Skip to main content
Gov. John Kitzhaber is not on the ballot this November, but many lawmakers who helped him pass education and health-care reforms in 2011 are.
Kitzhaber—not known for involving himself in legislative races when he previously served as governor from 1995 to 2003—will take a different approach this time. While other candidates are taking a breather after the May primary, the governor has reporting raising $50,750 since election day.
The biggest source of that money is managed care organizations, which have a big stake in how Oregon's health-care system is re-organized into regional comprehensive care organizations. Those CCOs will attempt a more holistic approach to treating the high-utilization patients consume a disproportionate share of health-care dollars.
Three managed care organizations—Coalition for a Healthy Oregon ($10,000), Douglas County Physicians ($5,000), and Doctors for Healthy Communities ($5,000)—accounted for nearly half Kitzhaber's recent fundraising. The Greenbrier Companies ($5,000) a Portland barge and rail car manufacturer, and the Northwest Grocery Association ($5,000), which wants to privatize the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, also gave generously.
Kitzhaber only got $1,000 from organized labor, which has been cool to his reforms. He now has $143,000 in his political action committee.
WWeek 2015