with Oregon voters than those of his opponents. Valentine Christian, a Salem mathematician, claims he isn't receiving media coverage because he's not buying ads from news organizations. We've got news for Christian: That isn't his problem. Consider his ideas: "I propose a tax-free $100 million (or a billion) to be reduced one-tenth each year to whomever comes up with a full complete instantaneous end to dental decay." OK. Believe it or not, Christian is not the weirdest candidate in the race. That distinction goes to John Fitzpatrick, a strange fellow who tried a couple of years ago to air cable TV shows depicting sex with cadavers. We don't know what makes Fitzpatrick run, but we wish he'd head in a different direction--like toward Idaho.
UNITED STATES HOUSE, 1ST DISTRICT
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY David Wu Only one contest in Oregon's May election is expected to draw national attention. It's the primary in the 1st Congressional District, which stretches from the fishing docks in Astoria to the marina condos at Portland's Riverplace. The race is important because Republicans control the House by a slim 11-seat edge, and with Democratic Rep. Elizabeth Furse retiring this year, her seat is one of the 20 or so that even experts handicappers can't call. Bill Clinton must have it, and a Democratic majority in the House, if he has any hope of creating the legislative legacy he desperately wants--whatever that may be. Unfortunately for Clinton and his fellow Democrats, they're stuck with Linda Peters and David Wu as candidates. University of Portland political scientist Jim Moore sums up the race aptly: Washington County chairwoman Peters, he says, is "confusing at best," while Wu, a high-tech lawyer, is an "outsider without a clue." Perhaps that's why Democratic party officials tried last year to convince Channel 2 newsman Mark Hass to run. Wu may be politically clueless, but he's far from stupid. His raw intellect, combined with his aggressiveness and ability to express his views, make him our choice over Peters. Wu, who moved to the U.S. from Taiwan when he was 7, grew up in California and graduated from Stanford University and Yale Law School. He landed a job at the Portland law firm of Miller Nash during the late 1980s and later opened his own three-lawyer shop, which specializes in protecting patent rights for clients such as Sharp Microelectronics. Wu describes himself as a fiscal moderate and social liberal. We're not sure where the moderation comes in. Like Peters, he's pro-environment, pro-choice, pro-labor. Wu even opposes President Clinton's Fast Track trade legislation--which allies him with the far left wing of his party. He's certainly not stumping for big budget cuts. He wants the federal government to hire 100,000 public school teachers and spend more on preschool education (his wife was a Head Start teacher). He also makes it clear that he thinks government can be a force for progressive social change--particularly in stopping human-rights abuses in China. Our biggest problem with Wu is his scant record of accomplishment. He served a two-year stint on the Portland Planning Commission without leaving any footprints; he started a boosters group for the Oregon Graduate Institute that fizzled out with few results; he elbowed his way onto the finance committee of City Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury's 1990 campaign and failed to raise any money for her. "My experience with him is that he doesn't follow through on commitments," says Kafoury. Still, he strikes us as a better candidate than Peters, who's running on two main attributes: her gender and her experience. We don't think gender is a legitimate criterion, and when it comes to Peters' experience as Washington County's chief executive, the record is less than sparkling. Although the acknowledged front-runner, Peters couldn't garner support from colleagues such as Washington County Commissioner Kim Katsion, Beaverton Mayor Rob Drake and Clackamas County Commissioner Judie Hammerstad--all of whom back Wu. Although a former Portland teacher, Peters also failed to win an endorsement from the state's largest teachers union (which endorsed Wu and Republican Jon Kvistad). Perhaps it's because Peters struggles to explain her policies. We've heard her describe her three-point education plan twice--and we're still not sure what the points are. Peters has other problems: She's been habitually late paying her property taxes, and she showed remarkably poor judgment in taking a $3,500 unsecured personal loan with no payment schedule from a developer who has done business with the county. Wu clearly has better command of the issues and skills of persuasion. In addition he has an understanding of high tech and international trade that would make him a stronger representative for the 1st Congressional District.
UNITED STATES HOUSE, 1ST DISTRICT
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY Jon Kvistad Why is Molly Bordonaro so reviled by Democrats? Probably because she's such a formidable Republican candidate seeking a seat that Democrats are desperate to win. Bordonaro, 29, is steeped in the catechism of Reagan Republicanism. She's rabidly pro-business, pro-life and anti-government. She's also telegenic and connected--through her father, a real-estate executive--to downtown Portland Republican money. On top of that, she's a fierce competitor who's able to appeal to moderates such as former Gov. Vic Atiyeh. But behind the blinding smile and soothing voice of this polished Lincoln High grad are some troublesome qualities. For one, Bordonaro is inexperienced in the real workaday world inhabited by most of the district's voters. She went from college student to Washington, D.C., intern to self-described conservative "policy geek," then spent the last two years prepping for this campaign. It may be a cliché, but she has never had a real job. Second, her views are extremely conservative. She wants a constitutional ban on abortion--and she sees no need for a government role in protecting patients from the abuses of managed care. Bordonaro is also fond of saying she's for a "fairer, flatter" tax system. No doubt she's for a flatter tax. In 1996 she supported presidential candidate Steve Forbes and his flat tax. She told WW she didn't believe in progressive taxation and didn't think the wealthy should pay a greater share of taxes than the poor. Third, her priorities are out of whack. She told us her chief objective was freeing local schools from the burdens of the federal education plan known as Goals 2000. This is hardly the most pressing issue in the district, state or country. We talked to a handful of local teachers, principals and school superintendent candidates who insisted that Goals 2000 presented few obstacles to teaching. On top of that, Bordonaro got her facts confused. When pressed, she said one local educator who complained about the burdens of Goals 2000 was Beaverton superintendent Yvonne Katz. When we talked to Katz, we got an entirely different story. "I think Molly didn't understand. I'm a strong proponent of Goals 2000," Katz said. "Goals 2000 has no requirements of hours of teaching. It's like a framework to guide school districts....I did cite a portion of a special-education law as a burden." Bordonaro's opponent in the race to fill the seat of the retiring Elizabeth Furse is Jon Kvistad. As a Metro councilor since 1992, Kvistad has developed a reputation as a political opportunist most concerned with aggrandizing his accomplishments. But Kvistad does have valuable experience--both as the owner of two small businesses and as a regional official who guided the Metro Council through some of the most complex decisions it has ever made. He did so with efficiency and forcefulness. Kvistad clearly has some legislative and political skills--he's twice been elected Metro's presiding officer by an overwhelming majority of the largely Democratic council. Furthermore, he's more moderate than Bordonaro on social issues. Perhaps it's because he comes from modest roots--his father was a public school educator, and Kvistad spent summers on his grandfather's eastern Oregon farm. Whatever the reason, Kvistad came out strongly against the OCA's anti-gay ballot measure in 1992, when it wasn't the smartest political move for a Republican in Oregon. (Bordonaro was supported by OCA activists in her 1996 campaign; she has since distanced herself from the group.) It's that shred of compassionate conviction--the same kind that led Kvistad to volunteer for the executive board of a local mental health agency--that compels us to give him the nod over the more glib but dogmatic Bordonaro.
GOVERNOR
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY John Kitzhaber Gov. John Kitzhaber's first term has been disappointing. Although Kitzhaber enjoys Michael Jordan-like popularity, the guv hasn't done much during his four years in Mahonia Hall besides learn to fly, become a dad and create task forces to study everything from tax reform to the slow service at the Bagdad. His top achievement has been using his veto pen like a toothbrush--often and persistently to prevent decay in Oregon's quality of life. If not for Kitzhaber's 95 vetoes, Oregon's environment would be less pristine, land-use laws would be diluted and migrant workers would have less-safe housing. It's true that Republican control of the Senate and House relegates Kitzhaber to playing a lot of defense. But where's the bold vision? The plan to capitalize on a booming economy and stratospheric poll numbers? The education, transportation or tax version of his landmark Oregon Health Plan? Could it be that Kitzhaber just ain't a great leader? That's what some in Salem are saying. State Sen. Ken Baker, a Republican from Clackamas, argues that the guv has squandered a great chance. "He's a legislator, not a leader," Baker says. "He's always looking for another task force. John Kitzhaber is a nice guy who is in over his head." It's too bad Kitzhaber doesn't have competitors to push him on these issues. His primary challengers are candidates in name only. One of them, Paul Damian Wells, stresses that he's not really a Democrat--he's an independent voting rights advocate who's running for the fourth time to call attention to what he considers Oregon's unfair election laws. His arguments against the two-party system, however, would have to sit in the oven for a couple months to be even half-baked. The other attention-seeking challenger, retired machinist Dave Foley, wants to license and insure bicycles, force state government to operate at night and replace high-school administrators with students. These two knuckleheads pose no threat to Kitzhaber's lackluster but proven record.
GOVERNOR
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY Bill Sizemore The Oregonian could report that Bill Sizemore dresses in women's clothes and gets policy ideas from the Jerry Springer show and he'd still be the best GOP candidate currently running for governor. That's how weak Sizemore's three opponents are. Jeff Brady is a Portland dentist with no government experience whatsoever whose platform contains just two planks. He wants the government to do more to save fish (although he offers no specific ideas himself); and he wants the government to provide more affordable dental care to children (again, no specifics). We're left to conclude that Brady--who ran a similar Senate campaign in 1996--uses the Voters' Pamphlet as a cheap ad for his dental practice. Walter Huss is a former chairman of the Oregon Republican Party who once led a campaign against changing the name of Portland's Union Avenue to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Huss is impeccably dressed, versed in constitutional law, and the candidate most likely to start a local chapter of the Posse Comitatus. He's running on a single issue. He wants to replace all existing taxes with a single 2.5 percent tax on all financial transactions. At a statewide conference on tax reform last year, one national expert said Huss' plan sounded like a "bad sci-fi novel." Bill Spidal is a former Portland cop who's running to lower taxes but says the Legislature must also provide more jails, build water-treatment facilities to clean up rivers, and improve education. Spidal, who seems well-versed on local issues, fails to make convincing arguments that these ambitious state projects can be done without, in fact, raising taxes. That leaves Republicans with Sizemore, who has never been elected to any office. Chances look dimmer than ever for the Clackamas County anti-tax activist after The Oregonian reported on his business failures, dubious promises to lenders and alleged offer of hush money to one disgruntled former investor. Still, Sizemore is our preferred candidate for two reasons. For one, he has been an effective advocate for Oregonians who want lower taxes, less government and more conservative social policies--and we think he can continue to be. Second, the fact that Sizemore's carpet and toy businesses failed, and left behind a trail of debt, does not diminish his success in leading Oregon Taxpayers United. Nor does it contradict his less-taxes philosophy. What it does suggest is that Sizemore is a lousy businessman, which is not a good quality for the executive officer of a $9.6 billion state government. As Sizemore said at the outset of his campaign, a race between him and Kitzhaber presents Oregonians with a clear choice about the state's future. It's a debate that could prove therapeutic, and to paraphrase Sizemore, we'd like to see the therapy begin.
STATE LABOR COMMISSIONER
Mike Fahey This paper has consistently supported Jack Roberts; we endorsed him in both his longshot bid for the Republican nomination during the special election to replace Bob Packwood in 1995 and his previous run for commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries in 1994. Even when we disagree with Roberts' politics (as labor commissioner he opposed the minimum-wage increase), we're impressed by his maverick sensibilities (in his run for Packwood's seat he advocated slashing Social Security and Medicare), thoughtful arguments, command of the facts and level-headed, professional demeanor. Roberts displayed these skills in 1995 when he finessed a deal between labor and business to extend Oregon's family leave law. But we can't back Roberts as BOLI commissioner a second time. We are convinced that after four years on the job--of which he took time out to run for the U.S. Senate in 1995--he is bored. He expresses no passion for the job and seems more interested in running for another office. This is a problem. BOLI oversees a critical constituency: Oregon's work force and its employers. The state needs a commissioner whose heart is in the job. We applaud Roberts' ability to cut the BOLI budget by $2 million and cut staff by 20 percent, but we wish he had more to show for his term than simply streamlining. Roberts might need a dose of Viagra to get excited about the commissioner spot, but his opponent, Mike Fahey--a Northeast Portland Democratic state rep--could use a cold shower. Fahey's enthusiasm to address the needs of Oregon's changing economy (our radical shift from timber to high tech has left our work force in dire need of training) will add a level of advocacy and octane to BOLI. Fahey, who was a successful advocate for workers' comp reform during his '97 stint in the Legislature, has been the business manager for Shipwrights Local 611 and an executive board member of the Northwest Oregon Labor Council. At Local 611 he started an apprenticeship program for high-school students. Fahey's labor ties--his campaign coffers are overflowing with big labor money--raise worries that he'll be little more than the AFL-CIO's waterboy in Salem (that's essentially what he was during his unremarkable two terms as a state rep). But his unabashedly pro-labor agenda is sorely needed. With unionism on the decline and under attack from ballot initiatives, the National Labor Relations Board in molasses and blue-collar wages in super glue while corporate earnings are at record highs, workers need a public advocate. Fahey is ready to fill that role. BOLI, with a budget of $12 million, oversees wage and civil-rights issues in the Oregon work force and coordinates apprenticeship programs. While Roberts hypes his success at saving the taxpayers money by scaling back the agency and bringing down wages of public construction workers, Fahey talks passionately about job training for the high-tech future. In the long run, Fahey's philosophy will benefit Oregon's coffers more than downsizing the Bureau of Labor and Industries will.
STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
Stan Bunn Nearly everybody in Oregon thinks public education has problems. Teachers feel overworked; employers say graduates are ill-prepared; Republican lawmakers won't increase funding until they see results. Listening to all three camps, it quickly becomes obvious that there is a complete lack of communication, and it's students who are suffering. In theory, the state superintendent of education can bring these diverse constituencies together. The superintendent is charged with managing the Department of Education, carrying out the directives of the Legislature and state Board of Education and communicating educational policy to local districts. As might be expected for a job that is highly visible but has no requirements, the superintendent's race has attracted a wide variety of candidates--everyone's an expert on education. From Berna O'Ree-Rogers Plummer, who arrived at her endorsement interview with a plunger, pledging to "unplug the mess in the educational pipeline," to Spencer Schock, who has been carpet-faxing the state with pleas for school choice, nearly every approach is represented. Two of the most thoughtful and appealing candidates are career educators: Jim Howard, superintendent of the McKenzie School District, and Colin Karr-Morse, principal at Marshall High School. Both speak intelligently about the gulf between the Legislature and the classroom and offer some compelling suggestions. Karr-Morse in particular is an effective advocate for technology and the revision of outmoded instructional methods. Unfortunately, both men share a complete lack of political experience, which is crucial for the job. The performance of current superintendent Norma Paulus has been underwhelming. The next superintendent must be an effective force in Salem. Since Measure 5 passed in 1990, school funding has shifted dramatically from local districts to Salem. In 1990-91, the state supplied 28 percent of school funding; this year, the number is more than 70 percent. Clearly, the financial action is in the capital, controlled by skeptical if not outright hostile legislators. Three candidates bring recent legislative experience to the race: Ron Adams (R-West Linn), Stan Bunn (R-Newberg) and Margaret Carter (D-Portland). Adams has supported education in Salem but has shown limited leadership ability. His campaign has never really gotten started. Carter, a counselor at Portland Community College, has gained increasing respect through seven terms in the Legislature, but struggled during her brief leadership of the state Democratic Party and has little of substance to say about education. She promotes herself as a conciliator, but comes off as a cheerleader. The department needs more horsepower than she has displayed. That leaves Stan Bunn. A principled legislator, Bunn served effectively on the Education and Ways and Means committees. He crossed party lines on issues he believed in, sometimes angering fellow Republicans. He has been a professor at George Fox University and a trustee at Willamette University. Unlike many of the other candidates, he speaks in specifics, emphasizing an early, aggressive approach to education. Unlike Paulus, Bunn has earned a reputation as a mediator. The Newberg lawyer's favorite word is "partnership." He stresses the need for cooperation among education's fractious constituencies. Though we endorse Bunn, we do so with some reservation. Considering that virtually nobody inside or outside the school system understands the Oregon Education Act, with its alphabet soup of acronyms and barrage of tests, the next superintendent must be able to implement and innovate while also using the office's bully pulpit. Paulus was barely in office before she ran for U.S. Senate. Bunn is still paying campaign debts from a recent run for Congress. He claims he has no aspirations for higher office, and we hope he means it. We don't believe this nonpartisan job should be a stepping stone to anything except better schools. |
