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JANUARY 19, 2018, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5 KeizerOpinion KEIZERTIMES.COM A home at last Its productions have been staged at the Keizer Civic Center, the Kroc Center and Chemeketa Community College. The only constant stage for Keizer Homegrown Theatre has been the Keizer Rotary Amphitheatre at Keizer Rapids Park which hosts the group’s Shakespeare in the Park plays. Keizer Homegrown Theatre (KHT) now has a perma- nent home. In Keizer. In an agreement with the Keizer Heritage Center, the theatre group has taken over the event room on the second fl oor of the center. The ad- dition of KHT to the center truly makes it the culutural heart of the city. The Keizer Heritage Center is home to the Keiz- er Community Library, the Keizer Heritage Museum, the Keizer Art Association and its Enid Joy Mount Gallery. The building, which started life as Keizer School in 1916, will fulfi ll the Keizer Heritage Foundation’s goal of preserving history and maintaining the building as the heart of the com- munity. Keizer Homegrown Theater is a perfect fi t for that vision. The group will continue to stage Shakespeare plays at Keizer Rapids Park each summer; all other productions will be held at its new home. A volunteer organization, KHT is managed by a dedicated group of vol- unteers led by Linda Baker, a former long-time drama teacher at McNary High School. Keizer Homegrown Theatre is a member of the Salem Theatre Network, a group of 13 the- atrical companies in the region—that is a lot of live theatre for our metro- politan. It used to be that Pentacle Theatre was the only live theatre. The strength of the 13 members of the network demonstrate that residents in Keizer and Salem will support the performing arts. All those groups, es- pecially Keizer Home- grown Theatre, benefi t from the art and drama programs in our schools. KHT may be a small or- ganization but it has big ambitions and the shows it produces are as sophisicated as any- thing you’d fi nd in a large city. With the move to its permanent home Keizer Homegrown Theatre can concentrate on making its new space its own and serve its needs. There will be some modifi cations made over the coming years includ- ing staging, storage and seating. Keizer Homegrown Theatre’s fi rst production was already staged at the Keizer Heritage Center. Last Febru- ary Love Letters was produced in the space it now calls home. That play proved that the event room could eas- ily be turned into an intimate theatre. After wandering over recent years staging shows at various venues, Keiz- er Homegrown Theatre has come home where it belongs. —LAZ our opinion Health care and agriculture... The two other bills I am co- I don’t know about you, but I think January news should be about aponsoring are agriculture related. college football playoffs, not special One aligns all seed law under the elections. But we have a very im- same contracting statues, protect- portant election coming up on the ing family farmers. This bill insures 23rd and there is a lot of informa- that small family farmers get paid for tion swirling around out there about what they grow in a timely manner. Measure 101. Healthcare policy can Further, the bill gives the Depart- be really wonky and I don’t claim to ment of Agriculture the power to enforce contract violations, protect- be an expert on this issue. ing farmers. What I do know some- My Rural Invest- thing about, however, is the ment bill clarifi es rules legislative process and it’s be- around rural property cause of something the leg- tax exemptions. It al- islature did that you have a lows some cities and ballot sitting on your kitch- counties to incentiv- en counter right now that ize rural investment by needs to be fi lled out (unless implementing a phased- you’re obsessive-compulsive in property tax liability like me and fi lled it out and program for newly con- returned it the same day it structed or installed in- arrived). Back in the 2017 from the dustrial improvements. I legislative session, the ma- looking forward to jority of members voted capitol am the impact this will have to increase the tax on your in rural Oregon for ag- healthcare. By BILL POST riculture investment and One important thing to job creation. note, is that legislators and I always love hearing staff are exempt from this tax, as are most public employees. from you and especially love wel- No matter how you choose to vote, coming constituents to the Capi- I think it’s extremely important that tol. This past week I had a group of you do vote. Oregon is one of a few high school students come by for a states that offers this referendum op- tour. I always remind people that the tion for citizens to hold their gov- Capitol building is their building—I may work there, but it is the people’s ernment accountable. In passage or defeat, this election building, and it is a beautiful testa- will dramatically change the work ment to our democratic-republic that we do in the legislature during form of government at work. Don’t forget to turn in that ballot! the short session starting in February. (Bill Post represents House I am working on a few bills for the February session. The one that’s got- Disd trict 25. He can be reached at ten the most news coverage is one I 503d 986d1425 or via email at rep. bilpost@ oregonlegislature.gov.) am co-sponsoring with Senator Sara Gelser. It is to help provide clarity for the Salem-Keizer School District in how they implement their Man- datory Reporting rules. I’ve heard Email a letter to the editor from tons of constituents about this, (300 words) by noon Tuesday. and I am so glad to announce that Email to: the bill number to fi x this problem publisher@keizertimes.com is SB1540. Share your opinion Keizertimes Wheatland Publishing Corp. 142 Chemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303 Phone: 503.390.1051 • www.keizertimes.com MANAGING EDITOR Eric A. Howald editor@keizertimes.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR SUBSCRIPTIONS Derek Wiley news@keizertimes.com ADVERTISING Paula Moseley advertising@keizertimes.com PRODUCTION MANAGER & GRAPHIC DESIGNER EDITOR & PUBLISHER Lyndon Zaitz publisher@keizertimes.com One year: $25 in Marion County, $33 outside Marion County, $45 outside Oregon PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY Publication No: USPS 679d430 Andrew Jackson graphics@keizertimes.com POSTMASTER Send address changes to: LEGAL NOTICES legals@keizertimes.com Keizertimes Circulation BUSINESS MANAGER 142 Chemawa Road N. Laurie Painter Keizer, OR 97303 billing@keizertimes.com RECEPTION Lori Beyeler INTERN Periodical postage paid at Salem, Oregon Random Pendragon facebook.com/keizertimes twitter.com/keizertimes Avoid a boondoggle, get experts By GENE H. McINTYRE Boondoggle? That’s the ques- tion this writer asked himself at learn- ing about a soon-to-be-launched 13-member, special Or- egon legislative commit- tee to tour the state after the 2018 legislative session. Around Oregon they plan to hear from multiple groups of parents, students, teachers, administrators school board members and business leaders, exploring best practices used in Or- egon’s “most successful schools” and thereby address gaps that limit student success at other schools. The touring group will meet monthly and plan to fi nish its work by January, 2019, or before the convening of the legisla- ture next year. Senate President Peter Courtney says Oregonians “need to educate the state’s children the best we possi- bly can” and that means state leaders need to understand what works and what does not work in our schools. Further, from Courtney, “we need to connect state priorities and funding to local spending.” Not only will this tour group of legislators look into the 1-in-4 who fail to graduate from high school in Oregon. They will also examine early childhood education, fundamental costs and instructional time relative to what community members be- lieve are today’s best strategies for a successful education. We’re told they recognize how important an educa- tion is in determining future social service needs with implications for Medicare, tax revenue and incarcera- tion numbers. The answer to the boondoggle question should be self-evident. Yes, this is another boondoggle because these thirteen legislators and col- leagues get little done now, when they have the conve- nience of meeting in one place for several weeks every year. They get little done because each one almost always sides in all matters with his and her political party affi liation which adds up to parti- sanship, factionalism and ideologue. Tradition and practice forecast that the Democrats on tour will listen attentively to the interests of teachers and labor unions while the Republicans only have ears for business and management con- cerns. Of course, there are best examples throughout the state but they are most often “best” in relative terms and will be argued to death on behalf of those with a vested interest in keeping their jobs and staying alive where they live and work. Further, anyone who thinks any district in eastern Oregon or on the Oregon coast can compete with a certain district immediately west of Portland or in Lake Oswego should seek sobriety before advertising Or- egon as a level playing fi eld. Leaders who believe they can march out into the hinterlands a few times and return to the Capitol with a sure-fi re plan to do anything that must cost a whole lot more mon- ey to achieve success—which is what’s really needed where so many of the state’s youth receive an inferior educa- tion due to the absence of modern- day technology, up-to-date facilities, and 21st century equipment—live in a pigs-can-fl y world. Incidentally, guest column these same leaders and their predeces- sors have had years to do what was needed and have chosen to argue to asinity. The Oregon Legislature can- not even get the businesses of this state (those that reap huge profi ts in the millions upon millions of dollars every year) to pay their fair share in taxes while Democrats and Republi- cans, for fear of losing their campaign bucks, protect big business here. Then there’s that sizable collection of our legislators, steered by the state’s special interests, wealthy families and corpo- rate executives, that can only scream, PERS is the problem. That problem will be solved when cats go willingly to bathe, unless legislators come up with a new tax law that requires ev- ery entity to share appropriately in the costs of government. Boondoggle avoidance: Vet care- fully and hire a proven evaluation team—beyond the infl uence of spe- cial interests—to deliver accurate, appropriately comprehensive results and fi ndings. Bring the fi ndings and recommendations to the Oregon Leg- islature and determine its acceptabil- ity and salability, along with accuracy in cost, to a majority of Oregonians. Select a group of ten Oregon legisla- tors to take the reformation proposal out for show and tell. Let Oregon’s citizens vote on it by a special bal- lot election. If “yes,” hire the best and brightest Oregon educators to see to it that it is implemented with care and consideration for the diffi culties asso- ciated with dramatic overhaul. See improvements in Oregon’s public education at all levels and secondary school graduation rates. (Gene H. McIntyre lives in Keizer.) Trump gets book thrown at him By DEBRA SAUNDERS As a candidate for president, Donald Trump assured voters that, if elected, he would hire “the best people.” It was a claim that sug- gested Trump didn’t need years of Washington ex- perience because, well, as Trump boasted in The Art of the Deal, “my philoso- phy is always to hire the best from the best.” A shrewd eye for top talent? That’s not the view from Washington. The fallout from the release of Michael Wolff ’s new book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, with its devastating quotes about Trump and family unloaded by for- mer White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, reveal how overrated Trump’s instincts have been when it comes to choosing the best people for the job. Bannon had told Wolff he saw a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr., former campaign manager Paul Manafort and a Russian lawyer as “treason- ous.” Thus, a once trusted lieutenant breathed new life into the Russian collusion story just as it was losing steam. The White House has cited inac- curacies in the book. For example, there’s an account of Trump not knowing who former House Speak- er John Boehner was when the late Fox News giant Roger Ailes recom- mended that Trump hire Boehner as his chief of staff. In fact, Trump mentioned Boehner repeatedly be- fore then. Also, Wolff himself acknowledges that at times he chose which con- fl icting version of events to report. And Wolff did not enhance his cred- ibility when he told the Today show, “I certainly said what was ever nec- essary to get the story.” The thing is, you don’t have to see Wolff ’s words as gospel—for example, you don’t have to believe Trump initially wanted to name Bannon or his son-in-law to be his chief of staff—to see how fl awed Trump’s judgment has been when it came to staffi ng the West Wing and his campaign. Don’t take Wolff ’s word for it. Listen to Trump. Last week the White House re- leased a statement in which Trump savaged Bannon. “Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more impor- tant than he was. It is the only thing he does well,” read the statement. On Friday, Trump gave his for- mer chief strategist a new Twitter nickname, “Sloppy Steve.” Trump also made the mistake of hiring Paula Manafort to run his campaign, despite Manafort’s known ties to Moscow. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s offi ce has charged Manafort with multiple felony counts. Manafort says he is not guilty. When Trump is unhappy with a member of his team, he lets every- one know. Trump has berated Attor- ney General Jeff Sessions for recus- ing himself from the Russian probe. Just last month, Trump complained to The New York Times that Sessions was less loyal to him than former Attorney General Eric Holder had been to President Barack Obama. other voices Trump undercut his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson when he tweet- ed that Tillerson was “wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,” aka North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. After Trump fi red FBI chief James Comey in May, Press Secre- tary Sean Spicer told reporters that Trump acted on the recommenda- tion of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. “It was all him,” Spicer said. “No one from the White House. That was a DOJ decision.” Two days later, Trump told NBC’s Lester Holt, “I was going to fi re Comey” no matter what Justice of- fi cials recommended. While Trump’s demand for loy- alty from White House staff is leg- endary, it is not returned. In one in- terview, Trump had turned his own spokesman into a liar, if an unwit- ting one. In Washington, credibility is a currency —and Trump snatched it from an aide for no apparent gain. Add Mueller to the mix, and for- mer staffers have added reason to counterpunch the counterpunching president. Max Bergmann of the left-lean- ing Center for American Progress opined that with the Russia probe staring down at Trump, Trump Jr., Kushner and Manafort, “This is Bannon seeing the avalanche com- ing and running for the exits.” Or maybe working for Trump doesn’t bring out the best in a per- son —if you actually hire the best person. “What can it be like to work for Donald Trump?” University of Vir- ginia Miller Center researcher Ken Hughes asked. “You have to let off steam.” (Creators Syndicate)