legal.JPG

Legalizing and taxing marijuana, as Colorado and Washington have done, could help pay for Oregon programs that help the homeless and the needy, says Tim Carr, Republican candidate for governor.

(Brennan Linsley/The Associated Press)

Tim Carr, Republican candidate for governor, says he favors legalizing and taxing recreational marijuana use and would spend the proceeds on helping the homeless and others in need.

"I don't want that money siphoned off" and used for run-of-the mill state programs because too much would go to paying for public employee pensions, Carr told The Oregonian.

Tim Carr: Gov. John Kitzhaber's PERS reforms are a "token reduction."

Carr is one of six Republicans running in the primary to determine who takes on incumbent Democrat John Kitzhaber. He's the only one from the Portland area – a distinction he says gives him an advantage over the rest of the field.

State Rep. Dennis Richardson, a Republican from Central Point, is widely seen as the front-runner in the primary. He has a long head start on his competitors and has by far the most political experience.

But Carr said it's all but impossible for someone from outside of the Portland area to win statewide.

"If he beats me, Kitzhaber will blow him out," Carr said about Richardson.

Richardson, who is campaigning full time now that the Legislature has adjourned for the year, said he thinks the state's marijuana laws should be changed, but he isn't ready yet to say how.

"What we have presently with Oregon's medical marijuana cards has failed," Richardson said. But jumping in quickly to legalize recreational use isn't a good idea, he added.

"We would be wise to wait a year and watch what takes place in Colorado and Washington," the two states where voters approved legalizing pot use. "We could learn from their mistakes or their successes."

Carr presents himself as a moderate businessman whose main focus would be putting people back to work. He said he wants to take public employee pension reforms farther than Kitzhaber did as a way to ensure businesses don't leave the state because of high tax bills.

He called the $5 billion reduction in PERS liability championed by Kitzhaber and approved by the Legislature a "token reduction" that could yet be overturned by the state Supreme Court.

"The regular people out there are working hard to get by. They don't have PERS."

-- Harry Esteve