Thursday, August 18, 2005

Friend of the Devil

Well, it's semi-official now. Governor K has announced plans to seek a second term. I wonder who Governor K expects to support him? He's not exactly loved by organized labor these days. His unwillingness to participate in any meaningful discussion of school funding has left the blue voters in Multnomah County and elsewhere in Lane and Marion counties pretty out in the cold. So who's gonna vote for Ted?

Perhaps now would be the time for Gov K to show some of that "leadership" and "behind the scenes" skill that got him to the Governor's manse in the first place. A nice way to go would be for him to intervene in the current PERS flap and get his own Board (renegades aren't they?) to back off of PERS retirees and honor his own campaign promise to NOT reduce the current benefits of any PERS retiree, and then also to honor the Supreme Court's Strunk ruling.

Can we expect Ted to show any leadership right now? Or can we expect Ted to crawl into a deeper hole and hide out till the dust settles. Interesting dilemma, isn't it? I can predict one thing. If Ted doesn't intervene in the PERS flap and nature is allowed to take its course, Ted may be body-slammed in the May primaries, because I don't know very many retirees who'd support Ted in the Democratic primary. I already know quite a few Republicans who'd change their party registration just to vote against Ted in the primary. So, regardless of how awful the Republican opponents might be for PERS members, Ted is sitting in the PERS catbird seat as public enemy number 1. Whatcha gonna do Gov?

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