Eugene weekly., June 19, 2003, Page 4, Image 4

TO THE EDITOR
DIVERSITY AS STRENGTH
COMPELLING COMPLIANCE
Kudos to the Eugene City Council for
maintaining the racial purity that simmers
just below our comfort zone. Our liberal per-
sona reeks with the disrespect that the council
has shown a great American. At the same
time, however, their decision speaks to the
broader issue that to honor one you raise
them all. Added to that, it seems pathetic that
with all Dr. King’s contributions to the qual-
ity he sought for all Americans, the council
continues to cow to racist pressures.
Even the cost was addressed when the
Lane County commissioners offered to cover
the cost. As to the charge that this issue “just”
became either/or, the renaming has on the
table since June 2002. If renaming a street is
no big deal, then why did six of the eight coun-
cilors continue the racist charade? Back in the
day, “if you’re white, you’re right, if you’re
black, get back.” In addition, other racial and
cultural groups benefited from the actions Dr.
King inspired all Americans to rise to.
Yolanda King reminded us that we are not
a “melting pot,” but rather a mosaic. She goes
on to say that until the races respect each
other, only then can we work together for the
good of us all. With all the progress our soci-
ety has made, the implied status and access to
the real power remains with the traditional
venues. Sadly, the outrage we should feel is
momentary and will be put back on the shelf.
Liberals complain about being bashed,
conservatives rant and threaten the loss of
values, the extremists want to dismantle the
whole system, yet coming together to honor a
great American remains out of our own reach.
More meetings and other options are a way to
support and give nothing. Our diversity
should be our strength, not our demise.
George G. Brooks
Eugene
The Tenth Amendment reserves to the
states, or to the people, the powers not dele-
gated to the federal government by the
Constitution. The government cannot force a
state to raise its drinking age to 21, lower its
speed limit to 55, its DUI limit to .08, require
motorcycle helmets, seatbelts, car seats, etc.
It compels compliance, then, by threatening
to withhold badly needed (and usually al-
ready spent) highway funds from recalcitrant
states who always buckle under the duress,
giving a false impression of the authority
of the federal government over such
matters.
Now this same government is threatening
to deny our police access to their bottomless
pockets and unlimited resources in retaliation
for our audacity in passing the medical mari-
juana initiative in blatant defiance of the
Controlled Substances Act, whose sole legal
standing is Congress’ plenary, or absolute,
authority over intrastate commerce and its al-
leged inability to distinguish intra-state com-
merce in controlled substances from not only
inter-state traffic, but even drug use.
Personally, I would love to see the bogus
War on Drugs collapse under its own weight
and the legions of spies in our midst driven to
produce something besides information on
my personal life, should the Feds make good
their bluff, but I don’t see it happening. It’s
too good to be true. They need this diversion
to identify, isolate and disenfranchise those of
us who insist on applying the test of our own
conscience to the laws we obey. Nothing
short of blind obedience is acceptable.
Besides, you don’t have to pay cops to look in
everybody’s pockets — they would do it for
free.
Pete Raiteri
Eugene
BY TONY CORCORAN
The Stinge Factor
R’s have gone about as far as they can go.
M
any committees closed Friday the 13th; it’s that time of year. Most of
the substantive bills have gotten through, but a lot of bills died in
committees this year. The Senate D’s and R’s shared-who’s-in-
charge-today-co-leadership group exacerbated that phenomenon even
further last Wednesday when they had a little dustup over which bills
would go to Rules. Bills that don’t move to Rules die as committees close.
The House and Senate Rules Committees traditionally stay open until the
end, meaning I get front row seats, and a vote, when things go sideways at
the end. The speaker has now moved her projection of the “end” of session, by
the way, from June 6 to July 6 and now to late July. Too bad there’s not a kicker
on that bad forecast, eh? Speaking of the kicker, don’t look for the Senate refer-
ral we passed to get out of the House without an unacceptable spending cap.
The House and Senate Revenue Committees will either stay open or re-open
when there’s some sign of budget movement. For this late in the session little
common ground has been reached on the education budgets or human services
budgets or a transportation package; the public safety budget is close. But the
bigger problem is the style of bargaining in which the leaders are engaged. The
Republican leader says to the Democrats: In addition to the woefully inadequate
co-chairs budget we presented in May, here’s an additional $113 million for edu-
cation, $175 million for human services, and $70 million for public safety. That,
coupled with the $650 million shortfall in the May forecast, will require about
$1.1 billion in new revenue, which we’ll help identify/steal. The Democrats
respond: Excuse me, about that $113 million for education — is that for every-
thing? Headstart, K-12, community colleges, universities? If so, how do you pro-
pose we divvy up that money? Because our caucus members need another
$600 million for K-12 alone, not to mention enough to stop tuition increases at
LCC and the UO, and bring back 875 Headstart slots that were cut. And about
4 JUNE 19, 2003
WHY GAMBLE?
I was listening to the radio the other day
about a possible casino coming to Florence,
and I heard the reporter say that the casino de-
velopers were “encouraging their detractors
to look inside the state at other towns with
tribal gaming.” I thought that was very rea-
sonable advice, so I looked.
I looked at U.S. Census data for 1990 and
2000 on three casino towns — Lincoln City
(Chinook Winds), Coos Bay (The Mill) and
Canyonville (Seven Feathers). Lincoln City’s
population is about the same is Florence;
Coos Bay’s population is about twice the size
of Florence; Canyonville has about one-fifth
the population of Florence. Casinos were
built in all three towns at about the same time,
around 1995. Here’s what I found:
• Population growth from 1990 to 2000:
Florence 42.2 percent; Lincoln City 25.9 per-
cent; Coos Bay 2.1 percent; Canyonville 6.1
percent.
• Unemployed (percent of working popu-
lation): Florence 3.3 percent; Lincoln City
5.6 percent; Coos Bay 4.3 percent;
Canyonville 5.5 percent.
that human services figure — $175 million — that’s already eaten up in propos-
als that you Republicans just endorsed to save the Oregon Health Plan! It
wouldn’t cover mental health cuts, A&D treatment, senior and disabled cuts,
and on and on. The Republican response: We’re telling you — this is as far as our
caucuses are willing to go with a search for new revenue or taxes. Does that
sound like the end is near?
Why? Here are the results of a recent national poll of legislators that I partic-
ipated in for the Pew Center of the States (pun unintended I’m sure). The
big shocker: Democrats were much more willing to consider tax hikes
to fix budget shortfalls than Republicans. OK, no big surprise there.
But the size of the margins explains why we’ll be fubarred in Salem
for a while: 63 percent of the Democrats polled said they were con-
sidering tax increases, while only 17 percent of Republicans were.
There are 35 Republicans and 25 Democrats in Oregon’s House, and
a three-fifths majority of them are needed to raise revenue. You do
the math. Note to self: Speaker in for long summer.
P
lay ball! Meanwhile, Major League Baseball showed up in our Senate Revenue
Committee. Interesting group — the Oregon Stadium Campaign — their literature
promised “not a penny from our pockets … new jobs for Oregonians …
Affordable fun.” Their spokesmen were articulate: Steve Kanter, highly respected pro-
fessor and former dean at Lewis and Clark Law School; Harvey Platt, highly respected
Oregon business owner and citizen; and some slick guy from the Indianapolis Pacers
who claimed he didn’t know squat about baseball but swore up and down that the city of
Portland and the state could never be left holding the bag. Hmmm…
Here’s how it works: MLB sends the Montreal Expos-factos to Portland. The
city requests a grant, approved by the Legislature, but safeguards are included
so the state has no liability. Then, once the players are here playing baseball,
their state income tax is used to pay for the stadium bonds. Humm? Who’s the
final guarantor, like, if there was a strike? “Well there isn’t one right now, you
see, it’s all part of the grant application.” My biggest concern is still not
answered: the final guarantor. If it’s Portland or the state, fuggedaboudit!
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