OPINION
6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2016
Lose with Cruz: A love story
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
Photos by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
People fish at Coffenbury Lake at Fort Stevens State Park. The park is
forming a partnership with Clatsop Paddle Company to offer adventure
packages that bundle a stay at the park with paddle boarding on the lake.
As more visit parks,
more funding needed
Time is short to get needed repairs done
S
pressed him about the charms of that
particular mode of transportation, he
confessed that he would have preferred
t was clear to me weeks ago, another — possibly an Edsel, maybe
even before Marco Rubio threw even a tricycle with a wobbly front
wheel. “He was my 15th choice. What
in the towel, that the GOP was can I say?”
getting ready to cuddle with Ted
Not much that’s laudatory, appar-
ently.
Cruz is the love that chokes on its
Cruz.
own
words.
But I never expected a love quite
It’s a surprise-every-second love.
like this to bloom.
On Friday, Cruz made public refer-
It’s a singularly tortured love, one ence to — and furiously denied — a
that grits its teeth, girds its loins and National Enquirer story that accused
him of affairs.
pines for a contested convention.
It’s also a love that makes no prom-
It’s hate worn down into resignation,
disgust repurposed as calculation. Stop- ises of its endurance. In fact, many of
ping a ludicrous billionaire means sub- the Republicans in a faux swoon for the
mitting to a loathsome senator. And so far-right loon don’t really want to see
they submit, one chastened and aghast him Ày all the way to the White House
Republican leader after another, mur- — or, for that matter, to the nomination.
There’s a tangle of mindsets at work
muring sweet nothings about Cruz that
are really sour somethings about Don- and strategies in play. They all involve
thwarting Trump, but with different
ald Trump.
Will they still respect themselves in outcomes in the end. Bear with me.
This requires a bit of explanation.
the morning?
Few of the Cruz converts actually
I’m not sure we’ve ever witnessed
a capitulation this grudging, a cynicism think he can amass a majority of del-
this grotesque, a reversal of regard this egates and win the nomination before
fraudulent and Àat-out hilarious. While the convention. For that to happen,
their endorsements of Cruz
politics is an impure arena in
would have to scare off John
which yesterday’s enemies
Kasich and turn the contest
routinely become tomor-
into a two-man race, and
row’s allies, the transmogri-
Kasich doesn’t seem to be
¿cation of Cruz goes beyond
scaring.
that, proving that in the right
The real goal is to buck
circumstances, with the right
up Cruz to a point where
motivation, you can see just
he prevents Trump from
about anyone in a newly Àat-
getting that majority and
tering light.
either passes him in the del-
Attila the Hun? True, he
egate count or draws close.
was truculent, but what a
Frank
Abracadabra: a contested
can-do spirit! Torquemada?
Bruni
convention.
A tad rigid, yes, but
Some of the new
that’s what righteous-
Will
Cruz devotees indeed
ness sometimes looks
that he would be
like.
they still hope
the bene¿ciary of that
Cruz has gone from
and the ultimate vic-
the insufferable neme-
respect
tor. They expect Cruz to
sis of Republican tra-
ditionalists to their last, themselves lose the presidency. But
then they also expect
best hope, and the likes
in the
Trump to lose it — and
of Mitt Romney, Lind-
it in an uglier,
sey Graham and Jeb
morning? to more lose divisive
fashion
Bush have now given
that drags down Repub-
him endorsements —
or approximations thereof — that will licans running for the House and Sen-
go down in political history as some ate, too. This lose-with-Cruz faction
of the most constipated hosannas ever ¿gures that a reset of the party after a
Cruz defeat would be possible, whereas
rendered.
They hardly mention Cruz’s name. Trump might not leave them with much
They barely manage to assign him a of a party to reset.
Others who have crawled into bed
single virtue.
“Consistent,” Bush called him — with Cruz are also after a contested con-
in a Facebook post. He apparently vention, but would use it to crawl out
couldn’t rouse or debase himself to a of that bed and into the arms of some
Republican Romeo waiting in the
proper news conference.
He was following the lead of his wings. Maybe Paul Ryan, though he’s
younger brother Neil, who had signed playing Hamlet: to be drafted or not to
up with Cruz a few weeks earlier and be drafted? Maybe Mitt Romney, who
explained, “I commit this from my seems readier to commit.
Both Ryan and Romney have
head, not my heart.” There’s a sentence
you won’t ¿nd on a 9alentine’s Day stepped forward with high-minded
soliloquies about the GOP’s values
card.
Graham professed his devotion and future, and while that may well be
during an interview on “The Daily a reÀection of conscience, mightn’t it
also be a ¿g leaf over ambition?
Show.”
And at least a few of those canoo-
“I’m on the Ted train, absolutely,”
he told Trevor Noah, but when Noah dling with Cruz see him as a bridge to
By FRANK BRUNI
New York Times News Service
I
pend much time in the Lower Columbia region’s extensive
inventory of state parks and it becomes obvious they are now
year-round attractions.
Our Friday story took a thor- visitors throughout the year
ough look at Fort Stevens State to enjoy the park’s amazing
Park and how visitor numbers assets, including comfortable
have steadily climbed, really new cabins that make win-
only quieting down in the deep ter more enticing. These vis-
winter months of December itors create more revenue and
justi¿cation for state appro-
and January.
This stands to reason. priations, but at the same
The summer of 2015 was an time require staf¿ng at a
exceptionally busy tourism time of the year when some
year around the Columbia state parks used to be closed.
estuary and seashore towns, Time is in short supply to do
reÀecting a recovered econ- maintenance projects, for-
omy, ¿ne weather and an mulate plans, or even merely
expanding urban population recharge morale and energy.
It’s vital that legislators
in search of coastal adventure.
It’s natural that this growing provide enough funding so
interest in the coast is bulging parks can keep up with grow-
ing visitor numbers. This must
into other seasons.
$cross the river in Paci¿c include making sure there is
County, there were nearly adequate year-round staf¿ng.
3.9 million visits to state There needs to be money for ‘Yes’ on recall
oters of Precincts 20 and 45: You
parks in 2015, nearly 11 per- maintenance and construction
have received a political circu-
cent of the total for the entire of facilities for future demand, lar signed
by and paid for by the three
Washington State Parks sys- and funds so gateway commu- members being recalled from the Can-
Beach Rural Fire Protection Dis-
tem. Far more so than in nities have highways, inter- non
trict Board asking for your no vote.
even the recent past, traf¿c in sections, policing and emer- This letter makes multiple misleading
Cape Disappointment State gency services to keep up claims, giving this board way more
credit for district accomplishments
Park, one of the state’s star with crowds. (Currently, for than it is due.
The circular states that only a small
attractions, remained lively example, neither state does
group
of citizens, not af¿liated with
throughout much of this particularly well at patrolling the district,
would bene¿t from this
state beaches.)
winter.
recall. One-hundred-twenty-six valid
We’re exceptionally fortu- signatures were gathered. More prob-
With an additional 200,000
ably could have been gathered were
residents expected to settle nate to have the state parks we they not public. Is the board contend-
in Portland in the next two do — plus Lewis and Clark ing this is a small number, and these
not members of the district? Are
decades and Washington state National Historical Park. are
they not going to come if your house
anticipating another 2.25 mil- But creating parks is never catches on ¿re, or you need emergency
lion people in about the same enough. We have to keep up assistance?
The board contends only six cur-
period, coastal state parks with funding and maintaining rent ¿re¿ghter signed letters support-
face an age of unprecedented these assets that serve the rec- ing former chief Mike Balzer. Obvi-
the institution they are referring
reational needs of local citi- ously,
popularity and pressure.
to in the letter is not an institution of
In Fort Stevens, person- zens while pumping millions higher mathematics. I have 17 signed
letters. Some are from former ¿re¿ght-
nel obviously relish having into our economy.
Jim Mone/AP Photo
Republican presidential candidate,
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas speaks to
supporters at a campaign stop at
the Altoona Family Restaurant,
Monday, in Altoona, Wis.
Kasich. In this convoluted scenario,
endorsing Kasich now serves no pur-
pose: He has too few delegates to com-
pete with, and foil, Trump. But if the
convention turns into a free-for-all,
then Republicans will be free to realize
what polling has repeatedly told them,
and what is almost indisputably true:
Kasich would be their best bet against
Hillary Clinton, if only they could see
his sex appeal.
Poor Kasich. He governs the cru-
cial battleground of Ohio, has high
approval ratings there, has made a stand
for decency in an indecent age, and is
out there on the campaign trail wrap-
ping his arms around every last Ameri-
can who will stand still long enough to
let him. Even so he’s spurned.
“Does Kasich have a following?”
wrote conservative columnist John
Podhoretz just days ago. “Yes, he does,
of people who still cry when they listen
to ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and its invocation of
‘all the lonely people’ and who want a
hug because their Aunt Minnie has the
shingles.”
So the answer, at least for now, is
Cruz? In this bitter season, yes. Sixty
percent of Republicans are embar-
rassed by their party’s presidential
race, according to a recent survey by
The Times and CBS News, and a Gal-
lup poll released Friday revealed that
only 30 percent of Republicans and
Republican-leaning
independents
think that the election process is work-
ing properly. Cruz is the pinup for pes-
simistic times.
Even John McCain, who once dis-
missed him and Rand Paul as “wacko
birds,” said last week that Cruz has
what it takes to manage the mess of the
Middle East. He hastened to add that he
would feel obliged to work with, and
support, any Republican who is elected
president, and “to put aside my anger.”
That’s the way Republican leaders
fall for Cruz — with apologies, aster-
isks, angst. The terms of endearment
are teary ones, because this isn’t the
relationship they wanted. It’s the only
relationship that’s left. He gets their
love because someone must. Isn’t it
romantic?
Open forum
V
Since the park added 11 deluxe cabins five years ago, the park has
seen more visitors in the winter.
ers — such as Lt. Mike Graham and
retired ¿re¿ghteremergency medical
technician Diane Schuette — but these
by no means should be discounted.
The circular gives credit for an
obligation bond being paid off a year
early. This credit goes to Cannon
Beach’s rising property rates, and the
county tax assessor. It establishes a
timeline that predates most, or all, of
the current members, yet fails to men-
tion 30-year board member Al Aya.
They also failed to give any credit to
former chiefs Middaugh, Moon, Cleve
Rooper, or Mike Balzer
I am a 40-year resident of the resi-
dent of the area. I have served on sev-
eral county or state boards, including
one current special districts board. I
initially defended the ¿re board, and
tentatively was skeptical of the recall.
After attending their meetings and
reviewing the facts, I have come to a
different conclusion.
They are spending money on a
temporary chief, unemployment they
failed to pay into, and supplemental
pay for Capt. Gardner. They recently
received a disconnection notice from
Paci¿c Power, which their accoun-
tant paid for. This was followed up by
another notice, received from North-
west Natural Gas. They are paying
Special Districts Association of Ore-
gon for consulting fees. Do these pay-
ments meet your de¿nition of ¿scal
and ¿duciary responsibility?
The board did not inform Chief
Balzer of his right to be at the meeting
when they dismissed him. They pur-
chased a lock from a business owned
by Chief Balzer’s daughter and son-
in-law. Instead of having him escorted
from the of¿ce by two board mem-
bers, they had two police of¿cers. At
least they could given him a courtesy
ride home.
I urge the voters of Precincts 20 and
45 to extend the same courtesy. 9ote
yes on the recall.
KE9IN D. WIDENER
Tolovana Park
‘No’ for recall
I
urge voters to reject the recalls tar-
geting three Cannon Beach Fire
District Board members. As a mem-
ber of the Fire District Budget Com-
mittee for the last several years, I have
participated in numerous district com-
mittee and board meetings. With one
exception, before Mike Balzer became
chief, there were no members of the
general public present. Had the public
taken an active interest and attended
even a smattering of meetings during
Mike’s tenure, they would understand
and support Mike’s dismissal.
For example, the budget is the
responsibility of the chief to prepare.
Even if he doesn’t prepare it, he clearly
needs to fully understand and be able
to explain it. Over the course of three
budget cycles, I observed no signif-
icant improvement in Mike’s ability
to understand, or explain it. Rather,
he became increasingly unpleasant
over time when asked questions; often
board members had to step in and
explain for him.
9oters need to understand that
Mike was clearly given more than fair
notice of the board’s general unhappi-
ness with his performance. At the time
of his performance evaluation several
months before his dismissal, the board
had ample documentation and reason
to dismiss.
Out of a genuine desire for Mike’s
success, the decision was made to give
him one more chance. Thus the eval-
uation included a work plan reÀect-
ing all of the prior board suggestions
and requests for Mike to seek needed
knowledge and improvement. Mike’s
response was to say that the plan was
undoable.
Many people have said that what
really bothers them is not the fact of
Mike’s dismissal, but how it was done.
I agree that in some details it might
have been handled more graciously,
but that does not justify a recall. The
fact remains that the ¿re district and the
public deserve a better ¿re chief than
Mike Balzer was willing to become.
When you live in a small town, it
takes courage to ¿re a longtime resi-
dent with many friends. We are lucky
to have a board with such dedicated
and principled people, who are willing
to put their personal concerns aside
to do something that was bound to be
controversial.
9ote against the recalls and for a
stronger 9olunteer Fire and Rescue
District.
MARTY SCHWAB HARRIS
Tolovana Park