WW: Kulongoski Throws Bombs in Final City Club Address

WILLAMETTE WEEK/News and Culture, 6/25/2010 by Nigel Jaquiss - In a somber address to Portland City Club, Gov. Ted Kulongoski today laid out a bleak vision of Oregon’s present and grabbed hold of Oregon’s political third rail with both hands. ∴ The two-term Democratic governor is completing his final year in office and could be forgiven if he took the summer off. Instead, the former labor lawyer drew on the work of his “reset cabinet” to propose a bold set of approaches to a problem he diagnosed as follows: “the current structure of government is simply not sustainable anymore,” and “the government we have is too expensive to maintain.” ∴ The parts of the speech that were most prescriptive and are likely to generate the most heartburn concern K-12 education. Deviating sharply from his party’s orthodoxy when it comes to the third rail of public employees, Kulongoski said it’s time to stop focusing on how much the Legislature spends on education and start focusing on outcomes. [Emphasis added] Read more at WW...

Shocking revelations! --bc