OPINION
6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2017
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
JEREMY FELDMAN, Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
Water
under
the bridge
Compiled by Bob Duke
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago this week — 2007
The Jewell Meadows Wildlife Area provides year-round refuge to
hundreds of elk, supplying food to keep them off nearby farms and pro-
tecting them from hunters.
But the refuge also apparently offers “secure” dumping grounds for
black bears killed on private timberland.
Gary Ziak came across the remains of about 10 bears last week. While
the heads, hides and paws piled at Jewell Meadows weren’t visible from
the highway, turkey vultures circling the heap were, said Ziak, who builds
roads for Nygaard Logging. His curiosity turned into alarm when he took
a closer look.
With coats of cinnamon, light brown and black, the bears ranged
in age from adult males to cubs and their mothers, he said. They had
been snared, then shot in the head, months before regular hunting season
begins Aug. 1.
“The really bad thing is, there are young cubs there,” Ziak said, noting
the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife owns the property. “This is
animal abuse in the name of science, or in the name of money.”
The liquefied natural gas company that has taken the place
of Calpine Corp. on the controversial Port of Astoria site in
Warrenton has unveiled formal plans for an LNG terminal and
pipeline.
Oregon LNG submitted preliminary application to the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission May 31, effectively
launching the effort to build an LNG terminal on the east side
of the Skipanon Peninsula. The company sent related docu-
ments to the U.S Coast Guard May 23.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will now bury bear car-
casses left after “removal” from private timberland by contracted trappers
— rather than piling those killed in Clatsop County at the Jewell Mead-
ows Wildlife Area.
50 years ago — 1967
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
President Donald Trump speaks in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Tues-
day before having lunch with Republican senators.
Halfhearted opposition to
GOP health care misery
By DAVID LEONHARDT
New York Times News Service
T
The Daily Astorian/File
John Garvel, manager of the Tapiola Park swim pool, discusses
things with early bird youngsters on hand for the opening of the
Astoria facility for the summer season.
Clatsop Community College’s facilities were dedicated Fri-
day afternoon in a swift-moving ceremony that saw both states-
men and educators on the program. Some 300 persons viewed
the dedication rites on a calm day at the new east terrace of the
college, part of the just completed $830,000 project of campus
expansion. Terrace is located where the burned-out shell of the
former Astoria High School auditorium once stood.
A sizable majority — almost 70 percent — of Astoria residents like the
Job Corps and hope the Tongue Point Center will continue to train corps-
men or corpswomen in their area, a survey indicates.
Astoria was the site for one of the earliest electric systems
in the state, and later — 1910 — helped give birth to Pacific
Power and Light Co.
We who live in this modern space age can hardly remem-
ber the time when we did not have electricity. Consequently,
we take much for granted and fail to realize the important part
electric services played and the historical significance that is
attached to the first American community on the Pacific Coast.
W and W Logging and Grimstad-Vanderveldt, Inc., local construction
companies, Thursday were notified by Parson-Jordan engineering firm of
New York City to begin immediate clearing work at the Warrenton site
where Northwest Aluminum proposes to locate its $14 million facility.
75 years ago — 1942
In this country people do not stand in queues to make pur-
chases of the limited merchandise in stock. The ordinary retail
store is very well stocked with merchandise and will probably
continue to be fairly well stocked.
The average merchant finds business better than it has been
for years. Sven Gimre of Gimre’s Shoe Store reports that last
month his business was 40 percent above what it was at the
same time last year and that every month it has been better
than last year. Other merchants report similar increases.
The mysterious disappearance of 264 tires and 133 tubes from Mor-
ris Barhan’s general merchandise store in Westport is being studied by
the sheriff, state police and state rationing board investigators this week,
it was revealed today.
he Republican health care
bill now sneaking its way
through the Senate has a
good chance of becoming law, even
though it would do
miserable damage.
And it has a good
chance partly
because some of
the bill’s most
influential oppo-
nents have not had
the courage of their convictions.
I realize that sounds harsh. These
opponents generally have good
intentions. But they haven’t been
very effective so far, and they don’t
have much time to summon the
courage to become more effective.
The opponents I’m talking
about include almost every major
health care interest group: the lob-
bying groups for doctors, nurses
and hospitals as well as advocates
for patients with cancer, diabe-
tes, lung disease, heart disease or
birth defects. Each understands that
the bill would deprive millions of
Americans of insurance. Each has
criticized the bill, and some, includ-
ing AARP, have done more, like
organizing phone calls.
But they have not come close
to the sort of public campaign that
would put intense pressure on sen-
ators. History shows what such a
campaign would look like:
In the 1940s, the American Med-
ical Association (which represents
doctors) conducted what was then
“the most expensive lobbying
effort in American history,” accord-
ing to Paul Starr, author of a Pulit-
zer-winning history of health care.
The campaign changed public opin-
ion about Harry Truman’s plan for
national insurance, helping doom it.
In the 1960s, the same associa-
tion hired a movie star by the name
of Ronald Reagan to barnstorm the
country denouncing the proposal
for Medicare. It would be the start
of socialism, Reagan warned, and
“invade every area of freedom as
we have known it.” He lost that bat-
tle, but it set in motion his political
career and modern conservatism.
In the 1990s, the lobbying group
for insurance companies ran an ad
campaign featuring a fictional cou-
ple named Harry and Louise. Sit-
ting at their kitchen table “some-
time in the future,” they lamented
how much worse their coverage had
become. The ads helped defeat Bill
Clinton’s plan.
Today, however, “there isn’t
much of a campaign,” as Starr told
me. “And it contrasts very dra-
matically with some of the earlier
conflicts.”
If anything, the case for an
aggressive campaign is stronger
now. Virtually every big health care
group views the Republican plan
as a disaster, one that would harm
many Americans largely in the ser-
vice of cutting taxes for the wealthy.
But much of the groups’ criti-
cism — like “a drastic step back-
ward” — has come via news
release. There has been no Harry,
no Louise and no Ronald Reagan
to capture national attention. “It’s a
really big problem,” a Senate Dem-
ocratic aide said. “It’s important
right now that these groups start
to mobilize much more than they
have.”
The passivity has played into
the Republican strategy. House and
Senate leaders have taken the rad-
ical step of writing a bill largely in
secret, without hearings. So health
care groups haven’t been able to
testify publicly. Without hearings —
and without a publicity campaign
— Congress has not felt enough
political heat. Grass-roots groups
have admirably tried to create heat,
at town hall meetings and else-
where, but it hasn’t been enough.
Why haven’t the big lobbying
groups done more? I think there
are two main answers. First, in past
campaigns, groups were largely
defending their own financial inter-
ests. People fight hard when their
own money is at stake. Today’s
opposition is at least as much about
principle as profit, and lobbying
groups haven’t been willing to go
all-out for principle.
Second, the groups are wary
of attacking the Republican Party,
given its current power. “We’re liv-
ing in a world in which it’s just
Republican votes,” one lobbyist told
me. Speaking loudly against the bill
risks alienating powerful politicians
— and risks making the health care
groups look partisan.
I get their reluctance. I feel a
pang of discomfort every time I
describe the radicalism of today’s
Republican Party. I also know that
the groups are lobbying behind the
scenes for changes that would make
the bill marginally less bad.
But that’s not nearly enough.
Doctors, hospital executives and
treatment advocates take pride in
doing good work that improves peo-
ple’s lives. Sometimes, good work
doesn’t require hard choices. Other
times, it does. This is one of those
times when it does. A halfhearted
effort to stop the bill won’t protect
millions of Americans from losing
their insurance and, ultimately, from
being denied medical care.
Senate leaders are rushing to
pass a bill before their July 4 recess,
and they seem to be making head-
way. That leaves opponents only
three weeks to live up to their con-
victions. They can create advertise-
ments that make clear the human
damage the bill would do. Or put
their well-respected leaders on pop-
ular talk shows. Or hold a mock
hearing, featuring every group
that has been denied the ability to
testify.
Above all, they can take a risk
for a cause.
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