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w w w. d r d e x t e r. c o m
10 APRIL 7, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
• April Fools was the day that U.S. District Court Judge Michael Hogan
announced a possible settlement in the Seneca timber-funded lawsuit
against county commissioners Rob Handy and Pete Sorenson. If Coos County
Circuit Judge Michael Gillespie accepts the mediation brokered by Hogan and
Lane Circuit Judge Lyle Velure, then the county pays the plaintiffs and/or
Seneca and other secret backers of the political lawsuit $350,000 in attorneys’
fees. After wasting $600,000 in county money, the lawsuit’s perpetrators
would then “donate” $75,000 of the settlement back to county public safety
services. Handy and Sorenson would each pay the county $20,000 in
attorneys’ fees over three years but admit no fault. The good news is that the
absurd finding of “willful” misconduct by Handy and Sorenson for violating a
future novel interpretation of the public meetings law would be removed. The
bad news is that there would be a declaration that the county violated public
meetings law and Gillespie’s strange ruling on emails and “serial meetings,”
rather than helping keep the doings of our public officials in the light, will
continue to make it unclear what sort of communication they can have.
What’s the take-away lesson from all of this? The serial meeting
“misconduct” described in the lawsuit has been routinely practiced by
conservative elected officials for decades. The only difference is that Handy
and Sorenson worked for the public interest and pissed off some people with
deep pockets to fund a lawsuit.
• Did someone put a “KICK ME” sign on the back of the nation’s
teachers? As they turn to the blackboard to do their tough jobs, they’re
getting pummeled from class clowns. Even the normally good kids are joining
in on the abuse, launching spitball after spitball. Enough is enough. Settle down
and learn something about the facts as demonstrated by copious research.
Teachers aren’t overpaid. They have far more education but earn far less than
firefighters, prison guards or cops and have far more accountability. They
didn’t go into teaching to get rich. Charter schools aren’t inherently superior to
public schools. Standardized tests distract from actually learning. Bubble tests
measure student income and parental education levels better than they
measure teacher performance. Class size and funding matters, just ask the
expensive private schools. China’s illiteracy rate is 10 times higher than the U.S.
Just because you are a billionaire and went to high school yourself doesn’t
make you an expert on education. Just because you are a Democrat or
Republican politician and went to school yourself doesn’t make you an expert
on education, despite your urge to demagogue the issue. The teachers can and
should defend themselves from all this bashing, they are adults. What we’re
worried about is the kids. With so much time and effort wasted on the
politicians and high-tech and hedge fund billionaires shooting the “reform”
spitballs, its getting hard to actually learn.
• Is it just us, or have Legislatures across the country gone wild? As Obama
announces his reelection bid, we can only hope that the wellspring of silly bills
cropping up sounds a death knell for the Tea Party. Oregon’s House passed a
resolution calling for Oregon to adopt the 10 principles of the “Code of the
West,“ leaving us wondering just what is involved if you “ride for the brand?”
In Florida, the Republican-dominated House has banned the word “uterus”
from being spoken. Apparently while they debate a bill that would make a
woman look at ultrasound of her fetus before having an abortion they will refer
to the offending part as “the baby garage.” Meanwhile back in Oregon, Repub
Sen. Ted Ferrioli’s bid to make the border collie the state dog is languishing in
the Senate General Government Consumer and Small Business Protection
Committee.
On the national level, the GOP has introduced bills that would prevent
environmental nonprofits from recovering legal fees when they successfully
sue under the Equal Access to Justice Act or the Endangered Species Act. Hey,
Tea Party, we thought you wanted a more accountable government, what
gives?
• This month Boise kicks off a drive to raise $500,000 to $1 million for what
the Boise Statesman calls a permanent, covered space for a public farmers
market downtown. Their dream building “would mean a longer season and
provide offices, restaurants, a commercial kitchen, cold storage and more.
Sounds like the conversation we should be having in Eugene. “Locally grown”
in the Willamette Valley is more exciting than “locally grown” in the Magic
Valley.
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