Opinion
A4
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
OUR VIEW
Kristof should
focus on 2026
I
t is time for potential gubernatorial candidate
Nick Kristof to abandon his attempt to be
placed on the 2022 ballot and set his sights on
the next election.
Last week, Kristof, a former New York Times
columnist, fi led a petition with the Oregon
Supreme Court, seeking the justices overturn
a decision by Secretary of State Shemia Fagan
that he didn’t meet the requirements to be on the
ballot.
State election offi cials determined Kristof did
not meet the requirement that a candidate must
be a resident for three years in the state to run for
governor.
Kristof failed to meet the state requirement in
other ways, state election offi cials determined.
He voted in New York — where he owns a home
— in the November 2020 general election, kept
a New York driver’s license through December
2020 and paid state taxes past the deadline for a
2022 gubernatorial candidate to create residency
in Oregon.
Kristof does own a home in Yamhill, and
he’s stated he has always considered Oregon his
home. But Kristof has spent most of his time in
New York — or abroad as part of his work for the
Times — and couldn’t put together a convincing
enough argument to Fagan or election offi cials to
grant him the opportunity to run for governor.
Kristof’s legal team asserts that Fagan’s move
was based on a “novel and untested legal theory”
that the former columnist doesn’t meet the state
residence standard.
Last week, Fagan said members of the state
Elections Division told her disqualifying Kristof
“wasn’t even a close call.”
Clearly any voter can and should utilize the
legal system to redress a grievance, but it is hard
to understand what someone who has not lived
in the state long enough to be qualifi ed to run
for governor is trying to accomplish. Of course,
the easy and obvious answer is Kristof wants on
the ballot. That’s understandable. Visiting during
the summers, though, doesn’t count as residency.
Swinging into home for a few days or a week
doesn’t qualify either.
Kristof deserves a lot of credit for his determi-
nation and his willingness to be part of the elec-
toral process. Especially in the current American
political climate, anyone who chooses to run for
offi ce should be lauded.
However, it is time to move on. Kristof should
set his sights on the next gubernatorial election
and put down fi rm roots in Oregon.
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opinion of The Observer editorial
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opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of The Observer.
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YOUR VIEWS
Idaho Power continues
bullying Oregon
property owners
Idaho Power is continuing their
bullying of Oregon landowners. The
law does not allow a utility to force
landowners to enter their property
absent a Certifi cate of Public Conve-
nience, which would allow them to
have the court condemn the property
to build a transmission line.
The company cannot get a Certif-
icate of Public Convenience until the
Oregon Department of Energy issues
a fi nal Site Certifi cate. This has not
occurred, and there are multiple
contested cases ongoing regarding
the transmission line that need to
be resolved prior to issuing a Site
Certifi cate.
Stop B2H and numerous private
citizens have active contested cases,
many of which will likely go to the
Oregon Supreme Court for fi nal res-
olution. The issues are multiple,
including a failure to adequately
address wildfi re risk and invasive
weeds, impacts to the Oregon Trail,
noise above safe noise standards,
impacts to threatened and endan-
gered fi sh, impacts to wells and
springs, and the list goes on and on.
Since day one this out-of-state
utility has advertised and told prop-
erty owners that this transmission
line is a “done deal” and there is
no point in fi ghting it. Idaho Power
has misled and misinformed citi-
zens to get them to accommodate its
demands. Eastern Oregon is not fi lled
with a bunch of sheep that will just
bow down and allow themselves to be
run over by this out-of-state utility.
Idaho Power is in it for the profi t
the utility users will be forced to pay
for the development of this unneces-
sary transmission line. We are in it to
protect our environment and quality
of life. They have money, but we
have heart, and the fi ght continues.
Irene Gilbert
La Grande
Green energy or greenbacks?
I found the article concerning test
drilling for Lithium in Oregon very
interesting (“Test drilling OK’d for
proposed lithium mine,” Dec. 23 edi-
tion). Especially given the number
of green new deal proposals before
Congress. It made me wonder if all
these proposals were designed to pro-
tect the earth or were there alterna-
tive motivating factors.
The Biden administration signed
an executive order to strengthen the
domestic lithium supply. Oregon
Department of Geology and Min-
erals granted Australian-based com-
pany Jindalee Resources a permit
to dig 39 test holes. The executive
director of Jindalee estimated there
could be more than 10 million tons of
lithium. At $15,000 a ton that works
out to around $150 billion from just
one mine.
In light of what happened in the
Ukraine concerning family members
of politicians enriching themselves, I
would like to know what politicians
own stock in companies dealing in
lithium. It appears to be a huge con-
fl ict of interest to vote for electric
vehicles or renewable energy storage
facilities if you own stock in the pro-
duction and mining of lithium.
Since domestic production of
lithium in the United States makes
up only 1% of the world supply of
lithium, this mine could be a cash
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Fire-prevention logging
on MERA will reduce
chances of catastrophe
Thank you, Union County Com-
missioners, for having the integrity
to move forward with the restoration
and management of MERA.
There appears to be a few folks
making a lot of noise about the
cleanup and fi re-prevention logging
that is planned for this area. I applaud
the folks involved in the decision
making to move forward and reduce
the chances of a catastrophic fi re in
this area. They used the available sci-
ence and knowledge to do what is
best for the land.
Without this courage, this area
will eventually burn, causing untold
damage to the numerous homes along
the base of Mount Emily, polluting
our air and leaving the area useless
for years to come. Just look at the
fi res in Western Oregon over the last
few years, and go back a few before
that and look at parts of Montana and
Northern Idaho. This area is ripe for
a large fi re. Hopefully this will be
enough to protect the homes of most
of the folks who are complaining the
loudest.
Joel Hasse
La Grande
STAFF
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cow for the investor. It just seems the
push for green energy may be moti-
vated by a push for greenbacks. I
think all politicians should declare
if they own any lithium stock in
advance of any vote concerning
green energy proposals. Just my
thoughts.
Joe Mesteth
Hermiston
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