Oregon State Treasurer Candidates Debate
On September 26, Republican Allen Alley and Democrat Ben Westlund will debate who is most qualified to become Oregon State Treasurer. The Treasury has numerous financial responsibilities: managing the investment of state funds, issuing state bonds and serving as the central bank for state agencies. How will Alley and Westlund weigh decisions about innovation, fiscal responsibility, job creation and resource management? Both candidates have strong entrepreneurial backgrounds, so it will be interesting to see what each considers the top priorities for chief financial officer of the state.
For 30 years Alley’s experience, which includes co-founding the semiconductor company Pixelworks, spanned engineering, marketing, entrepreneurship and public service. In 2007, Governor Kulongoski appointed Alley as his deputy chief of staff, responsible for overseeing the policy areas of economic development, technology, transportation, workforce training and energy. In 2006, Alley was named chairman of the Oregon Business Plan and he currently serves on the board of the Mechanical Engineering Industrial Advisory Council at Purdue University. In 1974 Westlund co-founded American Fossil, a company that made non-toxic substances from crushed marine fossils. After selling the company and creating an international animal husbandry business, he retired in 1994. Westlund was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 1997, sponsored the Healthy Oregon Act and advocated for renewable energy and clean technology. Westlund now serves on the board of the Oregon Cultural Trust, an innovative public-private partnership designed to expand Oregon’s economy through investment in the arts.
