Senator Westlund Supports Governor Kulongoski’s Re-election Bid

Calls for Oregonians to Reject Measures 41 & 48.

Senator Ben Westlund

(BEND) - Today, I came to the decision to vote for and openly support Governor Ted Kulongoski’s re-election. It wasn’t a decision I took lightly. For quite awhile I considered not endorsing at all, but the reason I gave for running, because I care and I’m concerned are my same reasons for endorsing Governor Kulongoski. Oregon has been spiraling into mediocrity and below and the choices we have made as voters have had severe consequences for Oregon. It’s our responsibility to think about what kind of future we want for Oregon and vote accordingly. Since leaving the race I have been focused primarily on three things: working for tax reform with a coalition of tri-partisan legislators, co-chairing the Senate Commission on Healthcare Access and Affordability that has found a way to provide basic, affordable healthcare for every Oregonian, and working to defeat Measures 41 and 48, two draconian measures that will keep us from investment on my first two priorities. In these issues I have found a strong ally in Governor Kulongoski. Oregon is at a cross-roads. After weathering the toughest economic times since the depression, we are just to the point where we can begin to see over the horizon and into the future. What we do next is critical. Down one road, we have the opportunity to re-invest in education and in our students, to lower costs and provide healthcare for every Oregonian, to create new markets and expansion in renewable energy and to create an Oregon that leads the nation in innovation and economic opportunity. Down the other, one where Measures 41 and 48 pass, we once again are scraping by as education, public safety and social services compete for an ever smaller piece of the budget pie. I don’t think Oregonians want that Oregon. I don’t think they want to be an experiment for out of state big money interests trying to sell us a bill of goods. And I know Ted Kulongoski doesn’t want that either You don’t need to change governors to have change, change is coming and it can be good, but we need to defeat Measures 41 and 48 and re-elect Governor Kulongoski.