State treasurer candidates enhance the ballot
■ Five very different office
hopefuls share their varied
goals for Oregon’s fiscal future
By Lindsay Buchele
Oregon Daily Emerald
Oregon State Treasurer Jim Hill
has served his two terms in the of
fice, the maximum allowed by
Oregon’s term limit requirement,
and voters must now choose a new
state treasurer.
The state treasurer serves as the
central bank manager for the state,
manages the state’s pension fund,
issues all state debt and manages
Oregon’s state-owned land along
with the governor and the secre
tary of state. Five very different
candidates each feel they would
serve the position best.
Democrat Randall Edwards
wants to increase funding for edu
cation. Republican Jon Kvistad
wants to launch a home buyer
bond program and a family farm
retention program. Libertarian
Mitchell T. Shults wants to end all
taxes on investment income and
open land sales to the common
public. Constitution Party member
Carlos F. Lucero wants to be the
Hispanic voice in the government
and provide better funding for
schools. Reform Party Candidate
Leonard Zack wants to end spe
cial-interest control of government
funds.
A voice for education funding
Edwards, currently a state repre
sentative from Portland, recently
launched the College Savings Plan,
which allows parents to create tax
free savings accounts for their chil
dren’s college education.
“Education is my passion. I grew
up in a family of educators and
know the challenge of funding
schools,” Edwards said.
Edwards, who spent four years
working as a senior advisor for the
Oregon State Treasury, said his
governmental experience gives
him an edge in the race.
“In the legislature, I’m seen as
the loudest voice for funding our
schools,” Edwards said. “The leg
islature has also been a good place
to learn about working with fi
nances and elections. I’ve had a
record of working in a partisan en
vironment.”
His work in the state treasury of
fice, and owning his own manage
ment and marketing consulting
business, make him the most qual
ified for the post, Edwards said.
“I know a great deal about the
office,” Edwards said. “Having
worked there, I’ve gained the re
spect and trust of the staff. Based
on my financial background, I
have the ability to immediately ac
complish what needs to be done.”
Rich in financial experience
Kvistad also says he’s rich in ex
perience. Owning and operating
his own data and direct mail busi
ness for the past 16 years has given
him his own financial experience,
Kvistad said.
He’s also served on the Portland
Metro Government since 1992,
and has been elected three times to
the office of presiding officer, the
organization’s head policy maker,
helping create policies for land
use, transportation and recycling
for the 750,000 people who live in
the Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin and
Wilsonville area Kvistad said.
“I am the only candidate that
has direct municipal experience,”
Kvistad said. “I helped push the
$140 million Green Spaces Bond
Measure, which purchased over
6,000 acres to turn into state parks
and disperse to local governments
for their use.”
Kvistad said he would look out
for Oregon’s environment while
overseeing state-owned lands. He
mentioned his activism in the
Salmon Recovery Act, which pre
serves and protects the habitat of
Oregon’s salmon population.
The experience Kvistad has had
in Portland government has
helped him bring a non-partisan
view to the office, he said.
“I am the only Republican in the
[Portland Metro Government], and
yet I’ve been elected three times by
my peers,” Kvistad said. “I feel the
office of treasurer should be non
partisan and not support any spe
cific political group.”
Doing a better, faster job
Like Kvistad, Shults feels he
would be the best steward of Ore
gon’s state-owned lands. He said
he would open all state lands sales
— except parks and beaches — to
the general public.
“Currently, environmental
groups and the common man can’t
buy public lands,” Shults said. “I
want to change this. By selling to
anyone, the revenue made off of
the sales can be put into the com
mon school fund [which funds
state schools] and forever benefit
the school system.”
Shults has no political experi
ence, but he said his last 20 years
at Intel as director of business de
velopment for the fabric compo
nents division give him the neces
sary financial experience.
“My resume far exceeds the oth
er candidates,” Shults said. “Not
only do I have financial experi
ence, I also worked on the staff of
the House Committee on the Over
sight of the Interior, which helped
force the resignation of Jim Watt.”
Shults thinks the treasury is run
well, though he feels he could do
the job better.
“It took Hill more than a year to
implement the College Savings
Plan,” Shults said. “I could have
done it faster.”
Shults said he would implement
several plans, including ending all
taxation on investment income,
beginning an investment in a re
tirement plan and allowing Orego
nians to opt out of receiving feder
ally-funded social security and
instead receive state-funded social
security.
Stop the ‘revolving door’
Lucero has never held office ei
ther, but hopes to be the voice for
Hispanic people living in the Ore
gon. Lucero said he would bring fi
nancial experience to the office of
treasurer. He came to the U.S. in
1970 and began working in the
software industry and currently
owns his own software contracting
business.
Lucero said that if elected, his
goal would be to create a more
clean, efficient, and accountable
state government. He said he
would also increase education
funding and eliminate the number
of juvenile criminals.
“I want to make Oregon No. 1 in
education,” Lucero said. “There
are too many youths being pun
ished and getting caught up in the
‘revolving door’ effect, meaning
they go in when they are young
and emerge as hardened criminals
who end up in and out of prison
for the rest of their lives.”
Lucero feels this “revolving
door” process can be stopped if ed
ucation improves and the number
of student drop-outs decreases.
Focus on environment
Zack said he also hopes to im
prove education, but in a way that
develops the full mental potential
of each student.
He said he would focus on pro
tecting the environment through
the development of renewable,
safe, non-polluting energy sources.
Zack said he also wishes to invest
in preventive healthcare rather
than the current disease-care plan.
Such preventative healthcare, he
said, would include meditation.
But Zack said his main focus as
treasurer would be to invest in in
dustry that is profitable and sus
tainable.
“Our future needs to be secure
for our children, and the only way
to guarantee that is to invest in sus
tainable agriculture and have sur
pluses given to our schools.”
Executive’s plate is full as registration deadline passes
■Abuu transitions into the
second of three phases of its
campaign to increase student
voter registration
By Emily Gust
Oregon Daily Emerald
With a successful voter registra
tion drive ending Tuesday, the
ASUO Executive is faced with the
daunting question — what now?
r
As the deadline for first-time vot
ers to register passes, the Executive
is transitioning into the second of a
three-part effort to increase voter
participation, said Brian Tanner,
ASUO state affairs coordinator. The
effort includes registering voters,
educating them on the issues —
specifically those impacting higher
education — and encouraging them
to use their right to vote.
But that’s not the only thing on
the ASUO’s plate these days.
ASUO members are mounting a
campaign against a response fee or
dinance that is scheduled for a Nov.
13 vote before the Eugene City
Council. The fee ordinance would
require renters to pay the cost of re
peated police response to disorder
ly parties.
Last week, members of the
ASLIO presented their own version
of the ordinance, originally drafted
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by the Eugene Police Department,
to the Council. Their version calls
for more lenient regulations, as
well as placing fine-issuing respon
sibility into the city court system’s
hands, rather than those of the city
manager.
The ASUO is also gearing up for
Oct. 24, when “Weaving New Be
ginnings” — the annual reception
for students and faculty of color —
takes place. It is an important event,
ASUO President Jay Breslow said,
because it will be the launching
pad in the University’s and the
ASUO’s struggle to retain students
and faculty of color.
We're doing good
things, and we are going to
keep doing them.
jay Breslow
ASUO President
But even when the elections
have come and gone, the special re
sponse fee has been voted on, and
the reception has kicked off the
campaign for campus diversity,
there is no letup in sight for the
ASUO Executive office. Its busy
agenda is only going to get busier,
Breslow said.
“We’re doing good things,” Bres
low said. “And we’re going to keep
doing them.”
With Halloween approaching,
Breslow said the ASUO intends to
reach out and discourage out-of
control holiday parties and help
students become involved with
their community.
Of the many issues Breslow said
the ASUO wants to tackle, encour
aging campus democracy has re
emerged as a priority.
ASUO University Affairs Co-Co
ordinator Chad Sullivan said he
would like to form a coalition of
students to promote democracy
and encourage students to become
more active on campus.
His goal, Sullivan said, is “to
make this campus one where peo
ple know they have a voice, and ac
tually do have one.”
The ASUO Survival Center first
brought up complaints that campus
democracy is nonexistent last year
during the protests over the Univer
sity joining the Worker Rights Con
sortium.
Sullivan is in the process of plac
ing about 80 students on roughly 30
committees around campus, with
goals ranging from environmental
issues to academic requirements.
With two students splitting the
University affairs job this year, Sul
livan said there is more of an op
portunity to establish a system of
student selection. He said he hopes
to have a system in place by the end
of the year.
Turn to ASUO, page 5
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