A4
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TuESDAY, ApRIL 30, 2019
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
PERS plan smacks of class warfare
T
he good news is Gov. Kate
Brown finally has a plan
for putting PERS on solid
financial footing. The bad news
is that it includes pushing SAIF
off that solid ground, as well as
taking most of Oregonians’ tax
“kicker” refund next year.
Brown says her proposal has
something for anyone to like and
to dislike. She is correct. The Ore-
gon Education Association imme-
diately screamed that she was
trying to cut teachers’ salaries.
That is false. Brown wants pub-
lic employees to accept a slight
reduction in their future pensions
so as to help pay the unfunded
actuarial liability of the Oregon
Public Employees Retirement
System.
The governor calls her proposal
“shared responsibility.” Shared
pain is more like it.
PERS’ inadequate funding is
not the fault of everyday Orego-
nians or of current public employ-
ees. No, the blame lies with the
20th century legislators and union
leaders who disregarded how
bloated PERS retirement obliga-
tions possessed the potential to
undermine state, school and local
government budgets.
Brown’s suggestion to take
all but $100 of each Oregonian’s
kicker refund will draw howls
from taxpayers. It certainly is one
way to spread the PERS solution
— and pain — among all Orego-
nians. But it smacks of class war-
AP Photo/Don Ryan
Gov. Kate Brown’s PERS plan would take
most of Oregon taxpayers’ kicker rebate
next year.
fare, just like many other ideas in
the Democrat-dominated Oregon
Capitol. Any person, any business
and any organization that makes
much money seems to be under
attack.
The governor’s suggested raid
on the State Accident Insurance
Fund is a perfect and unfortunate
example. Legislators in 1982 ille-
gally raided the semi-public work-
ers’ compensation carrier, taking
plus reserves. Brown and legisla-
tors considering her plan appar-
ently didn’t learn much else. They
are seduced by lawyers’ advice
that the new raid would be legal,
just as then-Rep. Peter Courtney,
D-Salem — now the Senate presi-
dent — and other legislators were
assured in 1982 that their biparti-
san raid on SAIF was legal.
As now, state officials at the
time said SAIF had far more
reserves than necessary for future
claims and thus could easily
weather the Legislature’s intru-
sion. Maybe. But SAIF’s sales
plummeted, sending it into a
years-long tailspin. It turns out
that companies don’t like to do
business with an insurer whose
money can be taken on a whim
by the Legislature. Meanwhile,
SAIF’s top officials were so angry
— for good reason — that they
quit and formed a competing, pri-
vate workers’ compensation car-
rier that took a significant share of
THE GOVERNOR CALLS HER
pROpOSAL ‘SHARED RESpONSIBILITY.’
SHARED pAIN IS MORE LIKE IT.
$81 million to prop up the state
budget.
After being forced to repay that
money with interest, the Legis-
lature learned from its mistake
by subsequently making it legal
in the future to raid SAIF sur-
SAIF’s business.
As justification for a new raid
on SAIF, the governor and her
cohorts point out that Oregon has
some of the lowest workers’ com-
pensation rates in the nation and
the highest rate of dividends being
paid back to employers.
Isn’t that what we want — acci-
dent prevention being more effec-
tive, employers paying less for
coverage and SAIF customers get-
ting rebates on some of their pre-
miums, plus interest earned? That
sounds like a well-run program,
unlike PERS.
A legitimate argument can
be made for SAIF to work with
school districts on lowering their
workers’ compensation premi-
ums. However, school districts are
not the only governments facing
soaring PERS rates. Rural pub-
lic employers, especially fire dis-
tricts, are especially hard-hit.
Meanwhile, Brown is dead-set
against offering current and future
public employees a defined con-
tribution plan, like a 401(k), as
a complete alternative to PERS’
defined benefit. She is wrong.
So, too, are the legislators whose
solution is to merely extend
PERS’ debt over more years,
holding down the yearly cost
to employers but increasing the
overall cost.
There is more to Brown’s plan,
including her idea of divert-
ing estate and capital gains taxes
to pay for PERS. Such taxes are
absurdly high in Oregon, but at
least this way they would go for a
good purpose.
Still, the best that can be said
about Brown’s proposal is that it
is … a proposal, not necessarily a
wise or innovative proposal.
LETTERS
Call before digging
pril is National Safe Digging Month,
and it is also the time when NW Nat-
ural reminds you to call 811 before you
dig. Spring brings planting and the start of
outdoor projects; before starting a task that
involves digging 12 inches or lower, call
811 to have underground utilities located.
Contacting 811 is free and easy. At least
two days before the start of a project, call
811 or go online to make the request at
digsafelyoregon.com. You can also use
NW Natural’s new safety app.
When you contact 811, a local one-call
center representative collects details and
notifies the local utility companies of the
intent to dig. Then, a professional loca-
tor visits the site to mark the location of
underground utility lines with paint. Once
the site is marked, it is safe to dig carefully
around the marked areas.
If, while you’re digging, you acciden-
tally hit a gas line, report it immediately
by calling 911 or NW Natural’s emergency
line at 800-882-3377. No damage is too
small to report to NW Natural, and even a
small dent could weaken a natural gas line.
Enjoy the season, and remember to call
811.
TERESA BROWNLIE
NW Natural Community Affairs
Portland
A
Safety concerns
am a new, proud homeowner in Astoria
still learning about the community and
its history. There is a lot of material! I have
also been homeless, for three months, in
2014, when I lived with my cat in a tent.
At the risk of stating the obvious,
homeless people are members of the pub-
lic. It thus stands to reason that there is
no real distinction between the safety of
homeless people and the safety of every-
body else. The editorial voice and cover-
age in this publication seem to differen-
tiate between these topics (see “Astoria
police track aggressive homeless behav-
ior,” The Daily Astorian, April 19).
This concerns me. I would hope that the
police are concerned about the safety of
the homeless people whose behavior they
are “documenting” to the same extent that
they are for the safety of everyone else.
JED HERMAN
Astoria
I
McClaine for Port
would like to commend to you my
brother Scott McClaine for the Port of
I
Astoria Commission Position 3.
Scott served in the Coast Guard as a
medic for 28 years and retired with the
rank of chief.
He and his wife of 36 years, Helen,
decided to move back to Astoria because
of the incredible beauty of the town, an,
have lived in Astoria for a total of 16
years.
Serving others is in his DNA. He has
helped me selflessly over the years, and
would give me the shirt off his back. It
wouldn’t surprise me if many others in
Astoria could tell stories of how Scott
McClaine has helped them.
He is a dedicated individual, and would
serve the Port with integrity and dedica-
tion. He would be a good man for you to
vote for on May 21.
STEVE McCLAINE
Moscow, Idaho
Pass HB 2020
he world’s best scientists have warned
us. We have 11 years to significantly
reduce greenhouse gas pollution, which
causes climate change, or we’re in for a
world of trouble. The worst storms of the
past will become the new normal. Sea lev-
els will rise and threaten coastal commu-
nities here in Oregon, around the nation
and around the world.
The 2018 National Climate Assess-
ment Report stated clearly that climate
change is having economic impacts now,
T
and will only become more severe as time
passes if we do not reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
We owe it not only to our children, and
our grandchildren, but to ourselves, to
take action to reduce greenhouse gas pol-
lution. And many people I know do their
part when they can. Now it’s time for
large, polluting corporations to do their
part.
That’s what Oregon’s proposed Clean
Energy Jobs bill will do: Require big pol-
luters to pay for what they put out, and
reduce their emissions over time. And, it
will invest money into our local communi-
ties to build more affordable clean energy
and create jobs.
Now that the federal government has
backed out of the Paris Climate Agree-
ment, it is up to the states to act. We must
create a clean energy future in Oregon,
and we must start right now. Tell your
legislators to pass HB 2020, the Clean
Energy Jobs Bill.
KATHLEEN MACDONALD
Seaside
Demand impeachment
f you have any misgivings at all of
how 2016 went down, I urge you to act
now to demand impeachment hearings in
Congress.
Impeachment is not removal from
office — Clinton was impeached, but not
removed. Impeachment is the hearing pro-
I
cess by which Congress, using its Consti-
tutional authority, examines evidence that
the president’s crimes and misdemeanors
make him unfit to serve.
With 180 pages of obstruction evidence
in the Mueller report, we’re at a critical
juncture. You can either sit on the side-
lines or take a stand by calling your mem-
bers of Congress (Rep. Suzanne Bonamici
202-225-0855) to request impeachment
hearings now.
Some Congressional leaders have
been putting political calculus first.
Their political calculus could well
backfire. Would the GOP Senate under
any circumstances remove Trump from
office? I wouldn’t bet on it. But the gen-
eral public might take the failure to
impeach, i.e. hold open hearings, as proof
that President Donald Trump has done
nothing wrong. Nothing could be further
from the truth.
Open impeachment hearings will have
a far greater impact than piecemeal inves-
tigations. Our voices, loud and persistent
and clear, are crucial in the coming days
and weeks.
This is not about political gamesman-
ship or disgruntled Democrats. For the
sake of our democracy, all of us who love
America must be committed to the pursuit
of truth. We must keep speaking up until
Trump is fully called to account, out in the
open, by the process our country’s found-
ers devised for times like this.
D. V. FERENCY
Warrenton