---
title: 'Oregon Startups: What would you ask the next governor of Oregon?'
date: '2009-10-15T14:56:21-07:00'
type: post
word_count: 509
char_count: 3114
tokens: 662
categories:
  - '#featured'
  - '2010'
  - Elections
  - Governor
  - Oregon
  - Politics
tags:
  - '2010'
  - Governor
  - Gubernatorial
  - Oregon
  - questions
  - Startup
---

# Oregon Startups: What would you ask the next governor of Oregon?

\[HTML1\]While it’s still early in the race, I think it’s important to realize that we’ll be electing a [new governor for the state of Oregon in 2010](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_gubernatorial_election,_2010 "Oregon gubernatorial election 2010"). And it’s highly likely that whomever wins that seat will be having a significant impact on the startups you’re creating.

Given that you’re building the business you always wanted to build, we want to make sure you’ve got the best environment for doing that. So we should make sure that you’re getting the kind of information you need to make the right voting decision, right? Right.

Let’s do that shall we?

I mean, we just got into that [discussion about taxes in Oregon](http://siliconflorist.com/2009/10/12/oregon-startups-death-taxes/ "For Oregon startups, nothing is certain but death and taxes. Perhaps both in conjunction given these taxes."). That was pretty damn interesting. But I think we’ve barely begun to scratch the surface.

You startup types are a smart bunch. And you should get answers to the issues that are bothering you.

What should the next governor be considering? What issues do you have questions about? Where can the state work to help the entrepreneurs around here? Should the governor be thinking about [embracing open data and open source](http://siliconflorist.com/2009/09/30/portland-oregon-open-city-officially-embracing-open-data-open-source/ "Portland Oregon joins the ranks of the open cities officially embracing open data and open source") the way Portland did?

There are any number of questions we could ask. I mean, we could go on and on and on.

So here’s the deal. I have a little free time. And you—I’m guessing—have some pretty awesome questions for our would-be governors. So why don’t we get those out on the table, and we’ll see if we can get those answered for all of us?

Sound good? Good.

Please submit your questions below. Feel free to make them about anything you feel needs to be answered. Then, we’ll let people vote the best questions to the top.

I’ll approach the various gubernatorial camps with the questions and we’ll see if we can get them answered. Who knows? I might get brutally rebuffed. But I have to think that—if enough of you are asking amazing questions—we’re likely to get the chance to get some of them answered.

Or maybe, just maybe, some of the candidates will show up here and exhibit a little of their [potential gubernatorial social media prowess](http://siliconflorist.com/2009/09/06/oregon-governor-2010-gubernatorial-candidates-online-social-media/ "Oregon’s next governor: Assessing 14 candidates’ online presence and social media savvy").

In any case, it will be an interesting experiment—and a means of finding the candidates who understand and appreciate Oregon startups.

So what do you think? What questions would you like to ask the next governor of Oregon?

*([Image courtesy functoruser](http://www.flickr.com/photos/functoruser/78728969/ "Oregon state capitol"). Used under Creative Commons.)*