Why I'm running for Governor
Friends,
I believe Oregon’s best days still lie ahead. But to shape that future will require a new civility and a willingness to move beyond partisanship and stakeholder politics. The most fundamental thing that I have learned from my terms as governor and over the last six years is that what we are doing now simply is not working: it’s not working for our kids; it is not working for our families; it is not working for Oregon.
I am running for governor because we need to fundamentally change how we engage with one another to solve our shared problems. I bring to this a set of experiences, perspectives and ideas that can help during this time of crisis: when so many of our people are unemployed; when escalating health care and energy costs are burdening families and businesses alike; and when it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Every state in the nation is facing similar challenges, but more than any other state Oregon has the capacity to move beyond them – but not by continuing to do what we have been doing in the past.
The greatest obstacles we face today are partisanship and stakeholder politics: partisanship that has more to do with maintaining legislative majorities than with solving problems; stakeholder politics which perpetuate the status quo and prevent us from meeting the challenges of the future. The only way we can solve our problems is to change the way we approach them; that is how we will achieve the goals to which we all say we aspire; and to realize the full potential of this great state.
I am running for governor because I believe Oregonians are ready for this change – and I believe that many of the stakeholders which exert such influence over the legislature are ready for this change as well. This is our moment. Crisis brings clarity and we all understand now that we can no longer simply keep kicking our problems down the road for our children to deal with instead of confronting them ourselves.
This will require us to confront reality and face the facts; to recognize that our problems did not show up overnight and we won’t solve them overnight – but that we can solve them with a conscious effort to bring more civility to our public debate; with a “post-partisan” approach to governance; and with a politics that puts our common bond as Oregonians before anything else. It will require leadership not just from the political sector but from business and labor as well. And it will require forging a new set of coalitions that are focused on the future rather than on the past.
I intend to use this campaign to talk about the difficult choices we are going to have to make if we hope to:
- Improve education from pre-school through graduate school.
- Develop the jobs of the future inside our own borders – and enhance Oregon’s ability to compete globally.
- Have a state with fewer kids in foster care, lower school drop out rates, a lower prison population and fewer people on public assistance.
- Make Oregonians healthier regardless of what happens in Washington DC.
- And protect the natural wonder and quality of life that helps define who we are.
I believe that Oregonians are ready to embrace a different kind of politics and to make the kind of tough decisions that will be required to create such a future. I could be proven wrong – and in that case I am not the right person to serve as your governor. But I don’t think I am wrong. I think it’s time to remember who we are and what we are capable of. Oregon has a long history of approaching our challenges together - and a remarkable track record of success when we view ourselves as members of the Oregon community first and as partisans and stakeholders only second.
If we have the courage to make the right choices now and act for the long term, there is nothing we can’t accomplish.
