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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 18, 2015)
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2015 4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS Opinion / Politics — Editorial — We smell a gun grab in the works Rep. Jeff Barker, Chair, House In- terim Committee on Judiciary sent the following statement out last week: “In the wake of the senseless shoot- ing at Umpqua Community College on October 1, both Senator Prozanski and I have called a special joint meeting of the House and Senate Interim Com- mittees on Judiciary. The goal of this hearing is to provide an opportunity for examination and discussion on the state’s role in preventing and respond- ing to these acts of violence. It is also an opportunity to look for areas where we, the Legislature, can make changes so our homes, schools, and commu- nities are safer. Topics will include threat assessments, prevention efforts, mental health services, on-site security options, coordinated law enforcement responses, and community and victim services. As mass tragedies impact every town, school, and community, I’d like to extend an invitation to you to participate in the hearing. It will begin at 9 a.m on Thursday, December 17, and will be held in Hearing Room F at the Capitol.” On Wednesday, less than 24 hours before the hearing, Sen. Floyd Prozan- ski distributed an offi cial letter dated December 16 to media announcing the meeting. This letter called the gathering “a hearing on active shooter events.” By the time this issue is out, the meeting will have come and gone. We can’t imagine what good a bunch of politicians coming together to discuss the topic of active shooting events could possibly do. We haven’t seen an issue with “co- ordinated law enforcement responses.” We certainly don’t see a reason for State government to involve itself in a school’s, town’s or business’s “on-site security options” or “victim service” to any degree greater than at present. Considering Prozanski’s history of attempted gun grabs and last year’s SB941 debacle, we’re suspicious. In fact, this hearing smells to us like the latest springboard from which to launch (read: infl ict upon us) the new- est gun control initiatives from Salem. After all, we have a special legisla- tive session coming up in February 2016. —The Baker County Press Editorial Board — Letters to the Editor — Gun control rules To the Editor: A quick study—the four rules of gun control: 1. There will always be guns. 2. Criminals will always have guns. 3. The way to stop criminals is for law- abiding citizens to have guns. 4. You can’t change the fi rst three rules. Joe Bailey Baker City No refugees, please To the Editor: Why I do not want any Syrian “refugees” on U.S. soil: 1. In order to do any kind of realistic vet- ting, you need some form of valid ID. Most Syrian “refugees” have nothing of the sort; therefore, you do not even have a starting point to do any kind of vetting. 2. In order to do any kind of realistic vet- Letter to the Editor Policy: The Baker County Press reserves the right not to pub- lish letters containing factual falsehoods or incoherent narrative. Letters promoting or detracting from specifi c for-profi t business- es will not be published. Word limit is 375 words per letter. Letters are limited to one every other week per author. Letters should be submitted to Editor@TheBakerCounty- Press.com. Advertising and Opinion Page Dis- claimer: Opinions submitted as Guest ting, you also need a functioning govern- ment to talk to. The government in Syria is in a shambles, courtesy of the Syrian civil war, therefore there is no one to talk to in order to do any kind of vetting. 3. Infi ltrating terrorist fi ghters into enemy nations is one of the oldest tricks in the ter- ror playbook. And given the fact that three- fourths of Syria is in the thrall of ISIS, such a trick becomes ridiculously easy. 4. We have more than enough homeless, poor and hungry people right here in the U.S. to be taking care of. Since when did a Syrian “refugee” come before a homeless American? I say send them to Saudi Arabia. They have the money, resources and space to take them in easily. Plus, they can keep a better eye on them than we ever could. Dorian Atkins Salem Opinions or Letters to the Editor express the opinions of their authors, and have not been authored by and are not necessarily the opinions of The Baker County Press, any of our staff, management, independent contractors or affi liates. Advertisements placed by political groups, candidates, businesses, etc., are printed as a paid service, which does not constitute an endorsement of or fulfi llment obligation by this newspaper for the products or services advertised. State contract with travel agency questioned Salem,OR - State Repre- sentative Gene Whisnant (R-Sunriver) has asked Oregon State Auditor Gary Blackmer to conduct a fi nancial and performance audit of the Department of Administration's contract with Azumano Travel. Rep. Whisnant submitted his re- quest to Director Blackmer on November 18, 2015, and asked that the audit specifi cally explore why the state's contract with the travel agency has not been competed or reviewed for performance since 2005. "I was troubled to learn that the State of Oregon has maintained an exclu- sive contract with Azu- mano Travel for more than a decade, without ever opening up that contract for competing bids," said Rep. Whisnant. "Further, it appears as though former Governor Kitzhaber ap- proved a loan of taxpayer funds to Azumano Travel despite clear warning signs that the company was facing serious fi nancial uncertainties. Our govern- ment has a responsibility to ensure that taxpayer dollars are managed in the most transparent and frugal manner possible. I am requesting an audit of the state's contractual his- tory with Azumano Travel so that we may learn the full details of this relation- ship and discover how to prevent situations like this from occurring in the future." Rep. Whisnant's deci- sion to request the audit came after Willamette Week reported that Oregon offi cials used Azumano Travel to book a recent trip to Asia. Willamette Week's reporting also raised questions about the scope and nature of the state's contractual history with the travel agency. Subscriptions make great gifts! If you’re a current subscriber and you take out a gift subscription for someone else, we’ll add a month to your own subscription! — Guest Opinion — The feds and education By Sen. Mike Lee There is much to like in the Deseret News’ Dec. 6, editorial, “Utah’s con- gressional delegation confronts a chang- ing Washington environment.” The editorial correctly notes that Paul Ryan’s recent election as speaker of the House is an encouraging development. I wholeheartedly agree. It was an honor to accept Ryan’s invitation to introduce him at his fi rst major policy address at the Library of Congress last week. He outlined a bold and innovative conser- vative policy agenda that Republicans can begin implementing under a new president in 2017. The editorial also correctly criticizes the current “all or nothing” environment in Washington, which has led to far too many fi scal cliffs, legislative logjams and government by crisis. As Ronald Reagan advised, conservatives should be ready to take half a loaf when they can get it, and then come back for the other half later. Unfortunately, the Every Student Succeeds Act that Congress passed this week prevents conservatives from do- ing exactly that. And it enshrines some pretty terrible education policy into law in the meantime. Proponents of the bill claim that ESSA “allows states to set their own academic standards.” What proponents of the bill do not tell you is that the bill also gives the secretary of education fi nal veto power of all state education plans. If he doesn’t like a state’s academic standards, he can deny that state’s plan and withhold its funding. This is a sub- stantial stick that could force states to implement federally preferred education plans. Proponents of the bill also claim that ESSA replaces the federal “accountabil- ity system with state-designed account- ability systems.” What they do not tell you is that that the bill keeps most of the old No Child Left Behind annual testing mandates in place. Proponents of the bill correctly note that the bill does eliminate federally mandated teacher evaluations. But while that particular stick may have been eliminated, the bill also spends almost $3 billion on teacher training carrots that only increase federal infl uence on what is taught in our classrooms. Proponents of the bill also argue that the bill “limits” the education secre- tary’s “authority to prescribe interven- tions and school improvement strate- gies.” What they fail to mention is that there were already three similar prohibi- tions on the secretary (in three federal statutes: No Child Left behind, the Department of Education Organization Act, and the General Education Provi- sions Act) that the secretary violated in the process of implementing Common Core the fi rst time. Without a substan- Submitted Photo Mike Lee is a U.S. Senator from Utah. tial enforcement mechanism — losing money — a future secretary will be just as able to side-step words intended to roll back his or her authority. Finally, proponents of the bill also claim that it “consolidates dozens of individual federal programs into a single block grant for education.” This is just plain false. While the bill does collapse some programs into others, it also cre- ates six brand new grant programs, leav- ing about 40 total different programs for states to navigate. Reasonable people can disagree about the bargain ESSA struck. Maybe a 12 percent increase in education spend- ing is worth getting rid of mandatory teacher evaluations. Maybe giving Hillary Clinton a $250 million down payment on her federal pre-K agenda is worth consolidating a few programs. But if you are looking ahead to 2017, if you want to set the table for “effective political leadership in an incremental collaborative environment” under a new Republican president, then the ESSA is a disaster. The bill reauthorizes K-12 federal educational policy through 2020 — the end of the next president’s fi rst term in offi ce. That means this bill effectively handcuffs the next president on educa- tion policy, effectively preventing any conservative education reform from being advanced. And that is a tragedy. The entire Utah delegation is united behind a conserva- tive vision of local control for K-12 and pre-K education. We almost certainly will not reach that vision in one “all or nothing” step. We most certainly should be willing to accept incremental steps towards conservative goals. But details matter. As President Obama has taught us, the Department of Education will fi nd the tiniest loop- hole for federal control, and then force an aircraft carrier through it. This bill leaves far too many of those loopholes wide open. More importantly it prevents conser- vatives from coming back later under the next president to achieve more incremental reform. That is a loss for all Utahns, and that is why I am pleased our entire Utah House delegation voted against the bill. — Contact Us — YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS The Baker County Press President Barack Obama PO Box 567 Baker City, Ore. 97814 202.456.2461 fax Open Monday-Thursday for calls 9 AM - 4 PM Open 24/7 for emails Offi ce location: TBA Phone: 541.519.0572 TheBakerCountyPress.com 202.456.1414 Whitehouse.gov/contact US Sen. Jeff Merkley 503.326.3386 503.326.2900 fax Merkley.Senate.gov US Sen. Ron Wyden 541.962.7691 Wyden.Senate.gov US Rep. Greg Walden Kerry McQuisten, Publisher Editor@TheBakerCountyPress.com Wendee Morrissey, Advertising and Sales Wendee@TheBakerCountyPress.com David Conn, Advertising and Sales David@TheBakerCountyPress.com 541.624.2400 541.624.2402 fax Walden.House.gov Oregon Gov. 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