Westlund seeks higher fees to pay for troopers
Governor's race - The candidate says a boost in vehicle and driver fees would increase patrols

Friday, August 4, 20065
The Oregonian

Independent Ben Westlund parted ways with his rivals in the governor's race Thursday by proposing to raise motor vehicle fees by $35 million a year to restore around-the-clock patrols by the Oregon State Police. Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a Democrat, and Republican Ron Saxton both said earlier this week that they wanted to hire more troopers to reverse the service cuts that have hit the agency over the past three decades. But neither said how they would pay for the additional troopers.

Westlund, a Bend state senator who has mounted a petition drive to qualify for the November ballot, released a plan detailing several fee increases, including a $6 boost in the cost of registering a vehicle and a $5 raise in what a new driver would pay for a license.

"Every time a politician promises to deliver a new program or increase funding to solve a problem, they should be forced to answer how they will pay for it," Westlund said in a statement on his Web site. "My plan clearly shows how we would pay to double trooper strength statewide without diverting one cent from priorities such as education and health care."

Since 1979, the number of full-time troopers has dropped from 665 to 333. The cuts came after the state police patrol function lost its funding through the gasoline tax, forcing the agency to compete with other services in the general fund.

Kulongoski tried to raise the gas tax to help the state police in 2003, but the proposal was rejected by the Legislature. In 2005, lawmakers rebuffed his plan to dedicate a share of lottery money to the agency. The governor said earlier this week that he'd bring a plan to the 2007 Legislature to guarantee 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week patrols on highways as well as more money for criminal investigations and the state crime lab.

Saxton said he would reshuffle government priorities to provide additional funding for the state police, and he blasted the governor for letting trooper strength drop to a 20-year low under his watch.

-- Jeff Mapes