Rarely do I agree on anything with Ted Piccolo, a right-wing activist and political consultant who blogs under the alias “I Am Coyote” on the NW Republican site. But he’s posted an analysis of why Chris Dudley lost the governor’s race that I think is spot on – and refreshingly candid.
Piccolo’s central point: Dudley wasn’t qualified to be governor, and the voters knew it.
“Now that the election is over there are many people beginning to murmur some of the concerns that many of us had said publicly about the Chris Dudley campaign,” Piccolo writes. “That it was irresponsible to run Chris Dudley for governor. He was convinced to run by a handful of political establishment guys who’s [sic] livelihoods depend on having influence in high places.”
Piccolo lambastes two of those “establishment guys” in particular: Dan Lavey, president of Gallatin Public Affairs, a Portland-based PR firm, and Kerry Tymchuck, a former staffer with Republican Sen. Gordon Smith who’s now with Conkling Fiskum & McCormick, another Portland PR firm.
Dudley, Piccolo continues, was the “perfect DL/KT candidate. A blank slate politically and a blank slate philosophically. … It did not matter that he was not prepared for the job. Because he could raise money and DL/KT believed that they could run a campaign that sequestered their candidate and flooded the airwaves with campaign ads. …
“It was cynical and destructive to convince a person who had no business running for anything above the legislature to run for governor just because he could be a good vehicle for fundraising.”
Pretty brutal – but it gets worse. “Dudley knew almost nothing about the state of Oregon and Lavey/Tymchuck did nothing to prepare him,” writes Piccolo. “Why? Because that would have meant bringing in other talented people from Republican circles to tutor him, help him define policy positions, and have input with the inner circle.”
The “outsider’s” envy of the “insiders” is palpable in these comments, of course, but Piccolo makes a valid point: It was cynical – and irresponsible – to pick an unknown with almost zero credentials and nothing going for him but a slight touch of celebrity as a former Trail Blazer and try to foist him on the voters of Oregon. Fortunately, in the end, those voters didn’t fall for it.
This article appears in Nov 11-17, 2010.
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a former Governor that is a wheel and dealing politician… and Dudley would of been able to bring jobs back to Oregon with is business and economic background while Kitzhaber is just more of the same large state goverment and high taxes and its just more job killing for Oregon. And Dudley was not a politician and that these days is a plus
……And Taxhaber is?????????
“Dudley would of been able to bring jobs back to Oregon with is business and economic background”
Dudley’s business background? You’ve gotta be kidding. He’s a financial adviser, fer cripe’s sake.
“And Taxhaber is?????????”
The voters seemed to think so. Anyway, I’m just telling you what Piccolo said, and he’s certainly no Kitzhaber fan.
I love the “postings” of this copy/paster, these are not his ideas, he must copy and paste because he can’t find any truths about his opinion why Dudley lost. Typical of someone this far left, they cant face the facts of the popular vote, and the mass redistricting that goes on to make these elections “work” for a certain group. This is why there was such a stink after Gore/Bush because the game didnt work the way the Dems designed it to. Kits-slobber stole the election this time marginally to a “Nobody” with no experience and only because of the Gerrymandering he created during his first reign over oregon. This guy is BAD for Oregon, he is BAD for all of us, and if I ever collapse in a crowd with him around DNR for me if its death or having this guy that close to me. I only pray that the precision division in our state house will keep him in check, and that they COMPLETELY stop allowing laws to be passed for their benefit without voting on them.
You could also substitute “Obama” for Dudley, “Soros” for Lavey, and “Saul Alinsky” for Tymchuck and have an article that reads nearly the same. Too bad the Dems and Independents could not bring themselves to see how unqualified BO is for office (lest they be considered a racist) until they had elected him. Big time buyers remorse now. Trouble is we all suffer although the ship is being RIGHTED (pun intended).
Gerrymandering does not affect statewide offices such as the governor’s race. Total vote went K’s way and D was left out in the cold. The argument that The Democratic Governor was elected by an unrepresentative electorate concentrated in the urban counties is irrelevant. It is a popular vote that elects the governor and not representative land mass.
Amazing how a Republican mistake about their candidate of choice can be turned into something accusatory and derogatory about the president. Amazing, but no surprise.
Too many people have bought into the myththat government is a business and that the answer to bad governance is ’employing’ more experienced business executives to head the government–to create jobs, reduce the deficit, eliminate waste, and balance the budget. Where has it worked?
The upcoming deficit crisis is unavoidable UNLESS the Republicans and Democrats grow some balls and really start to deal with defense spending (i.e. corporate welfare) and entitlement spending (i.e. medicare and social security welfare).
The politicians won’t tackle the real issues–people love the idea of a free lunch more than the lunch itself. We will hear more about taxes and tax cuts, repealing health care, and creating jobs while everyone positions themselves for the election of 2012.
Fareed Zakaria, not exactly a ‘left winger,’ has repeatedly stated that Republicans who claim they can balance the budget through tax cuts without cutting entitlement spending are eithe delusional or lying.
Welcome to the twenty-first century, where it’s good politics to just make crap up and yell it out loud and often enough for it to become ‘truth.’