The escalating war with KGW

Honestly, when it comes to the point where Producers are accusing you of assuming the identity of every person or troll on Twitter that has taken an interest in this story in order to get out of having to take any responsibility, what is the point of trying to deal with them? A few folks on Twitter have been our heroes in taking on KGW (since we are blocked), one of them being a certain Mayor of Camas. Apparently, that was a bridge too far for the producer of Live @ 7, The Square Aaron Weiss and he saw fit to blame us for a tweet he got.

Belo Corp., do you have any adults in your organization that we can talk to???

Click here for the e-mail exchange between my husband and Aaron Weiss. I'm sorry that it's come to this. I really am.

A lesson for KGW on Social Media

Since my last post, my husband has posted an update on the KGW matter on his Posterous page.

I don't think KGW understands the power of social media. One time I tweeted something about my Comcast bill that I didn't like. Before the day was over, "ComcastBonnie" tweeted me and asked how she could make it better. Another time, I was complaining about how I really wished there was a personal finance software that worked on the Mac that integrated with my cell phone or PDA. I even tweeted to Quicken as an existing customer, explaining my needs and inquiring if there would be any products coming out soon that would help me. The very next day, someone from a company called iggsoftware tweeted me and said "Have you tried iBank? Works with the iPhone". I downloaded the trial, used it for a few days and fell in love. I NEVER heard from Quicken after several attempts, and they lost a customer. When Bank of America sent us a letter saying they were raising our credit card interest rate by 75%, you better believe we went on a screaming terror about it on Twitter, as did MANY people. To B of A's credit, they hired a cadre of agents to scan tweets and deal with the outcry on Twitter. In the end, no one had the authority to make any decisions to change the interest rates on anyone's account, so we walked and took our personal and our company's banking business to our friendly neighborhood community bank where we remain happy customers. The point is, any business in today's world understands the advantages and opportunities inherent in reaching out to people seeking solutions and even to unhappy or angry people. The reason is, a problem resolved, or at least an honest attempt at it often leaves the complainant with the feeling that their patronage matters to someone. Who are you in the community to serve, KGW if not the public? There are A LOT of people who are unhappy about the slant of the KGW minimum wage story. For every person on Twitter who has read our tweets about it, or read this blog, or my husband's blog, there are literally thousands who are angry and aren't doing anything about it. But they do remember and there are other choices for news in the Portland Metro area.

In this day and age when people have choices as consumers of news, why on earth would you a) allow your reporters to engage unprofessionally with viewers on Twitter and b) not have an ombudsman or community liaison to engage with people who have a complaint? What was initially a legitimate complaint about the story (which I won't go into again here) has now turned into a story about KGW. Smart? Not at all.

Originally, I had posted a comment on KGW's comment section of the story page expressing our concerns with the piece. Those comments were removed. We asked @TheSquare who we should contact to discuss our concerns. They tweeted an email address. We wrote the email address and heard nothing. We waited 3 days and never heard back. When we again tweeted to @TheSquare to let them know that no one has responded to our complaint using the avenue THEY PROVIDED, we discovered we were blocked. This prompted my husband to post on his Posterous page. Yeah, we're angry.

So, KGW will run out the clock until the election and it will all go away in a week. But I want it to be known that if you have a complaint about KGW's reporting on something in the future you might be treated like we are being treated. It's unfortunate. Before this we felt KGW was the best news source in the area. Trusting a media outlet is something you take for granted until you find yourself betrayed. And that's EXACTLY how it feels. Like a betrayal of trust. We aren't just "customers", your public are your partners. We WANT KGW to succeed. Your customers can tell you a lot if you will listen. That is the beauty of social media.

Chris Dudley should stick to not voting

When he does vote, it reveals his confusion.

OPB's "Think Out Loud" has been able to follow-up on Chris Dudley's claim that he voted for Obama. Here is his capriciously fickle response, paraphrased by Emily Harris:

"Dudley says he liked Obama's message about working across the aisle, but now says he is disappointed in how that's turned out. He cited the health insurance reform bill as an example. He also says he thinks the president has lost some of the well-tuned connection he had to public sentiment during the presidential campaign."

I will not add much to Harris' analysis (click the link above and read). It's spot on. But someone needs to remind Chris Dudley (or perhaps inform him for the first time) that President Obama actually ran on a slightly more "extreme" (from a Conservative's perspective) version of the Health Care Reform bill. Much to my and other Progressive's dismay, the President conceded much even before getting to the bargaining table with Senate Republicans. The Republicans sought and got over 300 amendments to the Health Care Reform bill which did not net the Democrats a single Republican vote when all was said and done. I am only left with one belief, and that is Chris Dudley is a complex mix of naivete, misinformation and lack of understanding of the political process. Dudley is an interesting political figure by now, but every week he seems to prove that he is not ready for the task of being Governor of this state with its complex problems. Think about it. He's never held office, so he doesnt have working knowledge of how to reach across the aisle and persuade people to vote for his ideas. In his eagerness to sound like he has a grasp of the issues, he's stepped in a mess with his minimum wage comments and has been trying for weeks to walk them back. As for his strange voting philosophy, you don't vote for someone because you "liked his message" about reaching across the aisle, while completely disregarding what Obama campaigned on, and then blame him when he did EXACTLY what he promised. If Chris Dudley had ANY real, meaningful experience in setting policy and seeking consensus, I'd feel a lot better about Chris Dudley as Governor of Oregon. As it is, at this point, I'm terrified.

Another scolding for the Oregonian - by me

Okay. So it's been 3 days since Dudley, with Harry's help, let the little nugget drop that he voted for Obama.

I gotta say, when I tell Dudley's supporters about it, they say "well he made a mistake". See, the thing is, no where in this article does it say he feels his vote is a mistake. We don't really know what it was about Obama's platform he agreed with. In fact, the story before this was that Dudley never voted. So you can understand why I believe this is a ploy to get moderate Dem cross-over votes, given the recent polls.

But the biggest jerky thing in this story is that Dudley is leaving it to his supporters to defend, explain, or give a rationale because no one is following up in the media and asking the obvious questions about it. The way it was leaked, in paragraph 48 of a fluffy bio piece, as a quote by his father (which warranted follow up on that basis alone), in the middle of October on the eve of the election is sketchy at best, and looks coordinated at worst.

Here's why it matters. Allen Alley, who was far and away, a more qualified candidate didn't pass the GOP Purity test because he was perceived as too conciliatory to Democrats. But this tid bit, coming out now as it has, is to be consumed and digested by voters, with no explanation? If this is a race between two Democrats, one being a RINO, the voters should view it as such.

And Dudley, to borrow the phrase of the day, "MAN UP" and tell your supporters what you agree with about Obama's platform. Was it health care reform? How about the stimulus? Cap and trade? A candidate for governor should have a better reason than I didn't like Sarah Palin. The views you are running on now are more in line with John McCain's views. Are you a liar? Or a flip-flopper? Or just unprincipled and undisciplined? Please stay away from Salem. Our problems are too serious for someone who doesn't know where he stands on any given issue on any given day.

Oh My, but the Duds does pander

I don't know if you caught it in this weekend's Oregonian profiles of the Gubernatorial candidates, but in Chris Dudley's profile by Harry Esteve, Dudley's father happened to casually mention that his son voted for Obama in 2008.

Of course, I made a big deal about it in the comments of the article because the next question ought to have been "why are we hearing about this now?" but I hardly expect that from Esteve who has never had a kind or charitable word for Kitzhaber. But I wasn't shocked. I am a little doubtful of the truth of Dudley's admission, which I will entail reasons for in a minute. But shocked? Not at all. Being a Lake Oswego resident I had heard some months back from a Chamber of Commerce member that Mrs. Dudley was an Obama supporter and I privately wondered when that was going to come out. I sort of felt when she was named in Dudley's "18 Point Plan - Education for our Economic Future" that he had an ethical obligation to introduce his wife to the public. Certainly, we only need to look no further than Hilary Clinton to see how unelected wives can be perceived. He's been asked (if memory serves me, I believe it was in the Register Guard interview) who he would appoint to help him on various committees and came up expectantly short on names. But his wife has been named to a position, should he be elected, and she has been traveling the state attending Women for Dudley functions and speaking to Republican Women's Groups. I wonder if she mentioned she is an Obama supporter. Somehow, I doubt it. and the media hasn't seen fit to ask about her. I guess I am the only one with expectations on that front.















Chris Love Dudley speaking to the Linn GOP women’s group on July 12th

No, of course, I have no proof that I can provide to you that she is or isn't a Republican. But I DO feel, at the point when she was named in Dudley's plan, it's a fair question to ask.

So now what to make of Dudley supposedly voting for Obama. We aren't talking about a lot of time since Obama's election and when Dudley decided to run. Let's see, when Dudley filed his papers, Obama was still operating under Bush's budget. Dudley was attending teaparty rallies a mere 9 months after Obama took office. Health care reform, the stimulus, NONE of this was a surprise to Obama voters. The problem that Obama voters had with Healthcare Reform is that it didn't have a Public Option. Is this Chris Dudley's view? Hardly.

Folks, this is pandering in its lowest form. We don't KNOW who Chris Dudley voted for. What we DO know is that he is behind in the polls. What we DO know is that Oregon tends to vote Democratic. What we DO know is that he must get Democrats to vote for him in order to win. At the same time, Chris Dudley cannot alienate his extremist base. I mean for Pete's Sake, Allen Alley didn't pass the GOP Purity Test because he DARED accept an appointment to then Gov. Kitzhaber's Counsel for Knowledge & Economic Development. How will this bit of news sit with the same people who want Art Robinson for Congress?

I rule this one as a LIE. Two weeks ago, also in the Register-Guard interview Dudley made some rambling remarks about how half his family are Democrats and half are Republicans. I think this was not only a way of sticking a toe in the water to test this lie out, but it addresses the topic of how his wife voted, should anyone ask. So will the media press with the follow-up questions? I won't hold my breath. And if he DID actually vote for Obama, why the big secret? Secrets in politics are usually BAD and elude to... dare I say it? An Honesty Problem.

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Errata: In my two references to the Register Guard, I meant Statesman Journal. My apologies to the RG! The entire interview with the clips I refer to above is posted here.

Dudley's Going Wobbly

Seriously, he's off his game.

First of all, the Right-Skewing Rasmussen came out with this poll on Monday showing Kitzhaber with a small but significant lead. I attribute this to Dudley's meager and barely adequate performance during the one and only televised debate on KGW. But Nate Silver who, this week, flipped the predicted outcome of the race from Dudley to Kitzhaber as the likely winner showed Dudley already beginning to make his descent down and Kitzhaber shifting up even before the debate on September 27th. In order to overcome the Blue Tide of Oregon Democrats' GOTV efforts, Dudley needs to be up in the polls by a good 5 points or it's a lock for Kitzhaber. That's the reality that the Dudley campaign is grappling with.

So, here Dudley is at the Freethrow Line again and what does his campaign do? Dredge up that wicked little "investigative journalism" piece on KGW's "The Square" explaining away what we all heard him say about Oregon's minimum wage, dismissing it as just an editing job. In fact, he uses the KGW reporter's own words in his brand new ad "Don't". Let's be clear. This is why letting an inaccurate piece of journalism float out there, largely unaddressed and uncorrected, is such a bad thing. Leaving aside for the moment, the appearance that KGW is just a media flack for a candidate, the "Don't" ad claims that "Kitzhaber highly edited Dudley's words" and cites the Oregonian on Oct. 11th.












Really?

The Oregonian piece quoted in the "Don't" ad pictured ACTUALLY reads thus:

"The fact is, the Kitzhaber ad does take some highly edited snippets from a rambling answer that Dudley gave to a questioner about the minimum wage back on Sept. 9 - and that Democrats have used against him ever since." Watching Dudley's ad, you'd get the feeling that Kitzhaber sat in a dark, smoke-filled room somewhere and edited the piece himself. Laughably, Dudley's campaign cherry-picked what they wanted from the article and left behind the nuggets that buttress THE FACTS. Mapes goes on to repeat what anyone with a brain and basic comprehension skills already knew:

"But the Kitzhaber campaign could point to parts of Dudley's answer that buttress their ad. The commercial quotes Dudley as saying that "having the highest minimum wage in the country negatively impacts the state." You can see from the transcript (or the Youtube video of his statement) that it is reasonable to think Dudley was agreeing with a questioner who expressed unhappiness about the minimum wage."

...it is reasonable to think because Dudley's mouth moved and his words said he was agreeing with a questioner who expressed unhappiness about the minimum wage.

Enough with this foolishness. First of all, whoever is responsible for the original KGW piece needs to, at long last, make a correction on this story! Stop painting the sentient, intelligent voters as unable to understand what we heard. The reporter in the story, or WHOEVER is responsible at KGW, edited the original video in a fashion to "prove" that the Kitzhaber people edited the video, and then gave a platform for Dudley to respond to it. It's disgusting, appalling journalism. And NOW, Dudley himself is using a snippet in his ad to attack his opponent. KGW should be concerned that it looks like someone there is in the tank for Dudley and I just don't think that's a good policy for a TV station broadcasting over the public airways.

But of course, the desperate Dudley camp is pulling out it's "big guns" now that HE is down in the polls. And KGW gave them a nice sound byte to do so.

KGW - FIX THIS NOW!

Next on the blog, yeah that claim that Kitzhaber wants to tax the homeless is a load of garbage too.

The irresponsible journalism of KGW

One of the stickiest issues so far in the Oregon Governor's race has been this video taped comment made by Chris Dudley:

"it doesn't make sense that our waitresses are getting tips plus the highest minimum wage in the country."

Last night on Live @ 7 on KGW, Anne Yeager took a scatter shot approach to discrediting the people who are RIGHTFULLY appalled by the quote, implying that Dudley was somehow taken out of context due to the editing of the video. In an appalling piece of slipshod "investigative reporting" Yeager's piece ALSO edited the video to leave out the question that Dudley was answering in agreement. And THEN, she sticks a microphone in his face and gives him a platform to backtrack the comment. There's no doubt that this quote has been reflecting badly on Dudley and that he would take it back if he could. He has been careful about the whole matter up til the September 9th venue where he said the quote. Jeff Mapes seemed to get it when he addressed the matter of Dudley's stance on the tip credit back in July and that Dudley didn't want to go on record about it at all:

"At any rate, it's clear that Dudley - who didn't rule out taking up the tip credit issue if he is elected governor - is a favorite of the Oregon Restaurant Association." (who incidently, as of this morning, have given $90K to Dudley's campaign).

I became aware of the quote from Blue Oregon on September 21st, before it was edited into the "short" version. The Democratic Party posted the full, unedited version on You Tube on September 20th. Judging by the comments on the Blue Oregon page then, we were outraged then because, oh I dunno... we understand English and nuance and context. Elements that apparently Anne Yeager does not understand.

To be sure, there has been a backlash against Yeager already this morning. My husband and I, being vocal pains in the ass, challenged her investigative methods on Twitter. We mentioned the fact that she left out the $90K donation by the Restaurant Association. She kept trying to put the focus on Dudley's idea of a training wage. And then she admitted that she didn't understand the "lingo" of "tip credit".

Did she even watch the video herself? Dudley pretty much breaks it down for her. But in case she or anyone else is still unclear about what "tip credit" means, here is a nice explanation and breakdown of how it works in North Carolina.

Note that tipped employees make $5.12 LESS an hour than non-tipped employees. Furthermore, it amounts to less payroll tax, Social Security, and unemployment insurance being paid.

At 00:43 into the "long" unedited version of the video, Dudley says "I agree" to the question being asked about employees making too much money and then uses a third party's story to corroborate his point. Is this not AGREEMENT? Dudley COULD have used the opportunity to praise people who wait tables for a living for the relatively low wage they make. No. Instead, he commiserated with the whiny, cheapskate restaurant owner who was complaining about how much money his waitresses cost him. He has NEVER addressed tip credit and Yeager failed to ask that when she had the chance.

So here it is. The full, unedited video of Dudley agreeing that minimum wage (which he incorrectly claims is the highest in the country) PLUS tips is too much money.



And yes, he does offer up a training wage as a "first" step: "that’s one area I would like to tackle first is to at least get a training wage going" The follow up question to that matter should be: "what's to stop restaurant owners from overly relying on young wait staff making training wage and putting older, experienced workers out of work?" Think you can handle that, Anne Yeager?

The really inexcusable part of Yeager's report is that Kitzhaber is tacitly being blamed for the video. It didn't require investigative journalism to unearth the source of the video... the unedited video has been posted from the start, by the DPO and, in turn, by Blue Oregon.

And finally, please note: As of today, Chris Dudley has still not stated where he stands on "tip credit". This question must be explicitly asked on Thursday's debate on KGW.

I am constantly amazed at how woefully inept the media has been on the Oregon Governor's race. This comes from having to do research myself that I often post here. But this incident fails every journalistic standard of fairness. I wish the media would put as much effort in finding out the identity of the tracker who disrupted the Urban League forum as they did in giving Dudley his opportunity to backtrack off this quote.

Anyone know who that guy is?

My comment in the Oregonian about Chris Dudley's 20-pt plan

Wow! If Oregon elects this guy, we're pretty stupid. This plan benefits Filigree Investments (Dudley's company) and the wealth-on-paper crowd he represents. I DO think there is a story here, if the Oregonian would pursue it.

Let me put it to you in perfectly understandable terms. My husband owns a corporation. He is based in Oregon and is the proverbial "small business" that Dudley is aiming to stimulate. Capital gains cuts won't help him. It won't help him employ a single person. Small businesses don't make purchasing or hiring decisions based on capital gains. Meanwhile, day traders and companies like Filigree are going to pay 66% less in taxes than a cop, firefighter, or teacher. Or you or me for that matter.

Dudley keeps using this disengenuous figure of 11% capital gains and that it's "the highest in the nation". What he's not explaining is that it's 11% above $500,000. This applies to millionaires. Dudley doesn't like the fact that he has to pay taxes on money made speculating in the market as if it were income. This plan is redistribution of wealth to people he represents at his firm with money that belongs in the Oregon coffers.

This gift for speculators WILL NOT CREATE A SINGLE JOB.

Reject this fraud!

(Link to article)

More Honesty Problems

Next time you see the Chris Dudley ad "Deserve", you might pay closer attention to a certain Oregonian quote:














Of course Team Dudley didn't include the ENTIRE quote, the rest of which reads:

... and state government appeared powerless to help.

That would be the REPUBLICAN-controlled Legislature aka "State Government".

Just want to supply you with the TRUTH. When Dudley tries to tar Kitzhaber with "negative campaigning", he's at best obfuscating.

Tell me again how Chris Dudley is an outsider? He seems like just another politician to me.

Added by Bodiegroup:

I'd add to that that in every one of Dudley's attacks, pay careful attention to the dates of quotes or statistics and ask yourself why each one is post 9/11...

It appears that Dudley has a "PRE 9/11 mentality. Maybe you should ask him who was running the US when all of these horrible stats happened in Oregon and EVERY OTHER STATE in the nation.

Kitzhaber takes the High Road. Voters get No Road.

Update: We've been asked to show some examples of the information we cite below. It's all available, public record stuff. And I was rather angry about matters last night when I wrote my piece that my feelings at the time were essentially "I won't do the media's job for them, let them find this stuff". Trust me, it wasn't hard! But here is a screen grab of the Biography section of the Form ADV so you can see what I am talking about. Chris Dudley is a biography for Filigree. He has a super awesome title and no apparent role.




























This is the ONLY mention of Dudley with the SEC.












-----------------------------

In light of the very recent news that John Kitzhaber, who I have the greatest respect and admiration for, has told the Democratic Governors Association (in effect) to cease and desist with any negative campaigning for the time being, I thought I had better make a few things abundantly clear about this blog and vent my frustration.

First of all, this blog is written and researched by my husband and myself. We are Oregon residents. We are not part of the Democratic party in any official or unofficial capacity. You may have noticed a lot of this blog is formatted in the form of questions. As voters, we have questions! The media seems to have exhausted and bored itself with research on Dr. Kitzhaber because he is a known quantity. But we know even less about Chris Dudley.

We are not impressed with Chris Dudley. That is obvious. For one thing, the media seems to have bought into this enchanting notion that Dudley is somehow this experienced business person who knows how to create jobs. Chris Dudley doesn't create jobs in his career at Filigree Advisors. He (supposedly) creates wealth on paper for a living. And there's really no proof of success there either. The guy who did have some direct knowledge of business and job creation was Allen Alley but the Republicans didn't think Alley was glamorous enough so they invested no resources in his campaign. Chris Dudley, is above all, a campaign donation machine. So we "get" why his party likes him.

We fell into our role of exploring Chris Dudley quite by accident when we witnessed the Republican Governors Association post and then remove some tweets about where Chris Dudley REALLY was when he said he was unable to attend the ONPA debate because he was on a "family vacation". Now that we see how much the RGA has received from News Corp, the parent company of Fox News, we understand why Oregon voters came last on July 16th when Dudley had a choice between debating and going to a fund raiser. Screw us, the dumb shit voters of Oregon. Oh boy! The RGA has money and Haley Barbour to rub elbows with! What do we matter?

Since my husband and I witnessed Dudley's lie firsthand, we have been curious about him but there is little to know about him. Everything we can find on our own in local press says he has no specifics and that he has no experience in government. Then his 26 point plan comes out, and all be darned. It's true. The man needs a civics class on how Oregon government works!

So here's what I want to know based on my own research:

Why does the CFP Board website list Dudley's CFP license as current but that he is not practicing? A call placed to the CFP Board told me this means he's licensed but he isn't taking new clients.

Update: Chris Dudley is also not registered with SEC as an IAR (Investment Adviser Representative)

The Willamette Week in their July 21st article said Filigree has a value of $55 million in accounts they manage and the article speculated how much they made using a very generous 1% commission rate. The actual rate (if you do the damn research) is a sliding scale with the most generous being .85%. They have 30 clients according to their most recent filing with the SEC. We can assume that these clients are not all equal in wealth. So if we use the highest .85% commission rate, that's $476,500 annually that this firm makes. Hardly Fortune 500 stuff. It's three guys on commission in a high rent office in Lake Oswego, which I found leases from anywhere between $21 and 25/sf/yr. Oh yeah, a real job and wealth factory there. I'm not impressed.

All this leads me to my pivotal question: what the hell does Chris Dudley DO? His bio on the Filigree Advisors website says he is a "Wealth Strategist". In fact, the Filigree website doesn't even mention Ian Crawford, the third partner but instead leads the visitor to believe that it's Gerald Graves and Chris Dudley's s show. However Filigree's FORM ADV with the SEC says lists Chris Dudley's biography and that's it. No duties, no detail. He's not a controlling partner. The ADV goes into some detail what Graves and Crawford do. But for Dudley, it's just a biography.

And I would contend, that's all he is in his job and that's all he is in politics. A biography. A story. A hand-shaker. Someone to bring clients in, or bring donors in. The thinking is, where the money goes, the voters will follow. Where is the evidence that Chris Dudley has created a single job? Where is the evidence that he's even created any wealth?!

As for negative ads, Dudley's expensive campaign ads have already gone negative on Kitzhaber in spite of Kitzhaber wanting to take the high road. In Dudley's recent ad, he blames Kitzhaber for poor job creation in Oregon during the recession in 2001 after we were attacked on 9/11 and when the whole country was in recession. He neglects to say that the Republican Legislature at the time also shares the blame if there is any blame to give. He neglects to say that the Oregon Progress Board set goals for itself and basically gave itself the F grade as depicted in the ad. It's disingenuous crap and half-truths. If Kitzhaber doesn't have the money right now to put out something positive in defense of this BS, then I have concerns that this will never be an even race, which I believe most Oregonians believe in.

So John Kitzhaber may have shut off the DGA, but this humble husband and wife team will keep on chipping away at the facade that is Chris Dudley, "economy fixer and job creator" until we see evidence that he can do either.

Your Humble Blogger
~bujeeboo

Remember that debate, no... family vacation? Errr... couple hours of RGA work?

UPDATE: Further investigation on ORESTAR reveals that Chris Dudley was also reimbursed for one plane ticket on United to Aspen. (Ironically, my husband took the exact same United flight the week following Dudley's trip and it cost EXACTLY the same.)

Given that Dudley was so adamant that the trip was a family vacation, and that he told Lars Larson that he did "a couple hours of work", should the campaign be paying for this trip at all? Even if these charges were for a staffer, that's quite a hefty hotel charge. Also, whoever bought the plane ticket got an upgrade. Must be nice working for the Dudley Campaign.














A real-time charge for a United upgrade:














Frequent Flyers: Please feel free to corroborate or refute. These charges EXACTLY match my husband's who took that same flight (with upgrade) the following week.


++++++++++++
Weirdness surrounds the Chris Dudley family vacation back in July.

Recap: Dudley begged out of the ONPA debate because he had a pre-scheduled family vacation.

"Chris made a commitment to his family and he's going to uphold that commitment," said campaign spokesman Leroy Coleman.

Then it was revealed that he was caught in a lie when the Republican Governor's Association tweeted that they had spent a "productive couple of days" with Dudley. Those tweets were promptly removed so as not to implicate The Tall One in a lie. Too late! The Dudley Camp is then in the awkward position of having to explain that vacation/RGA meeting overlap (from Mapes' column):

Dudley's spokesman, LeRoy Coleman, said Dudley had long before blocked out a period of Wednesday through Saturday for a vacation in Aspen with his family. He chose that location in part because of the GOP meeting, Coleman said.

So imagine our surprise while sipping coffee in bed on a fine Saturday morning and scanning Dudley's campaign expenditures when we ran across this (click to enlarge):















Yup, that would be the hotel charge for the 2010 Dudley Family Summer Vacation Extravaganza and Debate Dodge. And it's a reimbursement. It's not illegal. At least, I don't think it is. But to be sure, we've written the Secretary of State and inquired.

However, it still eludes to an Honesty Problem and a problem if you happened to have donated to his campaign. You might have purchased a family vacation at a luxury hotel in Aspen for a family that can afford to buy its own vacation or even its own house in Aspen. I think it warrants an explanation because controversy has been surrounding this event from the git-go.

Gosh... A free vacation in Aspen in July sounds wonderful.

Is Dudley ducking ANOTHER debate?

This little nugget appeared tonight in the Eugene Register-Guard:

The two nominees for governor will speak to about 70 mayors from across Oregon at a conference Friday in Cottage Grove.

The candidates are scheduled to appear separately. Both will speak for a few minutes and then take questions from mayors in the audience.

Democrat John Kitzhaber is slated to appear at 11:15 a.m. Republican Chris Dudley is scheduled to speak at 2:40 p.m. The Oregon Mayors Association conference is being held at Village Green Resort.

The Democratic Party of Oregon is calling it a debate and flatly states Dudley is ducking it:

Dudley Dodges another Debate - Mayors Edition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PORTLAND, Oregon (July 27, 2010) -

Chris Dudley has already dodged a debate organized by Oregon newspapers - and now he is skipping a debate in front of Oregon's mayors.

This Friday, the Oregon Mayors Association was scheduled to host a gubernatorial debate. Democrat John Kitzhaber accepted the invitation outright. Republican Chris Dudley declined - again. This time Dudley refused to show up to the debate, agreeing to show up after Kitzhaber had left the building.

+++

Can we get some media types on this? Either it's a debate or it isn't.

Chris Dudley's employment history

Chris Dudley became Vice President of M Financial Wealth Management in 2006. The "outsider" who is his "own man", would like you to think he's just like average Oregonians.














M Financial Wealth Management was featured in the October - November 2008 issue of the magazine "Private Wealth: Advising the Exceptionally Affluent". (I am guessing that isn't you, Gentle Reader.) This is a very exclusive class of people who are just itching to get their Number 1 free-thrower in the highest office in the state. These are not wealthy people who necessarily create jobs or stimulate the economy in times of recession. These are the ones who sit on their Golden Goose asses and hire firms like M to accelerate their wealth on paper. For many in this class, the only jobs created are the folks' at M.

Having connections in high places is important for a Governor. Chris Dudley is not like that other celebrity pol to our South, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who came into office politically isolated and largely remained politically isolated while running as a populist. No doubt, Chris Dudley intends to leverage his relationships with the "Exceptionally Affluent" to procure some promises for jobs. But he won't come out and say it (even when pressed) and it's the kind of back-door dealing the voters have come to hate, the promise of jobs not-with-standing. Not only that, but such deals have the potential to be dangerous especially when a political neophyte isn't a very strong communicator, which Dudley despite his overall "nice guy" persona, is not. But Dudley claiming to be "open" to offshore oil drilling and LNG pipelines means he's a typical Republican who is "open" to parceling out our natural resources to the highest bidder. That can mean jobs. And it could also result in opening the Oregon coast within 3 miles off shore to oil exploration.

For you and me, he has candy.

Dudley and another former M employee left in 2008 and started their own wealth management company called Filigree. You might recognize Gerald Graves, his business partner. He's one of the "testimonial" heads on Chris Dudley's commercial "Drive".

And lest you think, as I do, that the above is not adequate experience to run the state of Oregon, there's always this gem from Sports Illustrated:

"In the NBA you're working with 12 or 15 players of completely different backgrounds usually," Dudley said. "They're from all over the country working toward a common goal and that's winning a championship. That element of teamwork and working with others is something that translates well into politics."

The stakes have never been higher.

City Club Debate - Another Dudley Debate Failure

I actually understand Chris Dudley's aversion to debating. I don't care for it myself. But debating is about selling ideas. Pageants, parades, rodeos, and candy-throwing events are about selling a man. We're not marrying Dudley, we want to know HOW he will implement his plans for the state of Oregon. Frankly, saying he will assemble a team of people with the brightest ideas sounds a lot like Barack Obama and look who we got in that deal: Rahm Emanuel. And while we're on the subject of teams, I am not exactly impressed so far with Dudley's "team" in their handling this debate blunder (LeRoy Coleman, are you listening?)

If debates don't matter, I've certainly proved it in theory. I posted two reactions to debates with Dudley versus Alley where Alley clearly crushed Dudley and yet Dudley won the primary.

So, uh, what are you afraid of Chris?

Dudley's Bread and Circus

Just an observation. But since I closely follow Chris Dudley's tweets, something strikes me. There are an AWFUL lot of fairs, parades, racing events, rodeos etc. filling his days with an occasional Right-Wing radio show appearance thrown in. But this latest tweet really struck a chord:













Passing out candy??

It just highlights the need for a serious candidate even more. Kitzhaber, say what you will, stood up in front of the ONPA board on July 16th and fielded questions on his policies for 75 minutes. The rodeo and pie-eating contest circuit is just so weak. Sure, Kitz is doing it too, I'm sure. But the fact that Kitz has proffered the idea of 7 debates all over the state versus Dudley's counter of TWO (and after the ballots are mailed) tells me that Kitz wants to tell YOU about where he stands on issues. Not give you candy.

And how tone-deaf is a diabetic politician passing out candy?

Want evidence of lies? Why the LIAR meme FITS Chris Dudley!

Evidence of Dudley's lie to avoid debate. Of note, the screen grabs below show the Head of the RGA and his Communications Director on the evening of the ONPA debate, crowing about the "hugely productive couple of days" spent with Chris Dudley and then a while later, the tweets disappeared from the timeline as though they thought better of it. No doubt the Dudley Campaign requested they be removed because he was back in Oregon spinning some yarn about a "family vacation". Dudley and Company had forethought of knowledge that this busted them in a lie.

Luckily, Tweetdeck preserves the tweets as long as you are still in the session. When I closed my window, the tweets were "gone, baby gone".

(Click on images to enlarge)