FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5
Local
Town hall and banquet
Continued from Page 1
The town hall began
with volunteers from the
local Boy Scouts, troops
452 and 450, who carried
the American and Oregon
flags to the front of the
room for the flag salute
Walden began his talk by
recognizing Mayor Kim
Mosier and County Com-
mission Chair Bill Harvey,
as well as Rep. Cliff Bentz,
all of whom attended.
The drought situation
in the area was of note to
Walden. “It’s great to be
back in eastern Oregon,”
he said, “I just wish there
was more snow pack here.”
He began by referencing
legislation to help veter-
ans. “There’s probably no
greater calling any of us
in Congress should have
than to take care of the
men in women who wore
our nation’s uniforms and
protected our freedoms,”
he said.
Forest Management.
Walden then bounced to
forestry issues, consider-
ing the amount of federally
managed forests in this
area. “There’s been a lot
of controversy about how
they’re managed, or not
managed, whether we’re
going to have access to
them or not.”
He mentioned the Re-
gional Forestry Summit
he attended in La Grande
last fall, which he felt had
great turnout. “I pointed
out that there are problems
with the Blue Mountain
Forestry Plan as it exists—
they need to go back to the
drawing board to involve
more local input and much
more.”
“On top of that is the
new over-snow travel rule
they’re starting to talk
about,” he added. He said
he was pleased, at least,
that action on the Travel
Management Plan was
temporarily deferred, but
not completely satisfied, so
he reintroduced the Forest
Access Rural Communities
Act in Congress, and says
he hopes to get “action and
traction” on it to “prohibit
the Forest Service from
implementing or enforc-
ing any part of their Travel
Management rule.”
He explained that the
Bureau of Land Manage-
ment (BLM) and Forest
Service would have to
“consult directly with af-
fected counties before they
could decommission any
roads or trails.”
He said affected counties
would have the power to
override any Forest Service
proposal.
“This is not an easy
undertaking. There’s a lot
of pushback on legislation
like this, but I continue to
fight for making sure our
local voices are heard.”
EPA.
Walden then touched on
issues within the Environ-
mental Protection Agency
(EPA). “We passed legisla-
tion this week to deal with
the EPA, to open it up and
make it more transparent.”
EPA Science Advisory
Board members will be
required under that law to
disclose conflicts of inte -
est, and dissenting scien-
tific opinions will have a
chance to be presented.
A second bill will also
require that the EPA make
public and place online all
science used in making
decisions.
Walden mentioned that
Congress has reduced
EPA funds by 21%, which
places them back to a staff
level of 1989.
“One fight we’re still
having is the Clean Water
Act,” he said. “Suddenly
they were gonna declare
stock ponds and irrigation
ditches as if they were
navigable waterways.”
He said the crominbus
that was passed at year-
end “pulled back on those
provisions” and protected
agricultural water.
He acknowledged that
this limitation doesn’t
solve the overall issue of
the EPA, “But it was all we
could get when negotiating
with the Senate president.
We need to do more,” he
said.
Veterans Services.
“We passed the Clay
Hunt Suicide Prevention
for Veterans Act,” Walden
announced.
He stated too many
military lives are being lost
and one of his goals is to
figure out how to stop that.
He said this bill increases
access to mental health
care and should improve
the quality, and then he
highlighted other legisla-
tion.
HR280 deals with elimi-
nating and recuperating
$380,000 in bonuses paid
to Veterans Administration
executives who oversaw
situations with horrific wait
times and delays, some-
times resulting in the death
of a veteran. This bill has
passed the House and gone
to the Senate.
HR294 authorizes three
years of long-term foster
home care for about 900
veterans.
The Veterans Choice Pro-
gram also passed, allowing
veterans better access to
care by opening up more
choices for care providers.
Walden believes the act
will eventually be helpful
to veterans who have to
travel more than 40 miles
for health care.
“We’re off to a rocky
start,” he said. “The V.A.
decided that 40 miles to
the nearest medical facility
was how the crow flies.
Not how the roads go.”
He said the House is still
working toward imple-
menting some common
sense there.
Secure Rural Schools
(SRS).
Walden said he was
hopeful that more SRS
funds may become avail-
able to rural communities.
That legislation did pass
this week.
He said in the meantime,
until a long-term solution
is found, counties need this
help.
Audience Questions
and Answers.
Arvid Andersen of An-
dersen Forestry Consulting
asked about the likelihood
of Congress adopting a
balanced budget.
Walden said, “Next week
we’ll vote on a budget that
just passed out of Commit-
tee. It does balance in less
than ten years.”
He brought out a chart
demonstrating a signifi-
cant difference between
President Obama’s pro-
posed budget and the one
proposed by House Re-
publicans, with Obama’s
creating roughly three
times more debt over the
next decade.
“It’s a pretty dramatic
difference here, in terms
of where the country is
headed,” he said.
He stressed getting a
grip on the interest paid on
national debt.
After viewing some
of Walden’s illustrations
regarding the budget, Janet
Standeford asked if Title 5
for senior services was still
active and funded, and he
said it was. She also had
several other pointed ques-
tions including clarification
of his controversial vote
to fund the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS).
Walden explained that
his vote allowed essential
parts of DHS, such as the
Coast Guard to be funded,
and that the House was
utilizing other legislative
and legal means to curtail
other elements of it.
Ryc Rienks asked when
Obama would be im-
peached and when would
Congress step in to prevent
him from assisting foreign
enemies, alienating former
allies and ignoring the
Constitution. “We look at
you guys in the Congress
and nobody’s doing any-
thing,” he said.
Walden responded, “I
share your frustration and
have voted repeatedly to
stop his executive orders.
As to other things—
among those is a lawsuit
the House is undertaking
to challenge one of his
executive orders in court.
That process is proceeding.
That’s the first. Second, the
House stepped up on the
executive order on illegal
immigrants and passed
amendments to the DHS
appropriations bill to stop
it. Then Senate had a fil -
buster. 60 votes. Couldn’t
be had. And so there we
were.”
He continued, “Given
our constitutional makeup
there is a role for the courts
here to intervene.”
He pointed out that a law
has to be passed to over-
rule the President, and that
he has to sign it—and 60
votes are needed to over-
ride a veto. There are 54
Republicans in the Senate.
“So we don’t have a lot
of tools to stop a runaway
President,” he said.
He also mentioned that
Congress does not have
prosecutorial authority.
“And I don’t want the
Congress to have pros-
ecutorial authority—be-
cause someday Nancy
Pelosi might be back,” he
quipped.
Also discussed was the
Keystone Pipeline and the
fact that Republicans keep
passing it while Democrats
keep blocking it, as well
as concerns about the En-
dangered Species Act and
Hillary Clinton’s secret
email server.
Walden also explained
some of the rules and regu-
lations that affect the inner
workings of Congress.
The audience then shifted
back to their displeasure
with current federal forest
management and a graphic
Kirby Garrett of Walden’s
La Grande office provided
showing a large amount of
forest land poorly managed
and ready to ignite.
“After it burns, we have
no way to go in and restore
the burned dead trees and
restore the soil,” Walden
said. “The question is
whether we can have a
county override a federal
agency,” he said.
Art Sappington sum-
marized the concept of
transfer of public land—
that since public lands are
technically owned by the
states and only managed
by the federal government,
then counties would have
that jurisdiction to step
in and better manage the
forests.
“This is the debate I want
to get to,” Walden said, “is
how to get more local con-
trol over federal lands.” He
says there are many ways
to get there. He said in his
legislation, this is the case.
Harvey, Andersen and
others in the room con-
curred. Walden listed out
several elected officials
spanning several western
States working on the is-
sue. “We’re going to lose
our infrastructure, we’re
going to lose our mills
if we don’t dramatically
change the management
processes for our federal
forest lands.”
Banquet.
The evening was per-
haps more animated than
last year’s annual banquet,
with a full slate of special
guests, many of whom had
never before attended. Sen.
Ted Ferrioli, ORP Chair
Bill Currier, Rep. Cliff
Bentz, Rep. Greg Bar-
reto, ORP Secretary Chris
Barreto, and ORP National
Committeeman Solomon
Yue all arrived to speak
before keynote speaker,
Congressman Greg Walden
took the mic.
Baker County Republi-
can Chair Suzan Jones em-
ceed and helped organize
the event along with the
elected Precinct Commit-
tee People from the party.
Amy Barreto’s rendition
of the Star Spangled Ban-
ner moved the crowd.
Each guest took five mi -
utes to address a concern
for the audience.
Sen. Ferrioli mentioned
the motor voter bill that
just passed, and his con-
cerns that once “County
election officials have
taken your voter registra-
tion card and scanned it
into the database, elections
officials are to destroy the
originals.” He views this
act as a severe limit to
voter fraud investigation.
“Being in Salem is like
being in occupied ter-
ritory,” he said. He is
especially concerned about
a bill coming up next
week, sponsored by Sens.
Prozanski and Burdick,
requiring any and all
firearms transfers, even
those between private in-
dividuals, to be registered.
“I don’t know that we’re
going to be able to stop
them, but we’re pushing
back with everything we
can,” he said.
Rep. Barreto then spoke
to the low carbon fuels bill,
which just passed.
“Our caucus gave a great
argument against this bill
and if anyone was out there
listening who had any sem-
blance of common sense
or reason, they would have
picked up on that and said,
hey this is a bad bill.”
He said there is an
amount—“a penalty that
they’re applying to this and
nobody knows what it is!
Somewhere between six
cents and $1.19 per gallon,
is what we heard.”
Rep. Barreto spoke to
the learning process and
frustrations involved with
being a newbie representa-
tive and having fought that
bill for nearly six hours.
“I’m learning everyday,
and I was kind of down the
next day.”
Rep. Bentz took the
podium and reminded the
audience of his town hall
sweep next week.
“It’s very difficult to be
in the minority,” he ac-
knowledged, and much of
his speech on the subject
was humor-filled
“We have a name for
Senator Ferrioli’s cau-
cus—it’s the Road Kill
Caucus because they’ve
been run over so many
times,” he joked. The
Oregon House Caucus is
the “Hope Springs Eternal
Caucus,” with its 25 out of
60 members.
Kerry McQuisten / The Baker County Press
ORP Chair Bill Currier.
Kerry McQuisten / The Baker County Press
ORP National
Committeeman,
Solomon Yue.
Kerry McQuisten / The Baker County Press
Rep. Cliff Bentz.
Kerry McQuisten / The Baker County Press
Sen. Ted Ferrioli.
Kerry McQuisten / The Baker County Press
ORP Secretary Chris
Barreto.
Kerry McQuisten / The Baker County Press
Rep. Greg Barreto.
Kerry McQuisten / The Baker County Press
Congressman Walden jokes with Baker County
Republican Chair Suzan Ellis Jones.
Newly elected ORP Chair
Currier was up next. Cur-
rier gave an overview of
2014 and said, “Looking
forward to 2016, we have
some incredible opportu-
nity.”
He said the grassroots
in the party was never a
problem in Oregon, and
he plans to make better
resources available at a
state level.
“We have a shot at the
governor, thank you, John
Kitzhaber. We’re going to
have a shot at four of the
statewide candidates for
office, so this is a ver ,
very important election
coming up.”
Currier said big name
speakers are coming to
Oregon to fund-raise for
the party, including newly
elected Rep. Mia Love
from Utah, Steve Forbes,
and Governor Butch Otter
from Idaho.
Chris Barreto greeted the
crowd but yielded much of
her time to Yue, who had
never previously attended
the annual banquet.
As national committee-
man, Yue is responsible for
acting as a liaison between
ORP and the National
Republican Committee
(RNC), and is one of two
individuals who votes on
behalf of Oregon at the
party’s national level.
Yue said he is focused
on electing a Republican
president.
Yue spoke to his success
in getting Governor Rick
Perry to come to Oregon
to campaign for Dennis
Richardson, and to the Re-
publican party’s hesitancy
on a national scale to assist
Oregon financially under
former ORP leadership—
a sentiment that has now
reversed under ORP’s new
executive team.
After a call from RNC
Chair Reince Priebus, Yue
traveled to Washington DC
and secured the loan to pay
off existing debt, leaving
ORP free to rebuild its
treasury.
Yue is also, in part, be-
hind the forming of Repub-
licans Overseas, a group of
over seven million voters
who are treated as tax
dodgers under the Obama
Administration’s Foreign
Account Tax Compliance
Act, unless they can prove
otherwise. Those who
forgot or weren’t aware
of the correct new forms
can be penalized up to half
their overseas earnings. On
May 6, a lawsuit will be
served against the IRS by
Republicans Overseas on
their behalf.
After door prizes were
distributed, Walden gave
his keynote speech during
which he reflected on a
trip to the Reagan Library
where President Reagan
is entombed—still in his
cowboy boots, eternally
facing the sunset. He also
quoted Teddy Roosevelt
and stressed the need for
another president who
takes pride in American
exceptionalism, keeps the
internet free and open,
“welcomes with open
arms” Israel, and upholds
the Constitution.
“The American people
yearn for a president who
trusts them to make their
own decisions, spend their
own money, make their
own choices about their
healthcare, and not have
this government with a
cradle to grave concept
that they know best and
you just can’t figure it
out,” Walden said to great
applause. “We need to go
in a better direction.”
Earnings for the evening
were just under $7,000 due
to a combination of silent
and live auction items, and
banquet and raffle tickets