Questions for Ron Saxton?
Apparently, one of Ron Saxton's campaign strategies is to do appearances at various companies around Oregon.
Here at BlueOregon HQ, we've been getting emails from folks who work at those companies - asking for suggestions about suggestions for intelligent and incisive questions that will put Ronald in a tough spot, laying bare the lack of vision, logic, and leadership in his ever-shifting public positions.
Here's a recent example:
Assuming the event goes on as planned, I'm going to attend and ask polite but uncomfortable questions. I could probably use some advice on the wording, though. I expect my questions are more likely to be tolerated if they focus on the company's well-being.Regressive tax policies are bad for the economy, and a slumping economy is bad for the company, but how do I phrase that in the form of a question? How do I challenge his nebulous position on health care in such a way that it highlights the economic impact on the company? Is there a particularly damning or indicative quote from Saxton on his intent to slash education funding?
All I get from his "white papers" are a bunch of mealy-mouthed generalities.
So, BlueOregon readers, if you had a chance to ask Ronald a question - and yet do it politely, so as to not get fired - what would you ask?
Discuss.
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Oct. 22, 2006
Posted in open discussion. |
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12:21 p.m.
Oct 22, '06
"Do you lie to echo the dangerous, Orwellian, bald-faced mendacity of the Bush regime, or is it more just a run of the mill conservative-isolation-from-reality style of lying where you pretend you don't even know you are doing it?"
12:29 p.m.
Oct 22, '06
Here's a question that begging to be asked...
Why is I can be fired from my company for asking a candidate for governor an intelligent but tough question?
Just another reason for unions to exist. To have a right to ask tough questions without being subjected to the fear and loathing now exhibited in too many workplacea in Oregon, the U.S. and the world by employers who think that their employees are simply there to work and not to question the status quo...
Yeah, some unions probably overstep the line at times, but never and not nearly to the extent that the present corporate ownership of America does in forcing employees to "toe the line, or be fired" for asking political questions, or organizing a union, to the majority of candidates who are really there for a photo op and nothing else.
Oct 22, '06
Here's a question: How appropriate or prudent is it to wear you politics on your sleeve in the workplace? Same goes for religion, lifestyle choice, etc. Unless ones personal views directly relate to the task they're being paid to perform, keep it out in the parking lot.
Besides, if a political candidate visits your place of employment, it's little more than a choreographed photo op. It's unlikely you would have an opportunity to ask a particularly biting question. Should you manage to slip one past the goalie, your employer may view your actions as disruptive or embarrasing. Anywho, I see little upside to these staged events, with the possible exception of a brief reprieve from the daily grind.
Oct 22, '06
Why is I can be fired from my company for asking a candidate for governor an intelligent but tough question?
Because it is your employer's capital that is at risk in the business enterprise.
Oct 22, '06
I'd attack his "strength" -- cutting taxes -- with something like:
25 years of cutting taxes in Oregon starting with Reagan leaves Oregon with a weak economy and Oregonians wanting changes that invest in the future. Yet you support even further slashing taxes through Measure 41 and cutting inheritance taxes and capital gains. Companies hardly pay any of our state taxes yet it hasn't made a thriving economy in Oregon. Your tax cuts will make the next downturn in Oregon even worse and even longer lasting.
Ted has put more than $2.5B into transportation improvements. What major investments of that scale would you make and exactly how would you pay for it?
5:57 p.m.
Oct 22, '06
Because it is your employer's capital that is
If capital were the only thing that matters in the business world--this point might make sense.
Employees take a risk by putting their livelihood in the hands of an employer. It always baffles me how conservatives seem to believe that monetary risk by an employer is all that counts--as if employees and their families are meaningless chits in the game of business.
5:58 p.m.
Oct 22, '06
Ask him where he stands on the Iraq War so we can here him say he's not running for President again! Snark
5:59 p.m.
Oct 22, '06
Incidentally, I'd ask Saxton to list 5 state programs he plans to cut and exactly how much he'll be cutting from them. He'll have no choice but to do that if he gets all of the tax cuts he's saying he wants.
Oct 22, '06
What are you going to do after the election?
Oct 22, '06
Besides that the "employers capital is at risk", there is the issue of "freedom of speech". "You are fired".
Oct 22, '06
Ron, you've received millions of dollars from corporate polluters, pharma, insurance companies and big timber. Name a position you've taken that's at odds with your corporate backers.
Oct 22, '06
Quoth Mark:
Well, a workplace hosting a single candidate could cut either way. Imagine a union shop in Chicago strong-arming employees to vote for "their" candidate -- pretty much the same situation.
Quoth Joe12Pack:
Sounds like they're forcing their employees' hands, though. Imagine a bunch of employees who sport nary a lapel pin or bumper sticker in their cubicle. Are they now to keep silent when their company tries to slip one past 'em?
...which might no longer be possible. The company has brought it into the building, right?
And how can an employee unmistakably tell management that choreographed photo ops have no place in a company? By asking polite but firm questions that expose the wrongheadedness of the whole deal, perhaps?
Quoth Sasha:
Unless the employer is Wal-Mart, their capital is at greater risk from Saxton than it is from Kulongoski.
Oct 22, '06
Here's one -
Mr. Saxton - your farm hand temporary shelter is in a building that was on the tax roles as a general purpose farm building not fit for human habitation. Your partner has said that this building has shower and other plumbing as well as kitchen facilities. Why have you avoided paying property taxes for these improvements all these years?
11:28 p.m.
Oct 22, '06
...and when did you get the permit to make the improvements required to make it habitable?
Oct 23, '06
if you're elected, will you be following in Ted K's footsteps and attending the funerals of all of the Oregon National Guardsmen and women who come home in boxes from Iraq and Afganistan?
Oct 31, '06