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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 28, 2016)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Wednesday, December 28, 2016 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor MARISSA WILLIAMS Regional Advertising Director MARCY ROSENBERG Circulation Manager JANNA HEIMGARTNER Business Office Manager MIKE JENSEN Production Manager OUR VIEW Frightful forecast puts drivers on notice Winter in Eastern Oregon. It can be a beautiful time and place, as long as you have the option of staying indoors next to a burning fire. Tuesday morning broke to 45 degrees and windy in Pendleton, a balmy start to what would be a mild day. Residents of the city and in Hermiston might be surprised to read about the treacherous conditions that were just a few miles to the south and east. Things were markedly different atop Cabbage Hill, atop Tollgate and east of La Grande. Drivers who thought they would just cruise through the area were sorely disappointed as Interstate 84 was closed in both directions for much of the day. State highways in Union and Wallowa counties were shut down, too — and for good reason. Opinion page editor Tim Trainor risked life and limb to make the drive from Pendleton to Enterprise to fill in at our Wallowa County newspaper. Photo contributed by ODOT Highway 82 was Snow drifts cover Highway 237 in Union County closed at Island City, on Tuesday. but he drove over Tollgate and through snow-smacked Elgin, which looks more like the North Pole right now. Low visibility, blowing snow and deep drifts covered the roadway, and there was nary a place to get off the road and out of harm’s way. It was a downright blizzard, and that warm breeze that flashed through Pendleton was much more menacing at a couple thousand feet of elevation. We love to live in Eastern Oregon because of its remoteness, because of a close relationship to nature and because of its wide expanses and empty space. But those all work against us when winter storms come to town and we find ourselves behind the wheel. Drivers must do a mental check when trying to navigate the region. Studies have shown — from climbers atop Mt. Everest to city-dwellers just trying to get to the store for a gallon of milk — that in dangerous situations humans often pile poor decisions atop poor decisions. We don’t take advantage of our good fortune, and having come out of a hairy situation clean we tend to put ourselves into an even hairier one. Mentally, the longer we have traveled the more we have suffered, the more likely we are to keep going through it. That can be a fatal flaw if backcountry skiing, say, or trying get yourself to Boise when the roads won’t allow it. Eastern Oregonians must sometimes be strong enough to turn around, and surrender a round to Mother Nature and live another day. Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of publisher Kathryn Brown, managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, and opinion page editor Tim Trainor. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. OTHER VIEWS As Oregon grows, more representation imminent The (Eugene) Register-Guard, Dec. 26 O regon is solidly on track to gain a sixth congressional district as a result of the 2020 Census. In nearly all of the period since statehood, Ore gon’s population has grown more rapidly than the national average — and that trend has continued since 1980, the last time Oregon added a member to its delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives. It’s not too early for state officials to begin thinking about how to divide Oregon into six geographically coherent districts of equal population. A sixth district looks likely for Oregon partly because the state was close to gaining a new district after the last Census, in 2010. Oregon’s population growth has been relatively robust since then. More than halfway through the decade, most of the population changes that will be used to adjust congressional representation among the states have already occurred. According to an analysis by RealClearPolitics, among the states that might qualify for an additional House seat, Oregon’s position is relatively strong. Figures from mid-2016 show that Oregon was home to 1.24 percent of the nation’s population. With a five- member U.S. House delegation, Ore gon has only 1.15 percent of the nation’s representatives. The addition of a sixth member would give Oregon 1.38 percent of the 435-member House. The state would probably remain over-represented for a decade or two, and then would become under-represented until it gains a seventh House member in 30 or 40 years. All House districts are redrawn every 10 years to ensure that each of a state’s House members represents the same number of people. No district can be divided between two states, so House members from some states represent more people than members from others. Wyoming’s lone House member, for instance, represents 584,000 people, while each House member from Oregon represents more than 800,000. In Oregon, redrawing political districts is a responsibility of the state Legislature. If legislators can’t agree on a redistricting plan, the job is assigned to the secretary of state. After the Census of 2010, the Legislature successfully completed a redistricting plan for the first time in several 10-year cycles. Most of Oregon’s current congressional districts are geographically coherent. Rep. Peter DeFazio’s 4th District, for instance, covers the timber- dependent southwest quarter of the state, while Rep. Greg Walden’s 2nd District takes in all of Eastern Oregon and Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s 3rd District is centered in Portland. The most awkwardly shaped district is Kurt Schrader’s 5th, which extends from the Portland suburbs to the coast. The 2020 Census is likely to offer an opportunity to draw more compact districts in fast-growing Washington and Clackamas counties. Nationally, current population growth patterns suggest that the long-term shift of political power from the north to the south, and from the east to the west, will continue. Along with Oregon, Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina are each considered likely to gain a House seat. Florida could gain two, and Texas three. Alabama, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia can expect to lose one seat apiece. The effect on the partisan balance in the House is likely to be minimal. In Oregon, however, a sixth district centered in conservative- leaning Clackamas County could present an opportunity for Republicans, who currently hold only one of the state’s five House seats. Schrader’s 5th is currently Oregon’s closest to being a swing district, but after 2020 the state could have either two swing districts or a second one that leans Republican. OTHER VIEWS A letter to President-elect Trump about health care D ear Mr. President-elect: give insurers reason to exit quickly. As Your position on universal Nicholas Bagley, a leading expert at health insurance has been the University of Michigan, says, “If admirably clear. You support it. You you’re an insurer, you’re likely to head did before you ran for president and for the hills.” continued to do so in the campaign. The chaos runs a high risk of leaving In 2000, you wrote, “We must have millions of people without insurance universal health care.” In a Fox News early in your presidency. Many of them debate last year, you said, “We have to will be members of the white working David take care of the people that can’t take Leonhardt class who voted for you. Everyone care of themselves.” On “60 Minutes,” who loses insurance will be grist for Comment you said, “Everybody’s got to be criticism of you. covered.” As you know, the Republican leaders in Congress have never been your biggest fans. I am writing to you now because I am I think it’s fair to say that they care more about concerned that Republicans in Congress do being able to brag that they got rid of Obamacare not share your goal and are not giving you than about your political standing. The bills they good advice on this issue. I’m worried that are considering threaten your standing. they are not acting in the best interests of your But you have alternatives. presidency or the country. I The crucial first step encourage you to be skeptical I’m worried that is to avoid repealing the of them. insurance expansion without It is entirely possible for Republicans in simultaneously replacing it. you to sign a conservative The new Congress comes to health care bill that lives up Congress are not Washington next week, and its to your belief in universal acting in the best members should know where coverage. It’s a bill that stand from the beginning. you could celebrate as a interests of your pres- you It won’t work to promise replacement of Obamacare. idency or the country. millions of people health But it would be quite insurance on spec. different from the bills that If you avoid this trap, you congressional Republicans are I encourage you to be can then push both parties pushing. skeptical of them. toward a different version of When they claim that universal health coverage. their bills will not take health “There is a ton of policy space for insurance away from millions of people, they’re engaging in magical thinking. They are compromise,” as Bagley says. “There is room for a really interesting discussion and trying to fool the media, voters and you. potentially a breakthrough that could rebrand They are focusing on a strategy of “repeal and delay,” in which major parts of Obamacare Obamacare and replace some of the portions of it that most set Republican teeth on edge.” You will remain for months or years. In the will like this, Mr. President-elect: Bagley also intervening time, they say, they will somehow says you are “the kind of politician who could keep people from losing insurance. But they do not have a realistic plan, despite cut a really interesting deal.” That deal could give states more flexibility years of talk. Nor, to be blunt, does your choice to meet the top-line coverage goals. It could for secretary of health and human services, who is one of those congressional Republicans. rely more heavily on subsidies to bring healthy people into the market — and ultimately And a repeal is likely to undermine insurance scrap the mandate. It could permit insurers to markets long before its effective date. charge young people less (and older people Mr. President-elect, you are a businessman. more). It could create incentives for personal You understand that savvy executives don’t responsibility, allowing higher prices for people simply live in the present. They look to who have voluntarily gone without insurance. the future. They’re fond of quoting Wayne I will be honest that I do not favor some of Gretzky: “Skate to where the puck is going, not these ideas and worry that they would cause where it has been.” hardships. But I was not elected president, and Insurance executives can see through the you were. And all of these ideas are within the magical thinking of politicians. They know realm of serious debate about our health care that a functioning insurance market must include both healthy and sick people. There are system. For your sake and the country’s, I hope you very few ways to guarantee this combination. insist that Congress deals in reality. Magical Without Obamacare’s subsidies to help people thinking isn’t good for a presidency. buy coverage and its mandate (weak as it is) to ■ require they have coverage, markets will break David Leonhardt is the managing editor at down. The healthy will leave, the sick will stay The New York Times Company and served as its and costs will soar. Washington bureau chief since 2011. After a repeal is signed, the uncertainty will YOUR VIEWS A ‘quieter federal land battle unfolds’ If you really look at what is unfolding, it’s a battle for who speaks for local residents and how they use public resources. Mark Webb, executive director for the Forest Service-supported Blue Mountains Forest Partners (collaborative) worked hard to disband the forest commission — a commission that friends of Mr. Webb’s sat on for years, and never once questioned the legitimacy of the commission. Steve Beverlin, supervisor for the Malheur National Forest, told forestry leaders that if road closures were opposed, no harvest would come off the forest, meaning “partners” of the “collaborative” would not see their $70 million “stewardship contract” come to pass. So, what were Mr. Webb and Mr. Beverlin to do? Could they sit back and watch “their” collaborative not be the sole “voice” on the Malheur National Forest? No. Could they sit back and watch people they supported for the commission lose in the primary and see their “influence” dwindle to nothing, as the forest commission could be used in Grant County directly “coordinating” on projects in the county? No. They were left with only one course of action: Disband the commission, steal the voice from the people of Grant County, and remove the last effective tool the people had to affect change on bad projects. This doesn’t even mention Mr. Webb’s growing influence and wage as the executive director of the collaborative, that is in direct conflict with the commission. Were Forest Service “collaboratives” formed to bring people together, or to control a message? Seems more to the latter any more. Do what the collaborative says, and you can proceed; go against the collaborative, and they send in their executive director to kill public participation. Nice model you have, Mr. Webb and Mr. Beverlin. Maybe you should take in nationally — oh wait, it already is. John D. George Bates, Ore. Editor’s note: This letter is in response to an Associated Press article published Dec. 22 in the East Oregonian. LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.