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--> --> Running for governor of an altered state The Oregonian Feb. 4 The candidates for governor still sound like they're running in a parallel universe. The Oregon we live in and love faces an $830 million budget crisis and an unsustainable tax system. Wherever these six are cheerfully running for governor, apparently there's no serious budget shortfall, no schools on the chopping block, no looming budget hole. That's not Oregon. That's some altered state. We've repeatedly urged the main candidates for governor to explain in specific terms to voters how they would handle the budget crisis in Oregon. Gov. John Kitzhaber has said they should weigh in, and so has tax activist Don McIntire - perhaps the first and only point of agreement in the long history between those two. And yet, for the most part the candidates are still giving voters only superficial views on the state's budget crisis. A few of them - notably Jack Roberts and Kevin Mannix - have talked generally about tax and budget issues. (Roberts eagerly took one of the first things Mannix said, that he'd be open to increases in cigarette and alcohol taxes, and beat him over the head with it). Jim Hill has endorsed Kitzhaber's proposed tax increases. However, none of the candidates - not Roberts or Mannix or Hill, not Ron Saxton, not Bev Stein, not Ted Kulongoski - has offered a real plan to balance Oregon's budget. Instead, they've offered lame excuses. They've said developing a budget plan would amount to "second-guessing" Kitzhaber and legislators. They've smiled and shaken their heads and said it would be a "lose-lose" proposition to explain their budget views. Well, maybe. But as it stands, the real losers in all this are the voters, who must pick a governor this year from six candidates who uniformly lack the courage to explain how they would solve the most vital issue in Oregon. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing