Republican candidate for governor Allen Alley can often be found sketching his analysis of the Oregon budget in diagrams and graphs.

Alley, who has a background in high-tech business, believes that Oregon should pay closer attention to the scope and detail of its spending.

The larger part of state spending is an agglomeration of federal funds for health care, food stamps and jobless benefits and state programs paid for by dedicated fees such as gasoline and hunting fees.

The consequence of putting so much of the government on automatic pilot, Alley says, are higher taxes and fees, not enough money for schools and public safety, a pension program that can't be sustained, dependence on unsteady federal dollars, and a state economy whose recovery is impeded by its government.

Read the whole story at the Statesman Journal.