Opinion
wallowa.com
A4
June 28, 2017
Wallowa County Chieftain
Election interference not a partisan issue
R
eports of Russian interference
in an American election should
be concerning to everyone in
this country, regardless of their political
affiliation. A foreign government
meddling in our sovereignty and
independence is not a partisan issue.
And multiple nonpartisan U.S.
intelligence
agencies,
as well as
intelligence
Voice of the Chieftain
agencies
of some
foreign allies, have reported that Russia
attempted to influence our democratic
process during the 2016 presidential
election.
It doesn’t matter who won the election.
Outside interference is an affront to
our way of life. It undermines the belief
that Americans have in our institutions
and our government.
Almost as scary as the fact that
our country has been under intense,
sustained cyberattack is the fact our
population has become so polarized that
some are willing to see their neighbors
EDITORIAL
as enemies, rather than a foreign power
actively trying to manipulate our country
for their benefit.
This is something that should bring us
together. In the face of a real enemy, we
should remember we’re all on the same
team, hoping to make our country as
safe and prosperous as possible.
We should all want to know exactly
what happened during the run up to the
2016 election. We should all demand
the truth so we are better protected from
interference in future elections.
Questioning and condemning a
foreign country’s involvement should
not be conflated as an attack on our
president.
Unless an investigation determines
a member of Donald Trump’s campaign
colluded in the interference or that the
president obstructed justice regarding
the investigation into the matter, he
should be presumed innocent. No
evidence has yet been presented that
either occurred.
There is ample evidence, however,
that Russia attempted to influence our
election and undermine our democracy.
That should be concerning to everyone,
including the president, both political
parties and every elected official.
During his testimony before Congress,
former FBI director James Comey was
clear he believes this will happen again
and again. Russia and other enemies will
look for any means they can to disrupt
our nation’s free election process, and
cyberattacks are the most efficient way to
do damage covertly.
Election interference is not a party-
line issue. It is a threat to all Americans.
We should demand answers from our
intelligence agencies, and implore
Congress to get to the bottom of what
happened and figure out how we can
stop it from happening again.
Debate about president’s business dealings is heating up
Black’s Law Dictionary defines Emolument
as “profit arising from office or employment;
that which is received as a compensation for ser-
vices, or which is annexed to the possession of
office as salary, fees, and perquisites; gain, pub-
lic or private.”
Although the term might seem obscure and
antiquated, it will soon become more famil-
iar to Americans who pay attention to national
news because of the vast economic holdings and
ongoing activities of our current president and
because of safeguards against corruption that
are written into our Constitution.
The original Constitution uses the word
“emolument” several times. Article I, Section
9 states: “No Title of Nobility shall be granted
by the United States: And no Person holding
any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall,
without the Consent of the Congress, accept of
any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any
kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or for-
eign State.” Article II, Section 1 declares: “The
President shall, at stated times, receive for his
Services, a Compensation, which shall neither
be encreased (sic) nor diminished during the
Period for which he shall have been elected, and
he shall not receive within that Period any other
Emolument from the United States, or from any
of them.”
While many of our presidents throughout
history began their lives in modest economic
POLITICAL
PHILOSOPHY
John McColgan
circumstances –– and while nearly all politi-
cians would like voters to believe that they did
–– most presidents had already achieved per-
sonal wealth by the time they were elected. But
in order to maintain public confidence both in
their own honesty and in the integrity of our
government, most recent presidents have taken
two simple steps: they have made their own tax
returns public; and they have placed their per-
sonal investments in a blind trust to be managed
during their term of office.
But one thing is clear both to his supporters
and critics: Donald Trump is not like most pres-
idents. Not only is he far more wealthy, but his
business relationships are more secretive, com-
plex and multinational.
Although it is difficult to pin down a spe-
cific number, business journalists estimate
that Trump owns more than 350 corporations,
many of which are designated only by initials.
And while he promised during the campaign to
release his tax returns, he continues to stonewall
in that area, choosing instead to release finan-
etters to the Editor are subject to editing and
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cial disclosure statements, which give a more
broad estimate of his wealth without providing
the specific details.
Likewise, Trump’s decision to retain owner-
ship in his investments while turning over the
everyday management of his corporations to his
sons hardly constitutes what government ethics
experts would regard as blind trust management.
Less than six months into his presidency,
examples abound of instances where Trump
could be in violation of the Constitution’s emol-
uments prohibitions. Until recently, the First
Lady resided at Trump Towers in New York,
which necessitated that the Secret Service pay
with out tax dollars directly into Trump’s pocket
for the rental of two floors there. And on many
weekends since his election, Trump has brought
his entire publicly paid entourage, along with
national media and international VIPs vying
for his attention and favor, to stay at his Mar-a-
Lago resort in Florida.
The growing appearance of the quid pro quo
is also troubling. The head of China’s govern-
ment visited Trump in Florida a few weeks after
China had announced it had awarded Trump 38
trademarks, which was an extremely lucrative
and timely advance of Trump’s business inter-
ests in that market.
The ambassador from Saudi Arabia, whose
nation was not included as one of the Muslim
countries listed under Trump’s travel ban (even
though most Americans bitterly recall that 15 of
the 19 hijackers on 9/11 hailed from that coun-
try), paid his respects to the new president by
staying at Trump’s hotel in Washington, D.C.
When Trump returned the visit to their country,
he announced that his son-in-law had brokered
a deal with Saudi Arabia, which would include
$110 billion in arms and other economic bene-
fits from the United States.
Skeptical Americans have a right to ask
whether this arms deal will really keep our
country safer, or whether it is a way of pro-
moting relationships between the businessman
Trump and wealthy Saudis who rent or buy his
high-end hotel rooms and condominiums there.
Questions, conflicts and frustrations have
already risen to the point where two attorneys
general, representing Maryland and the Dis-
trict of Columbia, have filed suit against Trump,
alleging that he is violating the Constitution’s
emoluments clauses. Now 196 members of
Congress, including five Congressmen from
Oregon (but not a single Republican), have filed
a similar lawsuit.
Only time will tell whether either the courts
or the Congress will hold the president account-
able to the words and the spirit enshrined in our
Constitution.
John McColgan writes from his home in
Joseph.
History beckons: Plan to celebrate July 4
I don’t remember how old I was when
I first was told that much of what I learned
from history books about the founding of
our nation was likely not completely true.
It was a pivotal moment in my life. If
history books weren’t accurate, what other
texts I had been studying for years were
shading the truth?
I thought about this as we prepared to
publish events and activities in the county
celebrating Independence Day, which is
celebrated July 4.
That’s the day the founders signed the
Declaration of Independence, but the Con-
tinental Congress agreed to break away
from the British on July 2. The Declaration
wasn’t signed by most of the delegates until
Aug. 2, 1776.
So why isn’t that Independence Day?
My earliest history education suggested
that the founding fathers were all stalwart
men of a single bent, to sever ties with an
oppressive England and be free to deter-
mine their own fate. It wasn’t until I saw
the play, “1776” that it registered with me.
Although they were statesmen, they were
also politicians and had opinions across the
board on “independency.”
The final straw came in 2005 when it
was proven conclusively George Washing-
ton did not have wooden teeth. Research
WAHL TO WALL
Paul Wahl
performed on a set of Washington’s den-
tures showed they were made of gold,
ivory, lead and human and animal teeth. An
odd combination of ingredients, to say the
least.
Myths also surround other historical
dates on the calendar.
Turns out, according to many historians,
Columbus didn’t discover America. Even if
you were to overlook the not-so-minor fact
that millions of people were already living
in North America in 1492, the fact is that
Columbus never set foot on our shores. Oct.
12 commemorates the day of his arrival in
what is now the Bahamas.
I’ve never understood how such dubi-
ous “facts” made their way into the annals
of history. I suppose part of it is the human
propensity for believing what we want the
truth to be.
Some have termed it revisionist history,
usually defined as the legitimate scholas-
tic re-examination of existing knowledge
about an historical event or the distortion
of the historical record such that certain
events appear in a more or less favorable
light.
In other words, history –– like beauty
–– is in the eye of beholder. Or so they
say.
In spite of the controversies, I will cel-
ebrate this Independence Day with gusto,
even knowing that there were only 12 orig-
inal colonies (Delaware was initially part of
Pennsylvania.) And I would encourage you
to do the same.
You don’t have to leave Wallowa
County to be part of the pageantry. Wal-
lowa has what’s generally considered the
largest celebration, complete with a giant
parade and a community gathering in the
park. Cap off the evening with the fire-
works on the shores of Wallowa Lake.
If you must participate in personal
fireworks, a tradition far more linked to
the Chinese than the American founding
fathers, please be careful. By one statistic,
9,300 people suffer serious injuries each
in the U.S. from fireworks annually. More
than 20,000 fires are ignited each year by
fireworks.
Wahl is the editor of the Chieftain who
plans to eat apple pie on the Fourth of
July.
Writer will miss Nez Perce exhibit in Joseph
This is an obituary of sorts for a build-
ing, an exhibit of Nez Perce photographs
and artifacts on Main Street in Joseph. I
first became aware of it when I worked in
Wallowa County 2004-05.
On June 14 I became aware that it was
shut, tipis not erected on the grounds as
they had been for at least the last 15 years.
And I was sad as I returned the key to Rob
and Ary Lamb,the former owners.
Over the years I had spent many hours
in tourist season and on snowy winter
days under the gaze of Indian faces, pic-
tures that told stories of anguish at the
loss of their thousands of years homeland,
seamed faces of strength and beauty, of
character and humor. For several years, I
brought in reservation newspapers from
the three with resident Nimiipu.
I thought it was good for visitors to
know that tribal members were alive and
LETTERS to the EDITOR
well and accomplishing great things and
also the not-so-great events that befall us
all sometimes.
It was a place for people to wonder
at the civilization that flourished here for
millennia. There was a lot to learn in that
small space: Reading in the guest book
accounts of visitors from all over the
world, many from Germany and the Neth-
erlands where Indian and Western stories
have been loved since the 1800s.
So many comments in sympathy with
Indian lives and anger at the encroach-
ment of the soyapoo (nonnatives). Some
folks were not aware that Native Ameri-
cans were still around. And sometimes
there was confusion over which Chief
Joseph was buried at the lake.
Seeing in posters and photos the revival
of Nez Perce celebration at Tamkaliks.
School kids from Portland and Washing-
ton tying together what they learned in
class and what they were seeing.
The maps showed the shrinking reser-
vation from 1855-63 and the Nez Perce
Trail all the way to the Bear Paws.
I often wondered at the karmic enve-
lope surrounding that place from which,
over the years, no artifacts were stolen, no
vandalism evident. I know that I and past
visitors to Joseph and county residents
will miss this place and those coming after
will not know what was here, what could
have been observed and learned. R.I.P
place of beautiful people.
Michael R. Rosenbaum
La Grande