EDITORIAL
Legislators must
work for citizens
Th© Oregon Legislature is hack in session and legisla
tors, vvi* hope. will gut bac k to work.
Sessions of the' legislature have been getting longer
ever)* biennium, but less work seems to be getting done.
Citizens are being forced to do the jobs of elec ted legis
lators by way of the ballot.
Legislators haven’t been doing the job they were elect
ed to do.
Nineteen measures
appeared on the Novem
ber ballot. Unfortunately,
many of these had to be
voted on by Oregonians in
an election because the
Oregon Legislature failed
in its mission to serve the
needs of the state's <.iti
zens. and Oregonians felt
that they had to step in to
do the fob.
Some legislators, such
u —
The fan t that so
many hilts have
hern introduced
may hr a step in the
right dirn lion, hut
it doesn't net rssari
ly mean that legisla
tars are doing thru
jobs.
n
<*> iMju. rvtTVMJ miuuuAi t'
Sali'in. hflv:> introdui • ■ •
! icnvtiv it. a number of tho bills. such as Mannix’s insem
ination bill. have nothing to do with the needs of Orego
nians today Oregon need" politicians who will stand up
for education and work to strengthen the stale's econo
my. The side issues, such as insemination, are irrelevant
and only serve to distract legislators from their more
important work
!f legislators get down to business and work to solve
actual problems that matter in this stale, it may help vent
the frustration of citizens away from the now overused
initiative proi ess. The more measures that make it to the
ballot, the fewer tho number of voters who want to
research and vote on them.
The fact that so many hills have been introduced may
be a step in the right direc tion, but it doesn't necessarily
mean that legislators arts doing their jobs Oregonians
‘•houid ki'i'p Wat, hfid eye', on then legislators !<» make
sure that they do the job that Oregonians elected them to
do.
Legislators are elec led to represent Oregonians While
some on the fringes of politic al movements may have
their own narrow agencies, the majority of Oregonians
don’t believe that issues such as banning insemination
is worthy of legislators' time There are much more
urgent problems that must tec dealt with.
However, the number of hills proposed in the legisla
ture indicates one thing Oregonians want change now
and won't stand for the status quo. This is demonstrated
in part bv the Republicans taking control of both hous
es of tho legislature this year. Business as usual just isn't
good enough in Salem anymore.
Legislators should heed the warning of citizens or else
they will find themselves out of jobs and force citizens
to use the Initiative process to do their jobs for them.
Save citizens the trouble Legislators should do the job
that they were elected to do.
Oregon lholy
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Exploratory (.OMMrrtK.
■ OPINION
Big government not the answer
Bkun Wom\( k
Tonight wu once again will,
riios! likely. get to see Hill
Clinton redefino himself
Tonight is the State of the
Union address and for once, he
might get to set the agenda
instead of rise ting to it Remem
ber late last tear when he rede
fined himself and explained his
now set of core values after the
eie< turn' Well, tonight he just
might do it again
Vet, after hearing his response
to the election landslide in early
Novumbttr. I thought he might
have started to "get it."
Me gave a glimpse of what we
might hear tonight when he
spoke to the Democratic Nation
al Committee on Saturday
Regrettably, his analysis of why
the election swung the way it
did didn’t show that, however
For instance, he said part of
the reason the elm tion went the
wav it did was there was just too
much good news so it wouldn't
get reported Yeah, it's amazing
that too much good news could
overturn forty years of history.
Of course, as with every
politician who loses, he had to
say that the Democrats "didn’t
get their message out
I really knew Clinton didn't
get it when I heard him start
defending big government and
pro* eed to say that the govern
ment was indeed the answer to
many of society’s problems
Mr Clinton, if there was any
message given las! November, it
was. “Get government off my
back." not. “Let me ride on its
Inn k
But Clinton will probably
keep telling us that we want
more government.
Americans do want a govern
ment that will fulfill the needed
services it provides as outlined
in the Constitution We want a
military force that will prov ide
for the necessary defense, A gov
ernment that will protect such
freedoms as speech. religion. the
right to bear arms and the right
to assembly
But, for tntt most part, wo con
tinually si«' Washington gutting
in our way anti restricting our
freedoms
Here’s a good example A
Wyoming legislature in the slate
House, Roger Hut kfeldt, is com
ing out against the Endangered
Spat it-s Ai t in a hig way
llu ts proposing legislation
that would offer a bounty of
SStKI on wolves that slrin from
Yellowstone National Park lbs
bill also has a provision requir
ing the State of Wyoming to
assist anyone who is charged
with the violation of the Endan
gered Species Act for killing a
wolf.
The wolf has been listed as an
endangered specie* and is being
reintroduced into the wild in
some places such as Yellow
stone.
Hot kfeldt calls his bounty bill
a “good neighbor law
"If you had a mean dog, you're
not allowed to let the mean dog
loose," he said ' We're just let
ting the federal government
know, lie a good neighbor. Don't
hft your dogs run loose,'" he said.
You might say this is a big
overreact ion just abide by the
low and go on with life, you
might suggest
But the problem is that
Wyoming is full of ranches and
rant.hers Wolves threaten their
livelihood Wolves can destroy
their livestock and thus their wav
of putting food on the table.
They're not called "vicious
killers'' lor nothing
Tins is not unique to Wyoming
either Idaho. Colorado and Mon
tana have other proposals that
react to the wolves' reintroduc
tion to the wild in the same man
ner.
It just show s how the locals are
getting upset at Washington get
ting too big and powerful as the
election landslide showed.
Another example of govern
ment's encroachment is Clin
ton's own health cam proposal.
With a problem of some
Americans not having health
care (atul not even that big of
percentage lacking coverage).
Hill and Hillary proposed a mas
sive takeover of the American
health ( are system This sector
of our economy makes up a
whopping one-seventh of our
economy With employer man
dates and health care alliances.
Americans saw something they
didn’t like — further encroach
ments on their freedoms
Washington was forced to
react liven with a flip-flop on
the issue (as Clinton loves to do)
on full coverage and other pro
visions. the Democrats could not
scrape together a plan that
would Ik? passed by a Democrat
ically controlled Senate Public
sentiment ran too strong against
it.
Yet we still hear the same old
lines of more government is
good On Saturday, Clinton told
his Democrat friends that it was
time to "stand up and do what is
right" because it will eventually
turn out "OK in the end
Hut the majority of Americans
know if ins definition of "right"
is going to be bigger govern
ment. it will never turn out fine
be< iiuse we've seen how those
policies fail
So if tonight Clinton attempts
to lay out his vision that
includes smaller and less intru
sive government, he will have a
much easier time getting on the
right sides of both the new Sen
ate and House and the voters If
he continues to show his liberal
colors, lie'll only end up watch
ing the election returns in the
full of 1996 with a concession
speech in hand.
Brian Womack is a columnist for
the Emerald.
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