The Oregon state employee news., January 01, 1959, Page 2, Image 2

The
Judge
M akes
a
P o in t
A N OPEN LETTER FROM J. LLOYD LeMASTER
Here we are — in the sixtieth year of the twentieth
century — the Centennial year of Oregon Statehood, U.S.A.
It's been a long time since the stork deposited Oregon on
Uncle's doorstep and none of us has been around for all
of Oregon's first 100 years.
D e a n L e m o n , whose
■k
home t o w n recently
jj|||k heralded his 58 years
||||||L
of Corvallis residence
in t h e
HHHk service of his state
H H
by dubbing him Mr.
•**** ,'v
O.S.C., h a s b e e n
around only 70 years.
He m a y make the
next 30 years, and I
w o u l d be willing to
w a g e r my subsistence
■ r against an adequate re­
tirement income that he
will, except that I can't wait
that long to start cashing in my green stamps and other
eroding coupons.
Oregon is a wonderful place! It has so many wonder­
ful people! It's a better land because men like P. M. Brandt,
E. C. Outlaw, A. J. Ford, and Loren White, all departed
and devoted leaders of OSEA, sojourned among us. Ore­
gon's meadows are greener and her streams are clearer
because of the efforts of our Governors and our Legisla­
tors of yesteryear.
We don't usually give our Governors a second chance
and we deny our Legislators a long overdue nominal in­
crease in salary, but we are not without shame in this be­
havior — nor without sorrow that we collectively are thus
unworthy. This denial of a legislative pay increase of
$600 per year, (my county, Benton County, excepted) is
being heralded in certain political circles as a mandate
from the people to economize. If this view prevails and
the Legislature permits Oregon to fall farther behind in
competition for career servants in any area of State en­
deavor, then the Legislature will be guilty of fiscal ir­
responsibility unworthy of chosen leaders.
In other political circles, others are giving lip service
to the idea that the defeat of the incumbent in the execu­
tive office was a mandate to economize. In refutation, I
cite the success of the Democratic party in the same elec­
tion in the contests for the State Senate, for example: I
cite the election of Mark Hatfield as Secretary of State in
1956, when the political tide was running the other way
in Oregon. 1 cite the success of Secretary Hatfield in the
1958 Republican primary when his chief opposition was
running on an economy platform second to none ever
proposed. In final refutation I cite Oregon's notorious re­
cord of single tenure in the "Governor's Mansion."
Oswald West, our oldest living Governor, spelled out
the liability of the Governorship of Oregon when he said,
"The Governor of Oregon walks down the steps alone."
No, I don't see in Governor Hatfield's election any man­
date to reduce Oregon's competitive position for career
servants, in any area of State endeavor.
If we would but look at our living former Governors,
those leaders who guided our destinities, as God and we
made Oregon what she is today, we would pay ready
tribute and honor in our Centennial celebration to Oswald
West, Charles Sprague, Douglas McKay, Elmo Smith, and
Robert Holmes. Having thus cleared our perspective, we
PAGE TWO
could then turn our eyes into the sun and give our present
Governor, Mark Hatfield, the .help that he needs to save
our State from fiscal irresponsibility based upon simulated
visions of things unseen.
On the invitation of president Sjolander of Chapter
82 my wife Ruth and I enjoyed a very rewarding evening
down at the Blind School recently. I spoke to those de-
voted career servants on the subject "State and Employee,
the revered motto of OSEA. The really moving moment of
that occasion was the awarding of certificates of service,
by the administrator, to many of the employees. One lady
received a 23 year service award and there was a 29 year
service award for another employee who was too ill to
attend. I talked with a vivacious and comely lady with
greying hair who was brought out from Chicago a few
years ago to direct the kindergarten program for the little
folks bereft of vision. Her enthusiasm, her poise, and her
tender concern for the tiniest of our little blind citizens
was truly inspirational.
One leaves scenes like these with mixed emotions —
neither sad nor yet happy — just mixed emotions domi­
nated by a little pride in Institutions but a little more by
fear — fear that one of those imaginary mandates might
result in fiscal irresponsibility with the hurt falling upon
the heads of the little folks who can neither see nor hear.
Since this is my last column as your Junior Past, I
must speak at last of a long forgotten State employee. I
am thinking of the career service employee who has
reached top grade in his or her series. No more steps, no
more growth unless he or she does it for free — not even
a cost-of-living increase to compensate for dollar erosion.
This creates a very unstable and demoralizing situation.
It's expensive to the State too, both in loss of morale and
in termination of services of seasoned, experienced, ma­
turing, highly productive State employees.
The only hope for these career service employees is
to go away, where acquired skills are appreciated, or to
set up a clamor for an across-the-board raise. If Oregon's
pay scales ever get so low that an across-the-board pay
boost is required to save the day, it will be because the
Oregon Legislature has listened to the inaudible voice or
has seen the invisible hand of an imaginary mandate to
economize. Then, it will be too late to save the day. If any
Legislator, man or woman, Democrat or Republican, among
the many wonderful Assemblymen I know, really wishes
to do something to increase the productivity of the public
service performance of Oregon's career servants, let him
or her speak up now for the senior employee merit step
following five years of service in top grade, if merit step
is recommended by the supervisor. This is in line with
economy and efficiency and is an exact replica of the U. S.
Civil Service system. Root out waste, take whatever cura­
tive action efficiency in productivity requires, but no across-
the-board stagnation in the name of economy — please.
That's one "economy" Oregon cannot stand!
The General Council of OSEA meeting in Eugene in
November 1958 unanimously approved a Resolution spon­
soring a "Little Hoover Commission" of Legislators to in­
vestigate efficiency and eliminate any waste or extrava­
gance in any area of State endeavor. With our cards face
up on the table, OSEA asks only that the deal be accord­
ing to the Marquis of Queensbury rules, and this is asking
simply for a fair deal.
J. LLOYD LeMASTER
Jr. Past-President, OSEA
JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 1959