Last Friday, Republican nominee Chris Dudley skipped out on the traditional Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association gubernatorial debate. This was well in line with the former NBA mediocrity's well-established disinterest in public policy. Even conservative Oregon newspapers were unimpressed with the consistently unimpressive candidate. But at least he had a sort of excuse: he was vacationing with his family. In Aspen. Granted, it might lead one to wonder why a wealthy man who wants to lead a state's government couldn't just reschedule his vacation in a luxury resort, so he could actually demonstrate some interest in the political office for which he's running, but Dudley seems to think he's entitled. Let others worry about issues and such. He's a former pro athlete, of sorts, which makes him special.
Well, it turns out that Dudley's excuse may have been exactly that: an excuse. Because Mr. Family Man wasn't just taking some time with his family. As The Oregonian's Jeff Mapes explains:
Dudley also showed up at a meeting of the Republican Governors Association in Aspen, Colo. The Aspen Times quoted Dudley as telling the group that Oregon's capital gains taxes are too high and that more needs to be done to reward businesses for moving to the state.
When the Dudley campaign declined an offer to debate Kitzhaber before the annual meeting of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association - which has a more than two-decade-old tradition of holding the first gubernatorial debate of the general election campaign - no mention was made that Dudley would be at another political event.
It would be interesting to know how often Dudley vacations for a few days in Aspen during the summer. It would be interesting to know how much time he spent with the Republican Governors Association. Not only is this incident yet another example of Dudley proving he cares more about being an insider, and about promoting the interests of businesses and the wealthy, than he does about most voters, it's also an indication that he shares another basic Republican trait: dishonesty.
"That should have been better articulated on my part" in talking with reporters before the event, (Dudley spokesman LeRoy) Coleman said. But he said that Dudley could attend some of the association meetings without disrupting his vacation, unlike attending the newspaper association debate in Salem.
Sure. It was just an oversight, for Dudley's people not to have mentioned the RGA meeting. And Dudley just couldn't have managed to respect voters enough to reschedule his vacation. Or maybe Dudley doesn't much care about the voters. Maybe Dudley's just another dishonest Republican.