Treasurer

Allen Alley

This contest sure got a lot more topical all of a sudden.

Who should be given the responsibility to oversee the state's $75 billion portfolio of pensions and other funds, safeguard its credit rating and, as one of three members of the Land Board, make decisions about public assets?

Key questions before America's financial meltdown. Monster questions now that there's a collapse.

Democratic candidate Ben Westlund boasts a lengthy legislative record, including a stint as co-chairman of the budget-writing Joint Ways and Means Committee. Outside the Legislature, Westlund has earned private-sector paychecks mining diatomaceous earth for kitty litter, selling bull semen, developing real estate and serving as a healthcare consultant after surviving lung cancer. He left the Republican Party in 2006, ran for governor as an Independent, aborted that run, and then became a Democrat. Flexible guy.

The same could be said for Alley, a former engineer and venture capitalist who became the CEO of Tualatin-based Pixelworks, a flat-panel-screen maker that soared and crashed under Alley's leadership.

Two years ago, Alley left Pixelworks with the company's stock in freefall and became deputy chief of staff to Gov. Ted Kulongoski, responsible for economic development.

He remains a political naïf in contrast to Westlund.

Yes, the treasurer's job is a partisan, political position. But managing the staff that makes investment decisions for the state's massive portfolio requires an analytical approach.

Even though Pixelworks flamed out, Alley brings decades of experience in evaluating complicated financial propositions, first as a venture capitalist and later as a tech executive. At a time when financial markets are increasingly complex and volatile, we'll take that skill set over Westlund's superior political acumen.

Video of WW endorsement interview(thanks to Portland Community Media)

WWeek 2015