Bowl tickets used
to aid politicians
Dragon's first trip to the Rose Bowl in 37 years was the
perfect opportunity to showcase our state.
Finally, people throughout the country can think
about something other than Tonya Harding and Bob
Packwood when they hear someone say "Oregon." With
more than 200 million people watching the Rose Bowl
game in the stands and on television, it's no wonder
if ita ' lilt tried to capitalist on this opportunity to
promote a great state.
The Oregon iw onornic Development Department spent
S22.000 of oublic dollars to send 12 employees to
Pasadena. Their mission was to woo companies and
business dollars to Oregon, The agency purchased 100
game tickets for SAB apiece with lottery dollars.
While the task of attracting new business to Oregon
is not easy and does require schmoozing, the manner in
which this trip was organized and the vague way in
which state officials answered questions regarding the
trip was inappropriate. Oregon House Speaker Bev
Clarno has a legitimate reason to question the expense.
Like with any state government expenditure, public
officials need to be accountable for their dollars.
Although officials claimed they were working to pro
mote Oregon while in Pasadena, it’s too easy to assume
that they wore enjoying a free trip at the expense of tax
payers.
If this trip was a legitimate promotion of Oregon, the
state should have no reason to hide it from its citizens.
The purchase of the tickets was first publicized by an
article in the Statesman Journal in Salem If investiga
tive reporters hadn't discovered the expense, it would
have gone uwnentloned. Citizens deserve to know how
their money is spent, and what benefits result from their
money. Did the state's schmoorors got any promises
from companies or did the money just fund free games,
nice hotel rooms and airfares?
State officials must have already been negotiating with
companies before the bid to the Rose Bowl. Just the fact
that Oregon made it to the "Granddaddy of them all
should have been enough publicity. Businesses obvi
ously would recognize Oregon for that accomplishment,
even if state officials didn't receive free tickets to the
game.
Peggy Eberle. communication manager for the Eco
nomic Development Department, said state officials met
with GO representatives from 25 companies. When added
to the 12 employees sont to the game, that accounts for
72 of the 100 purchased tickets. What happened to the
remaining 18 tickets, which are worth $864 of unac
counted for state money?
Rose Bowl tickets were a rare commodity. Many peo
ple stayed home from the game because they didn't fall
under the very narrow categories that qualified Oregoni
ans for face-value tickets, it would be a shame to think
that some of these tickets were used in an unjustified
manner.
Oregon Daily
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Joe Harwood
Of all the things former Gov.
Barbara Roberts did (and
didn't) accomplish during
her four years of aimless wan
dering in Salem and throughout
the Oregon countryside, her para
mount moment tame on Jan. 8,
1995. at 11 59 p m
What achievement could pos
sibly surpass her extraordinary
and intelligent choice not to seek
reelection you ask?
Although Roberts proclaimed
Jan. 3 "1X111 Day" in honor of the
football team's winning season,
“Duck Day" is relegated to third
place in the all-time Barbara
Roberts Hall of Fame for the pur
poses of this column
No. it’s not the decision to ax
her laughable and insidious “A
Conversation with Oregon" cam
paign that eventually led up to
vet another sales tax proposal —
a plan exponent mg almost
instantaneous demise follow ing
its public announcement
And no, it's not the fact that
with thti former governor out of
office, so ends a 30-year liberal
reign of terror perpetrated by the
Roberts clan in various govern
mental roles
Rather. Roberts' exceptional
decision to NOT commute the
death sentences of nine out of the
17 death row inmates that seek
clemency marks the pinnac le of
her administrative career
Among the model citizens beg
ging for relief from Oregon's
lethal needle was Dayton Leroy
Rogers. a murderer w ho holds the
dubious distinction as the dead
liest serial killer in state histo
ry. Rogers moved into the infa
mous category after being
convicted in 1987 of kilting six
women in the Molalla forest mur
der case.
out), goal is ro poo. back
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■ OPINION
Roberts sticks it to condemned prisoners
Then there is Jeffrey R
Williams, a man who heard voic
es from God and decided to apply
a psychotic twist to the "Wel
come to Oregon" signs liordering
our fair state Williams was sen
tenced to die in 1989 for the
murders of Unna Tuxen and
Katherin Reith, two German stu
dents who were hitchhiking up
the Oregon Coast.
Don’t forget Grant S. Ghar
Itoneau. lie wants to exchangee his
death sentence for life in prison
after a conviction stemming from
the torture and murder of a Port
land transient woman in 1993.
The reason for the accolades
here is that 1 had a deliciously
rabid column watting in the
wings in the event the former
governor failed to put aside her
personal beliefs and follow the
mandates of voters, judges and
juries
Way to go Barbara!
Although she did pardon
three women before leaving
office, none of them sat on death
row. and the circumstanc es of
two women didn't involve mur
der.
Huberts has repeatedly gone
on the record as “personally and
adamantly opposed to the death
penalty." But during her 1990
campaign for governor, she said
that while opposing society's
ultimate sanction, she would
nonetheless follow the will of
voters and the law
The death penalty was abol
ished in 1904 and reinstated in
1984 by voters, by a 3-to-l ratio
New Governor John Kitzhaber
is likewise opposed to the death
penalty. He told the Emerald
editorial hoard in November that
he wouldn't let his personal
beliefs interfere with the will of
voters We'll see
Groups, such as the Oregon
Coalition to Abolish the Death
Penalty, incessantly lobbied
Rolierts to commute the death
sentences as the final act before
leaving office
Mark Kramer, a spokesman
for the coalition, whined to The
Associated Press because
Roberts didn't “follow the
enlightened lead" of the outgo
ing governors of New Mexico
and Ohio. Both granted clemen
cy to murderers before slinking
out the back doors of their
respective capitols.
The electorate decided some
people simply didn’t deserve to
live after perpetrating heinous
crimes against fellow humans,
namely those who tend to kill
their fellow men and women
Forget all the hooey about the
death penalty acting as any kind
of deterrent for criminals. If the
freaks on death row gave a damn
about penalties, they wouldn't
be in their present situations.
The death penalty is about
justice and society’s ultimate
punishment against those who
destroy that which we hold
most dear — life, including the
lives of family and friends The
last sentence likely presents a
contradiction, a possible flaw in
logic for those opposed to the
death penalty How could one
say that life is the most precious
thing we have, and then ail as a
proponent for state-sanctioned
killing?
Easily.
The majority of murderers
don’t possess that little moral
taskmaster called a conscience
The number of those on death
row feel remorse only because
they were caught, convicted and
sentenced To warehouse these
animals for their natural lives is
a waste of taxes, as the opportu
nity for rehabilitation is nil.
Thu death penalty is also
about punishment. It’s simply
too bad the Constitution forbids
cruel and unusual punishment
of criminals, in the ideal world,
the state would use the same
cruel and violent means to
destroy killers as the killers
themselves applied to their vic
tims.
Hut that would bo uncivilized
And we live in a domesticated,
civilized society. Just look at the
model citizens on Oregon's
death row
foe Harwood is a columnist for
the Emerald