Quick Hits: 24 Days to Ballots Edition

Kari Chisholm

It's Tuesday, September 21, which means there's just 25 days (and three weekends) until Oregon voters start voting - and just 42 days until it's all over.

• There's still only one televised debate scheduled between Chris Dudley and John Kitzhaber (on September 30). The Statesman-Journal's Peter Wong calls it "pathetic." He's right.

• Until May, Chael Sonnen was the GOP nominee in HD-37. He withdrew from the race after a series of racist comments appeared on his Twitter account - an account he told Willamette Week he didn't own, even though he did. Well, now it's gotten worse for the erstwhere Republican politician -- after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs following a UFC fight in early August, Sonnen has been suspended for a year and fined by California regulators. He's reportedly admitted to taking the banned substance.

• Interesting news out of HD-59, a district that includes Wasco, Jefferson, Sherman, Gilliam, Wheeler, and Grant counties (map). Democratic candidate Will Boettner of Fossil was endorsed by the conservative Bend Bulletin over incumbent Rep. John Huffman (R-The Dalles). Noting that "the state's urban-rural divide is every bit as significant as its Democratic-Republican divide," the Bulletin says that "Oregonians would be better served by Boettner, a rural representative who happens to be a Democrat rather than a Republican."

• There's barely been any coverage at all of the State Treasurer race from the mainstream press - so you'll have to turn to the NW Labor Press to learn about Ted Wheeler's plan to "quickly inject $300 to $400 million into the state’s economy without costing taxpayers a penny."

Wheeler is proposing that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) cover the insurance of all bank deposits made by public entities. Currently, when a school district or city council puts money in a bank, the bank is responsible for guaranteeing the safety of those deposits.

“Banks don’t always want to hold public money because it is expensive to do so,” Wheeler explained. “What they want to do is lend it out. They make more money lending it out.”

Wheeler suggests that the FDIC remove that burden from the banks by insuring the deposits — just like it does for any citizen who has a bank account. ...

That, in turn, would free up $300 to $400 million that banks are currently sitting on to loan out to businesses.

“It would be like a shot in the arm, and it wouldn’t be just this year,” Wheeler said. “It would be every year from now on. This is a great opportunity.”

By Kari Chisholm Sept. 21, 2010 Posted in Video.