Christine Drazan talks political leverage, repealing Measure 110 and business recruitment in Q&A with Greater Portland Inc
5 Oct 2022
Oregon voters will elect a new governor on Nov. 8. Over the last several weeks, Monique Claiborne, president & CEO of Greater Portland Inc, the regional economic development organization, sat down with each of the three candidates in a series of interviews.
The conversations cover key economic issues, including business recruitment and retention, restoring livability in Portland, top economic priorities, taxes and incentives, agency alignment and land-use policy.
Our first interview was with Christine Drazan, who served in the Oregon House of Representatives from 2019 to January of this year, representing parts of Clackamas County. She was House Minority Leader for two years, and she is the Republican nominee for governor.
Watch the full interview on YouTube.
Interview highlights:
- On political leverage:
“I will hold Portland accountable. They’re not going to get special carve-outs, special programs, special legislation unless they’re responsive and provide for the needs of their community, and clean up their streets, do the graffiti work, do the trash pick-up, all that basic quality-of-life stuff, and then we can work together. That’s leverage, but that’s also partnership.”
- On restoring livability:
“A strong Oregon requires a strong metro. A strong Oregon requires a growing economic vibrancy in the city of Portland, which we will only restore if we have more police on the street that are responsive when criminal activities are occurring, if we have movement and progress towards addressing the homelessness crisis that we have seen, and certainly we have to repeal Measure 110.” (Note: Measure 110, passed by Oregon voters in 2020, decriminalized the possession of hard drugs including heroin, methamphetamine and LSD.)
- Her top economic priorities:
“I will veto any new tax increase.… We need a moratorium on new regulations, and in the first hundred days of my administration I will review our rules on the books, and revise, roll back and repeal rules which in fact are adding costs to businesses and are harming our ability to grow businesses. … The last thing is to retain and attract businesses. It’s critical to be an aggressive recruiter, in support of your work and certainly in support of growing the businesses that are already here.”
- On agency alignment:
“I’m going to replace agency heads. I’m just going start there. I really believe that what we need is fresh leadership across the board.… I will have the opportunity to pick people that are aligned with my vision.”
Previously Posted:
- Oct. 12: Interview with Betsy Johnson
- Oct. 19: Interview with Tina Kotek
- Oct. 26: Recap conversation with Ryan Kuenzi and Rob O’Neill of Moss Adams
Thank you to our series sponsor:
More Topics
