FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5
Local
Wyden’s town hall
Continued from Page 1
The audience was com-
prised mostly of registered
Democrats and PCPs from
the Baker County Demo-
cratic Central Commit-
tee, with a smattering of
Republicans and otherwise
affiliated voters mixed in
A PCP is a Precinct Com-
mittee Person—the most
grassroots level of elected
office in any Count , voted
in by members of that per-
son’s own party to support
their party’s platform and
the candidates, in repre-
sentation of those voters
in their precinct who are
registered in their party.
Baker City Mayor
Kim Mosier introduced
Wyden, senior Democrat
on the Energy and Natural
Resources and Finance
Committees, and stated
that the forum was a time
for “citizens to share their
concerns and ask ques-
tions—it’s very brave.”
She explained that com-
ment forms were at a front
table, and numbers would
be drawn from tickets
that had been distributed
to audience members to
determine who would ask
questions.
Wyden took the podium
and began by stating that
this town hall was his
724th. He said right out of
the gate, “I think we’re in
for the prospect of a brutal
fire season.” He said his
“top priorities in the next
few weeks, not months or
years, is to fix the broken
system of fighting fire.
He emphasized preventa-
tive measures such as fuel
thinning. He said firefig -
ing has come from the
“prevention fund” in the
past, and his answer is
to take money from the
“disaster fund” to fight the
fires, leaving the preve -
tion monies for thinning.
After physically em-
bracing several guests,
Republican PCP, Jan Kerns
crossed the room and sat
next to Wallowa-Whitman
Forest Supervisor Tom
Montoya. Mosier an-
nounced that Kerns had
volunteered to help fa-
cilitate Democrat Wyden’s
town hall, and would
draw/announce tickets for
the question and answer
session throughout the
meeting.
Longshoreman’s Strike.
Rancher Logan Kerns
began the Q&A by asking
what “we’re going to do
about domestic terrorism
like that that has shut down
47% of domestic exports
out of the country?”
Wyden said, “First of all
I think we all understood
what a toll it was tak-
ing and it came at a bad
time with Hanjin leaving
Portland.”
He added, “Obviously,
business labor relations
and how you bring people
together to prevent that
in the first place is hugely
important … you’ve got
to find a way to show you
have an economy where
everybody wins.”
He said the Oregon brand
for ag products, comput-
ers and wine, “is on fire all
over the world.”
He said in his trademark
lisp that he is working on a
trade policy that embodies
his economic philosophy
to “Grow stuff in Oregon.
Make stuff in Oregon. Add
value to it in Oregon and
then ship it somewhere.”
He said his policy would
focus on the Japanese
dropping barriers to U.S.
trade with ag products.
One out of six Oregon jobs
rely on trade, he said.
Public Lands Transfer.
George Hauptman,
owner of Canyon Outfi -
ters in Halfway, which
gives riverboat tours in
Hells Canyon, said, “One
of our concerns is the trend
toward trying to privatize
public lands in the West.”
He stated if Hells Canyon
were not a national rec-
reation area his company
couldn’t operate.
Wyden said, “A very
important point! First I
want everybody at home
to know my view with
respect to public lands is
we always oughta try first
and foremost to promote
multiple use. That is public
land policy at its best.”
He continued, “Obviously
we have made some judge-
ments about protecting
some of our special places.
And it doesn’t get in my
view much more special
than Hells Canyon. I can
tell you on my watch we’re
not gonna see anybody
privatize— you know,
Hells Canyon.”
The term “privatization
of public lands” was seem-
ingly used interchange-
ably during the meeting
with “Transfer of Public
Lands.”
The Baker County Press
was unable to locate any
movement in Oregon or
Baker County to privatize
public lands. There is,
however, an organized
movement at both levels
toward the return of Feder-
ally managed lands to
more local State control.
Wyden went on to say
what most Americans were
concerned about during
the government shutdown
“was the closure of our
special places … I can
tell you, I don’t think the
people are gonna support
some sort of privatization
of our special places. Sud-
denly hanging up big signs
and all kinds of things to
make it look like it’s a very
different place than Hells
Canyon today.”
The Baker County Press
was also unable to locate
any movement to privatize
the lands of Hells Canyon.
Wyden then paused
and took a moment to
recognize local Democrat
Peggie Timm, who passed
away last year.
Marijuana Dispenaries.
A gentlemen who didn’t
identify himself by name
stood and said his wife
was a medical marijuana
user who grows. “The City
Council is desperately
trying to keep marijuana
dispensaries out of the
City. They’re searching for
any loophole to circumvent
Oregon law,” he said, and
asked if there was any
sentiment in Congress to
remove marijuana from the
Schedule 1 list of drugs
and move it to a more
“benign list.”
“I do think this schedul-
ing issue where marijuana
is considered I guess, as
more dangerous than
cocaine or something like
that—,” said Wyden. “I
want to see the argument
for something like that …
I want to see the medical
evidence for in the sched-
uling why the govern-
ment says marijuana is a
more dangerous drug than
cocaine.”
According to the United
States Federal Controlled
Substances Act, Federal
schedules 1-5 do not in
fact list cocaine as more
dangerous than mari-
juana, but categorize them
together on Schedule 1
based on potential for
abuse and medical usage.
Cocaine is also listed on
Schedule III. Several drugs
are present on multiple
schedules. These drugs are
also broken down in more
complex ways as opioids,
depressants, stimulants and
the like, with Cannabimi-
metic agents in their own
category.
“With respect to the
debate between the State
and the City, I’m not gonna
pretend to be a lawyer who
knows everything about
City-State relations but
obviously the voters of
Oregon made a judgement
that applied to every nook
and cranny in our state.”
He said there were legal
questions as to what a city
could do and what a state
could do.
Probation and Privacy
Issues.
A gentleman from Rich-
land asked how it was
that law enforcement and
probation were aware of
the substances on which
his daughter had been high
when arrested on a DUII,
but he, as the father who
wanted to help, couldn’t
access that information due
to privacy laws.
Wyden promised to have
his staff, who were present
in the room, follow up on
the issue.
He concluded that in
general, “We have a seri-
ous drug problem in front
of us.”
Boardman to Heming-
way.
Karen Yeakley stood
and voiced her opposi-
tion to the Bureau of Land
Management’s proposal
to place the Boardman to
Hemingway transmission
line in front of the Inter-
pretive Center rather than
behind it.
“As I live and breathe,
this is a bad decision for
Baker County,” she said.
She said the line will
harm sage grouse, result-
ing in a Federal listing for
the bird. She said former
Governor Tom McCall
had a central Oregon path
established.
“I’ve been hearing from
ag folks all through this
trip, so I understand how
serious this is,” Wyden
said.
He said the head of Idaho
Power would be in his
office in the coming week,
so he would garner more
information then and “ask
some very pointed ques-
tions.”
He said Idaho Power
now has almost a mi-
nority role in the issue
with Bonneville Power
and PacifiCorp heavily
involved.
He assured he would rear-
range his schedule to make
that meeting happen.
China.
Joe (last name inau-
dible) asked about the U.S.
allowing China to liquidate
stocks creating an outflow
of currency from the U.S.
to China.
“Obviously we have a
host of questions,” Wyden
said, “with respect to our
relationship with China.
And you have brought up
an obvious one that relates
to this discussion of trade.
If we were to step away
from putting in place this
trade policy, China will
write the rules for these
markets.”
He mentioned the U.S.
is hitting the debt ceiling
next week, and “Who’s the
biggest owner of foreign
debt? China. So the ques-
tion of how we handle this
is hugely sensitive.”
Keystone Pipeline.
Kerry McQuisten / The Baker County Press
Jan Kerns, Republican PCP, helped facilitate the audience question and answer
portion of Wyden’s town hall meeting. Seated to her right is Wallowa-Whitman
National Forest Supervisor Tom Montoya.
A lady in the audience
asked, “Why are we not
putting that Keystone Pipe-
line through?”
Wyden said the answer
was twofold. First, he
didn’t believe Canada
would accept enough
responsibility in clean-
ing up potential oil spills,
and second, “There were
just too many unanswered
questions.”
Title II Funds and
Payment in Lieu of Taxes
(PILT).
Terry Drever Gee stood
and categorized herself to
the crowd as a “conserva-
tive Republican.” She
said, “I want to thank you
for the Title II money and
now it’s kind of question-
able—”
Wyden interjected, “What
do you do with the Title II
funds for?”
“We put projects on the
ground. With the Forest
Service collaborative. And
it’s putting our kids to
work, which I have a real
soft spot for the kids, the
OYCC kids, and it’s also
helping with our roads and
our schools.”
“Did you hear that?”
Wyden said. “We’re talk-
ing about Title II, Secure
Rural Schools, and the
collaborative—the Forest
Service is really respon-
sible for it.”
He said this issue had
become intertwined with
PILT—Payment in Lieu
of Taxes. He said between
Secure Rural Schools and
PILT, Baker County has
received $1.7 million. “So
it’s a lot of money.”
“From the standpoint of
Oregon alone, this is the
most important law that I
have written,” Wyden said.
He said Oregon’s share of
these funds is upward of
$2.8 billion.
He continued, “This
relates to the point the
gentleman made about
privatization of public
lands. Well over 100
years ago there was a big
debate, and a lot of people
participated, obviously we
weren’t around for it. But
the judgement was that we
oughta have a national for-
est system. And what a na-
tional forest system means
is that all of our forests
in Oregon are owned also
by the people in Iowa and
Florida—not just owned
by us. A national system.
And in return for creating
a national system we said
‘How are we gonna pay
for the basics? How are we
gonna pay for the roads,
and the police and the
schools and the like?’”
He added, “The agree-
ment back then 100 years
ago was places where
you had the forests and
the public lands, we get a
decent-sized check, you
know, because we won’t
be cutting timber out
on public lands, and that
worked really well for 80,
90 years and when the en-
vironmental rules changed,
it didn’t. So now I want to
emphasize this. I’m work-
ing to try to get the harvest
up in a sustainable way on
the east side and the west
side of Oregon. And I’m
strongly in favor of keep-
ing Secure Rural Schools
and PILT because the real-
ity is there is no way you
can get the harvest up high
enough so that harvesting
alone will get local com-
munities what they need.”
Montoya nodded his
head in agreement, to
which Wyden said, “And
my man from the Forest
Service who’s not allowed
to say anything about
politics—he’s nodding his
head. He’s not allowed to
say anything about politics
so I don’t want to put him
on the spot. But he knows
that’s right because the
Chief has said that as well.
There’s no way to get the
harvest up high enough
alone to not need the safety
net.”
Wyden’s image of the
future is one in which local
communities are perpetu-
ally beholden to federal
dollars.
Wyden explained, “We’re
now in a situation where
we’re gonna need both. We
need to get the harvest up,
and we’re gonna need the
safety net.”
Jan Kerns and Montoya
nodded together again.
The discussion was
limited to timber harvest,
and did not include the
economics of other natural
resources such as minerals.
Klamath County, Oregon
has been the first county
to formally disagree with
Wyden’s concept, hav-
ing drafted a resolution
supporting public lands
transfer. Two weeks
ago, officials in Mineral
County, Montana worked
the numbers and as a result
drafted a similar resolu-
tion.
At one point, Illinois,
Missouri, Alabama,
Louisiana, Arkansasa,
Indiana and Florida were
comprised of 90-percent
Federally managed lands.
After transferring those
lands back to state con-
trol, those states currently
utilize local resources to
fund police, schools, etc.
without PILT funding.
Oregon House Bill 3444
also seeks that same trans-
fer of public lands back to
Oregon State control.
According to the
American Lands Council,
“Preliminary studies have
shown that state govern-
ments manage their lands
at less cost per acre or visi-
tor than does the federal
government. Assuming a
‘best use’ determination
that balances aesthetic and
economic uses for their
lands, these data indicate
that states stand to gain
overall revenue while still
acting as responsible stew-
ards for future generations,
and balancing current
aesthetic and recreational
uses with economic devel-
opment.”
Drever Gee added in her
closing comments, “Just
let me thank you again for
putting that bill together.”
Wyden and Drever Gee
exchanged more compli-
ments after she mentioned
she’d been back in D.C.,
was a union member, and
on the Forest Service’s Re-
source Advisory Council.
A few other questions
were asked involving
rural jobs, Oregon’s new
carbon fuel standards,
fast-tracking the aforemen-
tioned trade agreement,
etc. Wyden promised to
have his staff work with
Halfway to explore job
creation there. He ex-
pressed support of low
carbon fuel standards,
saying he believed “it” is
creating weather changes.
He said he’ll continue to
address what he sees as the
problem of climate change
in the U.S. and around the
world.
Also of note in the audi-
ence mingling with Wyden
or his staff were Fred War-
ner, Jr., Camille Warner,
and County Commissioner
Tim Kerns, all three newly
elected to Republican PCP
positions last year.
Wyden’s on-site staff
included Kathleen Cathey,
La Grande field represent -
tive; Jacob Engler, special
projects director; and Mary
Gautreaux, deputy state
director.
Wyden is married to
millionaire heiress wife
Nancy, whom he wed in
September 2005. He has
five children: Adam, Lilly,
Ava, William and Scarlett.
He was first elected in
1996.
He was born in Wichita,
Kansas, raised in Palo
Alto, California, lists
Portland, Oregon as his
hometown, and divides his
time between his wife’s
and children’s residence
in New York, a house in
Portland and a condo in
Washington D.C.
Wyden’s next stop was a
town hall Saturday after-
noon in Ontario.