OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2017
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
JIM VAN NOSTRAND, Managing Editor
JEREMY FELDMAN, Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
E
ach week we recognize those people and organizations
in the community deserving of public praise for the good
things they do to make the North Coast a better place to
live, and also those who should be called out for their actions.
SHOUTOUTS
• The more than 50 Clatsop County firefighters who were
deployed with Oregon State Fire Marshal Incident Management
to the Milli Fire in Sisters, the Chetco Bar Fire in Brookings
and the Eagle Creek Fire in Multnomah County through-
out late August and early September. A team of 13 firefight-
ers at the Milli Fire in Sisters, another team of 14 at the Chetco
Fire near Brookings and two teams of 13 and 14 in Eagle Creek
have all returned home. According to Knappa Fire Chief Paul
Olheiser, who is coordinating the county’s volunteer effort, it
marked the first time in Clatsop County history two task forces
were sent simultaneously to fight fires around the state. The team
deployed to Chetco Bar broke state history for the most days
spent on a fire as a part of a conflagration order from the state.
Firefighters from Seaside, Gearhart, Olney, Lewis and Clark,
Cannon Beach, Warrenton and Knappa fire districts were dis-
patched to fires throughout the state.
Natalie St. John/EO Media Group
Rod Run is a family event and a chance to bond with other car
enthusiasts on the Long Beach Peninsula.
• Organizers and participants of the 34th annual Rod Run
to the End of the World in Ocean Park, Washington, and the
Seaside Downtown Development Association’s annual Wheels
and Waves event last weekend. Both events attracted throngs
of spectators to admire the vintage vehicles. In Ocean Park,
more than 800 hot rods, muscle cars and other vehicles made in
1987 or earlier were on display at Beach Barons Wilson Park
and participated in cruises around the Long Beach Peninsula. In
Seaside, the event showcased more than 200 vehicles that were
made in 1965 or earlier and brought out the crowds to see the
vehicles parked along Broadway and cruising through town.
• Linda Jones, race director organizer of last weekend’s
Lower Columbia Hospice Race to the Bar. This year’s event
raised nearly $20,000 for the hospice and had 208 participants
with ages ranging from 7 to 89 who ran in a 10K race and a 5K
race/walk. Although the weather threatened to dampen the event,
it cleared an hour before the start and the participants enjoyed a
sunset with camaraderie and snacks on the beach after the race
concluded.
• The Tongue Point Job Corps Center, which recently grad-
uated 27 national Job Corps graduates who completed train-
ing in their respective trades. Commencement addresses were
delivered by state Sen. Betsy Johnson and Clatsop Economic
Development Resources Director Kevin Leahy. In the past 12
months, 324 students have graduated with skills ranging from
accounting to welding, and of those, 292 are now either working
or are continuing their education.
CALLOUTS
• The Oregon Department of Administrative Services,
which a Secretary of State’s audit showed isn’t playing
enough of a leadership role in workforce succession planning
to ensure continuity and effectiveness in the state’s executive
branch. The department is the central administrative agency
of state government and is charged with implementing pol-
icy and financial decisions made by the governor and the
Legislature. Auditors examined workforce succession planning
practices at the department and eight Oregon executive branch
agencies. They also reviewed state workforce data and prac-
tices in other states. The audit was released earlier this week and
found that the Department of Administrative Services has not
implemented or even developed a state-level succession plan-
ning framework.
Suggestions?
Do you have a Shoutout or Callout you think we should know about?
Let us know at news@dailyastorian.com and we’ll make sure to take a
look.
GUEST COLUMN
ACLU’s national campaign
demonizes district attorneys
By JOSHUA MARQUIS
Special to The Daily Astorian
T
he American Civil Liberties
Union began a national cam-
paign titled “They Report to
You” designed to
help elect different
people to the office
of district attorney
across America.
The point of the
clever and well-de-
signed ads is that
prosecutors are 1) unknown to their
constituents 2) omnipotent in the
justice system 3) unaccountable
and 4) the gunk that prevents social
justice.
As with most things, there is
a little truth there. In most of the
country voters have no idea who
their elected DA is. That has not
been the case at any time in the
almost quarter century I have been
the district attorney of Clatsop
County. From my first contested
race to the many controversies into
which I have inserted myself in the
ensuing two decades, some voters
might not agree with me, but they
have never had to look far to find
out my viewpoint or engage me in a
discussion.
What about the other claims? If
being DA was such a great job and
I have so much power, one would
guess people would be chomping at
my ankles to wrest the job from me?
In another aspect, the ACLU is
correct, like judges and congress-
people, most people don’t pay
enough attention to who is in office.
As a colleague says, “the most
important person in the justice
system is whoever has control over
you at a given point … when being
arrested it’s the police officer, when
charged it is the DA, when being
judged it’s your neighbors/jurors,
and when being sentenced it’s the
judge.”
Of course as comedian Chris
Rock famously said to avoid being
hassled, “Obey the Law!” Most
people manage to get through life
without stealing their neighbors’
cars, breaking into their houses or
molesting their children.
The ACLU video claims that a
minor shoplifting in 1980 would
be “a felony today” — impliedly
because of nefarious lobbying by
people like me. That is just non-
sense. In 1980, it was a felony to
steal something worth $150. Today
you’d have to steal something
worth at least $1,000. In other ads,
the ACLU shows a cartoon DA
furtively trashing evidence into the
garbage.
This kind of demonization is
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
David Rogers, the executive director of the ACLU of Oregon, spoke
to an audience in Astoria in May.
one of things degrading political
discourse in America. It’s no better
for an august organization like the
The measure
of a prosecutor
is not how
well-loved
they are by the
people they are
prosecuting,
but by the
community
and the people
who find
themselves
victims of
crime.
ACLU to make such claims as it
is for the current president to tell
outrageous stories he’s told by his
core of dedicated zealots. The belief
that one possesses the only way to
redemption is an extremely danger-
ous concept.
The district attorney’s job is to
represent the people of the state of
Oregon in all criminal proceedings.
That means making sure people
are treated fairly and equally. That
certain people, or groups of people
are neither indulged or targeted.
It means that the relatively scarce
resources of the justice system are
made to work for justice when the
social contract is violated in the
worst ways possible — the moles-
tation of a child, a drunken driver
injuring or killing a passer-by, or, in
the worst circumstances, a murder.
The measure of a prosecutor is
not how well-loved they are by the
people they are prosecuting, but by
the community and the people who
find themselves victims of crime.
Often the former find themselves the
latter in the course of a short period
of time. As my late father was fond
of quoting Italian anti-fascist writer
Ignazio Silone, “Never make fun of
a man in jail.”
I have never forgotten that I
serve at the pleasure of the voters of
Clatsop County.
Joshua Marquis is the Clatsop
County district attorney.
WHERE TO WRITE
• U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici
(D): 439 Cannon House Office
Building, Washington, D.C., 20515.
Phone: 202- 225-0855. Fax 202-225-
9497. District office: 12725 SW Mil-
likan Way, Suite 220, Beaverton, OR
97005. Phone: 503-469-6010. Fax
503-326-5066. Web: bonamici.house.
gov/
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D): 313
Hart Senate Office Building, Wash-
ington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-
3753. Web: www.merkley.senate.gov
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D):
221 Dirksen Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C., 20510. Phone:
202-224-5244. Web: www.wyden.
senate.gov
• State Rep. Brad Witt (D): State
Capitol, 900 Court Street N.E., H-373,
Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-
1431. Web: www.leg.state.or.us/witt/
Email: rep.bradwitt@state.or.us
• State Rep. Deborah Boone (D):
900 Court St. N.E., H-481, Salem,
OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1432.
Email: rep.deborah boone@state.
or.us District office: P.O. Box 928,
Cannon Beach, OR 97110. Phone:
503-986-1432. Web: www.leg.state.
or.us/ boone/
• State Sen. Betsy Johnson (D):
State Capitol, 900 Court St. N.E.,
S-314, Salem, OR 97301. Telephone:
503-986-1716. Email: sen.betsy john-
son@state.or.us Web: www.betsy-
johnson.com District Office: P.O.
Box R, Scappoose, OR 97056. Phone:
503-543-4046. Fax: 503-543-5296.
Astoria office phone: 503-338-1280.
• Port of Astoria: Executive
Director, 10 Pier 1 Suite 308, Asto-
ria, OR 97103. Phone: 503-741-3300.
Email: admin@portofastoria.com
• Clatsop County Board of Com-
missioners: c/o County Manager, 800
Exchange St., Suite 410, Astoria, OR
97103. Phone: 503-325-1000.