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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 2017)
OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2017 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 Water under the bridge Compiled by Bob Duke From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers 10 years ago this week — 2007 Experts say it’s tough to tell exactly where contaminants such as DDT, PCB and PAH are entering the Columbia River. But it’s no mystery where these toxics end up. “Everything comes down to Astoria,” said Mary Lou Soscia, direc- tor of the water and watersheds office for the U.S. Environmental Pro- tection Agency. The river’s toxic brew reveals itself in the sediment along the banks, in the crayfish and salmon that feed on microorganisms and insects, and in the birds that eat the fish. Many are worried about the implications for people who consume the accumulated contaminants in the river’s salmon and sturgeon. And the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has research that shows toxics can have damaging effects on endangered fish species. In response to tests that show potentially dangerous levels of contam- ination throughout the river’s ecosystem, the EPA has named the Colum- bia River Basin a “national priority” and pledged to reduce toxics in the water and fish tissue by 10 percent in five years. Price — Dr. Personal Enrichment Tongue Point Job Corps Center received top marks at its annual Health and Wellness Clinic review last week. Conducted by Management & Training Corporation, which administers Tongue Point and other Job Corps centers nation- wide, the evaluation measured the local program’s ability to provide health care services to students. Clatsop Community College Board Chairwoman Rosemary Bak- er-Monaghan has heard “I told you so” a lot since early January, when a survey pinpointed location as the biggest factor behind the failure of a $24 million bond measure for a new campus in November. But she’s looking forward to making a second attempt at a bond mea- sure in May. “If all those people vote, we’re going to be OK,” she told the Astoria School Board at its regular meeting Thursday night. 50 years ago — 1967 Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call Dr. Tom Price, President Donald Trump’s nominee for health and human services secretary, is under scrutiny for stock-market activity involving drug companies. By DAVID LEONHARDT New York Times News Service E The Daily Astorian/File Photo This sketch shows interior of the main room of the Astoria Library as planned by interior designer George Schwars. Astoria Seafood company is making plans for expansion of its Astoria plant and is constructing a 48 by 210 foot plant to pro- duce crabs, crab meat, cooked shrimp meat and eventually a fil- let operation at Charleston on Coos Bay. The firm also has opened a sales brokerage office for develop- ment of frozen and fresh seafood sales in Oregon and Washing- ton, under management of James Kinderd Jr. The City Council authorized a call for bids for furnishing the new city library Monday night despite the fact that estimated cost, $54,500, is in excess of the approximately $52,200 available for the job, including fed- eral match money. The Port of Astoria has the dredge Natoma back on its hands, a year after selling it on an installment contract to H.G. Palm- berg and associates, and is trying to sell it again. Both port manager C.E. Hodges and Palmberg confirmed Wednesday that the dredge has been returned to port ownership. Palmberg said he and his associates had acquired the dredge in hopes of being able to obtain government and other dredging jobs in the area, but that the U.S. Engineers had not been coop- erative in making jobs available and that other dredging com- panies had become extremely competitive in bidding for what jobs there are. 75 years ago — 1942 A special try out for new Astoria air raid signals will be held about noon Thursday, when five of the siren whistles will be blown throughout Asto- ria. Clatsop Defense council authorities have asked that Astoria civilians report the success of the new whistles to the defense council headquarters (telephone 2183) shortly after they are blown. The defense council wants to know whether the signals may be heard. The Pacific Northwest today is ready for any assault by land, sea or air … A tour of defense fortifications, authorized by officials of the Army, shows the task of preparing this vital keystone of Amer- ican defense has made swift progress in building a chain of defenses ready to handle anything the Japanese may throw at it — ships, planes and land troops or tanks. When Japan struck at Hawaii the Northwest’s military defenders were all at Fort Lewis. The beaches, ports, river mouths and other strategic military points were, for the most part, entirely undefended. ach year, a publication called Medscape creates a portrait of the medical profession. It surveys thousands of doctors about their job satisfac- tion, salaries and the like and breaks down the results by specialty, allowing for comparisons between, say, der- matologists and oncologists. As I read the most recent survey, I was struck by the answers from orthopedic surgeons. They are the highest-paid doctors, with an aver- age salary of $443,000 in 2015 — which, coincidentally, was almost the exact cutoff for the famed top 1 percent of the income distribution. Yet many orthopedists are not happy with their pay. Only 44 percent feel “fairly compensated,” a smaller share than in almost every other specialty. A lot of orthopedists aren’t even happy being doctors. Just 49 percent say they would go into medicine if they had to make the decision again, compared with 64 percent of all doctors. I know that many orthopedists have a very different view: They take pride in helping patients and feel fortunate to enjoy comfortable lives. But despite those doctors, it’s clear that orthopedics suffers from a professional culture that does not live up to medicine’s highest ideals. Too many orthopedists are rich and think it’s an injustice that they’re not richer. This culture helped shape Dr. Tom Price, the orthopedic surgeon and Georgia congressman who is Donald Trump’s nominee for secre- tary of health and human services. Price had a thriving practice near Atlanta before being elected to Congress in 2004. His estimated net worth of more than $10 million (and possibly a lot more) makes him one of the House’s wealthier members. Yet he hasn’t been content to make money in the standard ways. He has also pushed, and crossed, ethical boundaries. Again and again, Price has mingled his power as a congressman with his desire to make money. So far, the nominee receiving the most attention is Betsy DeVos, Trump’s choice for education sec- retary, and she definitely deserves scrutiny. Still, I think Democrats have made a mistake focusing so much on her rather than on Price. He could do more damage — and his transgressions are worse than those that have defeated prior nominees. Last March, Price announced his opposition to a sensible Medicare proposal to limit the money doctors could make from drugs they pre- scribe their patients. The proposal was meant to reduce doctors’ financial incentives to prescribe expensive drugs. (And, yes, if you’re bothered that your doctor has any stake in choosing one drug over another, you should be.) He could do more damage — and his transgressions are worse than those that have defeated prior nominees. One week after Price came out against the proposal, he bought stocks in six pharmaceutical com- panies that would benefit from its defeat, as Time magazine reported. At the time, those same companies were lobbying Congress to block the change. They succeeded. It’s a pattern, too. Price has put the interests of drug companies above those of taxpayers and patients — and invested in those drug companies on the side. Last year, he also bought shares in Zimmer Biomet, a maker of hip and knee implants. Six days later, according to CNN, he introduced a bill that would that have directly helped Zimmer. In his defense, a spokesman for Price has said that his broker bought the Zimmer stock and Price didn’t find out until later. That’s certainly possible, but still not acceptable. Members of Congress bear respon- sibility for their personal stock transactions, period. A third episode may be the worst. Price accepted a special offer from an Australian drug company to buy discounted shares, as The Wall Street Journal and Kaiser Health News reported. He told the Senate that the offer was open to all investors, although fewer than 20 Americans actually received an invitation to buy at the discounted price. The stock has since jumped in value, and Price underreported the worth of his investment in his nomination filings. It was a “clerical error,” he says. Even without any larger con- text, his actions are disqualifying. He’s repeatedly placed personal enrichment above the credibility of Congress. The behavior is substan- tially worse than giving money to an illegal immigrant (which defeated a George W. Bush nominee) or failing to pay nanny taxes (which scuttled a Bill Clinton nominee). But of course there is a larger context. Price has devoted much of his political career opposing expansion of health insurance. His preferred replacement of Obamacare would reduce health care benefits for sicker, poorer and older Americans. His views have a long history within the medical profession. For decades, doctors used their political clout to help block universal health insurance. They offered many rationales, but money was the main reason. Many doctors feared that a less laissez-faire health care system would reduce their pay. It’s to the great credit of today’s doctors that they have moved their lobbying groups away from that position and helped extend insur- ance to some 20 million people. They understand that some principles matter more than a paycheck. Or at least many of them do.
