BY SARAH ROSS

PORTLAND- During the past few weeks, complaints and accusations have been flooding in from both political parties on the improper use of phone calls to constituents in Senate Districts 19 and 20.

The two districts, which straddle the Interstate 5 corridor, stretch from Tualatin and Tigard on the west side to Oregon City and West Linn off Interstate 205.

The Leadership Fund, the Republican campaign group for the State Senate, accused Democrats of using “push polling” to promulgate false information and to paint the two Republican candidates running in the districts in an “inaccurate and disparaging light.”

Meanwhile, The Senate Democratic Leadership Fund, the Democrat campaign group, has accused the Republicans of using “robocalls” to residents on the Federal Do Not Call registry which attack the two Democratic incumbent candidates.

Molly Woon, spokeswoman for the SDLF, told the Oregon Politico that her organization’s issue is not about the content of the calls. Rather, the SDLF is concerned that the Republicans are “breaking the law when they call these people that are on the Federal Do Not Call list,” citing an Oregon statute which prohibits automated calls, or “robocalls,” to people listed on the Do Not Call list.

Woon said the SDLF has filed three complaints about this type of calling to the Department of Justice. The SDLF has included the polling firm, the Oregon GOP, and The Leadership Fund in these complaints.

The spokesman for The Leadership Fund, Michael Gay, said he is not familiar with the lists used by pollsters to make calls.

However, he called the complaints a “transparent attempt to completely change the issue.”

“The Attorney General, as I understand it, is pretty shaky on whether or not the robocalls statue is even constitutional,” said Gay. “I think they’re just trying to muddy the water because they know they’ve overstepped their bounds on their poll questions.”

In defense of the polling done by Democratic candidates, Woon denied the use of “push polling.”

“These are regular, standard issues polls done by professional pollsters where we check positives and negatives just like any candidate for any office would do,” said Woon, noting the poll questions could not be shared because they are used to design the SDLF’s races.

Gay acknowledged that “message testing” polls are used by every candidate to test messages that will be used on the campaign trail. The difference, he said, is that “message testing” polls are based on truth, such as records, quotes, and statistics.

“In this case, there’s just absolutely no connection between the [poll] question which brings up issues of racism and sexism, which are very charged issues, and our candidates,” said Gay.

Woon, however, said, “If they are upset about the questions that we’re asking and they feel like they have a legitimate cause to file a complaint, they should go ahead and do so. But they haven’t done so.”

Gay said The Leadership Fund has not filed any complaints because they would prefer the issue not go to court.

“Voters would rather spend time reading about and discussing issues like the economy and jobs than dirty campaign tactics,” said Gay.

He finished by adding, “If it does take litigation to protect the good name of our candidates, than I think that is an option we won’t be afraid to use.”

Woon stated that she didn’t see dealing with complaints as a good use of anyone’s time.

“We want to move on, to run these elections fairly, and to start talking about issues.”

BY SARAH ROSS

PORTLAND- A recent attack by the Chris Dudley campaign against rival candidate John Kitzhaber’s newest campaign ad brings into question how each candidate hopes to spur job growth in Oregon and their positions on reducing the capital gains tax.

The ad pictured John Kitzhaber saying that his number-one job as governor will be to create jobs.

“John Kitzhaber had his chance to sign legislation to help businesses create jobs and show Oregon is open for business, but instead he vetoed it,” said Dudley’s Communications Director, LeRoy Coleman.

This legislation to reduce Oregon’s capital gains tax passed the state legislature in 2001 before being vetoed by then Governor Kitzhaber.

In his veto letter to the legislature, Kitzhaber said, “This tax cut would primarily benefit Oregon’s higher income households without a demonstrated benefit to Oregon’s economy. At the same time it would further constrain a future legislature’s ability to address the demand for public services.”

He added that the legislation was coming at a time when the “existing tax system may soon be tested by a recession.”

Dudley’s campaign, however, has argued that this legislation would have encouraged businesses to come to Oregon and that reducing the state’s capital gains tax is part of Dudley’s Jobs First Plan.

“Oregon’s failing economy of today is a direct result of John Kitzhaber’s failure to prepare Oregon for our economic future when he had the chance – and the responsibility,” said Coleman.

In an e-mail to the Oregon Politico, Jillian Schoene, spokeswoman for the Kitzhaber campaign, said that Kitzhaber “is open to adjustments in capital gains taxes if tied to job creation.”

“John Kitzhaber is the only candidate with experience creating jobs and working with the private sector to grow Oregon’s economy,” said Schoene. “During his time as Governor, compensation of employees rose by 49%, Oregon GDP rose by 48% and 128,000 new jobs were created.”

The Dudley campaign was quick to point out the problems during Kitzhaber’s time as governor, saying “unemployment rose 65% and was above the national average for 80 consecutive months, Oregon ranked 40^th in job growth, and per capita incomes have been falling since 1997.”

“John Kitzhaber had his chance to lead and he failed,” said Coleman.

BY THE OREGON POLITICO

PORTLAND- Democrat veteran John Kitzhaber released his latest campaign ad featuring himself saying this year’s gubernatorial race “isn’t about being a Democrat, or being a Republican, or being an Independent. It’s about being an Oregonian.”

He goes on to say that his main job as governor is to create jobs.

“If we can’t put Oregon back to work we can’t make investment in our kids for the future,” says Kitzhaber.

He finishes by saying that he’s not just asking for a vote but also asking for help.

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysY3qhxIMwc

BY SARAH ROSS

PORTLAND- A long, hard primary season, which for some of the candidates began over a year ago, came to an end last night with wins for John Kitzhaber and Chris Dudley.

The election results were released soon after the polls closed at 8 pm Tuesday showing Kitzhaber winning the Democratic nomination with 65% of the vote and Dudley winning the Republican nomination with 39% of the vote.

Emotions were running high at the election night parties for the losing candidates Bill Bradbury and Allen Alley, who conceded their races early in the evening.

Alley urged his supporters to unite with the party nomination to bring about change.

“That’s what Oregon needs more than anything else is to look forward and step boldly where we deserve to be at the top of all the lists we want to be on and not at the top of the lists we don’t want to be on,” he said after conceding the Republican race to Dudley.

Meanwhile, excitement was certainly alive at the election parties for Dudley and Kitzhaber.

A large group of Kitzhaber supporters gathered at Southeast Portland’s Melody Ballroom to congratulate the former Democratic governor on his victory. Kitzhaber took time to thank his supporters and to lay out his agenda for green jobs and economic diversity.

“We’re going to give Oregon a campaign about honestly confronting the problems we face and the hard choices we must make in order to solve them. That is the kind of campaign that Oregonians deserve and that’s the kind of campaign Oregonians want,” stated Kitzhaber. “That is how we are going to build a new Oregon majority, and that is why we are going to win in November.”

A similar scene was found for Dudley at the Rose Garden’s Rose Room where the former Trail Blazer had his election night party. Dudley stressed the need for change and unity in Oregon while throwing some attacks at Kitzhaber’s record and his calling Oregon “ungovernable” after leaving office 8 years ago.

“As your Governor, I will never throw in the towel. I will never give up on Oregon because I know you won’t either,” said Dudley. “Together, Oregon won’t be ungovernable. We’ll be unstoppable.”

Dudley and Kitzhaber are wasting no time after their wins, each having events scheduled for Wednesday morning.

BY SARAH ROSS

PORTLAND- The latest poll conducted by the SurveyUSA polling firm shows that if the gubernatorial election were held today, John Kitzhaber and Chris Dudley would have large wins in their respective primary races.

The poll, which was released on Monday, shows Chris Dudley winning the Republican primary with 42% of the vote and Allen Alley coming in second at 24%. Similarly, John Kitzhaber is shown to win the Democratic primary with 59%, while Bill Bradbury gains 25% of support from respondents. The other candidates in each race each gained less than 10% support. The number of undecided voters in each race came in at 12% in the Democrat primary and 14% in the GOP primary.

While Dudley’s and Kitzhaber’s campaigns were both encouraged by the numbers in this poll, Bradbury’s and Alley’s campaigns were skeptical of the results.

“Any poll that has Bradbury leading among conservative Democrats is a poll to be highly skeptical of,” says Jeremy Wright, spokesman for the Bradbury campaign. “The Bradbury campaign has talked with over 50,000 likely Democratic voters with live calls and the race is far closer than this poll indicates and the number of undecided voters is a lot higher.”

The spokesmen for both Alley and Bradbury questioned the methodology of the poll, considering the polling is done by an automated polling system.

“The Republican sample in this poll is random, not scientific,” added Tim Maloney, Campaign Manager for Alley. “SurveyUSA’s methodology of randomly dialing households with an automated system fails to control for trends in Republican primaries.”

This skepticism is not stopping Kitzhaber’s and Dudley‘s campaigns from feeling confident. Derek Humphrey, campaign manager for John Kitzhaber, said he was encouraged by the numbers but that his campaign would take nothing for granted in the coming days.

Dudley’s campaign shared a similar sentiment. “The poll is a reflection that Chris’s message is resonating with Oregonians,” said LeRoy Coleman, Communications Director for the campaign. He added a note of caution, saying, “We still have a ways to go before the primary and he will continue to fight for each and every vote.”

SurveyUSA conducted the poll on behalf of KATU-TV. To reflect Oregon’s population, just over 2,000 adults were interviewed, with 1,850 of those respondents registered to vote. Each of the primary polls for the Governor’s race had under a 5% margin of error. The Democratic primary poll had a 3.9% margin of error, while the Republican primary had a 4.7% margin of error.

While election ballots already have been mailed to voters, the date for ballots to be returned for the 2010 Primary is May 18.

Maloney added that surveys can only say so much about an election: “This race is closer than this poll would have you believe. Elections are decided by the people who vote, not answer surveys.”