A4 Opinion wallowa.com March 4, 2015 Wallowa County Chieftain Oregon needs more auditing capacity W hat are the biggest EDITORIAL differences between Oregon and The voice of the Chieftain Washington? They pump their own gas, and we don’t? They have a sales tax and we don’t? They have NFL and Major League franchises and we don’t? Yes, yes and yes. 7KHUHLVDQRWKHUVLJQL¿FDQWGLVWLQFWLRQZKLFKLVJODULQJLQWKH ZDNHRIWKH&RYHU2UHJRQ¿DVFRDQGWKHGHSDUWXUHRI*RY-RKQ Kitzhaber. Washington has an independent auditor who carries out aggressive, far-reaching investigations. He is much better funded and staffed than Oregon’s. ,Q6DOHP\RXZRXOGEHKDUGSUHVVHGWR¿QGDOHJLVODWRURUVWDWH employee who does not know that state government’s computer systems are largely antiquated. “Our computer systems can’t talk to each other,” said state Rep. Dennis Richardson during his campaign for governor. %XWQRZKHUHZLOO\RX¿QGDFRPSUHKHQVLYHZULWWHQVWXG\ of state government’s cyber readiness or lack of readiness. $QGQRZKHUHZLOO\RX¿QGDFRPSOHWHOLVWLQJRIWKHVWDWH¶V huge computer blunders and what those disasters cost the Treasury. Every Oregon secretary of state tells us they will use WKH$XGLW'LYLVLRQRIWKHLURI¿FHWRVKLQHDOLJKWRQVWDWH government. But few audits over recent decades have moved debate and discussion within Oregon. When Phil Keisling was secretary of state, his Audits Division did conduct an DXGLWRIWKH'HSDUWPHQWRI0RWRU9HKLFOHVFRPSXWHU¿DVFR A major recommendation of that audit was that the state needed top expertise on its side, to ensure that software vendors didn’t overcharge, and were held to the highest of professional standards. If that recommendation had been heeded, we would not have had the Cover Oregon disaster with Oracle. So there is a question of institutional memory within state government as well as the state Legislature. An institution that cannot remember things will make the same mistakes over and over. The other question is the capacity of Oregon’s Audits Division. ,Q2UHJRQWKH$XGLWV'LYLVLRQKDV¿QDQFLDODXGLWRUV SHUIRUPDQFHDXGLWRUV¿YH,7DXGLWRUVDQGWZRPXQLFLSDO auditor positions. Its ’13-15 biennial budget is $22.8 million. In :DVKLQJWRQWKH$XGLW¶V2I¿FHKDVDWRWDOVWDIIRIDQGD 15 budget of $35.2 million. Washington state’s auditor delivers sharp probes of state, county and local agencies. The auditor is an independent VWDWHZLGHHOHFWHGRI¿FLDOUHVSRQVLEOHIRUPDNLQJFHUWDLQ government entities comply with rigorous accounting standards, IUHHIURPRXWVLGHLQÀXHQFHDQGFRQWURO7KHPHUHSURVSHFWRI such oversight might have been enough to curb the types of EOXUUHGOLQHVEHLQJUHSRUWHGDERXWIRUPHU*RY-RKQ.LW]KDEHU DQGKLVHQWUHSUHQHXULDO¿DQFpH ,QDGGLWLRQWR¿QDQFHVWKH:DVKLQJWRQ$XGLWRU¶V2I¿FH investigates whistleblower cases and alleged fraud by government employees. Its performance audits are aimed at intervening before DJHQF\PLVWDNHVRULQHI¿FLHQFLHVJHWRXWRIKDQG,WZDVIRU example, recently key to helping Ilwaco, Wash.’s, Ocean Beach Hospital discover its mistakes and return to viability. States and their many tiers of agencies and smaller jurisdictions are, in effect, giant corporations paid by taxpayers. Professional, independent and appropriately supported auditing is indispensable. Having an independently elected auditor, such as Washington’s, removes the political tug and pull of statehouse politics. Oregon needs to increase its auditing capacity. There is too much at stake for us not to learn from state and local government’s mistakes. USPS No. 665-100 P.O. Box 338 • Enterprise, OR 97828 2I¿FH1:)LUVW6W(QWHUSULVH2UH 3KRQH‡)D[ :DOORZD&RXQW\¶V1HZVSDSHU6LQFH Enterprise, Oregon M EMBER O REGON N EWSPAPER P UBLISHERS A SSOCIATION P UBLISHER E DITOR R EPORTER R EPORTER N EWSROOM ASSISTANT A D S ALES CONSULTANT G RAPHIC D ESIGNER O FFICE MANAGER Marissa Williams, marissa@bmeagle.com Rob Ruth, editor@wallowa.com Stephen Tool, stool@wallowa.com Rocky Wilson, rwilson@wallowa.com Rich Rautenstrauch, rrautenstrauch@wallowa.com Brooke Pace, bpace@wallowa.com Robby Day, rday@wallowa.com Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com P UBLISHED EVERY W EDNESDAY BY : EO Media Group 3HULRGLFDO3RVWDJH3DLGDW(QWHUSULVHDQGDGGLWLRQDOPDLOLQJRI¿FHV Subscription rates (includes online access) Wallowa County Out-of-County 1 Year $40.00 $57.00 Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery See the Wallowa County Chieftain on the Internet www.wallowa.com facebook.com/Wallowa | twitter.com/wcchieftain POSTMASTER — Send address changes to Wallowa County Chieftain P.O. Box 338 Enterprise, OR 97828 Contents copyright © 2015. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. America stubbornly unhealthy By Rocky Wilson There’s one of those biblical things that says to count it all joy, yet that can be a tough assignment under many con- ditions. Like most elements of this thing we call life, we can suffer mightily and feel sorry for ourselves when things get tough or exercise free will and gain abject plea- sure from the small things like sunshine, ZLQGÀRZHUVDQGFKHHUIXOELUGV We truly have options. Yet, whenever one’s overall health wavers, the odds of being cheerful seem to head south accordingly. A wise man once said “ignorance is bliss,” and too often it’s more convenient to remain in ignorance than respond to warning signs that hint that one’s health might be suspect. A perfect example is the society we live in. That the United States leads the world in obesity is an example of stick- ing our heads under the sand and seeking “pleasure” ahead of common sense in re- gard to family health. You have to be of preschool mentality to believe that being overweight promotes quality health, yet repeated warnings by doctors and nutri- tionists to consume more fruits and veg- etables and exercise more commonly go on deaf ears. It’s as if we, the general population, agree we want to live healthier, longer, with Wallowa County’s beef industry. My wife and I are participating in JABBERWOCK II the second of three waves of the CHIP SURJUDP QRZ DQG WKH EHQH¿WV DUH VXU- prising. Personally, I’ve lost a total of 23 more productive lives but, by cracky, ar- pounds I didn’t need and, at my wife’s in- en’t willing to give up anything of plea- sistence, am exercising more. My blood pressure has dropped so far in a healthy sure to attain such things. If it truly is ignorance, there has to be a direction that my primary care provider giant assist given to our stubborn unwill- has suggested I visit my cardiologist to ingness to learn and apply what we don’t determine if a medication change should want to know. It’s hard to even assume be made. I’m far from a poster child as I’d that mothers, who love their children worldwide, conceivably cannot grasp the guess all participants are gaining in dif- unhealthy link between their hefty kids IHUHQW ZD\V (YHQ WKH VFLHQWL¿F YLGHR clips shown during the 18-class course and grocery baskets full of soda. Whether you know it or not, there’s FDQ EH OLIHFKDQJLQJ -XVW UHFHQWO\ WKH a bit of an oxymoron currently ongoing amount of measurable “bad” a healthy in regard to Wallowa County’s standard man ingested during one solid foray with food fare and the Complete Health Im- ice cream was staggering. But all things in moderation, right? provement Program (CHIP) that Wal- While attending the Hospital Foun- lowa Memorial Hospital is midway in bringing to a total of 150 county resi- dation’s biggest fundraiser of the year recently, I sat next to a veteran Wallowa dents. Meat, preferably beef, and potatoes, County rancher who, along with his wife, plus eggs have been gracing the plates was attending round No. 1 of the CHIP of Wallowa County residents for as long program and singing its praises. Too, he as anyone can remember. In contrast, Dr. — like me — blissfully was enjoying a Hans Diehl’s 27-year-old CHIP lifestyle rare prime rib. Taste cannot be overlooked, yet were program that’s graduated and tracked the success of more than 65,000 partic- mothers to toss in one or three fewer ipants places health priorities on fruits, Snickers into the shopping cart might be vegetables, legumes, and nuts. Exclusiv- a positive for their kids. Jabberwock II columnist Rocky Wil- ity away from all meat is not Dr. Diehl’s WKLQJEXWWKHPHVVDJHGH¿QLWHO\FRQÀLFWV son is a reporter for the Chieftain. Bah to shallow-rooted spruces How about that windstorm, huh? :KDW$'D\+LJK¿YHVDOODURXQGIRU the utility crews, who are probably still sleeping after that marathon. I wasn’t getting any shuteye once that freight train wind started rolling through. I went outside for a peek at 4 a.m. and discovered my truck underneath a spruce tree. That was enough distraction to let the dog I was supposed to be watching for a friend slip outside and run off into what looked and sounded a lot like the Wizard of Oz tornado scene. So I set out at a brisk jog at four in the morn- ing, trying to keep this husky in sight ZKLOHSLHFHVRI(QWHUSULVHÀHZE\DQG ORRVH URR¿QJ VKLQJOHV RQ PDQ\ KRXV- HV ÀLSSHG XS DQG GRZQ OLNH NH\V RQ D player piano. “Sit” and “stay” just made the dog run faster, so when she paused to sniff some landscaping I went for a À\LQJ WDFNOH WKDW HQGHG DJDLQVW VRPH- body’s rosebush. Neither the dog or I got scratched, because my new down jacket got all the thorns. This was all before daybreak. Or coffee. Walking home from that invigorating start to the day, with one side of my ex- pensive coat getting smaller and blowing away in the breeze, I got a text from Paul at Winding Waters River Expeditions in -RVHSKZLWKDSKRWRVKRZLQJKRZPRVW of the mural I painted just wasn’t there anymore. It seemed like a good idea at the time to paint it on panels and screw those to the building. But that was before I knew the wind was an art critic. Still walking home, I took inventory of the carnage. Street sign snapped off. Fences blown over. Aspen grove at Ter- es of pure thunder beneath the hood. And now a tree on top.