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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 2016)
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2016 | MORE COVERAGE AT DAILYASTORIAN.COM | PRESIDENTIAL RACE AP Photo HILLARY CLINTON SHOULD BE OUR NEXT PRESIDENT O n Election Day, Hillary Clinton should make history by becom- ing the nation’s fi rst woman president, and she has our endorsement for the job. Republican billionaire Donald Trump is simply unsuited to be president of the United States. He is an arrogant bully, a loose cannon who lacks the judgment, integrity, tempera- ment and honesty that our country needs at the helm of the largest democracy in the world. Two other candidates, Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Jill Stein, are also on the ballot. While Johnson has the most support between those two and has a solid grip on domestic affairs, he doesn’t have the full command of global issues the presidency requires. Hillary Clinton, by contrast, is fully capable of leading our country. By becoming president she would break barriers that shouldn’t exist. She has prior top-level experience as s ecretary of s tate and as fi rst lady of the country while her husband, Bill, was president. She has the professionalism, temperament and sophisti- cation to lead this country, as evidenced by her steady composure during the debates with Trump where he imploded in front of a world- wide audience. She supports overall immigration reform and wants to improve the Affordable Care Act rather than shelve it. She also supports equal- ity and has worked all of her career to improve the lives of children, women and families. She ENDORSEMENTS wants a raise in the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour, and she says a priority will be to fi nd fi nancial help for students so they don’t leave college with enormous debt. Those are all values we support, but our endorsement also comes with several reservations. Clinton’s programs come with a steep price. They would greatly increase federal spending and taxation at a time when the national debt is continuing to soar. Polls also show there are deep questions of trust as a result of her misinformation during the aftermath of the terrorist attack on Americans in Libya along with the scandal of mishandling emails on a private personal email server that were sensitive to national security. Her acknowledgment that she made mistakes, though, shows she has learned from them and moved forward. As president, we hope Clinton is far more transparent and takes a more moder- ate approach to spending, two elements that have divided America for nearly a quarter of a century since her husband was in offi ce. Her choice of her running mate, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, is also a good one. He is steady and known for his leadership and con- sensus building, which both he and Clinton will need when working with a stagnated Congress and unresponsive federal agencies. On foreign policy, Clinton is a tena- cious, skilled diplomat and she has argued for America’s position with a host of unfriendly world leaders. Her toughness and coolness under pressure will be needed when our coun- try is tested by the likes of North Korea, Iran and Russia. And domestically, Clinton is pragmatic and has a record of bipartisanship. She has a great opportunity to help the country heal. While Trump is an unelectable candidate because of his deep personal fl aws, his candidacy tapped into the fi erce discontent with governmental gridlock and of disenfranchised people feel- ing left behind by the recession that changed our economy and lifestyles. That discontent is fi lled with governmental mistrust, and that needs to be fi xed from the top down. Clinton needs to make that a top priority, and she will need to prod Congress to action so Americans can realize a new era of prosperity. For that prosperity to have a chance to occur, voters need to put Hillary Clinton in the O val O ffi ce. | U.S. SENATE Wyden is clear choice V oters have an easy choice in the U.S. Senate race that pits incumbent Democrat Ron Wyden against Republican challenger Mark Callahan. Wyden is clearly the stronger candidate and is in a far bet- ter position to further Oregon’s inter- ests. He should be re-elected. Wyden’s opponent, Callahan, is an information technology profes- sional and has been active in Repub- lican Party politics in Portland, Salem and Eugene, but he lacks the overall experience that Wash- ington demands to be able to ful- fill the state’s federal needs. Also on the ballot are Steven C Reynolds, an Independent; Eric Navickas, a Green Party candidate; and Shanti S Lewal- len, representing Working Families. Wyden was first elected to the Senate in 1996, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives for 15 years, and holds the Senate seat once held by his mentor, the late Wayne Morse. In the Senate Wyden is well - known as an inveterate, bipartisan dealmaker. In a Congress typified by an absurd standoff, Wyden stands apart. National publications such as The Wall Street Journal have noticed his rare doggedness to find com- mon ground with Republicans, par- ticularly in the areas of health care, technology and natural resources. If the health care bill that Wyden authored and was co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah had moved, we would not be having the problems that afflict Obamacare. But the Obama White House would not take Wyden’s approach seriously. Wyden has also been a dogged skep- Ron Wyden tic of the National Security Agency’s eavesdropping and surveillance on Americans that began as part of the war on ter- rorism. As a member of the Sen- ate Intelligence Committee, Wyden was key to changing the terms under which the NSA operates. Wyden also serves on the key committees on Budget, Finance and Energy and Natural Resources. He is the ranking member of the Finance Committee and the leading Senate Democrat on the Joint Committee on Taxation. Importantly, if the Senate went Democratic, Wyden would be in position to become chairman of the Finance Committee. That would be a significant advantage that our state has lacked since the days that Mark Hatfield and Bob Packwood were committee chairmen. Wyden is well -respected through- out Oregon and Washington, D.C., and his tenure in the Senate gives him clout. Wyden is also well -known for his accessibility to the public. Every year, he holds a town meeting in each of the state’s 36 counties. He is the clear choice in this race, and Oregon voters should return him to Washington. | U.S. HOUSE Voters should return Bonamici to Washington .S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici knows there are challenges the next Congress must meet and is ready for the hard work ahead if voters return her to Washington for another term. They should do just that. Bonamici, a Democrat, is opposed in the race by Republican Brian Hein- rich, a sales representative at DSU Peterbilt & GMC in Hillsboro. Like Bonamici, Heinrich is a hard worker, but he lacks political experience and is running for offi ce for the fi rst time. Bonamici was fi rst elected to the 1st Congressional District seat in Jan- uary 2012 and has served in Congress in each term since. Prior to winning the seat, she served in the Oregon Senate where she had a reputation of reading every bill that came to her committees or to the fl oor. That thoroughness and persistence remains apparent. In the House, Bonamici serves on the Education and Workforce Com- mittee and on the Science, Space and Technology Committee. Since she has never been in the majority party in the House, she has learned the key roles that relationships and bipartisanship play in trying to get things done in a Congress that has distinguished itself by inaction. Bonamici knows how to make deals and how to do busi- ness with the opposition party, but the current Republican orthodoxy in the House hasn’t let that happen often. Her most notable initiatives in the House have been on education. That U Suzanne Bonamici stems from what got her into poli- tics, and she wants to see through the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act that she has worked doggedly to help get passed. She is also working hard on trying to get the Tsunami Warning, Educa- tion and Research Act passed into law, which will greatly help coastal areas. Despite the size of the congressio- nal district and the demands of Wash- ington, D.C., Bonamici is in Clatsop County frequently. All of us have con- siderable access to her. Voters in the district will be well - served by choosing Bonamici for another term.
