Friday, May 11, 2007

The back story of how Kulongoski got re-elected

I heard this story from someone who is in position to know....

During the governor race, shortly after the primary, when Ron Saxton was looking very strong, the public employee unions had a little pow-wow with the Governor.

Remember, they backed Jim Hill in the primary, so peturbed they were about Kulongoski leaving the plantation on the PERS reforms and the pay freeze for state workers.

They said to the governor: We want to support you, but we don't trust you. We have a $3 million check here for you, but this is the way it's gunna be - we run the show. When you win, we put our guys in place and you do nothing without their approval. [This, of course, is a paraphrase.]

And that is how we got Chip Terhune and Tim Nesbitt as the top dogs in the new administration. They call all the shots, because that is the deal the Governor accepted.

So now, the unions directly run the executive branch of Oregon state government, and the Democrats run both houses of the legislature.

God have mercy on us.

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