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Bussiness Alliance: Ballot Measure, Labor & Treasurer endorsements

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[5]By Portland Business Alliance [6]

The Portland Business Alliance board of directors today announced its positions on a number of ballot measures and its endorsement of several candidates. A complete list is below. Dennis Rawlinson, chair of the Alliance’s board of directors and firm chair of Miller Nash, made the following statement about the Alliance endorsements: “With Portland-metro wages and incomes below the national level, the Alliance believes that except for specific education-related measures it is not the time to increase taxes on individuals or businesses. We looked at each measure with this belief in mind.

“Regarding our candidate endorsements, we interviewed the candidates for each office and reviewed their responses to our questionnaires in order to gauge their positions on the issues that impact private-sector job creation and retention. Our endorsements were based on the candidates’ commitment to support jobs.”

Ballot measure positions:
•Portland Public Schools construction bond: Support with comments
•Creative Arts Network income tax: Oppose
•Clackamas County voter approval of public rail expenditures: Oppose
•Elimination of state inheritance tax: Support

Candidate endorsements:
•State Treasurer: Ted Wheeler
•State Labor Commissioner: Bruce Starr
•Clackamas County Commission: Jamie Damon

The Alliance will make more candidate endorsements in October. Alliance board endorsements are based on a process that includes interviewing the viable candidates for the political office and presenting a recommendation to the board. Two-thirds of the board members present must agree before an endorsement is made.