Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 17, 2019)
A3 THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 Oregon public records council pushes for its independence Blowback from McCall’s resignation By LAUREN DAKE Oregon Public Broadcasting Oregon’s public records advocate on Friday urged her role be made explicitly independent from the gover- nor’s offi ce, following alle- gations attorneys for Gov. Kate Brown attempted to unduly infl uence her work. In an emergency meeting of the Public Records Advi- sory Council, the state’s public records advocate and advisory council chair Gin- ger McCall said the state would not be able to fi nd qualifi ed candidates for the role if such independence were not achieved. “What happened here is the very reason the pub- lic is cynical of the govern- ment,” said McCall, who announced last week she would be resigning from the job effective Oct. 11. McCall’s resignation, after roughly 18 months on the job, came after she said members of the governor’s staff tried to strong-arm her to secretly represent the gov- ernor’s interest. The allega- tions have roiled the percep- tions of the role, and spurred questions about Brown’s frequent insistence she sup- ports public transparency. The advisory coun- cil is charged with exam- ining how public agencies respond to requests under Oregon’s public records law, as well as with making rec- ommendations for improve- ments. The council is made up of journalists, lobbyists, state offi cials and members of the public. At the emergency meet- ing Friday, the council approved a resolution that the advocate and the council be independent under state Andrew Selsky/AP Photo Ginger McCall, Oregon’s fi rst public records advocate, poses for photos in her offi ce Wednesday in Salem. Her recent resignation has blown up into a debacle for the Democratic governor’s offi ce. ‘WHAT HAPPENED HERE IS THE VERY REASON THE PUBLIC IS CYNICAL OF THE GOVERNMENT.’ Ginger McCall | Oregon’s public records advocate law and that the advocate be a direct hire of the council, rather than appointed by the governor. Two members of the council voted against the resolution. McCall spoke passion- ately during the meeting about the need for the advo- cate to be free of any con- trol — budget or otherwise — from elected offi cials. McCall said it should be the advisory panel — not the governor — who selects the advocate. She also said any fund- ing stream for the advocate’s budget needs to be indepen- dent and not infl uenced by an elected offi cial. The governor appoints the majority of the council. “It’s my strong opinion that this (position) can’t be effective if it’s not indepen- dent,” McCall said in the meeting. Les Zaitz, an investiga- tive reporter and the edi- tor and publisher of the Malheur Enterprise, who also oversees the Salem Reporter, said the council would be “negligent” if they walked away without mak- ing it clear to the public that the advocate is an indepen- dent position. Another reporter on the panel, Steve Suo, with The Oregonian , had a similar take: “What happened to Ginger McCall should never happen again.” Several members of the council warned against rush- ing and instead wanted to move deliberately. Another motion to inves- tigate what took place between the governor’s gen- eral counsel and McCall failed. The motion was introduced by Scott Win- kels, with the League of Oregon Cities. Zaitz was one of the peo- ple who opposed it. He voiced a concern it would divert attention from what is currently “undis- puted history.” Zaitz argued it would distract from the mission of the council to provide public access to the government. In explaining why she was resigning, McCall said earlier this week she was pressured by the governor’s outgoing general counsel, Misha Isaak, to represent the governor’s offi ce over transparency. “I have not only been pressured in this direction but I have been told that I should represent these inter- ests while not telling anyone that I am doing so. I believe these actions constituted an abuse of authority on the part of the g eneral c ounsel …,” McCall said at the time. Brown proposed creating McCall’s position and the advisory council she over- sees in 2017. The state Leg- islature gave Brown author- ity over the position. After McCall’s concerns became public, the gover- nor said she believes the position should be “truly independent.” Dirk VanderHart contrib- uted to this report. Principle Power, Principle Power, a Seattle-based company, moved its planned off shore wind project to California. Offshore wind energy looks promising for Oregon By ERIN ROSS Oregon Public Broadcasting Oregon’s high desert is getting crowded, so wind power advocates are once again looking to the sea. At a conference last week in Portland, ocean energy advocates pre- sented an update on the state of offshore wind power . Costs have dropped dramatically since the last failed attempt to har- ness the wind over Ore- gon’s Pacifi c waters, mak- ing an offshore, deep-water wind farm once again seem feasible. A stretch of the Pacifi c Ocean off the coast between Humboldt County, Cali- fornia, and Coos Bay has some of the highest wind power generating potential in the country. The area north of the California border looks particularly promising to green energy advocates because the region already has a functioning electric grid. But a past attempt to install fi ve fl oating tur- bines off Coos Bay faced rising costs and opposi- tion from the fi shing indus- try, and was eventually moved to California when no one could be found to buy the high-priced power the facility planned to generate. But one big thing has changed since then, accord- ing to Jason Busch, executive director of the Pacifi c Ocean Energy Trust and a speaker at the conference: The number of offshore wind farms across the globe has skyrocketed, and the cost of wind power has dropped 75%. “These cost curves are really well documented,” said Busch, who expects prices to keep falling. By 2030, he expects costs to be compara- ble to those of coal power and natural gas. Even now, “gov- ernment subsidies are no lon- ger necessary,” he said. Unlike the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacifi c rests on a conti- nental shelf and the water gets very deep very fast. So unlike the wind farms of the Atlantic, which are fairly close to shore and are installed by drill- ing deep into the ocean fl oor, this farm would be fl oating. Researchers say that means it would be less likely to harm ocean ecosystems. That doesn’t mean wind power is a consequences-free panacea, Busch pointed out. “There will be some impacts to fi shing grounds, some good, some bad, and some unknown,” he said. “But at the end of the day, the issue is: some people can’t fi sh where they want to or have historically fi shed.” Happy Birthday James Michael Harris!
