Allen Alley's Troubling Start
Steve Novick
Allen Alley, apparently, is formally launching his campaign for Governor in a couple of weeks, at the offices of EcoMotion. His invitation contains some rhetoric that I find rather confusing and disturbing:
EcoMotion sells "Earth Friendly Vehicles" but even a great green establishment like EcoMotion cannot survive in this economy. EcoMotion is the right business in the right place at the right time, but even they are failing. Allen is running for Governor to help good companies like EcoMotion all over Oregon, thrive in our new ultra-competitive world. He believes government needs to create a great environment for growth, not take money from successful businesses and individuals and redistribute it to failing ones. EcoMotion is just one example of a very good business idea that struggled and ultimately did not survive in this economic environment.
My question: What does Mr. Alley mean when he talks about “tak[ing] money from successful businesses and individuals and redistribut[ing] it to failing ones”? Does he mean that he opposes the Federal bank bailouts and the AIG bonuses? If so, what does that have to do with being Governor? Or is he playing to the far right, implying that most of your Oregon tax dollars are redistributed to the ‘undeserving poor’?
Mr. Alley should be aware that it is thoroughly misleading to imply that a significant portion of Oregon tax dollars are ‘redistributed’ to ‘failing businesses and individuals.’ The largest portion of Oregon tax dollars is spent on public schools. Does Mr. Alley regard Oregon’s students and teachers as ‘failing’? Another large portion is spent on health care for poor children and families and long-term care for seniors and people with disabilities. Does Mr. Alley consider poor children and families without health insurance, and seniors and people with disabilities who cannot afford long-term care, to be ‘failures’? The third largest portion of Oregon tax dollars is spent on prisons, state police and the courts. I suppose it’s possible that Mr. Alley might consider people in prison to be ‘failures,’ but spending money to keep them locked up doesn’t really count as ‘redistributing’ it to them, I don’t think.
Ironically, EcoMotion’s own web site promotes the value of Oregon tax credits for individuals and businesses that could benefit buyers of its “Earth Friendly Vehicles,” and Alley’s own kickoff invite describes EcoMotion as 'failing.” If Alley's rhetoric means anything at all, you’d think it would have to be an indictment of tax credits that benefit 'failing' business.' (The tax credits go to the purchasers, not EcoMotion itself, but EcoMotion definitely benefits from their existence.)
I know good people who like Mr. Alley and consider him a “different kind of Republican.” But it seems that his gubernatorial campaign is going to rely on the same old tired, vague, divisive, misleading Republican rhetoric. Sigh.
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11:13 a.m.
Apr 9, '09
Um, is Allen Alley running for Secretary of Transportation or for Congress?
EcoMotion's problem is that most of the vehicles they sell are three-wheeled electric vehicles -- why three-wheeled? So they can qualify as mopeds or golf carts, rather than cars. Why does that matter? So they don't have to be built to the same safety standards - and thus heavy frames, rollover protections, airbags, etc.
These are all federal highway standards - not regulations at the state level.
I think EcoMotion was a great business concept. I wanted to be a customer. I went there to try and buy an electric car (as promised in their marketing) -- but they didn't have anything I'd feel comfortable riding in, much less driving around an infant in.
Someday soon, someone will start selling a 100% electric car that meets all the safety standards. And I'll buy it.
But EcoMotion's problem was that it was a retailer that didn't have a product worth selling. Not that the business environment in Oregon was somehow oppressive.
11:15 a.m.
Apr 9, '09
I should probably clarify a little. Some of their electric vehicles did indeed have four wheels -- but those were basically glorified golf carts; still no airbags, rollover bars, or reinforced frames, etc.
Apr 9, '09
Given everyone's use of the past tense, are we to assume that EcoMotion is out of business?
Apr 9, '09
They're probably not affected much by taxes anyway, being as how profit is a prerequisite to owing federal taxes and Oregon taxes corporations very little and, again, only on profit.
11:34 a.m.
Apr 9, '09
Next year Nissan and Mitsubishi will begin selling their four-wheel EV cars in Oregon. Think Norway cars is seriously considering reviving the Freightliner plant and making their cars here. This is really, really counterproductive talk from a prospective governor--when the current governor (for all the faults we've documented) is busting ass to make Oregon into green Detroit, and starting to show some real success.
11:39 a.m.
Apr 9, '09
Is Allen Alley complaining about the lack of an Oregon gas or carbon tax. That is what would create the economic environment for EcoMotion to thrive. I'd like to look forward to reading the specifics of his proposal for a substantial, phased in, revenue neutral gas tax, but I doubt he'll propose anything close.
Apr 9, '09
This is political hucksterism at its worst.
Apr 9, '09
I suspect that Alley wants to have it both ways. He can appeal to the middle-of-the-road folks by appearing at a green/"progressive" business (as long as those people don't listen to what he's saying), and he can still feed red meat to the base by spewing incoherent nonsense about redistribution of wealth. I wouldn't bother looking any further for meaning in his statement.
Apr 9, '09
I think i will install this kit in my 1965 bug.
I converted my 1967 (10.80) Drag Bug to ethanol and my 1997 Ford F250 from a 460 gas guzzler to a chipped 2003 Cummins 5.9 turbo diesel (24 miles per gallon)
Here is a great place to buy electric car kits.
http://www.e-volks.com/about.html
The best batteries to use are the expensive Gell cell style (1000 CCA) They are much better than conventional lead acid batteries.
The trick is installing a 30 horse gas generator to power the car when the batteries drain out. The original VW was designed to go 100 kilometers an our on 28 horses.
http://www.e-volks.com/about.html
This will be in my 1965 Vw Bug campaign car
1:06 p.m.
Apr 9, '09
Mr. Alley's campaign is launching from a failed "green" business? Strange venue choice indeed considering Mr. Alley's recent failed business. The invitation seems to be directed to the Business/Chamber groups. I agree with you Steve, Mr. Alley would benefit from an experienced wordsmith who won't mangle his messaging.
Apr 9, '09
I think this kit is pretty good for trips to Starbucks, Safeway, or work and back
http://www.e-volks.com/kit3.html
Apr 9, '09
lets vote this guy for governor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcRs-4QRaVc
Hi Carla
Apr 9, '09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P08vTT4F0C4&feature=related
Apr 9, '09
Interesting comments coming from Mr. Alley, considering that he gladly took the state's bailout cash when he was leading OMSI straight into an economic morass.
1:46 p.m.
Apr 9, '09
is it off-topic to suggest that Steve launch his own campaign afore long? i know there are many of us who would gladly support him. just saying.
1:54 p.m.
Apr 9, '09
is it off-topic to suggest that Steve launch his own campaign afore long? i know there are many of us who would gladly support him. just saying.
Better Steve than Defazio...
Run Steve, Run!
1:58 p.m.
Apr 9, '09
Sorry t.a.,
The formatting didn't work. I didn't mean to make it look like I stole your words...
2:01 p.m.
Apr 9, '09
annnnnd...now it's italic...good times.
2:18 p.m.
Apr 9, '09
That is a somewhat incoherent campaign speech. Maybe Alley should run for Portland mayor instead?
I'll buy an electric car as soon as I see one that looks like its passengers would be alive if they were t-boned by either of the vehicles that have totaled my last two cars when drivers ran red lights or stop signs. so far, the electric cars I've seen have the power of a lawn mower and the crash survivability of a motorcycle. No amount of state support is going to change that.
4:44 p.m.
Apr 9, '09
On the cars / electric cars issue, international affairs blogger David J. Rothkopf (here) notes that “for the third month in a row, more cars were sold in China than in the United States.” Part of that problem has been slightly on display in the comments to this post. Rothkopf writes:
“Our consumers don't look like the consumers in the rest of the world. That's been a challenge to American car makers for some time (the appetite of international consumers for smaller cars led to the rise of the Japanese, European, and later Korean auto industries at the expense of American manufacturers). But with the rise of China and India and other emerging car markets and the more willing embrace of greener standards in everything by Europeans, our consumers are sending a market signal to car makers in the United States that is just completely out of whack with much of the rest of the planet.
“Some of that is, of course, due to the success car manufacturers, oil companies and others have had in keeping U.S. mileage standards artificially low and in dragging their feet on efficiency. Some of it may be due to the same auto manufacturers' ability to persuade American men that cars are somehow direct extensions of their penises.”
Someone, please, ask Allen Alley about this.
7:05 p.m.
Apr 9, '09
Dave Porter, you do realize that China has a few more people than the US? raw numbers don't mean anything, not with different baselines.
that said, the auto-oil cabal in this country is criminal. if we weren't completely insane regarding transportation, we'd have a lot more money in our pockets, less crap in the sky and more time at work or home instead of in traffic jams. we sit in our gas-guzzlers becoming a 3rd world country completely out of touch with the 21st century.
Apr 9, '09
Translation: he has a vested interest and wants a) to proactively explain why a candidate for Gov would be associated with a failing business, and b) later pass a bail-out that pays himself.
Does it bother the editors that progressives would literally not know this man's name if you weren't constantly discussing him?
Apr 9, '09
Idaho, 46% of the voters in this state have at least once marked "Allen Alley" on their ballot. Nearly a quarter of a million people have voted for him twice. He garnered the endorsements of the Willamette Week and the Portland Mercury. He has shown a willingness to dip into his personal fortune to purchase air time to increase his name recognition.
Name recognition will not be his liability.
His liability will be his noncommittal stances, which are being discussed here.
8:16 p.m.
Apr 9, '09
t.a. barnhart: yes, of course, but as the linked post says: "Admittedly, there are many more Chinese. But this is a sign of a permanent change in the structure of the global auto industry that even an army of car czars will not be able to reverse."
9:13 p.m.
Apr 9, '09
It's long been unclear to me whether Allen Alley has any truly fixed principles or beliefs beyond the fact that he would like to hold elective office.
Apr 9, '09
Mr. Alley's problem will not be name recognition or his incoherent message(s). His problem will be the wing nuts that support Atkinson or Walden instead.
The real question is who are we running?
Apr 9, '09
Democrats are wise not to express interest in running for Gov. until the end of the legislative session.
Alley couldn't come up with any reason he'd be a good State Treasurer other than he's a businessman, not an elected official. Had he done any research, he could have known when the last time was that a state treasurer was elected without holding another elective office first.
There have been actual flashes of intelligence from Atkinson and Walden once in awhile (Walden in the tainted peanut butter hearings, for instance).
What will be interesting is if a problem solver challenges ideologues in their primary.
10:38 a.m.
Apr 10, '09
Ta, I think the point is just because they're made here doesn't mean they have to be sold here, to make a viable US company out of it. Maybe US drivers won't snap them up--although the hybrid and SmartCar market seems to counter that--but plenty of Chinese and Indians will.
Apr 10, '09
What I want to know is this: would Gov. Alley stay in the same Undisclosed Location that Gov. Kulongoski has been using?
Apr 10, '09
Zap cars are made in China! Alley declaring his run at a dealership that sells Chinese cars while tax payers are bailing out Detroit sends a lousy message to Americans!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0XAEDK9BYU
Apr 11, '09
Steve Novick’s Troubling Part
About all Steve Novick has accomplished with this post is to serve notice on Allen Alley that every single word of his campaign’s every single utterance will be exactingly parsed by a biting media analyst, and that, as “Paulie” noted above, “Mr. Alley would benefit from an experienced wordsmith who won’t mangle his messaging.” I suspect Allen Alley sends roses. Sigh.
Novick has focused on one poorly crafted phrase (“not take money from successful businesses and individuals and redistribute it to failing ones”) in one sentence out of five sentences, in five sentences lifted from an invitation to a campaign kickoff. [Note, per Jeff Mapes, Alley’s invitation also says “suits to sweats are OK” and asks attendees to provide a can of food for the Oregon Food Bank.] Basically, if you just delete this phrase from Alley’s announcement, Novick doesn’t have a column.
But since no experienced wordsmith helped Alley out, the message got mangled. The inclusion of “and individuals” is particularly confusing in a statement about promoting good green business in Oregon. If “and individuals” is dropped (and Alley avoids the loaded term “redistribute”), then I think Alley’s message, when ironed out as it likely will be down the road, is that state government should promote good green businesses in Oregon, and not devote resources to failing businesses.
That’s a debate worth having, and all candidates and parties will need to define their terms. We’re already having this debate, given Willamette Week’s cover story on Cascade Grain this week (and the millions in state government resources devoted to a now closed ethanol plant), the Tribune’s coverage on state tax breaks for SolarWorld benefiting Wal-Mart, and Chuck Sheketoff’s posts here at blueoregon on tax credits. Novick’s role in that debate is, unfortunately, a bit fuzzy, given he told Jeff Mapes recently that “Government doesn’t create new business.”
But government’s role in job growth and economic development isn’t what Novick focuses on here. Alley’s invitation includes “and individuals” and that’s all the opening Novick needs to construct a straw man out of Allen Alley: the insensitive Republican jerk who would short the poor and the diseased. It’s a bit of political rhetoric that, in Novick’s own terms, is misleading.
By most accounts, Alley is a likeable individual. He worked for Governor Kulongoski. He probably has some idea how Oregon tax dollars are spent, and he probably cares about old folks and kids.
Posing a rhetorical question to a straw man, “Does Mr. Alley consider poor children and families without health insurance, and seniors and people with disabilities who cannot afford long-term care, to be ‘failures’?” tells me more about Steve Novick than it does about Allen Alley.
Mind, I was born here, I’m a lifelong Democrat, and I won’t be voting for Allen Alley.
However, unless either Gordon Smith or Greg Walden enters the race for governor, Allen Alley remains the most credible candidate the Republicans have, and I think Democrats would be wise to assess his candidacy and his message more thoroughly than Novick offers here.
As noted above, Alley got 46% of the vote last November in the treasurer’s race. He did better in Multnomah County than Republicans usually do. He won endorsements from papers like Willamette Week and the Mercury. And he has the financial resources to buy name recognition and run a credible campaign.
He’s positioning himself as the candidate who can best promote business and job growth in an election cycle where we may still be in a harsh recession and jobs matter. He’s kicking off his campaign in NE Portland – heavily Democratic – at a place that sells environmentally friendly vehicles. And he’s stepping carefully on issues like abortion to not alienate moderate and swing voters.
Granted, Alley may not survive the primary and the conservatives of his own party, but if he does, who should Democrats run against him? The race in 2010 is a must win. After finally taking the House in 2006, and all the hard work done by so many to end sixteen years in the minority, nothing would stunt Oregon’s future more than losing the governor’s race in 2010.
I don’t assume that a large advantage in party registration and the prevailing trend from 2006 and 2008 guarantee a win in 2010. The winds change. After Clinton won in 1992, did any of us expect to get creamed in 1994, and see Newt Gingrich become Speaker of the House? It’s not a time for complacency.
In that light, and given some calls here for Novick to run for governor, and Novick’s repeated posts here at blueoregon that too often seem to be transparent rehashes of “If I Ran” composed at least in part for self-promotion, I think we need to consider and weigh the risk of making Steve Novick our gubernatorial nominee to face a candidate like Allen Alley.
Alley has some appeal in Democratic strongholds. Novick has poor appeal outside liberal circles in Portland. Alley will say he won’t raise taxes. Novick has already made it clear he will. Alley sees a government role in creating business. Novick has spoken otherwise. Alley has never held elective office. Novick has never held elective office, which tosses the “experience” argument overboard the same way McCain tossed it when he picked Sara Palin. Novick was the candidate Gordon Smith wanted to run against.
I suspect many Republicans would prefer to see Democrats select an inexperienced pro-tax liberal from Portland as our nominee. I think it best Democrats clarify what Steve Novick’s part will be in this scenario, candidate or media consultant, sooner rather than later.
Apr 13, '09
As I keep saying, if he'll just change his name to ALLEY ALLEY, he will win by dint of locking up the "Keep Portland Weird" vote.
Apr 13, '09
2010 or Bust sez: I suspect many Republicans would prefer to see Democrats select an inexperienced pro-tax liberal from Portland as our nominee.
"our nominee"?????
Hey, nice try, 2010, but this phrase betrays you:
"pro-tax liberal from Portland"
Next time you want to masquerade, my friend, you need to get rid of the Lars Larson verbiage.
Oh, and by the way, taxes are your membership dues to be a part of society. They pay for things that you might actually use, like roads, water-delivery systems, sewers, libraries--uh, no, scratch that last one in your case....