In highly personal and emotional terms, Oregon's Senate president charged headlong into a central divide in state politics: He pointedly challenged business leaders to come up with revenue ideas that he deemed crucial to staving off deep cuts in the face of a $1.7 billion budget gap.

Peter Courtney, speaking at the 14th annual Oregon Leadership Summit on Monday, recounted an incident last week with his long-estranged brother. The two finally got together to talk, but only after Courtney made the first call.

Turning to an audience of about 1,000 at the Oregon Convention Center, many of whom opposed Measure 97, the Salem Democrat suggested business leaders now occupy a similar position in the aftermath of the bruising election contest.

"I beg you to make that call," he said. "I beg you. You don't need to, but someone's got to make that call. I'm just hoping and praying it will be you."

The conference closely follows last month's decisive defeat of Measure 97, a $3 billion-a-year corporate tax increase that could have erased the shortfall. It also comes less than two months before the Oregon Legislature reconvenes to produce a balanced budget.

The summit, a forum for business leaders to promote an economic plan for the state, is typically a chance for executives and elected officials to talk about contentious ideas away from the heat of a political campaign or legislative session.

But the tenor was different this time, after years when then-Gov. John Kitzhaber would work closely with the organizers on a business plan that largely reflected Kitzhaber's own economic agenda.

This year, Gov. Kate Brown joined Courtney in asking the business community to give ground on raising revenue, even as other Democratic leaders resisted businesses' urging to find ways to cut costs.

A number of business leaders at the event said they plan to help craft new revenue proposals. But they insisted Democrats include an equally vigorous discussion on ironing out flaws in the state's tax code and addressing the $22 billion unfunded liability in the state Public Employees Retirement System.

"I want to make it clear we are not blaming Oregon's public employees for Oregon's budget problem," said Patrick Criteser, CEO and president of the Tillamook County Creamery Association and chairman of the Oregon Business Plan. "We are discussing (the pension system) simply because it is too big not to discuss."

Criteser also called for Democrats to "slow down" their push for workplace reforms, after they passed laws over the last two years to mandate paid sick leave and raise the state's minimum wage. Oregon businesses need time to absorb the impact of the new laws, he said, and the business plan presented Monday listed "do no harm in regulating the workplace" as a top priority.

That call appears at odds with House Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson, D-Portland, who has said requiring companies to provide paid family leave will be a top priority in 2017. Democrats will return to Salem with a 35-25 lead in the House and a 17-13 margin in the Senate.

Repeatedly, the summit highlighted disagreements among lawmakers, the governor and business leaders on the role of the state's public pension costs in the 2017-19 budget.

House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, defended the Legislature's spending decisions, saying, "our bottom line is making sure everyone in this state can succeed."

Instead, Kotek said businesses should disclose how much they pay in taxes. Supporters of Measure 97 are demanding legislation next year that would force certain corporations to make that information public. Oregon has the lowest business tax burden in the nation, and advocates believe tax data would persuade voters to change that.

"One of the things we all need is more transparency and honesty on how we move forward," Kotek said.

Courtney, meanwhile, called the pension shortfall "the 10,000-pound chicken in the middle of the room."

And Rukaiyah Adams, vice chair of the Oregon Investment Council, reiterated a plea she made in September for Brown and the Legislature to address a pension shortfall she said is "becoming a moral issue."

But Brown, delivering the summit's keynote address, said pension costs account for only one-fifth of the upcoming $1.7 billion shortfall. Health care costs -- largely due to the state's Medicaid expansion - are responsible for 60 percent, she said.

"You've demonstrated what you will not support," she told business leaders, invoking Measure 97. "I need to know what you can support. What you will support?"

"But I'm telling you," she added, "if your only solution is to cut teachers' salaries and renege on our promise to retirees, then this conversation will not go very far."

So far, Brown has proposed $897 million in new revenue to balance her $20.6 billion budget plan, while seeking $800 million in cuts. Her budget calls for taxes on insurers, tobacco and alcohol. It also would end a corporate tax break granted in 2013 during a past round of pension reform talks.

But without additional money, Brown said, tuition for university and community college students is likely to rise. Teacher layoffs and cuts to social services programs can also be expected.

Deanna Palm, a Portland Community College board member and president of Hillsboro's chamber of commerce, said Brown's budget would create a $84 million shortfall for the two-year schools. "Tension" over another tuition increase is palpable, she said.

"They're facing housing insecurity, food insecurity and now education insecurity, Palm said of students at the state's largest post-secondary institution. "The rungs on the ladder are just getting further and further apart."

Because revenue measures require support from three-fifths of lawmakers, that means Democrats will need at least some support from Republicans and their allies in the business community.

Business leaders, for their part, seemed on board with the idea something must be done - and soon. An overwhelming number of attendees raised their hands when asked whether Oregon's current budgetary scenario is at a crisis point.

"Business is willing to continue to talk and talk about revenues," said Pat Reiten, Associated Oregon Industries chairman. "But we have to do that in the context of costs."

Brown acknowledged that her election in November, almost two years after she took over for Kitzhaber, seems in some way at odds with the defeat of Measure 97, which she supported.

Measure 97 would have taxed certain corporations on their gross sales in Oregon over $25 million -- a controversial mechanism that turned off even some who agreed the state needed to raise more money.

Before the election, Brown said, business leaders around the state told her repeatedly that they value the same things she does: good schools, a fair tax system, and new spending for needed roads and bridges.

"So we agree on what we need and why," she said. "We just did not agree on how."

Brown said it's now up to the state's business community to offer up ideas capable of stanching much of that damage.

"Make no mistake, I will lead," Brown said. "But I can't do this alone. We can solve this problem, but we must do it together."

The Oregonian/OregonLive's Andrew Theen contributed to this report.

-- Hillary Borrud and Dana Tims

dtims@oregonian.com; 503-294-7647

hborrud@oregonian.com; 503-294-4034