4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM
Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
Marquis leaves a legacy of competence
J
osh Marquis has been Clatsop
County district attorney so long
that few of us remember what
brought him to office. It was the
utterly disastrous, brief career of Julie
Leonhardt that opened the way for Gov.
Barbara Roberts to appoint Marquis.
The short version of the Leonhardt
fiasco was that she was indicted and
convicted of lying to a grand jury. She
was recalled from office, convicted and
disbarred.
Marquis, who announced Wednesday
that he will not seek re-election,
brought competence to the job. He was
experienced at prosecuting murders.
His instinct about animal abuse was
humane and wise. He broke ground in
prosecuting elder abuse.
This newspaper has appreciated
Marquis because of his openness. He
has been eager to explain aspects of
criminal justice and accessible to our
reporters. Grasping those sometime
arcane elements is essential to writing
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
District Attorney Josh Marquis reads off charges brought against Phillip Ferry, the man
who shot Seaside Police Sgt. Jason Goodding in 2016.
about the criminal courts.
This county has witnessed some
seven murders during Marquis’ tenure.
His office handled them competently.
And if we did not appreciate that, we
only had to look across the Columbia
River into Pacific County, Washington,
where a weak prosecutor, David Burke,
dropped the ball.
For years and for very good rea-
son, Marquis argued against prosecut-
ing drunken-driving cases in Astoria
Municipal Court. Astoria Mayor Willis
Van Dusen and his City Council allies
protected that flawed system. Once Van
Dusen was out of office, the new mayor
and council moved the city’s drunk-
en-driving cases to Circuit Court.
The case of an animal collector,
Vikki Kittles, who arrived with a school
bus full of cats, prompted Marquis to
make animal abuse a state legislative
issue.
When the late Hal Snow brought
Marquis evidence of an elder abuse
case out of Warrenton, the DA seized
the moment. The testimony of accoun-
tant Jim Lanzarotta was a critical ele-
ment in the prosecution. It was a com-
plicated case, and the prosecution
prevailed. Meanwhile, elder abuse
unfortunately has become predictable in
our local culture, as it has nationally.
The good news in Marquis’ retire-
ment is that competent candidates will
emerge. After 24 years of having a
well-run district attorney’s office, the
voters expect it. And that is Marquis’
best legacy.
OUR VIEW
Federal prosecutors
took low road in
Bundy case
t should be obvious: When the U.S. government goes
after anti-government protesters, it must follow the
highest legal, ethical and operational standards. To
do otherwise is to reinforce the protesters’ notion of an
unfair, untrustworthy and undisciplined government.
Yet in the court case against Nevada rancher Cliven
Bundy — whose 2014 ranching protests helped inspire
the 2016 armed occupation of the Malheur National
Wildlife Refuge in Oregon — federal agents and pros-
ecutors veered off that high road and onto the low road.
Because the government withheld evidence that might
have aided the defense, federal Judge Gloria Navarro
declared a mistrial last month, stating, “A fair trial at this
point is impossible.”
Bundy, sons Ammon and Ryan, and sympathizer Ryan
Payne faced multiple charges, including conspiracy, from
the Bundys’ 2014 armed standoff against federal agents
in Nevada. Navarro has scheduled a hearing for Monday
to determine whether the case against them should be
thrown out. On Friday, the federal prosecutors asked for
a new trial, contending their
failure to share all their evi-
Our nation’s
dence with the defense was
founders
unintentional.
Let there be no doubt:
envisioned a
Cliven Bundy was wrong
fair, just and
when he kept using pub-
lic land for his cattle after
accountable
choosing not to renew his
government.
federal grazing permit and
not pay the grazing fees. The
Bundys and their supporters were wrong to take up arms
against federal agents who planned to seize the Bundy
cattle over the unpaid fees and ensuing fines. Ammon
Bundy and his cohorts were wrong to bring their armed
campaign into Oregon and ultimately seize the Malheur
refuge.
However, documents and testimony reveal that at vari-
ous stages, it was as if some federal agents had a vendetta
against the Bundys and their supporters. As one example,
a federal threat assessment had found the Bundys were
not the violent threat that the government claimed. Yet
the government expectation of a violent response from
the Bundys almost guaranteed violence. The govern-
ment had positioned snipers and other surveillance, and
gun-toting Bundy supporters had shown up to protect the
cattle ranch.
The similarities to the Malheur wildlife occurrence are
eerie. The U.S. Department of Justice’s heavy-handed
pursuit of two Harney County ranchers — Dwight
Hammond Jr. and son Steven Hammond — led to exces-
sive prison sentences in their arson case. In response,
Ammon Bundy and his fellow anti-government sympa-
thizers descended on the community of Burns and even-
tually invaded the wildlife refuge.
Nothing justifies those extremist actions of Ammon
Bundy and his followers, or those of Cliven Bundy. But
remember: Our nation’s founders envisioned a fair, just
and accountable government. When federal prosecutors
and law enforcement agents subvert these principles, they
undermine the very government they claim to uphold.
I
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Vote ‘yes’ on Measure 101
lease vote “yes” on Measure 101
to maintain funding of Medicaid. I
am an optometric physician, recently
retired after 28 years of practice in Til-
lamook. I know first-hand the impor-
tance of people having access to health
insurance.
Over the years I saw numerous
patients with sight-threatening eye
conditions who delayed or went with-
out regular eye health examinations or
treatment because they did not have
insurance. Patients with glaucoma, dia-
betic eye disease, cataract, eye infec-
tions, and on, who needed either acute
care or ongoing care, would often go
without seeing a doctor if they did not
have insurance.
This, in some, cases led to people
losing eyesight. And, there were chil-
dren who did not get regular vision
exams, leaving them without the abil-
ity to see well, and reducing their
chance for success in school.
Measure 101 maintains funding for
Medicaid health insurance. Addition-
ally, if Measure 101 fails, Oregon will
lose hundreds of millions of federal
dollars that help fund our state Medic-
aid system.
Measure 101 is a referendum on
House Bill 2391, which passed with
bipartisan support. Please join me and
vote “yes” to assure children, seniors,
and people with disabilities can get the
health care they need.
ERIC HALPERIN
Gearhart
P
Voters’ pamphlet for
Jan. 23 election is flawed
n the front of the voters’ pamphlet
for Oregon’s Jan. 23 special elec-
tion, Oregon Secretary of State Den-
nis Richardson has signed a Certificate
of Correctness that includes the claim,
“that this guide has been correctly pre-
pared in accordance with the law in
order to assist electors in voting.”
O
I seriously doubt he has read the
voter’s pamphlet. If he had, he would
have noticed that two of the submis-
sions as Arguments in Favor are actu-
ally Arguments in Opposition. The
one on pages 29 to 30, information for
which was submitted by Lindsay Ber-
schauer, is heavily sarcastic and con-
cludes, “Vote no on 101!”
The other, on pages 31 to 32, infor-
mation for which was submitted by
Julie Parrish, concludes, “Common
Sense 101 says: Vote no on 101!”
Readers will note that these same two
women submitted most of the Argu-
ments in Opposition.
DIANE AMOS
Cannon Beach
extracted tax,) is more buses to more
people, and expanded ride care rides,
i.e., serving our real needs.
Make this your priority, please. As
we become further impoverished by
irresponsible spending of our funds,
we cannot afford cars, and that is why
we are forced to take a bus. So, please
figure this one out.
You can start by putting a bus out to
Riverpoint/Cavalier Court, where the
working people have been waiting for
years, since the last ride center spend-
ing spree and corruption scandal.
LOIS J. DUPEY
Astoria
Bus agency should
offer expanded service,
not phone apps
B
n behalf of the disenfranchised
working class and the poor of the
state of Oregon, we would like to ask
that the board of directors of the Sunset
Empire Transportation District’s North-
west Ride Center restrain itself from
the tyranny of gadgetry, in regard to
its so-called “permanent” new funding
source, the taxpayers’ hard-earned dol-
lars, i.e. a new payroll tax for transport.
One wonders if a deal is already in
the works, whereby the funding thus
provided by the people has been prom-
ised to Wall Street techno fat cats, in
the form of “apps” deals, and fake
techno money schemes proposed for
alternate bus fare. This is truly shock-
ing, were it found to be found true.
Please be advised that we the peo-
ple, who are the permanent underclass,
are precisely both the clientele and the
funders of the ride center. Therefore,
to inflict a regime of “taxation without
representation” would be most unwise.
What we need are not gadgets that
imply ownership of $500 a pop smart-
phones; not your main clients, by the
way. What is needed from any interim
funding (in the form of a newly
O
‘Yes’ to Measure 101
allot Measure 101 is import-
ant to rural Oregon. Where you
live should not determine the level of
care you receive, or if you are able to
receive care. Families living in rural
communities deserve consistent access
to quality health care.
In some rural counties, more than
a third of families rely on Medicaid.
This January, voters will be asked to
vote on Measure 101, which will pro-
vide direct funding for Medicaid in
Oregon, protecting coverage for nearly
400,000 Oregonians and reducing pre-
miums. It will also allow Oregon to
receive nearly $5 billion in federal
funding.
According to the Kaiser Fam-
ily Foundation, Oregon’s rural unin-
sured rate fell by 51 percent between
2013 and 2015. We need to build on
that success to keep all of us healthy
and stabilize costs. We can’t go back
to a time when many people waited
too long to go the doctor and ended
up in the emergency room, or never
even made it to the hospital. Families
should not be put in that position.
Join me in voting “yes” on Measure
101 this January.
ROBERT DUEHMIG
President, Oregon Rural Health
Association Board
Astoria