Wednesday, April 19, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Looking
Outward
Dan Glode
Columnist
All politics is local
“Never forget whence
you came.”
— Tip O’Neill, All
Politics is Local and Other
Rules of the Game.
I have been thinking
of Tip O’Neill’s book and
his famous saying that all
politics is local. The point
has been driven home by
watching the anger and
outrage present at U.S.
Representative
Greg
Walden’s town hall meet-
ings. He just began his 10th
term and I bet he never imag-
ined experiencing meetings
such as these. Maybe he has
lost his way.
I served three four-year
terms as a district attorney,
a non-partisan position.
My first election was hotly
contested by my incumbent
opponent and the other two
times I ran I was unopposed.
I never was sure whether the
public thought I was doing
a good job or perhaps the
other lawyers in the county
just considered it a lousy
position.
In either event, 12 years
was a long time to be in
elective office. During that
time I knew many elected
officials including county
commissioners, clerks, sher-
iffs, state elected officials,
etc. I always felt that I was
a tenant and I had several
thousand landlords who
could evict me at any time.
But I noticed that the lon-
ger an individual stayed in
a position he/she developed
a sense of entitlement to the
job. It became less of a privi-
lege to serve the public after
awhile and, as time in the
office clicked by, they felt
they deserved the job and it
was owed to them.
With time, the distance
between the elected official
and the voters can grow and
grow. Of course they play
the politics game and get
good at convincing voters
they like nothing better than
to serve them, but all the
while the service increas-
ingly becomes self service.
I cannot say Greg Walden
is my favorite congressman
but I do recognize, while
we had different views on
many issues, at one time
he did attempt to represent
his constituents in a way
he thought best. I respected
the man especially when
he at one time put family
over politics. The voters
here have returned him to
Congress with substantial
majorities — in the 72-point
range last time. That is not at
all shabby and is an amaz-
ing show of popularity. I do
suspect, though, he has been
riding a wave for a time
and perhaps the strength
of that wave is just now
diminishing. Politics can be
fickle, and fortunes can be
made and lost quickly. As
a congressman, his primary
responsibility is to represent
this large and varied district.
Like Icarus (the Greek
mythological figure who
ignored his father’s warn-
ing not to fly too close to the
sun so his wings of wax and
feathers would not melt),
Walden has been flying too
close to the sun. Bathing in
the glow of Trump and Ryan
and enjoying being a head-
liner and sharing the national
stage with them, his ego has
pushed him to move in a
direction inconsistent with
the views held by those from
“whence he came.”
He has forgotten that his
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poorly crafted healthcare
plan would have deprived
64,000 people in his district
the benefit of health insur-
ance. The quick fix he and
Ryan came up with a few
days after the defeat of that
proposal was even worse.
His current stance on many
other issues now mimics
the whimsical views of the
President.
Walden tries to project
an image of an independent
Republican, but his cur-
rent views on immigration,
healthcare, the environment
are too closely allied to the
administration and he does
what he is told. He states
he is an Oregonian, but he
seems to have forgotten how
to be one.
Walden needs to remem-
ber and reconnect with those
he serves. No one is owed
that job — it’s not his job
but the job the public has
temporarily let him occupy.
He has done some good
things for the district, but
past events do not deal with
current realities. I assume he
will get re-elected as people
are used to marking off his
name and I have not heard of
any substantial opposition in
either party.
But no election is a cer-
tainly. I am not a believer in
term limits since each posi-
tion is already limited by
term. I suppose many voters
don’t want to know what he
has done for us but what has
he done for us lately. Right
now he is disconnected.
Whatever you do within the
Beltway, just remember we
are here, right here, and we
are angry. You choose.
23
PHOTO BY JIM CORNELIUS
Collier Johnson swoops in to grab one of 6,000 Easter eggs.
6,000 Easter eggs,
gone in seconds
It’s a spring tradition in
Sisters. Local fire agencies
distribute some 6,000 eggs
across Creekside Park for
children up to 11 years of age
to discover on Easter Sunday.
And it takes about two min-
utes for the youngsters to
swoop down and sweep them
all up.
There were about 15 or
so prize eggs mixed among
the horde of plastic eggs,
and those earned the kids
who sleuthed them out
prizes ranging from dolls to
basketballs.
“We usually use some of
the toys we have left over
from our Christmas drive,”
explained Sisters EMT
Rochelle Beiler, who coordi-
nated the 17 volunteers who
staged the event.