Independent Party cross nominates Westlund

The Independent Party of Oregon announced it nominated Ben Westlund (D-Tumalo) for State Treasurer Monday.

“Westlund’s legislative record and experience should appeal to all Oregon voters,” said the party’s secretary, Sal Peralta. “Ben Westlund is a strong leader on renewable energy. He has worked to lower health care costs and to increase consumer protections.”

Westlund becomes the second Democrat and third candidate nominated by a major party to also be nominated by the Independent Party, which is the third largest party in the state with 21,000 members. The other candidates are Oregon House Speaker and U.S Senate candidate Jeff Merkley (D-Portland), and OR-1 Republican congressional candidate Joel Haugen (R-Scappoose).

It remains to be seen how Westlund’s name will appear on the ballot. The Secretary of State’s office has said publically that only one party can be listed on the ballot, but the Independent Party believes that a 1995 statute added to the law made it legal for the ballot to display all parties that have nominated a candidate.

Peralta has written to Secretary of State Bill Bradbury asking for clarification on the law, and Westlund said he believed the Independent Party may be right in this situation.

“The Independent Party makes a strong argument that the statutory changes in 1995 require that party nominations accepted by a candidate should appear on that candidate’s ballot line,” said Westlund.  “The statute seems to indicate that both nominations should be printed in this case.”