Ben Westlund bucks 'career politician' label

The first time state Sen. Ben Westlund went to Denver, it was January 1981 and he had to drive 24-hours through a Rocky Mountain winter to make it to the National Western Stock Show, the biggest cattle show in the country. He arrived at four in the morning, completely exhausted and hoping to get some sleep. Instead, he spent the next six hours outside of the Denver Coliseum, next to the railroad tracks, chipping frozen dung out of a pen, so his prize-winning bull, Reggie, would have a place for the night.

"I remember seeing people passing in trains, eating in the diner car," Westlund told PolitickerOR.com. "And all I could think about was how much I wished I was in the train with them. I think when we were finally finished we went to a Denny's, and I was never so happy in my entire life to be in a restaurant."

That doesn't sound like a story a career politician would tell, but now that Westlund is running for treasurer, his main rival, Allen Alley (R-Lake Oswego), has tried to paint him as one.

"Westlund is a politician, and I'm not," Alley - the former Pixelworks CEO and Gov. Ted Kulongoski's former deputy chief of staff - told PolitickerOR.com back in April. Since then, he has made several public references to Westlund's extensive political resume, calling Westlund a "career politician" in his debate challenge.

True, Westlund (D-Tumalo) has been in office for significant stretch of time. Since first running for the Oregon House 11 years ago, Westlund has been a member of three different political parties, served in both houses of the state legislature, and run one gubernatorial race.

Not to mention that the next time Ben Westlund goes to Denver, it will be August 2008, and it will be to serve on the Rules Committee during the Democratic National Convention at the personal request of the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, U.S Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

But the "career politician," label could be a hard one to pin on Westlund, who, if he wins in November, will be the first person in over 30 years from east of the Cascades elected to a statewide office.

"It's a nice, cheap political cliché from someone who doesn't have a lot to say," Westlund responded to Alley's criticism. "When I made the conscious choice to help people he made the choice to make money."

With four months to go until Election Day, Westlund will hear more from the Alley campaign in a grueling race where he will have to travel to the largest and smallest towns in all corners of the state to lay out the reasons he should be in charge of the Beaver State's money. He said choosing to campaign for state treasurer not something any sane person would choose to do - unless they really wanted the job.

"A statewide campaign steels you," Westlund said. "It's kind of like climbing Everest without oxygen or shoes. It's a torturous journey."

A businessman first

Westlund has been a businessman a lot longer than he has been a politician. He moved to central Oregon in 1974 and ran two successful agricultural businesses. A bovine genetics firm called High Country Herefords that he still owns, allowed him to retire from the day-to-day operations at the age of 46.

With some time on his hands, he said he wanted to give back and flirted with the idea of nursing. He wasn't a politician, and to this day he crinkles his nose as he remembers the first time the idea was suggested to him, one night in 1996 year over drinks at the Bind Tavern in Bend. But eventually, his friend and former Oregon House Republican Majority leader Lynn Lundquist convinced him that he could give even more back in politics.

"He finally won me over with the argument, ‘Ben, if you think you can help a lot of people in nursing, you can help tens of thousands in politics,'" Westlund said.

In 1996, Westlund, then a Republican, took over the District 55 seat for outgoing Rep. Bev Clarno. But, he said, something wasn't quite right with his political affiliation.

"I remember designing a mailer that said Ben Westlund: Capable, Caring, Conservative," Westlund said. "I showed it to Lynn. He looked at me and said, ‘Ben that looks good, but you're not conservative,' and I said, ‘What do you mean I'm not conservative? I am conservative. I'm married, I pay my taxes, I don't break the law...' and he just said, ‘Ben, you are not conservative.'"

During his time in the House, Westlund said three events made him realize he picked the wrong party. The first one was his 1997 vote in opposition to Measure 51, a bill to repeal the Oregon Death with Dignity Law. Westlund remembers the intense pressure from the state's top conservatives to walk the party line as it came time to vote.

"That whole 30 seconds was interminable," Westlund said of the amount of time he had to press either the green button to repeal law or the red one to keep it legal. He was one of two Republicans to choose red, and even though the bill passed the house, the voters defeated it later that year.

"After that, I let out a sigh of relief and I knew I did the right thing," he said. "It was the first time I knew I could make a difference."

Westlund rose to co-chair of the Ways and Means Committee by 2001. He was the man in charge of the money when Oregon went through one of the worst recessions in recent memory. As the income from taxes dried up, so did the funding. It was up to the Republican-controlled legislature to cut costs, and Westlund said that he ended up cutting more money out of more budgets than any other Representative in the state's history.

"There was no money, and all of a sudden conservatives got their wish; shrink government," Westlund said of that time. "But we were cutting education, we were cutting health care, and Republican representatives couldn't take that home to their districts. So I said, either vote for cuts or vote for taxes."

After mentioning raising taxes, Republican Speaker of the House Karen Minnis stripped Westlund of his chair on the Ways and Means Committee. He moved over to chair of the Healthcare Reform committee, he said now, because it was his passion. Soon it would become his lifeline.

It started with a nagging cough during Healthcare Reform committee meetings. It grew to constant urging from Westlund's colleague and friend state Sen. Dr. Alan Bates (D-Ashland) to go see a doctor. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in May 2003.

"Two things kept flooding back to me. First, ironically, I knew that if worst came to worst, I could avail myself to Oregon's Death with Dignity law," Westlund said. "The second was I knew that even if I died, my family could survive because I had health insurance. And, you know what? You come out of a situation like that feeling a responsibility to do more."

He came back to the House floor in early June. He wasn't the same person, he said. He was a little skinnier and a little paler. And he wasn't the same politician either.

Running for treasurer

For Westlund, being the state treasurer is the next step in the natural progression toward giving back. If being a legislator allowed Westlund to help tens of thousands of people, he looks at how many he could help as the man in charge of the state's financial resources, natural resources and investments.

"This position is as influential as any in the state of Oregon," Westlund said. "You have the tools to make a real difference; you finally get the capacity and the platform to be able to advocate for public policy.

That is a lot of power, and Westlund hopes to use it to push for his personal passion, health care reform, and also toward his goal of making Oregon the national leader in renewable energy.

That power to make a difference is something Alley wants, too. But Alley believes his business experience, rather than Westlund's governmental experience, is more practical when it comes to controlling Oregon's funds.

"We deserve people in public office who can bring new ideas and energy to this state," Alley said in May when he announced his candidacy for the general election. "While other career politicians have been running for office, I have spent the last 30 years growing companies and jobs that enrich our communities."

But Westlund questions Alley's wisdom in running.

"It's admirable that he wants to serve, but this position is just too important to learn on the job," Westlund says. "It comes down to experience, experience, experience."

For now, the experience Westlund will be relying on is his 2006 run for statewide office. Westlund, who moved to the state Senate at the end of 2003, left the Republican Party in February 2006 and managed to gather enough signatures to be an unaffiliated candidate in the gubernatorial race. Westlund dropped out of the race in August - he said so he wouldn't be a spoiler - and endorsed the eventual winner and current Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski. Westland changed his party affiliation to Democratic soon after that.

He announced his candidacy for treasurer in October, and since then his campaign has attracted over 500 donors, raising $206,000. Westlund has also been endorsed by a variety of different groups, including the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, the Oregon Education Association and the Oregon State Firefighters Council. He has also been endorsed by politicians on both sides of the aisle, including former Republican Secretary of State Norma Paulus, and current Governor and Allen Alley's former boss, Ted Kulongoski.