by Sean Cruz
Portland, Oregon--
Chris Dudley's campaign continues to promote a "training wage", which is an assault on Oregon’s minimum wage, while claiming that Dudley didn’t really mean it when he said that Oregon’s waitresses and other tip-earners are making too much money.
To Chris Dudley, a "training wage" is a new idea, but this issue has been fought over in the legislature for years, supported by the same Republicans who want to cut Oregon's minimum wage.
If he had been paying any attention at all to Oregon affairs, Dudley would know something about the history of the ongoing battle over Oregon's minimum wage, and the mess he stepped into when he brought the subject of a "training wage" and what he believes are Oregon’s overpaid waitresses into the discussion.
The same people, the same organizations, which have fought to cut Oregon's minimum wage over the years are bankrolling Dudley's campaign, and they are counting on their boy to come through for them. A “training wage” is their best shot at rolling back Oregon’s minimum wage, and they have been putting money into that battle for years.
Governor Ted Kulongoski and Governor John Kitzhaber have both been stalwart defenders of Oregon's minimum wage throughout their terms in office.
Every family with a minimum-wage earner or a student entering the workforce has a direct economic interest in the outcome of the race for Oregon Governor.
Chris Dudley's supporters are looking to recoup their investment by taking dollars out of your wallets. No one else stands to gain from a “training wage” exception to Oregon’s minimum wage standards.
Every working family in the state should stand behind John Kitzhaber for Governor in this election.
Showing posts with label Chris Dudley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Dudley. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Saturday, October 09, 2010
Looking at the numbers: Analyzing Chris Dudley's Point/Budget Ratio
By Sean Cruz
Portland, Oregon—
Oregon GOP candidate for Governor Chris Dudley has articulated several different long lists of things he would like to do if elected, all of which cost money, which means that numbers are important in this election. A simple Point/Budget Ratio analysis can provide valuable insights into the numbers.
As a public service, recognizing that it can be difficult for the average voter to ascertain what the numbers mean, here are the lists, along with the budget information the Dudley campaign has provided to show how each item would be paid for, and a 2-step process for analyzing Chris Dudley’s Point/Budget Ratio:
18-Point Plan called “Education for our Economic Future”
20-Point ”Plan to Create Private Sector Jobs and Stimulate the Economy”
26-Point “Plan to Control Spending and Reform Government”
67-Point “Plan to Make Everything All Better in Oregon’s Corrections System”
= 131 Total Points
Two-Step Point/Budget Ratio analysis:
1. Total points = 131
2. Total budget information provided = Zero
Chris Dudley’s Point-Budget Ratio is therefore 131/0.
I hope this information is helpful for the Undecided in this race.
Portland, Oregon—
Oregon GOP candidate for Governor Chris Dudley has articulated several different long lists of things he would like to do if elected, all of which cost money, which means that numbers are important in this election. A simple Point/Budget Ratio analysis can provide valuable insights into the numbers.
As a public service, recognizing that it can be difficult for the average voter to ascertain what the numbers mean, here are the lists, along with the budget information the Dudley campaign has provided to show how each item would be paid for, and a 2-step process for analyzing Chris Dudley’s Point/Budget Ratio:
18-Point Plan called “Education for our Economic Future”
20-Point ”Plan to Create Private Sector Jobs and Stimulate the Economy”
26-Point “Plan to Control Spending and Reform Government”
67-Point “Plan to Make Everything All Better in Oregon’s Corrections System”
= 131 Total Points
Two-Step Point/Budget Ratio analysis:
1. Total points = 131
2. Total budget information provided = Zero
Chris Dudley’s Point-Budget Ratio is therefore 131/0.
I hope this information is helpful for the Undecided in this race.
Friday, October 01, 2010
John Kitzhaber proves he's ready to lead; Dudley offers mumbo-jumbo
By Sean Cruz
Portland, Oregon--
Former basketball player Chris Dudley confirmed throughout his debate with former Governor John Kitzhaber that, while he can manage a mouthful of rhetoric, he cannot manage it over the course of an entire hour without a prepared script.
He did especially poorly when he took questions from the audience, such as this one:
Q. “Where do you stand on taxation of food and beverage and also tobacco and liquor?”
Dudley: “Well, we have, I mean, in addition to what we already have in place?"
A. “Yes.”
Dudley: “So, what we have, I have not brought up changing what we have in place and, uh, so I think we should continue it, and that is something, by the way, that our cities and counties rely on as well, uh, for their funding and so, it’s not something that I’ve talked about changing.”
I listened to Dudley’s response to this question in semi-stunned silence, because not only is it complete gibberish, but one of his big “new ideas”, championed on his website and in his several multiple-pointed Plans to Make Everything All Better in Oregon, is his determination to privatize the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, and “put a fee” on the sales and distribution of liquor in Oregon.
It’s his own plan, it’s right there on his website, been there for months, that he wants to “put a fee” on the sale and distribution of liquor to make up for the loss of revenue supporting local governments that privatizing the OLCC would cause.
The more Dudley spoke, the worse it got, and it is appalling to think that we could possibly have to listen to this mumbo-jumbo beyond the first week of November.
If this was a boxing match, they’d have to ring the bell every fifteen seconds to keep this man on his feet.
KGW could perform an important public service by rebroadcasting this debate at different times and dates. If this is the only debate we've got, then it won't hurt to see it several times.
We all have too much at stake to allow Oregon to fall victim to the Tea Party mentality that is at the root of the Dudley campaign.
John Kitzhaber is clearly ready to lead the state through this critical time.
Oregon needs a leader ready to come to work, not a person whose principal accomplishment is being tall and reasonably athletic, and certainly not a candidate who cannot remember his own rhetoric.
Portland, Oregon--
Former basketball player Chris Dudley confirmed throughout his debate with former Governor John Kitzhaber that, while he can manage a mouthful of rhetoric, he cannot manage it over the course of an entire hour without a prepared script.
He did especially poorly when he took questions from the audience, such as this one:
Q. “Where do you stand on taxation of food and beverage and also tobacco and liquor?”
Dudley: “Well, we have, I mean, in addition to what we already have in place?"
A. “Yes.”
Dudley: “So, what we have, I have not brought up changing what we have in place and, uh, so I think we should continue it, and that is something, by the way, that our cities and counties rely on as well, uh, for their funding and so, it’s not something that I’ve talked about changing.”
I listened to Dudley’s response to this question in semi-stunned silence, because not only is it complete gibberish, but one of his big “new ideas”, championed on his website and in his several multiple-pointed Plans to Make Everything All Better in Oregon, is his determination to privatize the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, and “put a fee” on the sales and distribution of liquor in Oregon.
It’s his own plan, it’s right there on his website, been there for months, that he wants to “put a fee” on the sale and distribution of liquor to make up for the loss of revenue supporting local governments that privatizing the OLCC would cause.
The more Dudley spoke, the worse it got, and it is appalling to think that we could possibly have to listen to this mumbo-jumbo beyond the first week of November.
If this was a boxing match, they’d have to ring the bell every fifteen seconds to keep this man on his feet.
KGW could perform an important public service by rebroadcasting this debate at different times and dates. If this is the only debate we've got, then it won't hurt to see it several times.
We all have too much at stake to allow Oregon to fall victim to the Tea Party mentality that is at the root of the Dudley campaign.
John Kitzhaber is clearly ready to lead the state through this critical time.
Oregon needs a leader ready to come to work, not a person whose principal accomplishment is being tall and reasonably athletic, and certainly not a candidate who cannot remember his own rhetoric.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Chris Dudley's 67-Point Plan to Make Everything All Better in Oregon's Correctional System
By Sean Cruz
Portland, Oregon--
As soon as Chris Dudley heard that Oregon’s correctional system was experiencing a budget crisis, he immediately set to work, just last week, creating another plan with nearly as many points as vowels, and if there is anything Chris Dudley knows about his multiple-numbered plans, is that a lot of people like them, and he’s in the business of telling people what they like to hear….
He was particularly glad to have this opportunity to slap a plan together, even on such short notice, because this is the one area in which he has some actual experience for the job he's applying for....
Dudley's years in the NBA put him in constant contact with a broad assortment of criminal elements, rubbing elbows both on and off the court, you can just about name your poison in that mob....
His lengthy experience in helping a handful of basketball players leverage endorsement deals may not mean much as far as qualifying Dudley for the job of Governor, but it must mean something, and that's good enough for a lot of people....
Dudley has a proven track record of creating multi-numbered lists of Things To Do While in Oregon that sound really smart to a lot of people, though it's not clear why Oregon piqued his interest at this time instead of the states he has closer ties to....
...and he's just about tall enough to be his own watch tower; there ought to be some savings there....
These points all add up to a lot of reasons that are just as good as any other to vote for Chris Dudley....
Here are all of the issues Chris Dudley has considered so far, as of Tuesday, September 28, 2010, as evidenced on his campaign website:
Dudley Issue Overview
Job Creation
Taxes
Spending Control/Budget Reform
Public Employee Health Care and Retirement Benefits
Privatizing State Liquor Sales
"Rainy Day" State Savings
Higher Education
K-12 Education
Land Use/Property Rights
Rebuilding Public Trust
Energy
Natural Resources
Health Care
Transportation
Don't see the issue most important to you here? Email Chris at Chris@chrisdudley.com
Somehow Oregon’s correctional system was left off of the website list, but Oregon voters can sleep well knowing that very soon, Chris Dudley will have a new list, and that list will have more numbers than all of his other lists combined, and even if they aren’t budget or revenue numbers, the numbers will be right there in the title of the plan where they are easy to see, and that’s what counts anyway….
Here are the first ten points in Chris Dudley’s 67-Point Plan to Make Everything All Better in Oregon’s Correctional System:
1. Let’s have a discussion about this
2. We need to plan carefully
3. This will be all better by 2014
4. Yet another reason to lower capital gains taxes
5. Oregon needs a more business-friendly climate
6. Right after privatizing the OLCC, we’ll privatize the prisons
7. I will appoint a new Correctional Director in the Office of the Governor
8. I will appoint a new Corrections Commission to figure this one out
9. PERS is the problem, and I’ve already solved that problem in one of my other plans
10. The Corrections budget problem has no impact on any of my other plans; they are all still as good as they ever were.
Portland, Oregon--
As soon as Chris Dudley heard that Oregon’s correctional system was experiencing a budget crisis, he immediately set to work, just last week, creating another plan with nearly as many points as vowels, and if there is anything Chris Dudley knows about his multiple-numbered plans, is that a lot of people like them, and he’s in the business of telling people what they like to hear….
He was particularly glad to have this opportunity to slap a plan together, even on such short notice, because this is the one area in which he has some actual experience for the job he's applying for....
Dudley's years in the NBA put him in constant contact with a broad assortment of criminal elements, rubbing elbows both on and off the court, you can just about name your poison in that mob....
His lengthy experience in helping a handful of basketball players leverage endorsement deals may not mean much as far as qualifying Dudley for the job of Governor, but it must mean something, and that's good enough for a lot of people....
Dudley has a proven track record of creating multi-numbered lists of Things To Do While in Oregon that sound really smart to a lot of people, though it's not clear why Oregon piqued his interest at this time instead of the states he has closer ties to....
...and he's just about tall enough to be his own watch tower; there ought to be some savings there....
These points all add up to a lot of reasons that are just as good as any other to vote for Chris Dudley....
Here are all of the issues Chris Dudley has considered so far, as of Tuesday, September 28, 2010, as evidenced on his campaign website:
Dudley Issue Overview
Job Creation
Taxes
Spending Control/Budget Reform
Public Employee Health Care and Retirement Benefits
Privatizing State Liquor Sales
"Rainy Day" State Savings
Higher Education
K-12 Education
Land Use/Property Rights
Rebuilding Public Trust
Energy
Natural Resources
Health Care
Transportation
Don't see the issue most important to you here? Email Chris at Chris@chrisdudley.com
Somehow Oregon’s correctional system was left off of the website list, but Oregon voters can sleep well knowing that very soon, Chris Dudley will have a new list, and that list will have more numbers than all of his other lists combined, and even if they aren’t budget or revenue numbers, the numbers will be right there in the title of the plan where they are easy to see, and that’s what counts anyway….
Here are the first ten points in Chris Dudley’s 67-Point Plan to Make Everything All Better in Oregon’s Correctional System:
1. Let’s have a discussion about this
2. We need to plan carefully
3. This will be all better by 2014
4. Yet another reason to lower capital gains taxes
5. Oregon needs a more business-friendly climate
6. Right after privatizing the OLCC, we’ll privatize the prisons
7. I will appoint a new Correctional Director in the Office of the Governor
8. I will appoint a new Corrections Commission to figure this one out
9. PERS is the problem, and I’ve already solved that problem in one of my other plans
10. The Corrections budget problem has no impact on any of my other plans; they are all still as good as they ever were.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Oregon GOP Candidate Chris Dudley offers 20-point Tea Party plan to create one job
by Sean Cruz
Portland, Oregon--Once again, GOP candidate Chris Dudley tosses out a randomly numbered “plan” that contains no cost information at all, but lots more free ponies!
Throughout its tedious length, Dudley’s “Jobs” plan identifies only one job that the plan would create: the new Budget Manager position that would be part of his super-sized office of the governor. The Budget Manager’s job would be to explain the budget to Dudley.
Chris Dudley's supporters want to put a man who cannot be responsible for his own decision making regarding his personal finances, and who has no experience managing anything at all, in charge of a multi-billion dollar state budget, and at a time when the state and the nation is in grave economic crisis.
They want to put a man who cannot give clear answers about just about anything he's asked, whether personal or political, even about his campaign "ideas" promoted on his own website; a man who cannot be clear even on his residency, into a position that demands transparency and accountability, and real personal commitment to the state of Oregon.
They want to elevate a man whose campaign strategy depends upon his avoidance of any open discussions about the problems facing the state, into a position that requires its occupant to discuss those problems openly and on a full time basis.
They want to support a candidate who says he wants to shrink government and control spending, but whose plans call for a drastic enlargement of the office of the governor, the creation of new state government positions, open-ended new spending, and the imposition of new fees and taxes, all stated on the Dudley campaign's website.
That makes perfect sense to the Tea Party mentality driving the Dudley campaign, the same mentality supporting the fringe candidates haunting GOP primaries in pockets around the nation.
These candidates, like Chris Dudley, aren't offering real solutions, in large part because their supporters don't care whether they do or not.
They can't be bothered with solutions, they just know what they don't like.
Portland, Oregon--Once again, GOP candidate Chris Dudley tosses out a randomly numbered “plan” that contains no cost information at all, but lots more free ponies!
Throughout its tedious length, Dudley’s “Jobs” plan identifies only one job that the plan would create: the new Budget Manager position that would be part of his super-sized office of the governor. The Budget Manager’s job would be to explain the budget to Dudley.
Chris Dudley's supporters want to put a man who cannot be responsible for his own decision making regarding his personal finances, and who has no experience managing anything at all, in charge of a multi-billion dollar state budget, and at a time when the state and the nation is in grave economic crisis.
They want to put a man who cannot give clear answers about just about anything he's asked, whether personal or political, even about his campaign "ideas" promoted on his own website; a man who cannot be clear even on his residency, into a position that demands transparency and accountability, and real personal commitment to the state of Oregon.
They want to elevate a man whose campaign strategy depends upon his avoidance of any open discussions about the problems facing the state, into a position that requires its occupant to discuss those problems openly and on a full time basis.
They want to support a candidate who says he wants to shrink government and control spending, but whose plans call for a drastic enlargement of the office of the governor, the creation of new state government positions, open-ended new spending, and the imposition of new fees and taxes, all stated on the Dudley campaign's website.
That makes perfect sense to the Tea Party mentality driving the Dudley campaign, the same mentality supporting the fringe candidates haunting GOP primaries in pockets around the nation.
These candidates, like Chris Dudley, aren't offering real solutions, in large part because their supporters don't care whether they do or not.
They can't be bothered with solutions, they just know what they don't like.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Chris Dudley's Oregon College Prep Plan Revealed!
By Sean Cruz
Portland, Oregon---
Chris Dudley’s Education Plan for Oregon hinges on certain assumptions about how much education high school seniors really need to prepare for college, and here they are, delivered by a surprise Dudley campaign surrogate:
Dudley Campaign surrogate speaks on education
Portland, Oregon---
Chris Dudley’s Education Plan for Oregon hinges on certain assumptions about how much education high school seniors really need to prepare for college, and here they are, delivered by a surprise Dudley campaign surrogate:
Dudley Campaign surrogate speaks on education
Friday, September 03, 2010
Chris Dudley campaign offers a free ride to college and more free ponies!
By Sean Cruz
Portland, Oregon—
Oregon Republican candidate for Governor Chris Dudley has announced a new education “plan” right on the heels of his 26-Point “Plan to Control Spending and Reform Government”.
The Dudley education “plan” and his “Plan to Control Spending” have two points in common:
The first point is that both “plans” drastically ramp up spending without explaining where the new money is going to come from.
The second point is that there are no actual budget numbers attached to either “plan.”
A third point to make would be the fact that neither “plan” makes much sense.
The tea party anti-government mentality at the core of Dudley’s campaign isn't concerned with real solutions and mostly couldn't pass a basic civics exam. They just know what they don't like.
What they don’t like is government spending, budget and fee increases, and the expansion of bureaucracies, yet Dudley’s “ideas” offer precisely that.
The fact that Oregon's population is increasing drives both budget and fee increases. So does inflation. Neither factor can be controlled by politicians or political parties. Those are conditions that are imposed on Oregon from without.
The Oregon legislature and the new Governor must find ways to deliver essential services in the face of shrinking revenues, a cobbled-together revenue system that was never designed as a “system”, and these outside forces.
Dudley's free scholarship "idea" offers yet another uncontrollable budget scenario, which is the number of graduating seniors with GPAs of 3.5 and up in any given year, multiplied by the actual cost of tuition, which can be expected to rise over time in increments that cannot be predicted. Uncontrollable spending.
A real plan would have the numbers attached. What would the cost be if Dudley's "plan" was implemented in 2010, using the numbers available right now? The point is that the numbers are available, but the Dudley team realizes that their supporters don't care anyway.
In a televised interview, Dudley stated that he wants to create a new exam that every high school senior must pass in order to graduate. When the reporter asked what would happen to the students who didn’t pass the new exam, he responded that he wanted to add tutoring in the lower grades so that no student would fail to read at grade level.
He says he wants to hire tutors, but offers no plan for how that might happen, where the funds would come from and how much money it would require.
The Dudley fans couldn't care less.
Dudley wants to take a whack at teachers, but ignores the fact that many of them are spending their own money on classroom supplies and taking furlough days.
He's stepping into that charter school/online school quagmire, too. The religious right thinks that public schools are too liberal and wants to bleed off their resources, the anti-government types can only be satisfied when they've closed everything down, and the ignorant are often dead set on remaining so.
Dudley's lack of basic fitness for the job of Governor, the utter absence of real solutions in his campaign rhetoric, and his unwillingness to enter into any open discussions of the issues important to Oregonians, are all combining to make it very difficult to maintain my neutrality in this race.
Every idea, good or bad, has a price tag associated with it, and it is not helpful to the discussion for candidates to throw out ideas with no budget numbers or revenue sources attached.
A plan without the numbers is just empty rhetoric.
I'll grant that a lot of people are happy with just that.
Portland, Oregon—
Oregon Republican candidate for Governor Chris Dudley has announced a new education “plan” right on the heels of his 26-Point “Plan to Control Spending and Reform Government”.
The Dudley education “plan” and his “Plan to Control Spending” have two points in common:
The first point is that both “plans” drastically ramp up spending without explaining where the new money is going to come from.
The second point is that there are no actual budget numbers attached to either “plan.”
A third point to make would be the fact that neither “plan” makes much sense.
The tea party anti-government mentality at the core of Dudley’s campaign isn't concerned with real solutions and mostly couldn't pass a basic civics exam. They just know what they don't like.
What they don’t like is government spending, budget and fee increases, and the expansion of bureaucracies, yet Dudley’s “ideas” offer precisely that.
The fact that Oregon's population is increasing drives both budget and fee increases. So does inflation. Neither factor can be controlled by politicians or political parties. Those are conditions that are imposed on Oregon from without.
The Oregon legislature and the new Governor must find ways to deliver essential services in the face of shrinking revenues, a cobbled-together revenue system that was never designed as a “system”, and these outside forces.
Dudley's free scholarship "idea" offers yet another uncontrollable budget scenario, which is the number of graduating seniors with GPAs of 3.5 and up in any given year, multiplied by the actual cost of tuition, which can be expected to rise over time in increments that cannot be predicted. Uncontrollable spending.
A real plan would have the numbers attached. What would the cost be if Dudley's "plan" was implemented in 2010, using the numbers available right now? The point is that the numbers are available, but the Dudley team realizes that their supporters don't care anyway.
In a televised interview, Dudley stated that he wants to create a new exam that every high school senior must pass in order to graduate. When the reporter asked what would happen to the students who didn’t pass the new exam, he responded that he wanted to add tutoring in the lower grades so that no student would fail to read at grade level.
He says he wants to hire tutors, but offers no plan for how that might happen, where the funds would come from and how much money it would require.
The Dudley fans couldn't care less.
Dudley wants to take a whack at teachers, but ignores the fact that many of them are spending their own money on classroom supplies and taking furlough days.
He's stepping into that charter school/online school quagmire, too. The religious right thinks that public schools are too liberal and wants to bleed off their resources, the anti-government types can only be satisfied when they've closed everything down, and the ignorant are often dead set on remaining so.
Dudley's lack of basic fitness for the job of Governor, the utter absence of real solutions in his campaign rhetoric, and his unwillingness to enter into any open discussions of the issues important to Oregonians, are all combining to make it very difficult to maintain my neutrality in this race.
Every idea, good or bad, has a price tag associated with it, and it is not helpful to the discussion for candidates to throw out ideas with no budget numbers or revenue sources attached.
A plan without the numbers is just empty rhetoric.
I'll grant that a lot of people are happy with just that.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Chris Dudley reveals his 26-Point Plan, a true measure of cluelessness
by Sean Cruz
Portland, Oregon--Oregon GOP candidate for Governor Chris Dudley revealed more than his 26-Point "Plan to Control Spending and Reform Government" yesterday.
He put in writing a true measure of how poorly prepared both he and his campaign staff are to deal with the state's problems and issues.
More a list of dreams and statements of ideology in numbered paragraphs than an actual plan, the document does not describe either how Dudley will accomplish his goals or how he will pay for what he proposes.
Where actual cost information would be provided in an actual plan, Dudley only provides additional rhetoric.
For example, he continues to claim that he will privatize the OLCC "without sacrificing existing revenue streams" but fails to explain how he "plans" to get that done. A real plan would identify those revenue streams and describe why they are important and how they would be maintained under Dudley.
Dudley's website states that he plans to put a fee on liquor sales and distribution, but that fact is completely omitted from his 26-pointer. A real plan would include projections on how big that fee is going to be, where it will be collected and from whom.
One of Dudley's key "new ideas" in his plan is that "Oregon's two-year biennial budgets should be built based upon forecasted revenues."
Two points to make here: (1) Oregon's budgets are already built based on the revenue forecasts. That's why the forecast reports are so crucial, especially the May forecast. That's why everyone with an interest in how the state budgets its resources pays close attention to the reports; and (2) "Biennial" means "two-year." Look it up!
Dudley's 26-Point Plan runs aground right at the beginning, with Point #1.
Dudley wants to create a host of new positions, commissions and committees, beginning with his desire to create a new Office of Budget and Management in the Governor's Office, easily a multi-million dollar budget item itself, and staff these offices with his political appointees.
The work of the Dudley Budget Team, other than to duplicate non-partisan work already performed by the legislative revenue and fiscal offices, will be to explain the budget to Dudley.
At the same time that Dudley claims he will attract top talent to work in his much-enlarged Governor's Office, it is worth noting that Dudley Plan Points 7, 8 and 9 are going to be hard news for their pay and benefits. State workers are already taking unpaid furlough days.
In Point # 5, Dudley plans to ask Oregon voters to change the Constitution to give him and any future Governors more power. Hahahahah hahaha hahahahah....
Point # 6 is simply ludicrous: "Legislators lack an independent evaluation of a law's ability to create costs or regulatory burdens on the private sector." Actually, the private sector, through its lobbyists, provides the information most important to them to the legislators directly, and those arguments are heard in televised committee hearings.
In Dudley's plan, legislators are going to get "an independent evaluation" from his political appointees, at public expense, with PERS benefits.
In a nutshell, there are fewer than 26 actual points in the Dudley plan, and the plan's success depends on these three:
(1) Dudley drastically enlarging the Governor's Office staff with new positions, commissions and committees with no discussion at all of how much they will cost or how he will pay for them; and
(2) Events that are already occurring; or
(3) Like amending the Constitution to grant this rookie more power than the governor's office already has, are impossible.
Dudley's 26-Pointer makes the point most clearly that both he and his team lack the most basic understanding of Oregon's system of government, and that they believe that replacing it with an imaginary system is a real solution, and it makes that point again and again.
Portland, Oregon--Oregon GOP candidate for Governor Chris Dudley revealed more than his 26-Point "Plan to Control Spending and Reform Government" yesterday.
He put in writing a true measure of how poorly prepared both he and his campaign staff are to deal with the state's problems and issues.
More a list of dreams and statements of ideology in numbered paragraphs than an actual plan, the document does not describe either how Dudley will accomplish his goals or how he will pay for what he proposes.
Where actual cost information would be provided in an actual plan, Dudley only provides additional rhetoric.
For example, he continues to claim that he will privatize the OLCC "without sacrificing existing revenue streams" but fails to explain how he "plans" to get that done. A real plan would identify those revenue streams and describe why they are important and how they would be maintained under Dudley.
Dudley's website states that he plans to put a fee on liquor sales and distribution, but that fact is completely omitted from his 26-pointer. A real plan would include projections on how big that fee is going to be, where it will be collected and from whom.
One of Dudley's key "new ideas" in his plan is that "Oregon's two-year biennial budgets should be built based upon forecasted revenues."
Two points to make here: (1) Oregon's budgets are already built based on the revenue forecasts. That's why the forecast reports are so crucial, especially the May forecast. That's why everyone with an interest in how the state budgets its resources pays close attention to the reports; and (2) "Biennial" means "two-year." Look it up!
Dudley's 26-Point Plan runs aground right at the beginning, with Point #1.
Dudley wants to create a host of new positions, commissions and committees, beginning with his desire to create a new Office of Budget and Management in the Governor's Office, easily a multi-million dollar budget item itself, and staff these offices with his political appointees.
The work of the Dudley Budget Team, other than to duplicate non-partisan work already performed by the legislative revenue and fiscal offices, will be to explain the budget to Dudley.
At the same time that Dudley claims he will attract top talent to work in his much-enlarged Governor's Office, it is worth noting that Dudley Plan Points 7, 8 and 9 are going to be hard news for their pay and benefits. State workers are already taking unpaid furlough days.
In Point # 5, Dudley plans to ask Oregon voters to change the Constitution to give him and any future Governors more power. Hahahahah hahaha hahahahah....
Point # 6 is simply ludicrous: "Legislators lack an independent evaluation of a law's ability to create costs or regulatory burdens on the private sector." Actually, the private sector, through its lobbyists, provides the information most important to them to the legislators directly, and those arguments are heard in televised committee hearings.
In Dudley's plan, legislators are going to get "an independent evaluation" from his political appointees, at public expense, with PERS benefits.
In a nutshell, there are fewer than 26 actual points in the Dudley plan, and the plan's success depends on these three:
(1) Dudley drastically enlarging the Governor's Office staff with new positions, commissions and committees with no discussion at all of how much they will cost or how he will pay for them; and
(2) Events that are already occurring; or
(3) Like amending the Constitution to grant this rookie more power than the governor's office already has, are impossible.
Dudley's 26-Pointer makes the point most clearly that both he and his team lack the most basic understanding of Oregon's system of government, and that they believe that replacing it with an imaginary system is a real solution, and it makes that point again and again.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
“Bureaucratize It” Oregon GOP Governor candidate Chris Dudley to create new political bureaucracy!
By Sean Cruz
(Portland, Oregon)—Chris Dudley plans to create a new bureaucracy of political appointees in the Governor’s Office, with new titles of “State Budget Director” and “a Budget Review Team”, and order the new bureaucracy to duplicate the budget review and regular auditing work that is already being done by non-political state agencies.
Reaching deep into his playbook, “Just Wing It!”, Dudley posted his strategy to:
“Strengthen Executive Leadership and Budget Accountability:
“As Governor, Chris Dudley will appoint a State Budget Director inside his office – not a state agency; will establish a Budget Review Team of experts in public and private finance to review budget assumptions and conduct regular audits; and will aggressively use his veto-pen to control legislative spending that is non-essential, wasteful, or fails to adequately save for a rainy day.”
Dudley’s proposed State Budget Director will not have any actual budgetary authority, but will report to the GOP Governor and help him understand what the fiscal reports and audits mean in language he can understand, and will lead the proposed Budget Review Team, acting as the Governor’s Point Guard on the Budget, doing the work that the Governor normally would be doing himself.
Dudley has not disclosed the salaries and PERS benefits his “experts in public and private finance” are looking forward to claiming, nor a short list of who these essential Team Dudley members might be, saving that information for after the election.
Since the Oregon GOP platform calls for the “abolition of the Department of Education”, it is possible that Dudley plans to pay for his Budget Review bureaucracy with savings gained from shutting down the Oregon DOE and moving into their offices, but that is only conjecture (except for the call to abolish the Department of Education).
There is speculation that Dudley’s new Governor’s Budget Review Team will also be proponents of Creationism and thus serve a dual role, advising Dudley’s new State Education Director on the many budget-saving faith-based curriculum ideas as called for in the Oregon GOP platform, which would replace the abolished Department of Education.
(Portland, Oregon)—Chris Dudley plans to create a new bureaucracy of political appointees in the Governor’s Office, with new titles of “State Budget Director” and “a Budget Review Team”, and order the new bureaucracy to duplicate the budget review and regular auditing work that is already being done by non-political state agencies.
Reaching deep into his playbook, “Just Wing It!”, Dudley posted his strategy to:
“Strengthen Executive Leadership and Budget Accountability:
“As Governor, Chris Dudley will appoint a State Budget Director inside his office – not a state agency; will establish a Budget Review Team of experts in public and private finance to review budget assumptions and conduct regular audits; and will aggressively use his veto-pen to control legislative spending that is non-essential, wasteful, or fails to adequately save for a rainy day.”
Dudley’s proposed State Budget Director will not have any actual budgetary authority, but will report to the GOP Governor and help him understand what the fiscal reports and audits mean in language he can understand, and will lead the proposed Budget Review Team, acting as the Governor’s Point Guard on the Budget, doing the work that the Governor normally would be doing himself.
Dudley has not disclosed the salaries and PERS benefits his “experts in public and private finance” are looking forward to claiming, nor a short list of who these essential Team Dudley members might be, saving that information for after the election.
Since the Oregon GOP platform calls for the “abolition of the Department of Education”, it is possible that Dudley plans to pay for his Budget Review bureaucracy with savings gained from shutting down the Oregon DOE and moving into their offices, but that is only conjecture (except for the call to abolish the Department of Education).
There is speculation that Dudley’s new Governor’s Budget Review Team will also be proponents of Creationism and thus serve a dual role, advising Dudley’s new State Education Director on the many budget-saving faith-based curriculum ideas as called for in the Oregon GOP platform, which would replace the abolished Department of Education.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Put a fee on it! Oregon GOP Governor candidate Chris Dudley posts his solution to privatizing OLCC!
By Sean Cruz
(Portland, Oregon)--"’Kent Craford, acting campaign manager for Dudley, concedes liquor is a moneymaker. ‘It's true that the OLCC and state monopoly of liquor distribution and retailing does make money for state coffers. But that doesn't mean it can't, if it were privatized. The way you do that under a private system is to put a fee on it.’"
Taking another page out of his playbook, “Just Wing It!”, the Dudley campaign has announced that it will make up for the shortage of thought that it put into the OLCC conversation by proposing a new fee to cover the loss of revenue that privatization will bring.
The reason that privatization hasn’t already taken place in Oregon is because every model put forth over the past couple of decades results in (a) loss of revenue to fund critical services, and (b) increased prices to consumers.
There has been no lack of desire from either Democratic or Republican officeholders to find a way to privatize the liquor industry. The legislature and the liquor industry have discussed privatization models for years, session after session, and have run into two insurmountable obstacles:
1. The only way to recover the lost revenue is to impose a fee or a tax.
2. With privatization, net prices to consumers go up. You learn this once you do the math….
In government, in legislative work, it is the Law of Unintended Consequences that bites most ideas in the ass. Those consequences are not always obvious, and the more complex the problem, the more likely you will run into the Law.
The argument for a new fee or tax or higher prices for consumers has been dead on arrival for years—and still is…but not knowing this, the Dudley campaign takes up the cudgel…Just Winging It!....
In every industry, in every line of work, experience counts, job readiness counts…except for in politics.
Only in politics can complete novices make the jump to the top job with no experience whatsoever, with only the skimpiest understanding of the requirements of the job itself, and with little chance of success in the job if they manage to win election.
Campaigns like Dudley’s depend upon an angry, impatient, uninformed and divided electorate, and name recognition from work in a completely unrelated field that draws a great deal of media and public attention.
That’s the formula.
That’s the playbook.
That’s the game.
(Portland, Oregon)--"’Kent Craford, acting campaign manager for Dudley, concedes liquor is a moneymaker. ‘It's true that the OLCC and state monopoly of liquor distribution and retailing does make money for state coffers. But that doesn't mean it can't, if it were privatized. The way you do that under a private system is to put a fee on it.’"
Taking another page out of his playbook, “Just Wing It!”, the Dudley campaign has announced that it will make up for the shortage of thought that it put into the OLCC conversation by proposing a new fee to cover the loss of revenue that privatization will bring.
The reason that privatization hasn’t already taken place in Oregon is because every model put forth over the past couple of decades results in (a) loss of revenue to fund critical services, and (b) increased prices to consumers.
There has been no lack of desire from either Democratic or Republican officeholders to find a way to privatize the liquor industry. The legislature and the liquor industry have discussed privatization models for years, session after session, and have run into two insurmountable obstacles:
1. The only way to recover the lost revenue is to impose a fee or a tax.
2. With privatization, net prices to consumers go up. You learn this once you do the math….
In government, in legislative work, it is the Law of Unintended Consequences that bites most ideas in the ass. Those consequences are not always obvious, and the more complex the problem, the more likely you will run into the Law.
The argument for a new fee or tax or higher prices for consumers has been dead on arrival for years—and still is…but not knowing this, the Dudley campaign takes up the cudgel…Just Winging It!....
In every industry, in every line of work, experience counts, job readiness counts…except for in politics.
Only in politics can complete novices make the jump to the top job with no experience whatsoever, with only the skimpiest understanding of the requirements of the job itself, and with little chance of success in the job if they manage to win election.
Campaigns like Dudley’s depend upon an angry, impatient, uninformed and divided electorate, and name recognition from work in a completely unrelated field that draws a great deal of media and public attention.
That’s the formula.
That’s the playbook.
That’s the game.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
"Just Wing It!" Oregon GOP Governor candidate Chris Dudley announces new campaign slogan!
By Sean Cruz
(Portland, Oregon)--You read it here first! Chris Dudley has decided to bank his campaign run on a reference to the ubiquitous Nike slogan, recalling for voters the only fields he has any inkling of—sports and Big and Tall clothing—as the new title of his playbook, which was formerly titled “Dribbling towards the Finish Line.”
The fledgling Oregon politician (and first-time voter) feels that his new slogan will both reflect his spur-of-the-moment approach to problem-solving and suggest to voters that his qualifications for the job extend beyond the basketball court—even if they don’t—while at the same time emphasizing that he is reading a lot of books these days and calling attention to the fact that he has become aware that Oregon’s official slogan is “She flies with her own wings.” That is a great deal of ground to cover in just one sentence.
It is a truly crafty move…signaling that Dudley will rely less on sports metaphors and more on those that have a basis in actual governance and politics and real-world problems.
Reaching deep into his playbook, Dudley posted on his campaign website his strategy to:
“Strengthen Executive Leadership and Budget Accountability:
“As Governor, Chris Dudley will appoint a State Budget Director inside his office – not a state agency; will establish a Budget Review Team of experts in public and private finance to review budget assumptions and conduct regular audits; and will aggressively use his veto-pen to control legislative spending that is non-essential, wasteful, or fails to adequately save for a rainy day.”
With this statement, Dudley (1) demonstrates his skill at crafting long sentences; (2) announces that he will (a) create a new bureaucracy, (b) populate the new bureaucracy with his political appointees, (c) order the new bureaucracy to duplicate the budget review and regular auditing work that is already being done by non-political state agencies; and, (3) hopes that the reader will not notice the conflict with his other promises to shrink the size of government.
Dudley's new Governor's Budget Director and staff, plus the new Budget Review Team and their staff are going to need some officing space...salaries and PERS benefits....
"(from campaign internal memo): what are we going to do with the reports and audits coming in from the State Revenue and Fiscal offices?...gonna need some more filing cabinets...geez, this seemed like such a good idea at the time it went up on the website...ok...we better Just Wing It! from here...people like the sound of that...we're still going to need a bunch of filing cabinets...."
(Portland, Oregon)--You read it here first! Chris Dudley has decided to bank his campaign run on a reference to the ubiquitous Nike slogan, recalling for voters the only fields he has any inkling of—sports and Big and Tall clothing—as the new title of his playbook, which was formerly titled “Dribbling towards the Finish Line.”
The fledgling Oregon politician (and first-time voter) feels that his new slogan will both reflect his spur-of-the-moment approach to problem-solving and suggest to voters that his qualifications for the job extend beyond the basketball court—even if they don’t—while at the same time emphasizing that he is reading a lot of books these days and calling attention to the fact that he has become aware that Oregon’s official slogan is “She flies with her own wings.” That is a great deal of ground to cover in just one sentence.
It is a truly crafty move…signaling that Dudley will rely less on sports metaphors and more on those that have a basis in actual governance and politics and real-world problems.
Reaching deep into his playbook, Dudley posted on his campaign website his strategy to:
“Strengthen Executive Leadership and Budget Accountability:
“As Governor, Chris Dudley will appoint a State Budget Director inside his office – not a state agency; will establish a Budget Review Team of experts in public and private finance to review budget assumptions and conduct regular audits; and will aggressively use his veto-pen to control legislative spending that is non-essential, wasteful, or fails to adequately save for a rainy day.”
With this statement, Dudley (1) demonstrates his skill at crafting long sentences; (2) announces that he will (a) create a new bureaucracy, (b) populate the new bureaucracy with his political appointees, (c) order the new bureaucracy to duplicate the budget review and regular auditing work that is already being done by non-political state agencies; and, (3) hopes that the reader will not notice the conflict with his other promises to shrink the size of government.
Dudley's new Governor's Budget Director and staff, plus the new Budget Review Team and their staff are going to need some officing space...salaries and PERS benefits....
"(from campaign internal memo): what are we going to do with the reports and audits coming in from the State Revenue and Fiscal offices?...gonna need some more filing cabinets...geez, this seemed like such a good idea at the time it went up on the website...ok...we better Just Wing It! from here...people like the sound of that...we're still going to need a bunch of filing cabinets...."
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