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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JULY 2, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
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Editor
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OUR VIEW
Kennedy is no hero
on the Supreme Court
A
s if national politics needed another
contentious issue, appointment of
a U.S. Supreme Court justice to
replace the retiring Anthony Kennedy might
make Ultimate Cage Fighting look tame as a
Victorian cricket match.
In recent decades, by means both fair and
foul, presidents and U.S. senators have tended
to replace departing justices with men and
women viewed as likely to maintain a rough
balance between the court’s liberal/moderate
and conservative wings. Kennedy, appointed
by President Ronald Reagan in 1988, has
been the justice most likely to bridge the gap
between the sides.
Though he has in no sense been a liberal,
his belief in the legal principle of stare decisis
— standing behind the court’s past decisions
— meant that Kennedy served as an impedi-
ment to efforts to roll back reproductive rights
and other elements of modern civic freedom.
On a nine-member court, decisions made on a
5-4 basis often have relied on Kennedy for that
fifth vote.
Although a significant percentage of
citizens are narrowly focused on abortion —
with Kennedy mostly voting to preserve the
legal precedent of Roe v. Wade, which was
decided before he joined the court — other
decisions made by the court actually have a far
greater impact on American society. One of
the biggest of these, commonly called Citizens
United after the right-wing group that pursued
it, resulted in corporations being granted
political rights similar to those of flesh-and-
blood people. By allowing easier manipulation
of elections, Citizens United has been one of
the single biggest factors in making sure our
nation’s rich get richer, while everyone else
struggles. Kennedy’s fifth vote allowed this to
happen. He is no hero.
In decisions during the just-concluded
court term, Kennedy often landed on the pro-
Trump side. He was for example the deciding
vote approving of President Donald Trump’s
controversial travel ban, which started out as
transparently biased against Muslims and then
gradually was modified to arguably qualify as
a legitimate exercise in barring visitors from
countries that don’t adequately screen air
passengers.
while the West also lives day in and day out
with issues that are unique to our region.
As we said in 2010 when President Barack
Obama nominated Elena Kagan to the court,
there should be some effort for a regional
balance.
Only token attention was given in 2010
to the fact that with Kagan’s confirmation,
four of New York City’s five boroughs
were represented on the court. Since then,
Coloradan Neil Gorsuch has replaced one
of the New Yorkers, Antonin Scalia of the
Queens borough. Kennedy, with solid roots in
Sacramento, is now departing.
‘If all 100 U.S. senators came exclusively from
the most elite East Coast universities, there
would be a second American Revolution.’
Much of the sound and fury in coming
weeks over Trump’s forthcoming nomination
will focus on such hot-button issues. The
scripts of these fights were prepared long ago
and will play out along tiresome, predictable
lines. But we and our U.S. senators who will
debate the issue can better spend our time
pushing for openness from the nominee on
questions like corporate power, fair elections
and subjects important here in the West, such
as water rights, tribal relations and federal land
management.
Fair elections and maintaining some sense
of fundamental economic balance in the U.S.
are key to national harmony and success,
Six of the nine current justices received
their legal educations at Harvard, while the
other three went to Yale.
This bias to the Northeast and the implicit
assumption that only Harvard and Yale are
capable of producing top legal minds is bound
to skew the cultural, social and intellectual
underpinnings of the men and women on
the court. While it is superficially comfort-
ing to have a Colorado native among “the
supremes,” it is questionable to what extent
Gorsuch’s presence is representative of pre-
vailing views and issues in the three populous
mainland West Coast states.
Former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor,
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Supreme Court Associate Justice Antho-
ny Kennedy in 2015.
from Arizona, was the last member who really
knew about Western life. No matter her poli-
tics, she brought knowledge of water-alloca-
tion issues and other regional matters that were
only purely theoretical to her Supreme Court
peers. O’Connor’s firsthand life experiences
were invaluable.
If all 100 U.S. senators came exclusively
from the most elite East Coast universities,
there would be a second American Revolution.
No one would see such an Eastern bias as being
acceptable for our republic and democracy. At
a time when pundits already are writing of us
being in the midst of a “cold” civil war, we can
ill-afford to have more power concentrated in
the hands of the East Coast moneyed class.
Trump can do us all a favor by defying
expectations. He should nominate a non-Ivy
Leaguer from the West who will not rub-
ber-stamp every item on the ultra-wealthy wish
list, but honor Western traditions of self-suf-
ficiency, egalitarianism and good-neighborli-
ness. Otherwise, he will further intensify the
feelings of anger and disenfranchisement that
are threatening to pull this great nation apart.
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
Rock ‘n’ roll 101 with KISS’ Thayer
Tommy Thayer of the rock band KISS,
a Pacific University trustee, recently
earned an honorary doctorate of humane
letters for his philanthropic leadership
efforts. He grew up in Beaverton and fre-
quented Cannon Beach in his youth. He
worked for KISS as a producer, song-
writer and business manager before
becoming the band’s lead guitarist in
2003.
Q: Honored to be speaking with you,
Tommy. How did you get involved with
Pacific University?
Thayer: Dad (Brigadier Gen. James
B. Thayer) made the board suggestion
and they ran with that. They thought that
would be great — Tommy Thayer, a local
boy, with the profile of being in KISS —
an interesting combination of background
and experience.
Q: Are you a college
graduate?
Thayer: No, I did
not go to college. I was
straight out of high
school and into “rock
R.J. MARX ’n’ roll 101.” I’d had a
few bands, but ended up
forming a band called
Black ’n Blue in 1981. It was five guys
from the Portland area.
We played clubs for a certain amount
of time, but then decided if we ever
wanted a chance of really making it, we
needed to get out of Portland and head
to Los Angeles, where there were record
labels and management companies.
We took a shot at the big time in early
1983. We moved and within six months
we were signed with a major label —
Geffen Records — and put together a
real nice recording contract. Then we
were on our way.
Q: Those were the glory days of
heavy metal.
Thayer: The new wave of British
heavy metal was happening at the time:
(Iron) Maiden, (Judas) Priest, Def Lep-
pard — these bands were coming up out
of England, and making a real splash so
that kind of carried over into the U.S.
Ironically, one of the early tours we
did was opening for KISS in 1985, and
that is when I met (singer-songwriter)
Gene Simmons and (bass player) Paul
Stanley.
Q: Tell me about your time with
KISS.
Thayer: KISS’s first record came out
in 1974. And they have been plugging
right along ever since, I should say “we”
now because I’ve been with them for the
last 15 years.
Pacific University
Pacific University trustee Tommy Thayer.
Tommy Thayer
KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer.
When Black ’n Blue ran its course in
the early ’90s, Gene and Paul asked me
to come aboard with the KISS organiza-
tion behind the scenes.
I did everything from getting the cof-
fee to directing and producing documen-
tary videos. Then they did a reunion tour
in ’96, and I became the road manager. A
couple years went by and they had prob-
lems with their lead guitar player. They
decided to make a change in 2002 and I
was the heir apparent.
Q: Has it been a smooth transition?
Thayer: Absolutely. It’s like a five-
way marriage in a lot of ways. The key,
really, is being with people who are pro-
fessional, can get along, support each
other, and respect each other. It just
doesn’t happen a lot of times.
People always ask, “What happened
with this or that?” “Why did this guy
leave?” “Why do they hate each other?”
It really comes down to personality
issues.
We’ve been able to circumvent that
and make it work, Gene, Paul, (drummer)
Eric (Carr) and I all get along famously.
We actually enjoy being together when
we tour. We love hanging out, having
dinner and sharing time together. It’s a
huge plus.
Q: Where do you live now?
Thayer: My primary residence is in
Southern California. I live about 45 min-
utes outside of Los Angeles in an area
called Thousand Oaks.
Q: What is your experience on the
Oregon Coast?
Thayer: I grew up in Beaverton. Can-
non Beach is a big part of my life and my
background.
Q: In what way?
Thayer: My dad, the general, grew
up in a small town called Carlton, Ore-
gon. His parents and his grandparents
took him to Seaside, Cannon Beach, back
in the ’20s, when he was just a young
kid.
When we were growing up, we were
in Cannon Beach all the time.
Ten years ago I built a house in Can-
non Beach on Jefferson Street in Mid-
town. I sold it just a year or two ago. It
didn’t make sense for me to continue
it because I just wasn’t getting there
enough, so I actually sold the place.
Two of my brothers, Mike and John,
have homes there. To me, it is one of the
most special places in the world. It’s so
beautiful and unique, and I love being
there.
When I go into the Driftwood in Can-
non Beach, my favorite spot, it’s kind
of like old home week to see all your
friends and all the locals.
Q: Bringing this full circle to your
honorary degree — what do you say
to kids who say he didn’t go to school
and now you’re promoting education at
Pacific University. What are you trying to
impart to a new generation?
Thayer: For me, I had the oppor-
tunity to go to music and it worked.
Whether you’re in school or pursuing a
career, perseverance is the key to success.
Q: Do you have plans to come back
to Cannon Beach?
Thayer: I hope so. I would love to be
there for the Fourth of July, but KISS is
going to Europe, to headline festivals in
Spain and Portugal, so I won’t have an
opportunity to be there.
Q: When do you hit the road?
Thayer: We start in Barcelona, Spain,
on July 7.
R.J. Marx is The Daily Astorian’s South
County reporter and editor of the Seaside
Signal and Cannon Beach Gazette.