BEND, OR -- Former Bend City Councilor and State Senator Chris Telfer announced Thursday, she will seek the Independent Party of Oregon’s nomination for Treasurer in 2016. The local CPA tells KBND she has contemplated the run for several months. "I just got to the point that I was seeing a crisis that was going to hit the state in 2017 in the financial area, and I felt that I am the one who has the skill set as a CPA. I teach government accounting for OSU and I thought, well, this is a way I could help the state out."
She adds, "We’ve got about a $3 billion crisis that we’re going to be facing. I actually developed the “back to basics” budget back in 2010, I guess it was, trying to balance the budget without increasing taxes. I have the skill set, nobody else does that’s running, so I thought well, I’ll throw my hat in the ring." Beaverton Democrat Tobias Read is the only other person to publicly announce a run for Treasurer, although campaigns can’t officially register until September 10.
She registered with Oregon’s newest “major party” a few weeks ago and says it’s the best way to run her kind of campaign. "I want to keep politics out of the Treasury. It’s not about getting coerced by the left or the right dogma. It’s about protecting Oregonians’ money, so I want to keep politics out of it."
It can be difficult for candidates from east of the Cascades to run for statewide office. But, Telfer says she already has name recognition across Oregon, having served as a State Senator and Lottery Commissioner, along with her bid for Treasurer as a Republican in 2010. She lost that race to Ted Wheeler. "I don’t think people understand what the Treasury does, but it’s critical. Somebody’s got to wrap their hands around a $3 billion shortfall. There’s all kinds of issues there. I think part of my attempt is going to be getting Oregonians to understand that this is a critical time for the Treasury, for Oregonians’ money and somebody who knows what they’re doing needs to be protecting it."
