Bend: Bend Bulletin Endorses SAXTON

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Choose Saxton for governor

By Bulletin Editorial staff
Published: October 15. 2006 5:00AM PST

Over the past several years, The Bulletin's editorial board has interviewed hundreds of candidates for office. Many of them have been highly competent, but very few have impressed us the way Ron Saxton has.

A short-hand way to characterize Saxton is this: He's a Republican of the fiscally conservative, socially moderate sort. But as with all short-hand descriptions, this one isn't entirely accurate. It's true that his views on divisive social issues, which he shares when pressed, are moderate. But if you were to create a political map of Ron Saxton's brain, issues like abortion, gay marriage and so forth would probably occupy a pinprick in some dusty corner. The rest would be labeled "government efficiency."

That, it seems to us, makes him both refreshing in a political sense and ideally suited to lead a state like Oregon, where people care passionately about education, public safety and other services, yet frown upon virtually any attempt to raise taxes. This is the state, remember, whose voters placed the kicker - a limit on government revenue - within the Constitution in the very same election in which they approved a constitutional amendment requiring the Legislature to fund schools adequately, or explain why not.

Voters have been called schizophrenic for such ballot-box displays, and perhaps to some extent they are. But it's just as likely that they simply believe the money they send to Salem could go much further than it does. Whatever the case may be, Oregonians aren't likely to approve big tax hikes in the near future, no matter how much they expect Salem to do for them. The best choice for governor under such circumstances - and perhaps under any circumstances - is a creative, smart person determined to cut costs. That's Saxton.

To stretch taxpayers' money, Saxton offers numerous policy recommendations, from consolidating information technology departments within the Department of Human Services to pushing school districts to share administrative functions like payroll preparation. Such proposals, taken individually, may or may not be easy for even a skilled and determined governor to accomplish. We've also heard some of them from other candidates. Taken together, however, they indicate an approach to government that Oregonians appear to want desperately, and one to which Saxton is entirely committed.

Saxton, by the way, is no bomb-throwing fiscal ideologue. He is, rather, an accomplished and respected lawyer - a partner and former chair of the Ater Wynn law firm - as well as a former member of the Portland school board, which he chaired from 1998 to 2000. He's someone, in other words, who values government services but who has a desire (and the smarts) to deliver them more efficiently.

In order to boost revenue, meanwhile, Saxton prefers economic revitalization to higher taxes. To this end, he'd prefer to lower certain taxes, especially the capital gains tax, and he intends to reduce what he calls Oregon's "hassle tax." This refers generally to the difficulty businesses encounter when they seek to expand in or move to Oregon. By making Oregon a more business-friendly place, Saxton argues, good jobs will proliferate and tax revenue will grow.

Saxton's primary competitor, Gov. Ted Kulongoski, is no slouch. He's a longtime government official - a former legislator, attorney general and Supreme Court justice - who did a good job steering the state through a tough period during his first term. Oregon will do just fine if he's re-elected. It's a testament to just how attractive a candidate Saxton is, though, that we urge voters to send him to Salem in Kulongoski's place.

Come to think of it, the signature achievement of Kulongoski's first term - the passage of legislation designed to reduce the cost of the Public Employees Retirement System - had Saxton's fingerprints all over it. After all, it was Saxton more than anyone who pushed the problems with PERS into the forefront during the 2002 primary. And if Saxton can accomplish that much during a primary election, we can't wait to see what he can do as governor.