August 22, 2002 8:00 AM

Strange quackings from a Liberal duck

The unfortunate reality in politics is that having sound and innovative ideas will sometimes get you little more than a cup of coffee and (maybe) a headline or two. Such is the fate of Mark Osterloh, a Democratic candidate for Governor here in Arizona.

The most interesting candidate for governor also happens to be running dead last in the polls right now: Pima County Democrat Mark Osterloh....

Osterloh has solid credentials as a liberal reformer. He helped lead successful statewide initiative campaigns to expand low-income health care coverage, to remove redistricting from the Legislature, and to create a system of public campaign financing.

But he also has a healthy skepticism about the ability of bureaucracies to solve public problems, although he certainly built a beaut with the Clean Elections Commission.

Nevertheless, with surprising frequency, Osterloh proposes to leverage the market to achieve his policy objectives.

For example, in this campaign he has called for emissions taxes to clean the air....

In an interview, Osterloh even muses about privatizing the collection of child support payments. Offer a bounty, say 25 percent, to private collection efforts, and he suspects the money would flow much faster than through government collection activities....

Osterloh has been far more successful as an activist than as a politician, losing races for state Legislature in the past three elections. His gubernatorial bid doesn't appear to be faring any better.

But his instincts for a non-bureaucratic liberal state is something from which Democrats could learn.

Indeed. Osterloh is living proof that labels can only go so far in describing a person's ideas. Yes, calling Osterloh a Liberal is an accurate description, but that label also misses the point. Being a Liberal doesn't mean being unwilling to "think outside the box" and exploring novel ways to solve old problems. It's just too bad that Osterloh has about as much chance of being elected Governor of Arizona as I do Queen of England.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on August 22, 2002 8:00 AM.

Oh God No!! Not an entire Indian Musical.... was the previous entry in this blog.

But what I really want to do is direct is the next entry in this blog.

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