If you want different views of Oregon’s ugly budget situation, these two Web sites will give you plenty to think about.
On Feb. 2, the union-backed group Our Oregon announced a Web site intended to help Oregon “set the right priorities,” according to a press release. The new site essentially counters a project called Oregon Transformation that’s spearheaded by state Rep. Dennis Richardson, R-Central Point, former gubernatorial candidate Allen Alley, and Rob Kremer, a conservative thinker and activist.
Last September, Richardson – who has since been named co-chair of the powerful budget-writing Joint Ways and Means Committee – announced the conservative-leaning site. He cited a “$4 billion revenue shortfall” and called on Oregonians to “work together to address the worst financial catastrophe in Oregon history. ”
The Our Oregon site, meanwhile, aims to highlight the impact of budget cuts as well as “explore some of the more than $30 billion Oregon gives away in tax breaks every year.”
