Scott Swanson
Gubernatorial challenger Dennis Richardson last week accused Gov. John Kitzhaber of being “aloof, out of touch” for the past three years as Oregon has climbed out of the recession.
Kitzhaber and Richardson squared off Friday, July 18, in their first face-to-face debate, at the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association annual convention in Salem.
Richardson, a state representative from Central Point, won the Republican gubernatorial primary in May and will face Kitzhaber, aiming for his fourth four-year term, in the Nov. 4 election.
The two spent 75 minutes answering questions from ONPA members, which include nearly all daily and weekly newspapers in Oregon, presented by a panel of reporters and editors representing Oregon newsrooms.
Kitzhaber highlighted among his accomplishments of his third term the “closing” of the budget gap, job growth, increased resources for education, increased health care availability, and new markets for Oregon agricultural projects. He said legislators did what they needed to – “pulled together” to create “that political operational center that was once the hallmark of our state.”
Richardson, a retired attorney, focused on the failure of Cover Oregon’s online health insurance exchange and the failure to proceed with a new Interstate 5 bridge linking Washington and Oregon, accusing the governor of being disengaged and citing Kitzhaber’s 10-day trip to Bhutan in April 2013, while the state legislature was grappling over pension reforms and tax increases.
“While Oregon and our economy lagged, he flies across the world to study gross national happiness in Bhutan,” Richardson said. “He spent more time in Bhutan than he has with both of our largest trade partners,” adding that he has personally organized 10 trade missions to China, the largest consumer of Oregon goods.
Kitzhaber did not respond directly to many of Richardson’s jibes, focusing instead on progress in health care and education, and the need for Oregon’s leaders to come together and collaborate. He argued that the shelving of the I-5 bridge project was largely Washington’s fault and noted that most of the $440 million spent on the project thus far has been federal money.
“Nobody, including my opponent, said we shouldn’t do this any more because there’s an outside chance that Washington state, which has been working on this for a decade, wouldn’t hold up its end of the bargain,” he said, adding that the state did all it could to deal with an infrastructure issue
Richardson emphasized what he said was the need for engagement and vision in a broad range of areas brought up by the panel. He also repeatedly said that Oregon should take lessons from others in dealing with issues the state faces, including open primary elections, driver’s cards for illegal immigrants, sales tax and sexual assaults on university campuses.
“I firmly believe every problem Oregon faces is successfully being solved somewhere,” he said. “We don’t need to start with a blank piece of paper.”
The debate covered a wide range of issues, including initiatives expected to be on the No. 4 ballot. Topics included:
Cover Oregon
Though Richardson did not go for the throat on the Cover Oregon rollout failure, he mentioned it several times, citing the governor’s failure to put the brakes on the project, despite warnings from himself and others that things weren’t looking good.
Kitzhaber, though, said he took action when problems became apparent, and argued that the money the state spent on the website and other rollout features wasn’t wasted because 300,000 people ended up enrolled in the program.
“I have removed and held responsible the individuals in Cover Oregon and the Health Authority who made the decisions that led to the failure to roll out a functional website, and now I am seeking damages from Oracle for the technology that they provided for us,” he said. “I just don’t accept the premise that all those dollars were wasted.”
CRC, Transportation
Responding to questions about the shelving of the proposal to widen and modernize the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River, after the Washington State Senate failed to approve $450 million in funding, Kitzhaber said Oregon needs to work with its neighbors, Washington and California in a partnership to finance and implement such projects.
“We are the most trade-dependent state in the nation,” he said. “Leadership is not just pointing to the problem, it’s figuring out how to solve it.”
Richardson complained that legislators were “not part of the discussion of CRC for nearly a decade” – an assertion Kitzhaber disputed, saying then-Speaker Bruce Hanna “was involved in the discussion of CRC from the beginning.”
Richardson blamed Kitzhaber’s and others’ insistence on including light rail in the project for its failure.
“The issue is not light rail to Vancouver,” he said, adding that the real issues are convenience and safety and economic needs. He said planners should consider a third bridge to extend the belt loop.
“We’ve spent 15 years and spent $190 million and not a single shovel of dirt has been moved. That kind of planning we can’t afford. Let’s focus on the outcomes we want. We need to work closely with Washington. That hasn’t been done before.”
Later, in response to further questions, both candidates said the issues extend far beyond the CRC.
Kitzhaber said the state needs to look at “all modes” of transportation and “ask much broader questions about transportation infrastructure, not just roads.”
He said the state needs to look at private capital and “other resources” to fund projects.
“We can’t rely on Congress for funding,” Kitzhaber said.
Richardson said the state needs “long-term planning for infrastructure.” He blamed lack of transportation for economic difficulties along the coast and said more needs to be done.
“We need a freeway from Coos Bay to Burns and Ontario,” he suggested.
Rural Oregon’s Economy
Kitzhaber said economic recovery from the recession for rural Oregonians and “people of color” has lagged behind the rest of the state. He said part of that is due to the fact that Oregon has a resource-based economy, but noted that the state has taken action to keep the sole remaining lumber mills in John Day and Cave Junction open.
Richardson said he’s talked to rural Oregonians who feel “disenfranchised” and blamed Salem for that.
“We need a governor who will unify the state,” he said. “I think we need a governor who represents all of Oregon, not just the I-5 corridor.”
Later, when a panelist asked what the state’s role should be in management of federal land in Oregon, which is more than half the state’s geography, Kitzhaber said he doubted the federal government would welcome efforts by the state to manage its land. He said management of federal lands needs “significant reform,” but advocated an all-lands approach which emphasizes cooperation between neighboring public and private landowners in managing timber and other lands. He cited efforts to conserve sage grouse habitat and populations in eastern Oregon as an example of such an effort under way.
Richardson said Oregon needs to get aggressive, going to “CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and make the case that we have a county going into bankruptcy and counties in depression.
“Will it work? I’m not sure. But I’m not going to sit by. We have timber and we’re watching it burn up. We need dynamic leadership. We need to say western states need control over their lands.”
Population Diversity,
Minorities and Immigration
Both candidates emphasized their efforts to reach out to minority facets of the state’s population, Kitzhaber saying that he’s “really moved the dial” on appointments of minorities to commissions and other positions of leadership in state government.
Richardson countered that “the governor’s staff is remarkably lacking in diversity” and said he intends to be “governor of 100 percent of the population.” He recounted how he and his wife had spent “the past two Sundays” attending African-American churches in the Portland area.
“I want to understand their issues, what’s going on,” he said. “I think the governor has the responsibility to get input from other cultures.”
The candidates were later asked about the “driver’s cards” bill Kitzhaber signed into law last year, granting driver’s cards to immigrants unable to prove they’re here legally, which was then referred to this November’s ballot by a statewide initiative effort.
Kitzhaber said he “strongly” supports the measure, arguing that “every person in the state has an equal shot at the American dream and that the lack thereof creates “large problems” for industries such as nurseries that depend on immigrant workers.
Richardson cited Tennessee, which passed a similar measure, then repealed it.
“It’s not working out in other states. We should learn from them.”
Sales Tax
Neither candidate expressed confidence that a sales tax could be passed in Oregon, given that it has been rejected by voters nine times in 90 years. Richardson said that rather than overriding the expressed will of the people, the state needs to “live within our means. Government is not about just getting through the next two years. It needs to be long-term.” He said government “components” that are not “key” should be shut down.
Kitzhaber said that a state with as much tourism as Oregon does “should have some kind of consumption tax.” The issues, he said, are “not just how we raise public resources, but how we spend them.”
Education
Discussion ranged from affordability of higher education to campus safety to the 40-40-20 plan, the state’s ambitious goal of, by 2025, having 40 percent of students earning a bachelor’s degree, 40 percent completing community college and the other 20 percent finishing high school.
Kitzhaber said he believes there is “a huge role” for on-line learning and that higher education needs to be “more focused” and “aligned” on students’ individual needs. “Universities do not need to be all things to all people.”
He also pointed to his efforts to remake the state’s education system by coordinating the different levels of education from early learning through higher education under his new Oregon Education Investment Board and to re-align funding for early-childhood education to reward the most effective programs.
He noted efforts to improve educational opportunities for underprivileged children to make sure they’re ready for school, that they will meet third-grade reading goals and will find avenues into the workplace.
Richardson was highly critical of Oregon’s current educational system, noting that its graduation rate ranks 49th in the nation. He pledged that, if elected, he will place a moratorium on implementing Common Core standards in Oregon schools until it is vetted.
“As the parent of nine kids who graduated from public schools, I can say I understand Oregon’s public education system,” he said.
Marijuana legalization
Both said they see marijuana legalization as inevitable for Oregon, but neither expressed eagerness to see it happen.
Kitzhaber said he sees alcohol abuse as a bigger problem for Oregonians, while Richardson said he prefers “to see Oregon wait a year to see what happens in Washington and Colorado before diving in.”
Methamphetamine
Richardson blamed Oregon’s meth problem in part on the state’s unemployment problem. He recounted how he once asked “a young guy why he does drugs” and the individual responded: “It’s chemical relief.”
Richardson said the primary answer is to create economic and educational change, to “provide an environment where people can get a decent job,” he said. “Four of my kids have been exported to other states because they couldn’t get a job in Oregon.”
Kitzhaber acknowledged that there are no easy answers, but said improved law enforcement would help.
“I don’t offer a silver bullet,” he said, noting that meth is a major problem in his “old stomping grounds,” the Roseburg area, where he practiced as an emergency room physician.
“I think we have to get to root causes – poverty, kids who don’t have a clear pathway forward to a career.”
He said such an effort should include early learning and other interventions to address the causes of poverty – “Give kids a shot.”
But, he warned, “Anyone who tells you they have a quick snap solution doesn’t get it.”
Open Primary
Both said they would support open primary elections, which, Richardson said would drive candidates away from partisanship and “toward the middle.”
Kitzhaber was similarly critical of the current system: “It seems to me that a political system that disenfranchises the voters isn’t a very good political system.”
Pensions
In response to a question about what happens if the U.S. Supreme Court rules unconstitutional Oregon’s efforts to save on pension costs, both acknowledged that the state does not hold a lot of cards and asserted that the state needs to deliver for retirees who earned agreed-upon benefits.
“Our options are extraordinarily limited,” Kitzhaber said.