As SaxtonWatch launches, promising to police Ron's rhetoric and give voters the real scoop, we take a moment to tip our hat to others who have taken on the responsibility before us.

During the Republican primary, David Sarasohn took a look at what Ron was saying and found it didn't quite square with the truth.

On Ron's deceptive claims about government efficiency:

When he's just denouncing bureaucracy and waste, Saxton does fine. But when he gets into specifics, his statements seem to lack the crispness and precision you expect from a $300-an-hour lawyer.

His first TV spot declared, "Let's face facts. Oregon has one of the nation's most inefficient state governments, getting a D for managing your tax dollars."

Oregon did get a D in the annual report of the Government Performance Project, "Governing the States 2005," but not for managing its money. The D was for the state's entire financial system, including the almost total dependence on the income tax, the kicker, the lack of a rainy-day fund and initiatives that can overturn any planning.

On the question of money management, the current report says, "Oregon state officials are doing what they can to make sure Oregon gets the most for what little money it has." As Susan Willie, director of the Government Performance Project, explains: "Given all of these constraints, Oregon's doing the best it can."

So the D isn't really for managing tax dollars.

Maybe it's for Dishonest.

And how Ron was misleading voters on our schools:

In his newest spot, Saxton looks soulfully into the camera and declares, "Oregon's politicians just spent a billion more dollars on our schools. Yet a third of our kids still don't graduate and Oregon ranks 46th in key student achievement areas. More money alone won't solve the problem."

Although apparently it helps in winning elections.

Over four years, from the 2001-03 budget cycle to the current one, the Legislature has added a billion dollars to school spending. But as The Oregonian's Jeff Mapes noted, the rating came from a Manhattan Institute study of college readiness in 2001 -- before any of the new money had been spent. The same study in 2002 ranked Oregon 25th.

And most national studies, not to say tests, rank Oregon schools considerably higher than 46th -- even in Portland, where Saxton's time as school board head is the core of his government experience.

When it comes to prison spending, Ron's numbers just don't add up:

In debates and other appearances, Saxton has often asserted that Washington County spends 80 cents per meal on prison inmates while the state spends $3 a meal, and he was going to get state prisons off the truffle-infused gravy train. But the state says it actually spends more like 70 cents a meal on food -- and even counting labor and other costs, Saxton's $3 number imagines a much happier meal than prison inmates ever get.

And Ron admitted he was making up number in the debate over immigration:

All three Republican candidates have eagerly taken up the illegal immigration issue, but Saxton has outdone the others, with an early radio ad charging that illegal immigrants cost Oregon taxpayers "hundreds of millions of dollars." Questioned afterward, he agreed the number was actually "unknowable."

Oregonians owe Sarasohn a debt of gradtitude holding Saxton's claims to account. We look forward to his continuing review of gubernatorial race as the campaign heats up.