Susan Castillo's TV spot
Kari Chisholm
Susan Castillo has rolled out a TV spot for her campaign for state superintendent for public instruction. In the ad, she talks values. Check it out.
Remember: this is a campaign that will be over in May -- and it's a clear choice between the left and the right. As I wrote last month, her opponent - Rep. Ron Maurer - is your basic right-wing ideologue:
He thinks abortion should be outlawed, even for the victims of rape and incest. He wants to allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense legally-prescribed contraceptives. In 2007, when the Oregon House voted to extend employment protections to gays and lesbians, Maurer voted against. And he stood with the insurance companies against health care for 80,000 Oregon children.
And he told Project Vote Smart that his preference would be to "slightly increase" or "maintain status" of every category of state spending - while saying he would "slightly decrease" or "maintain status" of every category of state revenues. For a guy who says he's an educator, he's not very good at math. You can't say spending should go up and revenues should go down and expect to balance the budget.
To me, the choice is crystal clear.
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5:06 p.m.
Apr 28, '10
Kari, it's a non-partisan race, and the positions you identify have little or nothing to do with the job. I thought that Willamette Week's endorsement of Maurer was pretty interesting, both in terms of what they said about him, and his opponent.
2:54 a.m.
Apr 29, '10
Oh, I don't know, JR.
Voting against health care for children would seem to - at minimum - suggest his values as they relate to children.
And being opposed to abortion - even for victims of rape and incest - might tell us something about how he'd handle questions related school nurse and health clinic policies.
And that nonsense of supporting increases in spending and cuts in revenues - well, that's just folly.
7:54 a.m.
Apr 29, '10
I'm just not convinced that the Supt job is a policy creation job. My sense is that the Supt needs to be able to confront and work with a variety of interest groups, but be beholden to none.
On policies, honestly, the decisions about things like school nurses and health clinics are district level, not Supt level.
In the end, my point is that regardless of how conservative Maurer might be if he was running for a legislative position, it's appropriate to evaluate the candidates based upon the job they're doing or proposing to do, in the position they're running for.
No thoughts about WWeeks' endorsement?
12:45 p.m.
Apr 29, '10
I'm interested in Kari's thoughts on the Willamette Week endorsement of Maurer as well.