Chris Dudley: Wrong for Oregon

Chris Dudley and Former Governor John Kitzhaber are in a virtual dead heat in the race to be Oregon’s next governor, with Kitzhaber only three points ahead.  How could this be?

Why does Republican nominee Chris Dudley want to be Oregon’s governor? He’d never shown much interest in politics, before he began positioning himself to run for office. He has little understanding even of his own race. He skipped out on a traditional newspaper-sponsored debate, and his excuse was then revealed to have been dishonest. And his proposed agenda of cutting taxes, government, trees, and land use laws would mostly benefit the wealthy and powerful, while hurting most Oregonians.

Dudley is wealthy and a son of privilege. Now, he wants to be powerful. Perhaps that’s the real rationale for his campaign. That and a fondness for the limelight. He wasn’t very talented as a sort of athlete, but he was tall enough to make a lot of money as a career backup center in the limelight of the NBA. And that seems to be all there is to it. Dudley has shown no interest in Oregon or the well-being of Oregonians. He has shown no interest in policy. But he does want to protect his money from taxes, and he does want more of the fame of which he once had but a taste.

Late last year, Willamette Week had this little tidbit:

Unlike most Blazers, however, Dudley lived across the river in Clark County. Property records show he owned a house in Camas, Wash., from 1994 though 1998, which sheltered at least part of his paycheck from Oregon’s 9 percent personal income tax (Washington does not charge personal income tax). In his speech last week, Dudley said, “I was wasn’t born here [in Oregon], but I feel I was born to live here.” Records show Dudley—who opposes the tax increases on corporations and wealthy Oregonians in Measures 66 and 67—bought an 8,536-square-foot, $2.9 million home on nearly two acres at a Lake Oswego golf course in August 2004. He became a registered Oregon voter that same month.

Got that? While making a lot of money as a Portland Trailblazer in the NBA, Dudley lived across the river, in Washington, to avoid paying Oregon taxes. With Oregon facing a budget crisis, he avoided contributing his ample share, while showing so little interest in politics that he often didn’t even bother to vote. But now that he lives in Oregon, he wants to hold the highest political office in the state, while cutting his own taxes. A state in which he’s been registered to vote now for all of six years. And he also avoids the political basic of letting the voters learn about who he is, and what he knows about and intends to do about the issues. He also opposed ballot measures increasing taxes on corporations and the wealthy, both of which Oregon voters approved.

The question is why any Oregonians would even consider electing someone who shows so little interest in the state or in them… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

The only reason Dudley is staying so close is that he has raised over three times as much money as Kitzhaber has.  Dudley gets his money from huge corporations, many of them out of state including banksters such as Bank of America.  This incompetent candidate must not be allowed to buy this election.