OPINION
6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 2015
The education department assassins
“I believe there’s a feder-
We’re a mobile country,
al
role
in education,” he told
with people routinely re-
Founded in 1873
me recently, saying that the
locating across state lines,
so Arkansas, Kentucky or
contest for the least popular federal government affords
STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher
Texas isn’t educating chil-
arm of the federal govern- an important bully pulpit for
dren only for its needs.
higher standards and more
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
ment would have many strong spending on students from
Each is educating them
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
contenders.
for the entire country’s
poor families, to name two
future, and because Amer-
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
There’s the soft, cuddly Internal priorities. “But you don’t
ican companies compete
need
a
department.
You
need
Revenue Service. Also the National
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
in a global marketplace,
a
president
who
cares
about
Frank
Security Agency, America’s Peeping
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
the skills and erudition of
education and a Treasury
Bruni
Tom. And let’s not forget the Department that cuts the
tomorrow’s workers are
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
Environmental Protection Agency, checks.” Much of the rest is needless a national issue, not a state one. As it
stands now, even with the education
seen by many manufacturers as one red tape, he said.
Mitch Daniels, the former gover- department, the extent to which Amer-
big, mossy, bossy paean to regula-
nor of Indiana, didn’t wholly disagree. ican schools are funded and controlled
tion run amok.
I approached him because he worked locally puts us out of step with most
But for politicians, in particular Re- in George W. Bush’s administration, developed nations.
publicans, another challenger comes when the department’s power grew
If the education department and its
into play: the Department of Education. with No Child Left Behind, and he’s secretary vanished, how much would
In a Republican presidential debate seen as a moderate Republican. He’s the bully pulpit that Alexander men-
during the 2012 campaign, it wasn’t now the president of Purdue University. tioned shrink? What signal would
just on the list of “three agencies of
“It’s not a ludicrous idea, honestly,” Americans involved in education —
government” that Rick Perry famously he said, referring to the abolition of the and Americans in general — get about
promised to eliminate. It was one of the department. He noted that until 1979, education as a national priority?
Daniels applauded the current
two that he succeeded in naming before when it was established as a Cabi-
he stopped short, forgetting the third.
net-level agency, the country got along secretary, Duncan, as “a helpful
upport for the death penalty is waning across America.
voice” and “good conscience” over
$QGLW¿QGVLWVHOIRQFHDJDLQLQ5H- without it.
We see it most startlingly in the recent vote by Nebraska’s one- publican presidential candidates’ cross
And now? “Let’s be gentle,” he said, WKHODVW\HDUVIRUQHFHVVDU\UH-
hairs, all the more so because of Com- “and say that we haven’t seen dramatic forms and standards. He wondered
house Legislature.
By a veto-proof margin, the over the past decade, Republican mon Core standards, supported by the education improvement since the fed- aloud if such a voice and conscience
eral government set would have existed without an edu-
Nebraska Senate voted to eliminate DQG 'HPRFUDWLF RI¿FLDOV KDYH education secretary,
cation department.
Arne Duncan, and
up shop.”
the death penalty. Nebraska is a red also emphasized the cost of the cited by many ex-
I wonder if federal funding for ed-
In many ways,
They’re after
state. Its governor says he’ll veto the death penalty as a major rationale. cessively alarmed
ucation — about $140 billion annual-
no, we haven’t.
statute. But he would have to move Even in states that retain the pun- conservatives as a
But there’s much ly, which is a meaningful amount —
applause
federal
takeover
of
more
at work than would possibly stay the same. It goes
two senators off their “no” votes.
ishment, cost has played a central
curriculum.
the
failings
of the against organizational and human na-
lines,
not
Also recently, in blue Boston there role in the conversion narratives
With the nota-
education depart- ture to appropriate money without the
was little popular support for giv- of conservative lawmakers, public ble exception of
solutions.
ment, which con- sorts of conditions and accountability
ing the death penalty to the Boston RI¿FLDOV DQG RWKHUV ZKR TXHVWLRQ Jeb Bush, whose
tributes only about that are the province of the education
Marathon bomber. The family of the death penalty as a waste of Common
Core
10 percent of fund- department.
“We have to right-size the federal
advocacy is possibly his greatest vul- ing nationally for K-through-12 school-
one victim said they favored a life taxpayer dollars.”
sentence so they would not have to
The Marshall Project is a non- nerability in the primaries, nearly all ing and has only so much impact on role,” said Michael Petrilli, the presi-
GHQWRIWKH7KRPDV%)RUGKDP,QVWL-
relive the crime at the successive ap- SDUWLVDQ QRQSUR¿W QHZV RUJDQL]D- of the major Republican candidates what happens in classrooms.
have disparaged the standards, includ-
And there are as many reasons to tute, a think tank that supports school
peals that come with death penalties. tion dedicated to coverage of the ing, just last week, Chris Christie, who fret over the department’s disappear- choice. “We absolutely have to give
Clatsop County District Attorney criminal justice system.
once supported them.
ance — or, more plausibly, its severe some power back to the states.”
But Petrilli stopped well shy of call-
Josh Marquis, who supports the
And most of these politicians have curtailing — as to root for it.
Oregon’s history on the death
“When states are left on their own, ing for the education department’s era-
death penalty, has retried a Bend SHQDOW\ LV W\SL¿HG E\ D QXPEHU RI called for the downsizing of the educa-
murder case successive times as the changes of mind. The Register- tion department. A few have followed low-income kids, kids with disabilities sure, in part because he asked, “Would
Perry’s lead and said that they want it and minority kids always come last,” you abolish funding as well?” The de-
convicted murderer makes appeals Guard of Eugene recounted that dead and gone. That’s the position of said Kati Haycock, the president of the partment administers about half of that
which the Oregon Supreme Court progression. “In Oregon, voters Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee and Ted Education Trust, an advocacy group in $140 billion.
has granted, leading to new trials. abolished the death penalty in 1914, Cruz, and Marco Rubio has signaled :DVKLQJWRQ³$OZD\V)HGHUDOUHVRXUF-
It has been around long enough now
Those retrials have taken an emo- reinstated it in 1920, repealed it in a willingness to consider the depart- es help to counteract this tendency, but that its outright elimination would be
an extreme measure. Qualms with the
it’s more about federal leverage.”
tional toll on the family of the victim. 1964 and reinstated it again in 1978. ment’s elimination.
way it functions are one thing; debates
It
could
use
more
friends
these
days
There’s
also
plenty
of
evidence
that
2QHRIWKHPRVWVLJQL¿FDQWDUJX- After the Oregon Supreme Court
even among Democrats. Sen. Patty when states are left to gauge the success about its power and size are legitimate,
ments against the death penalty is its declared it unconstitutional in 1981, Murray, D-Wash., a former preschool of students, they may produce suspi- even necessary. But what some of the
relative cost. Capital trials are more voters approved a constitutionally teacher, has joined forces with Sen ciously upbeat results at odds with any Republican presidential candidates are
doing is the equivalent of looking at a
expensive than noncapital murder proper version in 1984.”
Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., to sponsor nationwide measurement.
“Without federal involvement, person who’s having a really bad hair
trials. The prolonged appeals pro-
As the Register-Guard has urged, legislation that would leave the depart-
cess, which goes on for years, adds it is time for Oregonians to have ment and its secretary with much less VWDWHVGH¿QHWKHLURZQVWDQGDUGVRISUR- day and recommending decapitation.
While more thoughtful conserva-
LQÀXHQFHRYHUVWDWHV
¿FLHQF\´ VDLG -RHO .OHLQ WKH IRUPHU
to the cost.
another discussion about the death
There’d be no federal say, for exam- chancellor for New York City public tives like Alexander have sketched
The Marshall Project noted re- penalty. The alternative of a life sen- SOHLQKRZRULISXEOLFVFKRROWHDFKHUV schools. “Some states will do good out how things might work without
cently that, “In the six states that tence without possibility of parole are evaluated. If the bill passes — and stuff, but there will also be laggards and DQ HGXFDWLRQ GHSDUWPHQW WKHVH ¿UH-
brands are engaged in theater, not real
LWKDVVLJQL¿FDQWELSDUWLVDQVXSSRUW² a lot of happy talk.”
have abolished capital punishment should be put before the voters.
the department would be a shadow of
And as he and many other education debate. They’re after applause lines,
its former self.
advocates pointed out, that’s a national not solutions.
And that’s one of my chief gripes
Alexander supports that humbling concern that deserves the attention of
even though he once ran the depart- the federal government and of a dis- with the battle cry to banish the Depart-
PHQWDVWKH¿UVW3UHVLGHQW%XVK¶VVHF- FUHWH GHSDUWPHQW VXI¿FLHQWO\ HPSRZ- ment of Education. It’s policy by sound
bite. There’s too much of that already.
retary of education.
ered to address it.
By FRANK BRUNI
New York Times News Service
A
Death penalty begs
for reconsideration
Indiana joins the ranks of states
without capital punishment
S
Halibut population
is wobbling
&RRSHUDWLYH¿VKHUPHQVXIIHURWKHUV
boats’ bycatch mismanagement
Gov. Walker and the cool thing
iPhone and show me a picture of their cians want to be in the middle of this,”
grandkids’ ultrasound and how excited she said in a phone interview.
ismanagement of bycatch — Sitka this week, is weighted toward
they are, so that’s a lovely thing. I think
At one point — during a re-elec-
¿VKFDXJKWE\DFFLGHQWZKLOH Alaskan residents. Though two
about my sons are 19 and 20 and we tion campaign against a female op-
e’ve
been
wondering
boats net other permitted species — PHPEHUV KDYH EHHQ GLVTXDOL¿HG
when a presidential can- VWLOOKDYHWKHLU¿UVWXOWUDVRXQGSLFWXUHV ponent — Walker seemed to get that
is an offensive waste most recently from participating in the vote due to
resentment against political intru-
It’s just a cool thing out there.”
highlighted by a May 30 story in the FRQÀLFWVRILQWHUHVWORQJWHUPEHW- didate would say something
Now many people tend to babble sion. So he claimed the then-pending
Seattle Times.
ting is that bycatch limits will even- incredibly insensitive about when they’re stuck in front of a mi- XOWUDVRXQGSURSRVDO³OHDYHVWKH¿QDO
crophone. Perfectly normal. Except, decision to a woman and her doctor.”
women and reproduction.
The Times’ focus is on the tually be lowered.
The moment has arrived. The once again, for the part about being a Although neither the woman nor
$ODVNDQKDOLEXW¿VKHU\WLQ\XUOFRP
0HDQZKLOH DOO ¿VKHUPHQ DJUHH
candidate for the most quote-sensitive the doctor gets any say in the ultra-
p9vr49l), but the issues involved are that bycatch is an expensive and lam- 7RGG³/HJLWLPDWH5DSH´$NLQ job on the planet.
sound-plus-commentary.
IDPLOLDUWRPRVWFRPPHUFLDO¿VKHU- entable loss of life for no good reason. Award for Sexual Sensitivity goes to
“Who’s opposed to an ultrasound?”
Let’s leap, temporarily, past the
IDFWWKDW:DONHUZDVFRQÀDWLQJWKHYL- the governor demanded Thursday. He
men. Longstanding bycatch rules
Existing technologies and meth- Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin.
Maybe it was inevitable. Of all the VLRQRIKDSS\SDUHQWVJHWWLQJWKHLU¿UVW was back on the same radio show, be-
DUH EDVHG RQ GLVWUXVW RI ¿VKHUPHQ ods are a big aid in avoiding high
practicing
politicians in the scramble, glimpse of their baby-to-be with what’s rating the good old media.
and somewhat logical, but obvi- bycatch, at least for those boats and
Walker is possibly the sloppiest pub- appropriate for a woman who has made
“They tried to claim that there were
ously counterproductive, notions crews who learn and practice them. lic speaker. Compared with him, Gov. the stupendously profound and private certain types,” he complained, presum-
about how to discourage “acciden- The Times’DQDO\VLVGH¿QLWHO\SRLQWV Chris Christie of New Jersey can be a decision to terminate a pregnancy.
ably referring to ultrasounds. The trans-
tal-on-purpose” behavior.
toward just one trawler company as pinnacle of verbal discipline.
His larger point was apparently that lation here is that while Walker keeps
Last week, Walker was on a radio the sight of a fetus
describing external
In Alaska, halibut is a hook-and- representing the worst record for net-
talk
show,
praising
a
law
he
signed
“jelly-on-the-bel-
in
an
ultrasound
ORQJOLQH ¿VKHU\ ODUJHO\ FRPSULVHG ting up and killing an oversized per-
requiring women who want an abor- is so moving that
ly”
procedures,
Women’s
of Alaskan residents. The bycatch centage of halibut. Others do much tion to undergo an ultrasound. Which a woman under-
representatives of
primarily happens in the course better at lowering their bycatch by they’re supposed to watch, while the going an abortion
the medical com-
motives for
RI WUDZO ¿VKLQJ IRU \HOORZ¿Q VROH making use of things like net exclud- physician points out the features of would
munity say doctors
almost
terminating a
will
sometimes
certainly change
rock sole and other species by boats ers, slow trawl times and avoiding the fetus.
have to use intru-
An ultrasound, he said, was “just her mind. This is
based in Washington state, gener- ¿VKLQJ ZKHUH WRR PDQ\ QRQWDUJHW
sive vaginal probes
a cool thing.”
wrong.
There’s pregnancy are
ating more than $320 million in VSHFLHVDUHPL[HGDPRQJWKH¿VK
meet the law’s
OK, that was only a little piece of no evidence these
as varied and to requirements.
ex-vessel value per year. Though
A sensible change that could be his comment. And let’s acknowledge ultrasound laws
the small halibut that are mixed with DSSOLHG WR ¿VKHULHV HOVHZKHUH RQ that presidential candidates are often discourage women complex as ...
Not so, Walk-
these species constitute only 5.1 the coast is to allow deck sorting of tortured by reporters and commentators who have already
er contended. “It
women.
doesn’t designate
million pounds a year out of a to- catches, in order to quickly return to who jump on the least little misstate- decided they want
which type, so
ment.
The
exact
same
thing
happens
an
abortion.
And
tal harvest of more than 710 million the ocean any bycatch, allowing non-
most people would
to people who actually are president. it’s incredibly in-
SRXQGVRI¿VKWKHVHKDOLEXWDPRXQW LQMXUHG ¿VK DW OHDVW D SRVVLELOLW\ RI This is why the ability to speak care-
sulting because it presumes that they’re just do the traditional one that people
WRRQH¿IWKRIWKHDQQXDOTXRWDIRU living. A 2013 study “found halibut fully is an attribute we look for when making this choice on a kind of whim. think of all the time. If they haven’t
their species. It is one reason the mortality rates on one vessel could we’re trying to decide who we should If they’d only thought things through.
seen it themselves, certainly most peo-
Women’s motives for terminating ple have seen it on TV or in movies.”
halibut population is wobbling.
be reduced from about 80 percent elect as the most powerful and closely
Would it be unfair to note that
This scenario means longline to around 60 percent,” the Times re- scrutinized human being in the world. a pregnancy are as varied and com-
one
of popular culture’s most recent
But
about
the
ultrasound
quote.
plex
as
...
women.
A
college
freshman
¿VKHUPHQ DUH SXVKLQJ KDUG IRU D ports. “This year, those experiments
Walker was complaining that, in his UHJUHWWLQJ D FDUHOHVV ÀLQJ FDQ VKDUH depictions of a happy couple sharing
halving of the trawler bycatch. This once again are under way, with ad- words, “the media is a gotcha.” He the waiting room with a middle-aged their ultrasound pictures involved the
is understandable, but has the poten- ditional federal observers brought then bragged about his anti-abortion waitress with four children and an eldest son on “19 Kids and Count-
WLDOWRSUHPDWXUHO\HQGWKHWUDZO¿VK- on board, at the trawlers’ expense, to agenda:
abusive husband, or a newlywed like ing?” Possibly.
Still, we have here a potential
“We defunded Planned Parenthood. Jeni Putalavage-Ross of Texas, who
eries at a cost of at least $37 million a watchdog that effort.”
year — and possibly up to $100 mil-
:RUNLQJ ZLWK FRRSHUDWLYH ¿VK- We signed a law that requires an ultra- discovered the little girl she was an- SUHVLGHQWZKRMXVWL¿HVDODZRQKRZ
doctors treat their abortion patients by
sound, which, the thing about that, the
lion more than that, according to the ermen rather than treating all as media tried to make that sound like that ticipating so eagerly was not going to citing what we know from watching
survive delivery because the fetus’ de-
industry’s own worst-case estimate. guilty until proven innocent has the was a crazy idea. Most people I talk to, velopment was, in the doctor’s words, TV and movies.
7KH 1RUWK 3DFL¿F )LVKHU\ potential of drastically reducing the ZKHWKHUWKH\¶UHSUROLIHRUQRW,¿QG “incompatible with life.”
Seventeen months to go. Lord
people all the time who’ll get out their
“I just don’t understand why politi- knows what’s next.
Management Council, meeting in shameful waste of bycatch.
M
By GAIL COLLINS
New York Times News Service
W