From West by Northwest.org Voices of the Northwest Sadler's Sense: Saxton No Tom McCall By Russell Sadler Nov 5, 2006 For most of the 41 years I’ve been in Oregon I’ve been a registered independent who proudly splits his ticket. But I haven’t been splitting tickets lately for a very good reason. Oregon Republicans have not been nominating candidates that attract independents. Yes, that’s one man’s opinion. But it is also the verdict of Oregon voters. Oregon Republicans have not won a statewide office since Gov. Vic Atiyeh left office in 1986. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats can elect a candidate on their own. Candidates must win the votes of independents to win a majority of votes. Republicans are not nominating candidates that independents feel will represent them. This was not always the case. In the 1960s, 70s and into the 80s Oregon Republicans nominated candidates attractive to independent-minded voters -- Mark Hatfield, Tom McCall, Norma Paulus, Tony Meeker, Dave Frohnmayer, Clay Myers, Vic Atiyeh, to name some more familiar winners. But as Oregon grew, orthodox Republican newcomers added to the demand that Oregon Republicans reflect the National Republican Party’s move to the right. Candidates that were attractive to independents were declared RINOs -- Republicans In Name Only -- and purged from the party. A growing number of Oregon Republicans openly held the state’s maverick independent political tradition in contempt and demanded that Republican officeholders vote the Republican Party line. Those that didn’t were browbeaten and bullied until they did or were purged from the party in closed primaries. Since 1990, Republican legislative leadership sold the state out for campaign money they needed to hold their slim majorities in the House and Senate. In exchange for the money from national conservative interest groups, Republicans in the Legislature are expected to vote the national party program into law at the state level. This practice of representing only Republicans -- in effect, one-third of the population telling the other two-thirds how they will live -- has not gone over well. Oregon Republican candidates have not won statewide office. The party lost its majority in the Senate last election and may lose control of the House in this election. During the dozen years Republicans have controlled the Legislature they borrowed billions of dollars to pay operating expenses so they could make phony “surplus rebates.” The interest payments on the borrowed billions are now eating up more and more tax revenue so there is less to spend on education, law enforcement and the other legitimate costs of government. The solution? Conservative Republicans demand a spending limit -- the party with the power over Oregon’s purse says it can’t control its own spending and borrowing! After a dozen years of Republican control of the Legislature nearly half the people polled say “Oregon is not going in the right direction.” In a belated effort to find a candidate for governor that might attract independent voters, Oregon Republicans grudgingly nominated Portland attorney Ron Saxton over Kevin Mannix. Saxton has been campaigning like the Second Coming of Tom McCall. I covered most of Tom McCall’s political career. Ron Saxton is no Tom McCall. A justly celebrated member of the Portland School Board, Saxton has no experience in statewide office. He has resorted to padding his political resume to make his limited accomplishments seem substantive. His scapegoating of public employees and support of Measure 41 suggest he has no real grasp of the state budget process or how bad Oregon’s fiscal situation really is. We will learn whether Saxton’s pose as a “moderate” will attract independent voters next week. If Saxton wins, it is not clear whether the Republican legislative leadership -- obligated to national conservative groups in exchange for campaign cash -- will allow Saxton to govern if he has plans that vary from the national party line. No matter who is elected governor and who controls the Legislature, the next session will do well just to begin cleaning up the mess that a decade of Republican fiscal recklessness has wrought upon Oregon’s financial structure. Who would have thought that, in little more than a decade, conservative Republicans -- the party that touts fiscal responsibility -- would make such a mess of one state’s financial affairs? Oregon Republicans have reduced “fiscal responsibility” to a marketing slogan. I promise that if any Republicans step up and take responsibility for helping clean up the mess, I will write favorably about the effort. But I don’t really hold much hope. The last Republican to criticize his party’s borrow-and-spend recklessness was Sen. Ben Westlund, R-Bend, and he was driven from the party for his candor. Copyright ©2006 by Russell Sadler Russell Sadler is a journalist and a lecturer at Southern Oregon University. You may write him c/o publisher at westbynorthwest.org. Visit Sadler's Sense columns at West By Northwest.org: Sadler's Sense: Measure 45, The Way We Never Were Sadler's Sense: A Squandered Legacy? Sadler's Sense: A Snapshot of Electorial Politics and Power in Oregon Sadler's Sense: Sea Change Sadler's Sense: Ben Westlund's Bid for Governor and Why He Makes Sense Sadler's Sense: Croesus and Responsibility Sadler's Sense: Can We Kick the "Kicker" Habit? Or... the Big Lie Sadler's Sense: Enter Starret Stage Right -- Now a Four Way Race for Governor and Freeway Nation or Free Nation? 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