Governor issues an invitation – Ted Kulongoski, reversing the late Gov. Tom McCall’s stance, says Oregon is open to new residents and businesses

Gov. Ted Kulongoski told a group of venture capitalists Thursday that unlike famed Oregon Gov. Tom McCall, he wants people — and their businesses — to move to Oregon to help revitalize its moribund economy.

By:
Peter, Sleeth
The Oregonian

McCall was a moderate Republican governor from 1967 to 1975 who championed a series of progressive reforms ranging from land-use planning to the bottle bill. In a famous 1971 speech that came to define his governorship as well as Oregon’s reputed livability, he told the world he welcomed everyone to visit.

"But for heaven’s sake, don’t come here to live," McCall said.

On Thursday, Kulongoski said that in more than 30 years Oregon has changed, and in its current economic despair it needs a vision different from McCall’s.

"In my administration, the mantra is the opposite. We will go just about anywhere to deliver this message: We want you to visit, but we prefer that you buy a one-way ticket," Kulongoski, a Democrat, said.

Later, Kulongoski said Oregon’s economy cannot grow without an influx of residents and business entrepreneurs.

"You’re not going to have growth in the economy without a growth in the population," Kulongoski told reporters.

Oregon has had the nation’s highest unemployment rate for much of the past two years. A crippled high-technology industry and a drastically reduced forest-products industry have left Oregon battered. Kulongoski has made economic development and job creation a centerpiece of his administration.

The governor spoke Thursday morning to economic development experts and venture capitalists at two events at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland.

First, he announced his new "work force development strategy," which is capped with $6 million in federal money for training Oregon workers.

The money is to be used as a beginning for work force training, particularly to deal with an ongoing shortage of health care workers, Kulongoski said.

"We know that most of the new jobs in Oregon will come from businesses that are already here," he said. "Workers know they need to upgrade their skills to be successful in this changing economy."

The state has lacked a coherent and centered way to retrain workers, a weakness meant to be changed by the new Employer Workforce Training Fund, he said. The governor’s work session on economic and work force development was sponsored by a mix of government, private business and labor organizations.

The governor said he also is creating a strategic reserve fund "to meet immediate and previously unmet needs of business for skill training."

Later, in a speech to the venture capitalists, sponsored by the Oregon Entrepreneurs Forum, Kulongoski emphasized Oregon as a welcoming place to do business, where even government funds are used to invest in high-risk venture capital funds.

It was before the venture capitalists that Kulongoski emphasized that any perception of Oregon as not welcoming new residents was old news.

Bill Lunch, a political science professor at Oregon State University, said he was mildly surprised that Kulongoski would position himself against McCall’s legacy. Many Oregonians consider Tom McCall’s two terms as governor a pinnacle in the state’s progressive political achievements.

"It’s an ongoing attempt on his part to reposition himself, at least rhetorically, as being at the center of the political spectrum," Lunch said of Kulongoski. "This is probably political win-win situation with him. As much as he is revered, Tom McCall is dead, and the political context McCall operated in is gone."

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