THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2017
FRIDAY EXCHANGE
5A
Pouting Democrats
I
t seems that we just cannot get
away from politics, and there is
so much about it that I do not under-
stand. I don’t get why the Demo-
cratic Party refuses to look within to
solve the problems that caused their
electoral failure, instead of attempt-
ing to find any external excuse for
their political inadequacies.
I don’t get why the “liberal party”
adamantly refuses to acknowledge
that any ideas or programs, not of
their design, no matter how bene-
ficial to the country and its citizens
they are. Is this really “liberal”?
I also don’t get why, when the
current administration takes some
action, that everybody, on both sides
of the political spectrum is in favor
of, it suddenly becomes wrong for
this president to take that action
for some inane reason. This, in my
opinion this is pure, unadulterated
obstructionism, and it just prevents
the current government from accom-
plishing anything beneficial for the
citizens of this country because the
Democrats are pouting.
There is one more thing that my
simple mind cannot grasp, and that
is why the Democratic Party insists
on carrying out this vendetta against
this administration and, in the pro-
cess, incites rioting, civil unrest and
division amongst the peoples of this
country. It is almost as if they cannot
comprehend that they are turning the
vast majority of reasonable Ameri-
cans against them.
Speaking strictly for myself; I
now, would rather vote for a Repub-
lican or Independent who is far
less qualified for a particular posi-
tion, than to support a Democrat
who shares the divisive attitude of
the current party leadership, and I
don’t believe that I am alone in feel-
ing this way. This is sad, because I
used to vote on what I felt was merit,
regardless of party affiliation, but
because of the actions of the Dem-
ocratic Party leadership, those days
are gone.
Are the leaders of this once great
party so insulated from reality and
actually listening to the needs of the
country’s citizens that they cannot
see how ridiculous they are acting,
and what it is doing to their political
platform?
That’s the question I have; I
could be wrong.
DAVID GRAVES
Astoria
Issues over innuendo
D
emocracy is alive and well in
Clatsop County. Thanks to Clat-
sop County voters who did their
homework and turned in their bal-
lots, we will have two new commis-
sioners for the Port of Astoria begin-
ning in July. Frank Spence and Dirk
Rohne both ran clean campaigns
focused on issues, and made com-
mitments to work cooperatively with
fellow commissioners.
Spence brings fiscal knowledge
from serving on the Port Budget
Committee for two years, and expe-
rience as a city and county adminis-
trator. Rohne served our county for
two terms as a county commissioner,
and cares deeply about county-
wide issues and the future of our
communities.
Incumbent Jim Campbell
retained his seat on the Port of Asto-
ria Commission. Campbell stayed
focused on the issues and the Port’s
long-term strength, in contrast to his
opponent who seemed bent on dis-
ruption and accusations. Fewer peo-
ple voted for Campbell’s opponent
than any of the six candidates who
ran for the Port.
Congratulations to Clatsop
County voters, who chose cooper-
ation over mud slinging, and issues
over innuendo.
CHERYL JOHNSON
Astoria
the residents of Gearhart to decide.
Don’t be fooled — become
educated.
TERRY D. GRAFF
Gearhart
Don’t be fooled
Road work timing
I
T
n the article about short-term rent-
als, “Short-term rental rules under
fire” (May 16) The Daily Astorian
published the following quote: “This
is a huge win. What we’ve said sol-
idly from Day One is that the cur-
rent regime at City Hall is very sol-
idly against vacation rentals. The
city was trying to completely manip-
ulate the language. The judge agreed
with us, that they were 99 percent
wrong.”
I question whether that quote
is accurate. This is how the sys-
tem works. An initiative petition to
put an initiative on the ballot is pre-
sented to city hall. The city attorney
then prepares a summary of the peti-
tion. That summary is then placed on
the ballot if the initiative is put to a
vote. If someone objects to the sum-
mary as written by the city attorney,
they can request that the summary be
reviewed by a superior court judge.
The judge then reviews the summary
and makes changes to the summary,
if necessary.
That is what happened in this
particular case. The summary pre-
pared by the city attorney consisted
of 10 one-sentence statements. The
judge made very minor, immaterial
changes to the statements prepared
by the city attorney. The changes
consisted of removing two commas,
changing the words “to be spent on
the” to “dedicated to” and combin-
ing two statements into one, and
added the new statement “require
compliance with Gearhart city ordi-
nances that apply generally to all
residential dwelling units.”
I do not believe that these minor,
immaterial changes constitute a 99
percent change of the summary pre-
sented by the city attorney, nor do
I believe that the city was trying
to completely manipulate the lan-
guage. I believe it is probably the
other way around. But that is up to
uesday, May 23, was a beautiful
sunny day with a cruise ship in
port which, of course, means lots of
foot traffic. We are also looking for-
ward to Memorial Day this upcom-
ing weekend, which means lots of
traffic.
Why on earth would the street
department tear up the roads at this
time? Doesn’t anyone in City Hall
have any practical thoughts? Fur-
thermore, if they must do it, why not
at night — say midnight to 6 a.m.?
EDIE FAYLOR
Warrenton
Insurance pays bills
I
agree, our current health insur-
ance system is not perfect; some
folks receive free insurance and free
health care, while others pay more
for health insurance than they do for
their home, and then have thousands
of dollars in annual health bills.
Some of our community members
get to make a second house payment
for the privilege of paying their med-
ical bills.
I have been blessed with excel-
lent health, I have few health
expenses, but have continued to
pay for health insurance. By doing
this, I am contributing to the fund
that is being used by those who do
have medical expenses. I enjoy hav-
ing the privilege of making this per-
sonal choice and am hopeful this
will continue.
Do we need to change the way
healthcare is funded, or are other
changes needed?
Two of the ways healthcare
expenses are funded is through
health insurance premiums and
through taxes. I will always vote yes
for a personal choice in paying for
medical expenses. I will gladly con-
tinue to pay for health insurance, and
hopefully will continue to fund those
with medical expenses.
On the other side, I will always
vote no for increased taxes to pay
for medical expenses. Our commu-
nity has shown, over and over again,
that when someone is in need, help
is provided. Do we really need to be
forced to help others?
LINDA DUGAN
Astoria
Support for ordinance
pay $600 annually to the city to help
with police and fire protection, a
benefit to the entire community.
At least 82 rental applications
have been filed so far, which rep-
resents $49,200 that the city will
collect every year to support these
important public services. I encour-
age Gearhart voters to embrace the
Gearhart Vacation Rental Ordinance
Initiative.
PAGE KNUDSEN COWLES
Gearhart
A
Longshoremen care
s a Gearhart homeowner of 45
years, I am concerned that for-
mer Gearhart Mayor Dianne Wid-
dop’s recent letter to the editor,
“Warning on rental changes” (The
Daily Astorian, May 19), misrep-
resents everything the Gearhart
Vacation Rental Ordinance Initia-
tive offers.
Below is how the Gearhart Citi-
zens for Fair and Reasonable Gov-
ernment describe what is included in
the ordinance initiative:
1. The city will provide notice of
all vacation rentals within 200 feet
of existing residences.
2. All rentals must have a per-
son available by telephone 24
hours a day to handle any neighbor
complaints.
3. All rentals must pass a rigorous
safety inspection.
4. Vacation rentals shall be lim-
ited to only two adults per bedroom,
plus three additional adults (children
are not included in the limitation).
5. A vacation rental will pay $600
a year to assist with police and fire
services.
6. Vacation rentals shall comply
with all city ordinances regarding
noise, residential appearance, gar-
bage, septic and parking.
7. When a vacation rental is
sold, it can continue to be a vacation
rental as long as it abides by these
existing rules and regulations.
This description reassures me
that the information former Gearhart
Mayor Widdop’s letter contains is
not accurate.
In addition to the taxes of 7 per-
cent homeowners of vacation rentals
now currently pay the city on rental
income, the same homeowners will
N
ow that the election is over,
I would like to clarify a few
things, seeing as how my name is
bandied about in the paper.
Yes, I did support a slate of Pat
O’Grady, Stephen Fulton and Dick
Hellberg for the Port Commission.
They lost; so be it. I don’t know
Dirk Rohne, but I know Jim Camp-
bell and Frank Spence. They are fine
gentlemen, and I’m very confident
that I will have a great working rela-
tionship with them.
The candidates I supported ran
on a platform of transparency, com-
munication, protection and best use
of public monies and a visionary
expansion plan for the Port. None
of this was detailed in the newspa-
per. It doesn’t sell papers like good
old-fashioned personality conflict
and controversy. Consequently, the
message was never heard. So be it.
Also, there were several snide
remarks and innuendos about the ser-
vice of longshoremen on the Port
Commission. They have served, with
distinction on the commission since
its virtual inception. Commissioner
Bill Hunsinger had dedicated over 10
years and an untold number of hours
of his retirement to the betterment
of the Port and the community. Two
of the finest commissioners to ever
serve were longshoremen; that being
Roy Niemi and Albert Rissman.
Let there be no mistake, long-
shoremen care about the success and
prosperity of the Port and the com-
munity as much as anyone.
CHRIS CONNAWAY
Astoria
The Republican hypocrisy Hall of Fame
By NICHOLAS KRISTOF
New York Times News Services
W
e certainly don’t want
leading Republicans to
tumble into hypocrisy, so
let’s refresh their memories.
Patriots like
Mitch McConnell
and Paul Ryan have
eloquently warned
of the importance
of ferreting out
the truth and hold-
ing politicians accountable, includ-
ing for leaking classified information.
Thank God for their insistence on
truth-seeking!
As McConnell warned, for exam-
ple: “The president did not value the
sacred oath. He was interested in sav-
ing his hide, not truth and justice. I
submit to my colleagues that if we
have no truth and we have no justice,
then we have no nation of laws. No
public official, no president, no man
or no woman is important enough to
sacrifice the founding principles of
our legal system.”
Such passion for justice and
accountability (expressed in 1999,
during the impeachment trial of Bill
Clinton) inspires us all. And at this
historic moment when timid or myo-
pic politicians balk at congressional
oversight and resist an independent
commission to investigate President
Donald Trump and possible collu-
sion with the Kremlin, it behooves us
to cherish the wisdom of such hon-
est souls.
They’re busy, but no problem!
I’ve helpfully dug out their brilliant
insights:
“Extreme carelessness with
classified material ... is still totally
disqualifying.”
— Donald Trump, July 11, 2016
“It’s simple: Individuals who
are ‘extremely careless’ w/ classi-
fied info should be denied further
access to it.”
— House Speaker Paul Ryan, tweet,
July 7, 2016
“The security clearance of any
officer or employee of the federal
government who has exercised
extreme carelessness in the han-
dling of classified information shall
be revoked.”
— Senate Bill 3135, co-sponsored
last year (to shame Hillary Clin-
ton) by 16 Republican senators:
Cory Gardner, John Cornyn, Shel-
ley Moore Capito, Tim Scott, James
Risch, Pat Roberts, Dean Heller,
Kelly Ayotte, John Barrasso, David
Perdue, Johnny Isakson, Thom Til-
lis, John Thune, David Vitter, Mike
Rounds and James Inhofe
“Those who mishandled classi-
fied info have had their sec clear-
ances revoked, lost their jobs, faced
fines, & even been sent to prison.”
— Reince Priebus, tweet, July 6,
2016
“What do I say to the tens of
thousands of people that live and
work in my district who work for
the federal government, includ-
ing more than 47,000 Marines?
What do I say (to them) when say-
ing something that isn’t true and
handling classified information in
an extremely careless way has no
criminal ramifications?”
— Rep. Darrell Issa, July 12, 2016
“In my opinion, quite frankly,
it’s treason.”
— Rep. Michael McCaul, Nov. 3,
2016, on Hillary Clinton’s use of a
private email server
“Presidents are not ordinary
citizens. They are extraordinary, in
that they are vested with so much
more authority and power than
the rest of us. We have a right;
indeed, we have an obligation, to
hold them strictly accountable to
the rule of law. … It is self-evi-
dent to us all, I hope, that we can-
not overlook, dismiss or diminish
the obstruction of justice by the
very person we charge with tak-
ing care that the laws are faithfully
executed.”
— Sen. John McCain, Feb. 12, 1999,
in voting to convict President Clinton
in his impeachment trial
“By his words and deeds, he
had done great harm to the notions
of honesty and integrity that form
the underpinnings of this great
republic. … If we do not sustain
the moral and legal foundation on
which our system of government
and our prosperity is based, both
will surely and steadily diminish.”
— Gov. Sam Brownback of Kansas,
Feb. 12, 1999, as a senator
“The true tragedy in this case
is the collapse of the president’s
moral authority. … There was no
better reason than that for the res-
ignation of this president.”
— Sen. Charles Grassley, Feb. 12,
1999
“Our freedom is assured by the
rule of law. … Even the most pow-
erful among us must be subject
to those laws. Tampering with the
truth-seeking functions of the law
undermines our justice system and
the foundations on which our free-
doms lie.”
— Sen. Mike Crapo, Feb. 12, 1999
Such Ciceros! At a time when so
many Americans have a narrow, par-
tisan vision, I am grateful that we are
blessed with patriots of such vision.
In all seriousness, let’s adhere to
the spirit of Attorney General Jeff
Sessions, who as a senator during the
1999 Clinton trial declared:
“The chief law officer of the land,
whose oath of office calls on him to
preserve, protect and defend the Con-
stitution, crossed the line and failed
to defend and protect the law and,
in fact, attacked the law. … Under
our Constitution, such acts are high
crimes, and equal justice requires that
he forfeit his office. … It is crucial to
our system of justice that we demand
the truth.”