Chris Dudley Tells Mayor Daley “I’m Ready To Defend Our Jobs, Our Workers, And Our Businesses”
LAKE OSWEGO — Today, Chris Dudley sent the following letter to the Honorable Richard Daley, Mayor of Chicago, in response to his remarks stating that he will “be out in Oregon enticing corporations to relocate to Chicago” (Frank Spielman, “Daley Wants to raid Pacific Northwest talent, Chicago Sun Times, 01/28/09): following the passing of Measures 66 and 67:
Dear Mayor Daley,
I have followed with interest your recent statement about coming to Oregon to steal our jobs and businesses. If you pursue this idea, rest assured you will find me ready to defend our jobs, our workers and our businesses. Having spent 16 years in the NBA, l know how to block shots and play defense and I am looking forward to a little one-on-one with you to protect and defend Oregon’s future. If the current crowd in Salem won’t stand up for Oregon — I will.
More important, if elected Governor, I will change the business-as-usual policies and failed leadership in our State Capitol that created this mess and made you think you could succeed at stealing our jobs, workers and businesses in plain sight.
Yes, Oregon voters recently made a decision to raise taxes on businesses and individuals. I opposed the tax increases. In the long-term I believe these tax increases leave our economy worse off and our budget and funding for schools no better off. To those who supported or opposed the tax measures, simply running in place — maintaining the status quo — should be no cause for celebration by anyone in Oregon. We can do better. We must do better. And if I am elected Governor, we will do better.
Worse than a budget deficit, we have a leadership deficit, imagination deficit and change deficit in Salem. Our politics and government have grown stale at the hands of insiders and career politicians who put partisanship and rigid ideology ahead of common sense and cooperation.
If elected, I will be the people’s Governor — not the government’s Governor. I will be the jobs Governor, the change Governor. I will veto the runaway spending and bridge the partisan divide that gave birth to ballot measures 66 and 67 in the first place. I will change state policies to create more tax-payers — not just more taxes. I will change government’s attitude toward businesses away from “can you spare a dime?” to “how can we help?”. And I will make Oregon’s system of universities and colleges more than just a great place to learn, I will make them the idea and job factories of tomorrow. Nike calls Oregon home not because some government official recruited them here, but because Oregonians with big ideas and bigger dreams went to school here. The Nike story is just the most well known, but it represents thousands of other Oregon businesses large and small.
This November, Oregon’s future is on the ballot. I’m running because we need to move Oregon forward, not backward to the business-as-usual policies and people that created the mess we’re in today. So, Mayor Daley, how about it”¦a little one-on-one?
Sincerely,
Chris Dudley
Governor candidate Chris Dudley Office, [1]
Click here for a PDF of the letter [2].
Read the original Chicago Sun Times article here [3].