Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 2016)
OPINION 6A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2016 Founded in 1873 DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor 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 OUR VIEW Recapping our endorsements B allots for the Nov. 8 general election are arriving in Clatsop County mailboxes, and no matter who wins, the most important thing is to exercise your right in the dem- ocratic process by voting. Our recommendations The Daily Astorian recommends: • President: Democrat Hillary Clinton. Her Republican oppo- nent, Donald Trump, has too many deep flaws to be at the helm of our country, and Clinton has the experience to lead our nation. • U.S. Senate: Incumbent Democrat Ron Wyden, whose lengthy tenure in the Senate will pay far more dividends to Oregon than his inexperienced challenger, Republican Mark Callahan, could provide. • U.S. House: Incumbent Democrat Suzanne Bonamici, who faces Republican newcomer Brian Heinrich. Bonamici has served the congressional district well and deserves another term. Statewide • Governor: Incumbent Kate Brown, a Democrat who inher- ited the governor’s office when Gov. John Kitzhaber resigned amid scandal. Brown has a greater chance of helping Oregon during the remaining two years of Kitzhaber’s term than her inexperienced Republican opponent, Bud Pierce. Brown, though, needs to step up her visibility and leadership. • Secretary of State: Republican Dennis Richardson would provide needed balance among the state’s top leaders. He is a better fit for the job than his Democratic opponent, Brad Avakian, the blustery head of the state’s Bureau of Labor and Industries. In a job that needs impartiality, Richardson is a far more steady hand than Avakian, who is known for partisan activism. • Attorney General: Incumbent Democrat Ellen Rosenblum is a clear choice over Republican challenger Daniel Crowe, and her performance merits another term. • Treasurer: Democrat Tobias Read stands apart from his three opponents. Read has a more complete resume with experi- ence as a state representative and expertise while working with the U.S. Treasury. The Measures • Measure 97: “No.” The gross receipts tax on C-corporations with more than $25 million in sales is misleading and fatally flawed. It’s a costly, hidden sales tax that would create as many problems as it tries to solve. • Measure 98: “Yes.” The measure fills an educational need by earmarking general fund money for dropout prevention pro- grams that include vocational and career technical education. • Measure 99: “No.” Outdoor school can be funded by a vari- ety of public and private sources other than using state lottery money specified for economic development. • Measure 94: “Yes.” This measure would rightfully elimi- nate forced judicial retirements. • Measure 95: “Yes.” Universities need investment options that this measure would allow. • Measure 96: “Yes.” Oregon’s veterans aren’t a special inter- est group and they deserve the support this measure provides. • Measure 100: “Yes.” This measure would prohibit the sale in Oregon of products and parts of 12 endangered animals. Locally • State Representative District 32: Deborah Boone’s legisla- tive accomplishments should earn her a seventh term in the state House. She is being challenged by Republican Bruce Bobek. • Astoria City Council: Bruce Jones, a retired U.S. Coast Guard commander, stands out for his career achievements and strategic planning experience. His opponent is Cory Pederson, a symphony conductor and music teacher. • Gearhart Mayor: Voters should elect Matt Brown, who has a better chance of helping reslove the community’s recent divi- siveness than his opponent, Bob Shortman. • Seaside School Bond: “Yes.” The bond issue would allow the district to move three schools out of the tsunami danger zone. • Pot Taxes: Voters in Astoria, Seaside and Cannon Beach should say “Yes” to taxing recreational sales. Voters in Cannon Beach will also decide whether sales should be allowed within the city. • Warrenton Charter Amendment: “No.” The initiative would require double-majority voter approval before the city can transfer or dispose of assets valued at $100,000 or more and would tie the hands of those who are elected to do that job. Three other contested races are on the ballot that The Daily Astorian chose not to endorse in: a seat on the Warrenton City Commission with incumbent Pam Ackley being opposed by Ryan Lampi; Cannon Beach City Council with Herb Florer, Brandon Ogilvie and Nancy McCarthy vying for two spots as a councilor at large; and in Seaside with Don Johnson and Tom Horning vying for a City Council seat. Dear Republican voters ... By DAVID LEONHARDT New York Times News Service Y ou are a Republican. You believe President Barack Obama has been a disappointment if not a failure. You think Hillary Clinton is wrong on most issues, and you worry about her judgment. You are agonizing about what to do this year, and I understand why. Donald Trump is clearly distaste- ful. Yet he at least seems likely to appoint conserva- tive judges and sign Republican bills. So what are you supposed to do? Allow me to tell you about my grandparents. They grew up as middle-class children of the Depression in Phila- delphia. My grandmother was a star athlete who went on to raise a tightly knit family filled with laughter. My outgoing grandfather first sold pens door to door and later sold ads for The Saturday Evening Post and Busi- ness Week. My grandparents believed in American business, and they were small-c conservative. They voted Republican, year after year. Until 1964. Goldwater That year, Barry Goldwater won the nomination from the far right. Most alarming to many people, he mused about using nuclear weapons in the Cold War. Befitting their generation’s reserve, my grandparents didn’t talk much politics. They simply said they had considered Goldwater beyond the pale. But years ago, I stumbled on a four-minute television ad that Lyndon Johnson’s campaign had run against Goldwater, and I felt as if I were listening to my grandparents. Called “Confessions of a Repub- lican,” the ad shows a man wearing a suit and glasses (who eventually lights a cigarette) in a chair. He is a Republican, he says, like his father and grandfather. “But when we come to Sen. Goldwater, now it seems to me we’re up against a very different kind of a man,” says the actor, him- self an anti-Goldwater Republican. “This man scares me.” Trump is scarier For Republicans today, Trump is scarier than Goldwater. He is scarier because he resembles a double agent dreamed up by liberal screenwrit- ers. He embodies almost every left- wing caricature of Republicans that Republicans despise. He is a racist and a sexist — having refused to rent apartments to African-Americans, retweeted neo-Nazis, besmirched Muslims and Latinos and boastfully molested women. For years, Republicans have been frustrated by liberal sensitiv- ity on race and gender. Comes now Trump, spewing bigotry. He is also an unrepentant denier of reality. Do you remember that Al Franken wrote a jeremiad against conservatives called “Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them”? I imag- ine the book’s title offends you. Yet it now feels like a preview of a can- didate who almost every day makes immediately disprovable claims. Trump likewise plays into the lib- eral narrative that the radical right verges on being anti-American. He has suggested our democracy is ille- gitimate and advocated jail for his opponent. Finally, Trump displays a proud mean-spiritedness about others’ struggles — a mean-spiritedness that Democrats have long tried to link to Republican economic policy. He mocks parents who have lost a child, people with disabilities and prisoners of war. He relishes firing people. Trump is so distinct that he has made this election unavoidably about him. If you vote for him, you can’t pass it off as voting for Supreme Court nominees. You will be vot- ing for Donald Trump. You will be embracing those parodies of conservatism. You do not need to do that. No great options It’s true that you have no great options, which is why polls still show many undecided voters. Gary John- son, initially intriguing, has proved unqualified. You could stay home or write in a vote, but those protests often feel weak. The best path is the hardest one. Only an unambiguous rejection of Trump will banish Trumpism for 2020 and beyond. Only a lopsided loss, with millions of Republicans so repelled by him that they vote for someone they never imagined they would, sends the message that big- otry, lying and authoritarianism vio- late Republican values — your values. I don’t take lightly how hard it is for you to consider a vote for Hillary Clinton. I’m sure that George H.W. Bush, who’s signaled he is voting for her, will do so out of duty, not joy. The same applies to many Repub- lican military figures and conserva- tive newspapers. Any other choice, as the former Reagan aide Ken Adel- man says, is at least “a half vote for Trump.” At the end of the 1964 ad, the man says: “I’ve thought about just not voting in this election, just stay- ing home. But you can’t do that, because that’s saying you don’t care who wins, and I do care.” That same year, my grandparents endured rare arguments with some close friends. Their friends viewed it as a betrayal to vote for a Demo- crat. My grandparents viewed it as a betrayal to take lightly a man unfit for the Oval Office. And they never again voted for a Democrat for presi- dent. They were Republicans. This year, the most important statement that any Republican can make is clear: I am not Trump. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Bobek for House am writing on behalf of, and in the certain knowledge that Dr. Bruce Bobek is the best candidate for House District 32. He is caring, compassionate and capable of work- ing with and for the people of Clat- sop County. A vote for Dr. Bobek insures that he will work to improve the health- care, education and job opportunities in Clatsop County, and he desires to change the abysmal lack of afford- able housing. Vote for someone new — vote for Dr. Bruce Bobek. KAREN CUSTER Seaside I Sprit booster guess most of us from time to time let our spirits get us down. I know I do. The other day I came across a silly story with a message that seemed to give me a boost. A group of constructions workers always ate their lunch together. One of the workers would open his lunch pail and say, “Oh no, not another tuna fish sandwich.” Every day the same thing, “Oh no, not another tuna fish sandwich.” Finally the construction super- visor said to him, “Why don’t you do us all a favor. When you get up tomorrow morning, ask your wife to make a different kind of sandwich.” To which he replied, “What do you mean? I make my own sandwiches.” The point of the story is, to a large I extent we pack our own lunch pails. Feeling down, bored, feeling sorry for yourself? Recognize that we pack our own lunch pails. Why not make it positive? It’s our attitude that makes the difference. JIM BERNARD Warrenton Support schools hen the Seaside School Dis- trict put forth a bond mea- sure in 2013 to raise $129 million for relocation of our schools I opposed it, primarily because it seemed exces- sive, put a significant burden on property owners ($2.16 per thou- sand of assessed value or $650 per year on an assessed home value of $300,000), and because many of the attributes in the design seemed to be more about a desire as opposed to a need. This time around the school dis- trict has focused on what is essential and necessary. They have reduced their request by almost 40 percent with the cost to tax payers at $1.35 per thousand of assessed value, or just over $400 per year on an assessed home value of $300,000. The district is first on a waiting list to receive $4 million in matching funds from the state, and Weyerhae- user Co. has graciously donated 80 acres to site the schools well above the tsunami inundation zone. Our schools are the lifeblood of our communities. They assist our stu- dents in realizing their potential in W academics, and help ready them for their future. The investment in our students is also an investment in our future. It will benefit us all. The time to act is now. Inter- est rates are at historic lows, and the cost to construct and develop a school will only continue to increase. Please vote yes for our local schools. It’s important to our community, our families and our livability. PATRICK NOFIELD Cannon Beach Out of touch .S. Sen. Ron Wyden has been in Congress for 35 years, and has grown out of touch with Oregonians. His Oregonian challenger, Mark Cal- lahan, is up to date about what con- cerns us. Wyden is a globalist, not a nation- alist. From trying to force us into a western version of the European Union through the Trans Pacific Trade Partnership, to habitually vot- ing against both border security and internal immigration enforcement, he typifies the elite. Although Oregonians over- whelmingly rejected driver cards for illegal aliens, Wyden has not budged in his desire for open borders. His agenda is as far removed from ours as is his longtime New York home. Callahan lives here, and intends to return Oregon and our employment to the rule of law. LYNEIL VANDERMOLEN Tualatin U
