Prosperity Council delivers workable roadmap for state

Gov. Tina Kotek’s 15-member Oregon Prosperity Council released its 452-page prescription for Oregon’s ailing economy to great fanfare last week. Cutting through the report’s massive scope and complexity, foundational recommendations include:

• Lightening business sector tax and regulatory burdens.

• Streamlining permit processes, particularly in land use.

• Enhancing investment in university education and research.

• Expanding availability of turnkey industrial sites.

It would be easy to dismiss the effort as an election-year political ploy, designed simply to provide window dressing for Kotek’s stretch run against Christine Drazan, the same GOP opponent she faced four years ago. Easy, but not really fair, in our analysis.

The council includes a pair of well-known labor leaders, but Kotek filled most of its seats with heavy hitters and rising stars from Oregon’s business community, led by co-chairs Renee James, founder of Ampere Computer, and Curtis Robinhold, executive director at the Port of Portland. And she made sure they were representative of all corners of the state and all modes of business endeavor.

The council adopted improving Oregon’s business climate, strengthening its workforce and modernizing the tools needed to support growth as its core mission at the outset, observing, “Underlying this work is the recognition that lasting prosperity comes from increasing productivity, innovation and investment,” enabling Oregon’s economy to “generate greater value over time.”

If the impetus were purely political, a safer and more muted outcome could have been achieved by infusing the council with long-time associates reflecting a more urban, progressive and pro-labor attitude. And we think the immediate fallout supports our take on that.

Drazan termed the council’s recommendations “a meaningful start” deserving of “strong bipartisan support.” She said she agreed with “ideas that create jobs for our economy and make Oregon more affordable,” even if they stem from “an election-year gimmick.”

Her party took generally the same tone, as did the Oregon business community. While viewing the governor as a contributor to the problem, thus a questionable choice to lead a badly needed course correction, they generally embraced the prosperity council recommendations.

The hostile fire largely originated from the other flank, producing headlines like this one from The Oregonian: “Oregon unions, progressives slam draft plan from Gov. Kotek’s economic prosperity council.” It ran above a story reporting “more than 30 Oregon unions and advocacy groups criticized the council’s process and asked its members to fundamentally reshape their approach.”

The story was based on a leaked version. However, the final version reflected no major changes when it was officially released a few days later, and echoed many notes we have been sounding editorially in recent years.

We view government regulation and taxation as elements society must impose on business to ensure an equitable playing field and protect workers, citizens and families.

However, when government becomes too plodding, bureaucratic and burdensome, it can cripple enterprise and smother innovation. And if Oregon has been inclined to err or one side, it has historically been that one.

By any measure, Oregon’s economy has lost much of its luster in recent years. As a consequence, businesses blessed with sufficient mobility have been voting with their feet by moving on to more favorable climes.

What’s more, state university systems have long been the most reliable incubators of innovation and entrepreneurism. But Oregon has been starving the Peter of higher ed to feed the Paul of K-12 for many decades now.

Is Kotek up to the task, or would Drazan be better suited? We will address that down the line.

In the meantime, we credit the governor with making a sincere effort to attack a serious problem — and at some risk, given the powerful public employee unions’ wield in Democratic Party politics. We also credit the council with giving us a compelling roadmap for economic revitalization in Oregon — one that seems well-worth embracing, at least as a starting point.