We don’t know whether Ben Westlund would make a good governor. We don’t know whether he has help for Oregon’s economy, whether he knows how to deal with the environment, whether his budget ideas make sense.
We do know this: In the Bend senator’s
announcement Tuesday that he will drop his Republican Party affiliation and
run for Oregon governor as an independent, he spoke more directly to what’s
ailing this state than any other major candidate has done so far.
Oregonians, Westlund said, "are where we are — mired in mediocrity — because
extreme partisan politics all too often trumps good public policy.
"It has become standard operating procedure for both parties to posture,
preen, position — all for the single-minded purpose of gaining control."
Here’s the thing people who follow Oregon politics know: This isn’t just the
rhetoric of a politician newly liberated from his party. It’s the truth.
Westlund easily could have been describing any of the recent sessions of the
Legislature. He could have been talking about any of several of the state’s
top political leaders, about any of a number of Salem tricks designed to
thwart rather than aid.
Former Gov. John Kitzhaber, ragged from battles in the halls of the Capitol,
identified his state as "fragmented by ideology and partisanship" in 2003,
just before he left office. Leaders from Oregon’s better days, asked how
they’d straighten up the state, routinely shake their heads and talk about
how hard it is to turn such divisiveness around.
In the history of Oregon, only one independent candidate — Julius Meier, who
ran Meier & Frank in Portland, in 1930 — has ever topped Democrats and
Republicans to win the state’s top political job.
We’re not ready yet to say Oregonians ought to elect Westlund. But we do
think they’re ready for a fresh approach to Oregon politics.
Change can’t live only in the governor’s office, but it can start with
single voices.
It’s early in the race, but Westlund’s might be one for Oregon.
