Republican candidate for governor likes his chances

Allen Alley

The former aide to Gov. Ted Kulongoski and a state treasurer candidate last year, Alley is making an early push for the office by visiting various areas of the state.

And it appears to be working for him. Last weekend Alley was the top Republican candidate with 25 percent of those voting in an online poll. Alley placed first ahead of former U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith and state Sen. Jason Atkinson.

Alley spoke with The Observer while visiting Northeast Oregon last month, and said the strong numbers he had in his failed bid for state treasurer show hope.

“I had the best showing for a Republican ever in areas, especially Multnomah County,” he said. In the heavily Democratic area, Alley received over 30 percent of the vote.

He said his time working as deputy chief of staff for the governor taught him a lot.

“I got a pretty good understanding, but I bring a different perspective to Salem,” Alley said. “It was a great experience for me and I learned an awful lot.”

A mechanical engineer who has worked for Ford and Boeing, Alley, 54, co-founded microchip company Pixelworks. He said there were a lot of misconceptions about business when he was at the state Capitol, and his experience is a big asset during these economic times.

“When I was in Salem, people talked about creating jobs, but they meant funding a job. We have to create an environment for jobs,” he said. “We get goofed when the government goes and makes a job and I have to write a check for it.”

Alley said there is state capital that should be invested in new technology, but also pointed to education — what he thinks is the best public safety program, as long as people go through it and feel like they’re going to be something when finished.

On immigration, Alley said the fact that the United States is a place where people can succeed comes with a compromise.

“The day the U.S. doesn’t have an immigration issue means no one wants to come here, which would be a bad thing,” he said.

Alley said if undocumented residents break the law they should be sent back to where they came from, but he would support a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for those following the rules.

“But if a child’s a citizen and the parents are illegal, what do you do? There isn’t one single and clear answer,” he said. “I don’t think states should take on the issue, it’s a federal issue.”

Turning to natural resources, Alley pointed to the fact that more than half of Oregon is owned by the federal government, and that the state isn’t extracting any value from the land like eastern states.

“I don’t think we’re getting adequate benefit,” he said.

He thinks bringing in new technology into the wood products industry and other options would elevate work because there’s an elevated interest in an old industry.

“Don’t just spend money on bridges, which are needed, spend on what’s going to drive innovation,” he said.

Alley said to help the economy we need to work on energy independence, which he wishes President Obama would do first, and then develop new technologies.

“Even if we eliminated our need for burning oil, we still have plastic,” he said.

But in regards to the stimulus package recently passed, Alley said he would likely follow some other Republican governors and refuse parts of it that equal millions in areas like unemployment.

“It sounds odd, but you don’t want a future liability for a short-term gain,” he said.

With his strong business background and moderate ideals, Alley said he’s a Republican because of what he saw growing up.

“I’ve been a Republican my whole life, but haven’t been a part of the Republican party or apparatus my whole life,” he said. “(Today) we’re pushing decisions down to the lowest levels, meanwhile our whole national defense has changed. Now it’s all about information.

“When I was a kid, Republicans were all about education — that and entrepreneurship,” he said. “That’s why I’m a Republican.”