Read
the governor's April 16th speech.
Last Friday, in a speech he gave in Springfield and Portland,
Gov. John Kitzhaber made official what he has been hinting
at for some time: his desire to reform the state's tax structure
in order to provide adequate funds for schools. Kitzhaber
gave no details; in August, he said, he will reveal the specifics
of a plan he hopes to take to voters in the year 2000.
Specifics or no, Friday's speeches were not without consequence:
They have lashed Kitzhaber to the bow of a boat that has
wrecked many times before on the reefs of public opinion.
Tax reform has proved treacherous to other Oregon governors.
Barbara Roberts' failed effort shattered her political career.
Neil Goldschmidt was so frightened of tackling Oregon's
bankrupt tax code that he only dabbled at the margins, unwilling
to consider real reform. Tom McCall tried and failed and
was only reelected because of his popularity.
Now it is Kitzhaber's turn.
In order to succeed, the governor will need brains, sincerity
and a clarity of vision--all of which he has.
He will also need the sales skills of Tony Robbins. Whether
he has these is an open question.
If the evidence of his salesmanship is the Oregon Health
Plan, then he may have a fighting chance. In that effort,
Kitzhaber managed to educate legislators about health care,
strike compromises among those with differing philosophies
and convince Washington, D.C., to let Oregon out from under
federal regulations.
But if the evidence of his skills at convincing others
is his current behavior, then woe is us.
In many ways, Kitzhaber has been acting more like a rookie
pol than a skilled deal maker this session. Take, for example,
his recent proposal to balance the budget and give more
dollars to education until he can fix the problem long term.
The plan, which would keep the personal-income "kicker"
and temporarily raise the corporate-income tax, was so botched,
so absent of even the most fundamental political strategy,
that it was laughed out of the Senate last week. Fault for
the effort's failure lies less with the Senate Republicans
who voted it down than with Kitzhaber and his staff, who
did no spade work, rallied no support and gave up on the
proposal almost immediately after they first presented it.
As a consequence, it is entirely unclear where the Legislature
will come up with the $4.95 billion that Kitzhaber, other
Democrats and a growing number of Republicans say our schools
must have next biennium.
Kitzhaber's long-term objective is that much more difficult
in light of recent polling data. WW has learned that
the research, which the governor received from the Oregon
Education Association, shows that the majority of voters
now believe public education needs more money. Those same
polls, however, also show that most voters think the money
can be taken from other state programs.
Therein lies the governor's challenge: to fund education
without handicapping the rest of state government and reform
a tax structure that has been ill-equipped to meet this
state's needs for more than a decade.
It is the greatest challenge of his 20-year political career.
While some, including us, have carped that it has taken
Kitzhaber too long, it's important to remind ourselves:
better late than never.
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Willamette Week | originally
published April 21,
1999 |
