Independent gubernatorial candidate vies for Nov. ballot

SALEM, Ore. (AP) ?” Independent gubernatorial hopeful Ben Westlund is launching an all-out effort to gain a spot on the November ballot that he says will include the use of paid petition carriers to gather signatures for him.

The central Oregon senator says he decided to use paid petitioners because his signature-gathering effort has been made more difficult by a state law passed by the 2005 Legislature.

It says independent candidates can only get valid signatures from fellow independents or from Democrats or Republicans who didn’t vote in the May 16 primary. Before the new law, any registered voter could sign a nominating petition for an independent candidate.

Still, Westlund is confident he will meet the Aug. 29 deadline to round up at least 18,368 valid signatures, and says he’s already gotten about 2,000 of those from several hundred volunteer petition carriers.

“We’re rocking,” he said Tuesday. “As we travel this state, our message about the need to reduce partisanship is being very well received.”

If he makes the ballot, Westlund will face Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Republican lawyer Ron Saxton, who won their respective primary contests last Tuesday in an election that drew one of the lowest voter turnouts in years.

Westlund says he thinks the low turnout was just another indication of voter disenchantment with both major political parties, and presents an opening for his independent bid for Oregon’s top office.

“People saw all of the negative ads, and all of the politics of personal destruction in that election, and they asked, ‘What’s all of that got to do with the quality of my life?’ And the answer is, ‘Nothing,'” Westlund says.

Lisa Grove, a Portland pollster who works for Kulongoski’s campaign, says Westlund’s use of paid petition carriers undercuts his claims that he has lots of “grass roots” supporters.

“They have to pay to get 18,000 signatures? I think it is indicative of the lack of enthusiasm” for Westlund’s candidacy, Grove said.

Westlund said, however, that he believes he could get the signatures just from a volunteer effort but decided to use paid petition carriers to hasten the process.

“Every potential donor I talk to asks, ‘Are you going to be able to get the signatures?’ I think this will put the question to rest sooner,” he said.

As Westlund begins his fall campaign in earnest, a recent survey by Portland pollster Tim Hibbitts indicates that Westlund’s name remains an unfamiliar one to many voters.

Among Democrats, 65 percent said they didn’t know who Westlund is, while 75 percent of Republicans gave a similar response. The margin of error on the survey, which was conducted April 30-May 2, among a sampling of 600 Oregonians is plus or minus 5.6 percentage points.

Professor Ronald Tammen, director of the Mark Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University, says that while Westlund has a message that appeals to many voters, he will have to work hard to become better known.

“He comes from Bend, and he doesn’t have a natural base in the Democratic Willamette Valley,” Tammen said. “It’s going to be a tough uphill battle for him.”