OPINION
6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2015
Voodoo, Jeb! Style
Founded in 1873
STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
One step forward ...
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A
fter months of delay, the Port of Astoria last week
released an audited financial document.
These numbers indicate
the Port is marginally ahead
of where it was one year ago.
Edward Stratton’s Thursday
article reported that yearly
operating losses decreased
from $1.5 million five years
ago to $105,000 in 2013-14.
Stratton’s recapitulation of
the Port’s flawed bookkeep-
ing evokes the mess that Jim
Knight discovered upon be-
coming executive director in
October 2014. For weeks on
end, Knight said he would
not release the Port’s finan-
cials until it was clear that the
books were clean.
Auditors listed two materi-
al weaknesses and five signif-
icant deficiencies in the Port’s
financial reporting. The most
substantive omission auditors
discovered was failure to re-
port liability for groundwater
pollution. That amounted to a
$1.8 million decrease in the
Port’s net position.
It is obvious that the Port
of Astoria has been sloppily
managed over the past de-
cade. Knight deserves credit
for getting down to business
by delivering a set of books
that can be said to be reliable.
Moving forward, the Port
Commission must tend to
basics. The travesty of the
Astoria Riverwalk Inn should
be a cautionary tale to com-
missioners.
In
choosing
A
O
Brad Smithart’s Hosp itality
Masters to run the motel prop-
erty instead of an experienced
innkeeper with visibility was
a bonehead, costly mistake.
Knight cleaned up the com-
missioners’ mess by doing a
deal with Ganesh Sonpatki
of the Param Hotel Group. In
this arrangement, Param pays
Smithart’s debt to the Port and
the City of Astoria.
Long-term, the Port is sit-
ting on the best hotel site
in Astoria. Commissioners
should recognize that asset,
rather than demean it, as they
did by handing it to an ama-
teur.
At bottom, the cleaning
up of Port’s financial mess
tells us a lot about the qual-
ity of our Port commission-
ers over the past ten years.
As they have come and gone,
none apparently grasped the
downward spiral of the Port’s
financial documents. This
makes a certain point. It is
difficult in a small population
county to field a commission
that includes men and women
with deep business experience
— or more particularly, deep
By DAVID BROOKS
maritime and transportation
1HZ<RUN7LPHV1HZV6HUYLFH
experience.
Commissioners should rec-
n a recent column, I asked
ognize their limitations by
readers if they had discov-
paying attention to their fi- ered a purpose in life and, if
nancial advisers and execu- so, how they had discovered it.
tive director.
A few thousand wrote essays.
I was struck by how elemental
life is. Most people found their
purpose either through raising
children or confronting illness
or death.
Hearts broken open
I was teaching, I would
But, for many people,
bound out of bed at 6:15
the purpose of life is sim-
every morning. Now I
ply to live it fully. Many
wake early, but stay under
people don’t necessarily
WKH FRYHUV ¿OOHG ZLWK D
see their lives as pointing
world’s worth of anxiety.
WRZDUG*RGRUDVGH¿QHG
by some mission state-
It might have been better
ment. They seek to drink
had I died while trying to
in life at full volume, to
teach students with learn-
experience and help oth-
ing disabilities the basics
David
ers richly.
of geometry.”
Brooks
Jae Brown was driving
Quite frequently pur-
after smoking weed and
pose emerges from loss.
Greg Sunter from Brisbane, Austra- drinking when he was pulled over. He
lia, writes: “Four years ago, my wife confessed everything to the cop, who
of 21 years passed away as the result saw that Brown was in college and
Scott Addington writes, “As is of a brain tumor. Her passage from whispered, “Don’t let your friends get
often the case, my purpose became diagnosis to death was less than six you in trouble you can’t get yourself
clearly evident after I had stopped months. As shocking as that time out of,” and let him go. “My purpose
looking for it. On October 11, 1995, was, almost as shocking was the in life,” Brown writes, “is to mentor,
my daughter was born. Beginning sense of personal growth and awak- provide that whisper in someone’s ear
ened understanding that has come that changes their life.”
with that moment, there has never from the experience for me through
The great struggle in essay after
been the slightest doubt regarding UHÀHFWLRQ DQG LQQHU ZRUN ² WR D essay is to remain emotionally vital
the purpose and source of meaning point that I feel almost guilty about and intellectually alive.
Zachary Krowitz, 21, read the
in my life. Being a father is the most KRZVLJQL¿FDQWP\RZQJURZWKKDV
essays
written in response to the
been
as
a
result
of
my
wife’s
death.
meaningful and reward-
“In his book ‘A Hid- column and concluded that “this de-
ing pursuit a man could
den Wholeness,’ Parker sire for something that is surely true
ever hope to experi- For many
Palmer writes about the LV SUHVHQW LQ DOO RI XV DQG UHÀHFWV
ence.”
two ways in which our an attempt to know what we really
people,
Not only in parent-
hearts can be broken: the want. ... Unfortunately, based both
ing, but also in teaching.
¿UVWLPDJLQLQJWKHKHDUW on the essays written in response to
the
The essays from teach-
as shattered and scat- your column and common experi-
ers ring with special
purpose tered; the second imag- ence, such meaning is often lost as
clarity and force. Many
ining the heart broken one travels through life, emotions
of life is open into new capacity, become duller and less clear.”
of them see clearly how
their day-to-day activi-
Alayne Crossman, 42, is able
holding more of both our
to have
ties are in line with their
own and the world’s suf- WR NHHS KHU HPRWLRQ ÀRZLQJ DW IXOO
ultimate end. This has
fering and joy, despair pitch. “Without the love of my fam-
more
its downside after peo-
and hope. The image of ily I wouldn’t be who I am today. It
ple leave teaching.
the heart broken open means I cry during ‘Frozen,’ every
life.
Carolyn from Mich-
has become the driving single time. It means I cry when I
igan writes, “Before
force of my life in the listen to Van Morrison’s ‘Ancient
class, I sometimes would sit in the years since my wife’s death. It has be- Highway.’ I am ridiculously senti-
mental because I choose to remain
chair of a student who was having a come the purpose to my life.”
lot of trouble and pray that I might
Some people’s lives organize open to this vast, messy thing we
be a blessing to him that day. Yes, around a certain role or calling. “My call life.”
For many people, the purpose of
for 37 years I was a teacher, the last moniker could be ‘formidable ad-
25 as a high school special education vocate,’” writes Georgian Lussier. life is to have more life. That may
teacher. That was my purpose; that After her brother suffered a brain in- QRW KDYH GH¿QHG SHRSOH¶V SXUSRVH
was my calling.
jury, she learned to help people work in past eras, when it might have had
“But now I am retired, and I am through the maze of the health care more to do with the next life, or obe-
adrift. What is my purpose now? system. Now she helps older women dience to a creed. But many today
seek to live with hearts wide open.
I struggle with it every day. When ¿QGZRUN
I
Astoria’s rebirth
continues
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FDWDO\VWIRURXUHFOHFWLFPL[
storia’s renaissance con-
tinues, brick by brick.
7KH 'DLO\ $VWRULDQ has
highlighted and encouraged
preservation and development
during the past 20 years. The
latest concept to capture the
imagination is the plan to give
new life to the former YMCA
building.
It is fitting that in such a
vibrant arts community as the
North Coast the building will
be converted into a creative
design agency and art center.
Work on the 1914 structure,
at the intersection of 12th and
Exchange streets, is expect-
ed to begin by the end of the
year.
Entrepreneur Noel Weber,
who runs a design studio in
Boise, Idaho, envisions a
storefront-type space that will
help all kinds of artists devel-
op the business side of their
work.
The building includes
11,500 square feet, and will
house a screen printing shop;
mold-making and model fa-
cility; ceramics studio; wood
shop; digital printing system;
a letterpress; and audio/video
list to suggest that conser-
if anything, been slightly
vatives possess some kind
worse than the national av-
of miracle cure for eco-
erage.
nomic sluggishness. And,
The key to Bush’s re-
n Monday Jeb Bush — or
as many have pointed out,
cord
of
success,
then,
was
I guess that’s Jeb!, since he
if Jeb! knows the secret
good political timing: He
seems to have decided to replace PDQDJHG WR OHDYH RI¿FH
to 4 percent growth, why
his family name with a punctu- before the unsustainable
didn’t he tell his father
and brother?
DWLRQ PDUN ² ¿QDOO\ PDGH KLV nature of the boom he now
Or consider the expe-
invokes
became
obvious.
campaign for the White House
rience of Kansas, where
But Bush’s econom-
Paul
RI¿FLDODQGJDYHXVD¿UVWYLHZ LF SURPLVHV UHÀHFW PRUH
Gov. Sam Brownback
Krugman
pushed through radical
of his policy goals.
than self-aggrandizement.
First, he says that if elected he 7KH\DOVRUHÀHFWKLVSDUW\¶VKDELWRI tax cuts that were supposed to drive
would double America’s rate of eco- boasting about its ability to deliver rapid economic growth. “We’ll see
rapid economic growth, even though how it works. We’ll have a real live
nomic growth to 4 percent. Second, there’s no evidence at all to justi- experiment,” he declared. And the
he would make it possible for every fy such boasts. It’s as if a bunch of results of the experiment are now
American to lose as much weight as relatively short men made a regular in: The promised boom never ar-
he or she wants, without any need for practice of swaggering around, tell- ULYHG ELJ GH¿FLWV GLG DQG GHVSLWH
ing everyone they see that they’re 6 savage cuts to schools and other
dieting or exercise.
public services, Kansas eventually
feet 2 inches tall.
KDG WR UDLVH WD[HV DJDLQ ZLWK WKH
OK, he didn’t actually make that
pain concentrated on lower-income
second promise. But he might as well
It’s as if a
residents).
have. It would have been just as real-
Why, then, all the boasting
istic as promising 4 percent growth,
bunch of
about growth? The short answer,
and considerably less irresponsible.
surely, is that it’s mainly about
I’ll get to Jeb!onomics in a minute,
relatively
finding ways to sell tax cuts for the
EXW¿UVWOHWPHWHOO\RXDERXWDGLUW\
short men
wealthy. Such cuts are unpopular in
little secret of economics — name-
and of themselves, and even more
ly, that we don’t know very much
made a
so if, like the Kansas tax cuts for
about how to raise the long-run rate
businesses
and the affluent, they
of economic growth. Economists do
regular
must be paid for with higher taxes
know how to promote recovery from
on working families and/or cuts in
temporary slumps, even if politicians
practice of
popular government programs. Yet
usually refuse to take their advice.
swaggering
low taxes on the rich are an over-
But once the economy is near full
riding policy priority on the right
employment, further growth de-
around, telling
— and promises of growth mira-
pends on raising output per worker.
cles let conservatives claim that
And while there are things that might
everyone
everyone will benefit from trick-
help make that happen, the truth is
le-down, and maybe even that tax
that nobody knows how to conjure
they see that
cuts will pay for themselves.
up rapid productivity gains.
they’re 6 feet
There is, of course, a term for
Why, then, would Bush imagine
basing a national program on this
that he is privy to secrets that have
2 inches tall.
NLQG RI VHOIVHUYLQJ DQG SOXWR
evaded everyone else?
crat-serving) wishful thinking. Way
One answer, which is actually
kind of funny, is that he believes
7REHPRUHVSHFL¿FWKHQH[WWLPH back in 1980, George H.W. Bush,
that the growth in Florida’s economy you encounter some conservative running against Reagan for the
during his time as governor offers a going on about growth, you might presidential nomination, famously
role model for the nation as a whole. want to bring up the following list called it “voodoo economic poli-
Why is that funny? Because every- of names and numbers: Bill Clin- cy.” And while Reaganolatry is now
one except Bush knows that, during ton, 3.7; Ronald Reagan, 3.4; Barack obligatory in the Republican Party,
those years, Florida was booming Obama, 2.1; George H.W. Bush, 2.0; the truth is that he was right.
So what does it say about the
thanks to the mother of all housing George W. Bush, 1.6. Yes, that’s the
bubbles. When the bubble burst, ODVW¿YHSUHVLGHQWV²DQGWKHDYHU state of the party that Bush’s son
the state plunged into a deep slump, age rate of growth of the U.S. econ- — often portrayed as the moderate,
much worse than that in the nation RP\ GXULQJ WKHLU WLPH LQ RI¿FH VR reasonable member of the family —
as a whole. Taking the boom and far, in Obama’s case). Obviously, the has chosen to make himself a high
the slump together, Florida’s lon- raw numbers don’t tell the whole sto- priest of voodoo economics? Noth-
ger-term economic performance has, ry, but surely there’s nothing in that ing good.
By PAUL KRUGMAN
1HZ<RUN7LPHV1HZV6HUYLFH
production space. This is the
kind of infrastructure that en-
ables growth of a new sector
of our regional economy.
The announcement fol-
lows news that Astoria busi-
nessman Greg Newenhof has
agreed to buy and restore the
former Flavel family home
at 15th Street and Franklin
Avenue. After more than a
quarter century of neglect, it
promises to be the ultimate
residential remake.
Now we look ahead with
optimism to another piece
of the jigsaw: the downtown
Flavel commercial properties.
The appalling decay of
these buildings — particu-
larly their prominent store-
fronts on Commercial Street
— has been a blight on our
community for too long.
Now long-running legal is-
sues appear to be resolved,
and they, too, are for sale.
We look forward to an in-
novator with a solid financial
background investing money
and sweat into making these
important pieces of our down-
town a credit to our commu-
nity.
Where to write
• U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici
(D): 2338 Rayburn HOB, Washing-
ton, D.C., 20515. Phone: 202- 225-
0855. Fax 202-225-9497. District
office: 12725 SW Millikan Way,
Suite 220, Beaverton, OR 97005.
Phone: 503-326-2901. Fax 503-
326-5066. Web: bonamici.house.
gov/
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D): 313
+DUW 6HQDWH 2I¿FH %XLOGLQJ :DVK
ington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-
3753. Web: www.merkley.senate.gov
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D):
'LUNVHQ6HQDWH2I¿FH%XLOGLQJ
Washington, D.C., 20510. Phone:
202-224-5244. Web: www.wyden.
senate.gov