Oregon governor champions rural job creation as key to reviving economy

To solve Oregon's economic crisis, the state must help its rural areas as much as it does the Portland metropolitan area, says the state's new governor. Speaking to a summit of business and political leaders in December, Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber, left, "said government officials promoting job creation should remember that 15 new jobs in Coos Bay are similar in their local effect to 500 new positions in the Portland area," Jonathan J. Cooper of The Associated Press reports. (AP photo)

"These goals have got to apply to all Oregonians," Kitzhaber said in a speech to the Oregon Business Council's annual Leadership Summit. In a report released before the summit, the group says "government policy should be focused on job creation because getting Oregonians back to work -- and therefore paying taxes again -- will help the economy while also increasing state government revenue," Cooper writes. (Read more)