State Treasurer candidates spar over fiscal management

MINNEAPOLIS -- State Treasurer candidates Allen Alley (R-Lake Oswego) and state Sen. Ben Westlund (D-Tumalo) spent Tuesday and Wednesday fighting over who’s tax violations had been more egregious.

Edward Walsh over at The Oregonian has the full story on how the Alley campaign sent out a statement on Tuesday accusing Westlund of not paying his property taxes on time. Westlund Chief of Staff Stacey Dycus saw the Alley’s campaign accusation with her own accusations that one of Alley’s former companies had tax liens. Then she raised them with 37 accusations of being late with filing campaign finance data.

"Thirty-seven late filings seems like a pattern of disregard,' said Dycus. "This lack of accountability on Alley's part raises serious questions about his willingness to act in the public's interest."

Dycus has filed a complaint with the Secretary of State’s office for Alley’s late reports. But Alley campaign manager Eric Wareham was quick to come back with his own campaign finance data showing Westlund had been late seven times with his campaign reports.

Both candidates’ blemishes of mishandling finances will be something the voters will have to wrestle with when they receive their ballots this fall, but in the meantime, the campaigns have taken it upon themselves to argue which misstep was worse.

“The point here is not campaign finances,” Wareham said over the phone Wednesday. “Both campaigns have been late on campaign finance reporting, but only one candidate does not pay his property taxes on time.”