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Living for the Long Run
OREGON STATE TREASURER TOBIAS READ, WHO IS RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR,
SAYS FUTURE GENERATIONS WILL BE THE METRIC FOR HOW WELL HE GOVERNS
By Henry Houston
W
hen Tobias Read met with Eu-
gene Weekly while seeking re-
election for state treasurer in
2020, he called it his dream job.
One year later, Read wants to
leave in the middle of his sec-
ond term to become governor
of Oregon.
Oregon faces several issues in the near future — from
homelessness to affordable housing to climate change.
But Read tells EW that, if elected, he wants to address
COVID-19 as a disease, the biggest problem standing in
the way of investing in the future. Once that’s settled,
Read looks at policy like an economist: He’s looking at
the long run and looks at the health of the state by how
well its children are doing.
“We need steady, strong leadership in Oregon, so we
can move beyond the pandemic and start tackling our
real challenges in Oregon,” Read says. “And to do that
we need to get everybody vaccinated.”
He says the state needs to implement vaccine man-
dates for businesses, schools and government. And
should the FDA approve the Pfizer two-dose vaccine for
ages 5 through 12, he adds that the state should require
vaccines for every Oregon student. California is the first
U.S. state to make such a mandate so far.
“Like we do for eight other vaccines,” he says, referring
to vaccinations for hepatitis B, polio and chickenpox.
“It’s really personal for me. I’ve got two kids, only one of
whom is old enough to be vaccinated, and this is the kind
of conversation I have with parents, business owners. We
can stop the virus in its tracks if we can get everybody
vaccinated.”
The pandemic — and the hesitancy to get vaccinated
— stands in the way of Oregon’s progress, Read says. And
he’ll measure how well the state is advancing by how well
its kids are doing. “We’ve got too many kids going to sleep
hungry, too many who are dropping out of school, too
many kids who’ve concluded that there aren’t too many
opportunities for them in the rural communities where
they’ve been raised,” he says. “We’re lurching from crisis
to crisis, and we’ve gotta be laying out the vision we have
for the future and investing in it.”
Read adds that he envisions the state investing in pre-
kindergarten for every Oregon child, apprenticeships and
vocational training, as well as progress in clean energy.
After six years as Oregon State Treasurer, Read
says he’s familiar with financial markets and could see
using that knowledge in policy discussions if elected
governor, mentioning that former Gov. Bob Straub was
also a treasurer and likely used the state’s “financial heft”
to inform policy.
And Read considers financial tools when talking about
the housing affordability crisis. Not only should the state
look for ways to attract money for building housing units,
but there also needs to be a cost reduction associated
with the developing process, he says, specifically permits
and requirements.
As treasurer, Read says the office issued sustainability
bonds to raise money for affordable housing earlier
in 2021. Using the financial market, it’s helping fund
affordable housing projects, he adds. “I think there are
lessons from that,” he says.
Over the years in Oregon, homelessness has emerged
as an issue for many cities, including Portland, Eugene
E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M
and Salem. Read says homelessness is a statewide issue.
“The question of homelessness isn’t a single issue,”
he says. “It’s a culmination of a lot of other issues that
come together.” Read lists mental health, land use and
affordable housing as aspects to make up the problem.
To address homelessness in the long run, it means
grappling with how to build more housing units that
meet different needs.
“In the short term, recognizing that people are in a
lot of cases dealing with addiction and mental health
solutions — that’s what’s at the heart of what is causing
the difficulty,” he says. “Yet that’s really hard for someone
to address without having a decent place to live.”
Read is the second high-level Democrat to announce
his candidacy, following Oregon House Speaker Tina
Kotek by a few weeks. On Oct. 14, state Sen. Betsy
Johnson, a Democrat, filed to run as an independent
and former New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof
created a committee to explore his candidacy.
Since the 2020 general election, Read has raised
$172,411 in campaign funds, according to his campaign
finance activity as of Oct. 20. The largest contributions
are $25,000, one from the Oregon Realtors Political Action
Committee and another from Neal Dempsey, managing
general partner of the Silicon Valley venture capitalist
firm Bay Partners.
An analysis of Read’s contributions shows his
contributions range from Portland ($121,333) to New
York City ($34,500) and San Francisco ($30,000). The
highest number of his contributors (23 out of 90) work
as lawyers.
As state treasurer, one of Read’s more popular policies
was OregonSaves, the first state-backed IRA retirement
program in the U.S. His office also created programs for
residents to open a state-sponsored 529 college savings
plan and the Oregon ABLE Savings Plan that allows people
with disabilities to save money for long-term expenses.
Read says he enjoys serving as state treasurer, but the
Governor’s Office needs more long-run thinking. “I can
bring the creativity and commitment to progress to the
Governor’s Office,” he says. “Investments in our futures, in
our kids, in our savings, is really paying off in the long run.”
Read reiterates, though, that Oregon can’t address any
of these other issues without first dealing with COVID-19.
“Our long-run future is based on having a vision based on
the willingness to confront difficult realities, and right now
that’s the coronavirus, the barrier to get us on track,” he
says. “In the end, we can’t allow people to endanger kids.
We’ve gotta get on the path to getting people vaccinated
so we can put the pandemic behind us and measure how
our kids are doing.” ■
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