TO THE EDITOR
EXPLOSIVE EVIDENCE
Did anyone notice this week that Eugene
Mayor Jim Torrey completed his visit to all
the communities in Oregon? He finally ar-
rived back in Eugene and submitted a report
to our governor and legislators containing ex-
plosive evidence of what everyone in the
state already knew except for Mayor Torrey
and his cohorts in the Republican party: Our
public schools are underfunded!
It took Torrey almost four months and
thousands of miles of driving to come to this
conclusion, and all he really needed to do was
drive to Salem once and look at how poorly
his party’s leaders in the Legislature had
funded education over the last several years.
Since taking over as the party in power in
the House, it has been Torrey’s own party that
has systematically gone about the process of
placing our children’s education on the back
burner while giving away tax incentives and
tax cuts to the rich and powerful in Oregon.
The mayor’s highly publicized trip across
the state was nothing more than a political
ploy to promote the mayor’s star in the
Republican party. This is the mayor who
presided over Sacred Heart’s exit from
Eugene, multi-tax breaks for big companies
who are now or have already laid off thou-
sands of Eugene residents, and then his ad-
ministration’s failure to attract “living wage”
jobs to the city.
Isn’t it time that we as citizens hold Torrey
accountable for his actions? The city is far
worse off then it was when Torrey took of-
fice. The Democrats in the Legislature have
been crying out for the Republicans to do
something about education funding only to
be silenced by the speaker’s gavel. In comes
Torrey on his white horse and all of a sudden
the Republicans are going to talk about edu-
cation? Sounds like a set up to me. Let’s get
real education reform in Oregon this year and
adopt the right plan, which is the Democrat’s
plan.
Rich Cunningham
Eugene
PRESIDENTIAL STAINS
President Bill Clinton had sex with an in-
tern, lied about it and was impeached.
President George W. Bush willfully lied to
the American people and took us into a war
that cost the lives of over 170 American sol-
diers and thousands of Iraqis. Where is the
outrage? Where is the screaming? Where are
the investigative reporters who have the
moral responsibility to protect our freedoms?
The Bush White House has admitted that
it exaggerated and even fabricated some of
the evidence presented to the American peo-
ple and the United Nations. What more evi-
dence do we need? Where are our congres-
sional representatives? Where is their com-
mitment to the Constitution they vowed to
uphold?
I don’t get it. Is the death of 170 American
soldiers less important than a stained blue
dress?
Carol Horne
Eugene
WORKS: COMPLETE
A friend of mine heartily recommended
Willamette Rep’s production of The
Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged),
saying it was laugh-out-loud fun.
Fortunately, I bought my tickets before I read
Brian Boone’s review. After seeing the show
myself on Saturday night, I wondered what
show Boone had seen.
The one I saw was hilarious, brilliant,
well-acted and captured the essence of
Shakespeare’s works. Boone saw the audi-
BY TONY CORCORAN
Honey, I Shrunk
the Students!
W
hen you think of intellectuals influencing the course of human af-
fairs, you think of physics or economics or baseball. You don’t think of po-
litical theory, because you don’t think of political theory as having an in-
tellectual underpinning. For example, most Oregonians think the Legislature stinks:
putrescent partisan pinheads flailing incompetently while Salem sinks. Hah! We out-
smarted ya’ll this week. While all the adults out there are worried about school
budgets and social services, we’ve decided on a unique strategy. First, we passed a
House bill that restricts Certificate of Initial Mastery subjects to math, English and
science. We eliminated art, and more importantly, social studies, as core courses for
a CIM. Students won’t have to study government or civics anymore! Great.
Next, we passed another brilliant brainfart — HB 2894, the Legislature’s answer
to the school funding crisis. Talk about bringing the mountain to Mohammed! Under
current law, if a district operates for less than 175 days — 34 had to this year — those
schools fall out of compliance with state standards and risk losing money. This bill
simply allows Oregon schools and school districts to operate with shortened school
years without penalty in perpetuity. Golly, why didn’t we try this earlier?
Finally, to save money on the Oregon Health Plan, a work group suggested that
we could resume coverage for the 100,000 Oregonians we threw out of the plan by
just eliminating hospitalization coverage. Brilliant! That way the cost for the most
severely ill can be shifted to everyone else who has health insurance. Tell me we’re
not doing our job. The next thing you know, our leaders will tell us all to go home
while they figure out the budget. What? Randy Miller and Kate Brown already sug-
gested that? They said they can think better with everyone gone; and besides, the
devil’s hands make idle workstations — or something like that. What will we think of
next? I know: Let’s pass a law requiring that any cattle sold at an auction have to be
actually ambulatory. Oops, sorry, we actually did that last week.
4 JUNE 5, 2003
ence participation bit in Hamlet as tiresome.
For me, it was a graphic experience of
Ophelia’s madness. As for the present-day
references, perhaps the reviewer doesn’t real-
ize that what makes a work classic is its con-
tinued relevance through time. Rather than an
“aching desire to please,” as Boone says, the
modern references in the production I saw
were not only appropriate, but right on. I thor-
oughly enjoyed the evening.
MaryJo Comins
Eugene
NEW MEDIA APPROACH
The only people more uneducated than
our schoolchildren lately seem to be our law-
makers and our media. As Eugene continues
to be a national leader in research into educa-
tional and social welfare issues, the findings
are being ignored. We have growing evidence
that raising class sizes, closing schools and
eliminating social service needs are costly
and damaging to a society. Where are these
studies in our media and policymaking?
As our institutions instead focus on un-
Now you know why it’s important not to teach civics or history to the next gen-
eration of Oregonians.
S
e pa r at io n of P o we rs
We have few opportunities in the Legislature to visit with our
Oregon Supreme Court justices — sightings are rare. We had an in-
teresting hearing in Senate Rules Committee a while back — SJR29 — a refer-
ral to amend the Oregon Constitution to elect Supreme Court judges from
seven geographic districts instead of statewide. Judges are a favorite target of
conservatives. The sponsor, Sen. Ted Ferrioli, was raised and educated in Portland
and Eugene, moved to Creswell, and then to John Day in 1994.
Ferrioli has become, for better or worse, the poster child for Oregon’s east/west
debate: namely, that valley folks ignore the rest of the state, or try to impose their
political will on easterners and southerners through land use laws and environmen-
tal regulation. One grumpy supreme, the Hon. Mick Gillette, shows up for the hear-
ing. He doesn’t like the resolution, having been raised in Milton-Freewater and edu-
cated in the Willamette Valley. A consummate wordsmith with a steel-trap mind,
Mick gives a scathing analysis of the flaws in the resolution. He exposes the first
two sentences as non-sequitors, and says a third sentence misrepresents the his-
tory of Supreme Court districts in our 1857 Constitution. Mick explains how the
original judges were circuit riders on horseback, and when they met together in
Salem, they were the Supreme Court; times changed.
Most of us on the committee knew that Ferrioli and Gillette had both crossed the
Cascades during their lives, going in opposite directions. Gillette argues that while
the Legislature is regionally diverse, the language they come up with is a compro-
mise. The supremes then simply read the language and interpret the intent; noth-
ing more, nothing less. Ferrioli argues that we need the change because of a
Willamette Valley political bias and “judicial activism.” When asked for an example
of such “judicial activism” on the part of the Supreme Court, Teddy was at a loss;
but the Crime Victims United lobbyist insists that the Armada decision was a clear
illustration. I ask Hizzoner if he can defend himself against that allegation. Mick
replies: “Mr. Doell has a right to his opinion, no matter how wrong it is.” Court ad-
journed.
Sen. Tony Corcoran of Cottage Grove represents portions of Lane and Douglas counties in Senate District 4, which
includes the UO area. He can be reached at sen.tonycorcoran@state.or.us