November 25, 2009

Sizemore enters governor’s race
Anti-tax activist seeks comeback

By Brad Cain
The Associated Press

     SALEM — Here are the Republicans running so far for governor: an anti-tax activist with legal troubles, a businessman who walked across the state to draw attention to his candidacy, and a former state legislator who lost his seat in the 2008 election.
     The best known among them is anti-tax activist Bill Sizemore, who filed late Monday to run again for the Republican nomination for Oregon governor in 2010.
It’s a surprise political comeback attempt by Sizemore, who was trounced when he ran for governor in 1998.
     In a statement on the NW Republican blog site, Sizemore said half-jokingly he might have to run his campaign “from inside a jail cell” because of wrongdoing by his former political action committee and subsequent contempt of court violations.
     He didn’t return a phone call Tuesday seeking further comment.
     The GOP is still waiting to hear from a man who is seen by many in the party as the Republicans’ best hope for winning in 2010. Chris Dudley, the former Portland Trail Blazers center, has gained some attention with his charitable works since leaving the NBA.
     Dudley has said he may run but hasn’t made it
official.
     Even if Dudley does run, the GOP faces an uphill climb trying to reclaim the top office in a state where Democrats hold a lopsided voter registration advantage.
     “Chris Dudley is not that well known; he’s no Clyde Drexler,” political analyst Jim Moore said, referring to another former Trail Blazers star. “Dudley is also going to have to show that he has the chops to deal with public policy issues.”
     Two other GOP contenders — businessman Allen Alley, who walked across the state, and former Rep. John Lim of Gresham — haven’t really clicked with voters, said Moore, who teaches political science at Pacific University in Forest Grove.
     Republicans’ chances of reclaiming the governor’s office for the first time since the 1980s didn’t seem to improve much with the surprise move by Sizemore to run again.
     Sizemore has been the author of dozens of ballot measures over the years seeking to curb the power of public employee unions and limit government and taxes.
     In 2002, a Multnomah County jury found that Sizemore’s former political action committee had engaged in a pattern of racketeering by using forged signatures to qualify measures.
     He has since been found in contempt of court three times for violating restrictions placed on his political activities.
     Two teachers unions plan to ask a judge on Dec. 21 to jail Sizemore until he fully complies with earlier court orders.
     Oregon Republican Chairman Bob Tiernan said Sizemore, with his “difficult past,” isn’t well-suited to seek the GOP nomination.
     “It would be very hard for him to run and win,” Tiernan said. “He lacks credibility to run right now.”
     Running for the Democratic nomination are former Gov. John Kitzhaber and former Secretary of State Bill Bradbury — two of the state’s best-known political figures.
     It was Kitzhaber who defeated Sizemore in 1998, 63 percent to 30 percent, the largest margin of victory for a governor in 48 years.