Oregon AG: Alice Dale is Out

Apparently the Boundary missed a beat, because two of Oregon’s major newspapers have scooped it on the Alice Dale rumor. Since her potential candidacy was posted here earlier, so, too, shall it die here.

From the Salem Statesman-Journal‘s Steve Law:

Former state-workers leader Alice Dale has decided against running for Oregon attorney general.

Dale cited personal reasons, noting that a rigorous statewide campaign would leave too little time with her 12-year-old son.

“You have to be in all parts of the state on a regular basis,” Dale said. “While I was exploring it, I went through a period of 10 days where I was home just one evening.”

Of course, family reasons are a mitigating factor in allowing one to run for office. It’s also a factor for current elected officials choosing to resign retire, including Rep. Wayne Scott, who, thanks to the power of his family will soon stop his reign of terror on Oregon.

As stated earlier at the Boundary, Dale’s candidacy seemed like a reaction to Rep. Greg Macpherson’s entry into the race. Dale, the former leader of SEIU 503 and current leader of SEIU 49, had apparently been recruited by union leaders upset with Macpherson’s role in the 2003 reform of Oregon’s Public Employee Retirement System (PERS).

Steve Law caught on to this too:

Fellow labor leaders had urged Dale to run, she said. Some of them still are angry at Macpherson for promoting Public Employee Retirement System reforms in the 2003 legislative session.

Dale is the former executive director of Local 503 of Service Employees International Union, the largest state-workers union.

She currently is president of SEIU Local 49, a smaller affiliate in the Portland area that represents health systems and property services workers.

This may make Macpherson’s opponent, law professor John Kroger, ripe for union endorsements in the primary. And those endorsements could very well tip the scales in what promises to be a close race. The Oregon Political Staffer straw poll at this month’s Oregon Summit showed Macpherson with a narrow 76 to 73 lead over Kroger. But one should not go as far as to say that Kroger has the labor movement all sewn up–Macpherson, aside from the 2003 PERS legislation, had a pretty solid legislative record. He earned the AFSCME endorsement for 2006 and an A/B+ rating from SEIU 503 for the 2005 session.

While the Secretary of State race might turn out to be a dull primary, what with Sen. Kate Brown’s huge advantage in money and endorsements, the Attorney General’s race could be a real barnburner.