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THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, JuNE 21, 2022
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
Founded in 1873
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GUEST COLUMN
State board nominees get little scrutiny
O
regon’s police certification agency
has made the headlines for the
wrong reasons. At times, so have
other state agencies overseen by boards
appointed by the governor.
Yet without debate on June 3, the state
Senate confirmed seven new or continu-
ing members of the Oregon Board of
Public Safety Standards and Training.
In fact, all 121 nominations submit-
ted by Gov. Kate Brown
were approved as a
group, with only two
dissenting votes. Those
nominees included one
state manager – State
Librarian Wendy Cornel-
isen, who began work in
DICK
March – and Brown’s lat-
HUGHES
est appointees to the Tri-
Met Board, Commission
for the Blind, Board of Dentistry, East-
ern Oregon University Board of Trustees,
Land Use Board of Appeals and various
other bodies.
That Senate session lasted 20 minutes.
And at a public hearing by videoconfer-
ence and telephone two days earlier, nom-
inees had been asked to speak no more
than a minute so the vetting committee
could get through the lengthy list.
Leaders of the Senate Rules and Exec-
utive Appointments Committee told me
much of the vetting occurs behind the
scenes beforehand. Members receive
extensive paperwork about the nominees.
Brown’s appointees to the Board on Pub-
lic Safety Standards and Training stacked
up as well qualified, said state Senate
Majority Leader Rob Wagner, D-Lake
Oswego, who chairs the committee.
Wagner and others are in contact with
the governor’s office as potential nomi-
nees are being developed and will try to
head off problematic choices. “I’m not
someone who wants to trot people out
to the Senate floor and try to publicly
embarrass them. I think it’s more a ques-
tion of trying to work with the governor’s
office to say, ‘Hey, can we go a different
direction or can you communicate back to
someone that they might not be a good fit
The state Department of Public Safety Standards and Training is based in Salem.
‘IT’S INCREdIBLy IMPORTANT FOR
OREGON CITIZENS TO CONSIdER SERVING
ON BOARdS ANd COMMISSIONS BECAuSE THEy
CAN HAVE A LOT OF IMPACT ANd INPuT.’
Tim Knopp | state Senate Republican leader
at this time,’’’ he said.
Before a public hearing, nominees
often make the rounds – in person or via
Zoom – for more in-depth discussions
with legislators. Committee members also
talk with legislative colleagues, commu-
nity members and others who know the
nominees, asking whether they would be
good candidates.
When controversy arises, most often it
has been around nominees handling natu-
ral resource or environmental issues.
“We want to get the best nominees that
we can, but I think there’s also a recog-
nition for us that it’s difficult many times
to find people who would serve on the
boards and commissions,” said Senate
Republican Leader Tim Knopp, of Bend,
the committee vice chair. “So if some-
one is willing to serve and participate, our
general philosophy is to welcome them
to do so.
“Where the issue comes in is if they
have a predetermined political agenda
that they’re going to pursue on a commis-
sion. That’s when they’ll likely run into
concern and opposition from our caucus.”
An Oregon governor appoints peo-
ple to more than 250 boards, commis-
sions and councils, along with the heads
of most state agencies. Many, but not all,
require Senate confirmation.
“I’m always so pleased to see how
many Oregonians will step forward. I
think it’s a huge challenge for the gover-
nor’s office to get the word out with the
volume of boards and commissions that
we have,” Wagner said.
“It’s a system that’s grown up over
time, depending on the needs of the era.
But there’s some really critical roles in
terms of oversight of professions and
helping set a policy direction for some
pretty important things that the Legisla-
ture wants to see.”
The Senate usually meets quarterly to
act on the governor’s appointments. One
thing to watch is whether Brown makes
a rush of appointments during her final
months in office or leaves key vacancies
for her successor to fill next year.
Liz Merah, Brown’s press secretary,
said anyone interested can apply electron-
ically to serve on a state board or com-
mission at any time. Most are volunteer
roles.
Applications are reviewed by the rel-
evant state agency and the governor’s
office. Community organizations, individ-
uals and other parties often weigh in with
the governor’s staff.
“After a vetting process of each can-
didate that may include an interview or
checking references, official recommen-
dations are processed by the governor’s
executive appointments office and pre-
sented to the governor for consideration
of an appointment,” Merah wrote in an
email. “At the time of a board/commis-
sion appointment, the governor’s office
verifies that the appointment contrib-
utes to the goal of having a board that is
reflective of the diverse interests of all
Oregonians and is in line with statutory
requirements.”
Roughly 150 boards and commissions
currently are recruiting members. They
include two new ones — the Emergency
Preparedness Advisory Council and the
Local Government Emergency Manage-
ment Advisory Council.
Other boards seeking members include
ones dealing with the arts, boilers, canna-
bis, dentures, education, global warming,
government ethics, hearing aids, Hispanic
affairs, massage therapists, plumbing,
public records, racing, school safety and
wine.
“It’s incredibly important for Oregon
citizens to consider serving on boards and
commissions,” Knopp said, “because they
can have a lot of impact and input.”
dick Hughes has covered the Oregon
political scene since 1976.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Vested interest
W
hile I’d like to believe my country
is essentially fighting for democracy
in Ukraine and around the world, I see a
major conflict of interest here:
1) The U.S. is dependent on the world’s
largest military industrial complex —
which both controls and sells far more
armaments than any other nation — and
supplies 800 U.S. military bases around
the globe.
2) This enormous business is com-
pletely dependent on “conflicts” and per-
ceived threats of war.
3) The immense profits these corpora-
tions make go to their CEOs, public rela-
tions firms and stockholders.
4) Many of our most powerful politi-
cians (of both parties) are stockholders in
these corporations, and receive millions in
“donations” from them, as well.
5) Our huge media companies are
dependent on the revenues generated from
supporting these extensive corporations
through advertising, “hot news” reports,
special access to politicians and such.
So here’s where the conflict of inter-
est lies: Those who stand to profit from the
trillions of dollars generated by war, stand
to lose money and power should diplo-
macy result in peace.
They need to paint pictures of mon-
strously insane, powerful enemies and
poor, defenseless friends we need to save
from their clutches to gain our support for
their wars. Their vested interest is in war.
Period.
Think about it. Can you honestly dis-
agree with anything I’ve written so far?
Google Oliver Stone interviews, The
Grayzone and other sources. There are
alternative serious and patriotic view-
points worth considering — and far bet-
ter ways to spend our tax dollars here at
home.
KATE O’NEAL
South Bend, Washington
What is going on?
he American Association of Fam-
ily Physicians, a couple of years ago,
published a position paper titled “Vio-
lence in the Media and Entertainment.”
This document asserts that “despite being
home to only 5% of the world’s popula-
tion, roughly 31% of the world’s mass
shootings have occurred in the United
States.”
According to the Children’s Defense
Fund: “U.S. children and teens are 15
times more likely to die from gunfire than
T
their peers in 31 other high-income coun-
tries combined.”
What is going on? Is American soci-
ety becoming the victim of its own lax
attitude toward discipline and exposure
to violence? Our children grow up sur-
rounded by violence in entertainment.
From cowboy movies like “The Wild
Bunch” to virtually every other visual
type of entertainment, violence plays a
major role in entertainment for all ages.
Violence sells.
Our children grow up surrounded by
violence in entertainment — much of it
perpetrated by guns. Many more mass
shootings have taken place since a ram-
page at an elementary school in Uvalde,
Texas, left 19 children and two teachers
dead on May 24.
There is absolutely no justification,
constitutional or otherwise, for semi-au-
tomatic weapons in the hands of civil-
ians. Our governor and Legislature, our
entire congressional delegation, must be
unequivocal in demanding effective gun
control.
ERHARD GROSS
Astoria
The hordes are coming
ear Astoria: I have loved you for 30
years. Searched for a home for 20 of
those to retire in.
I have watched as the leadership of
the 1990s brought you up. The Mill
Pond project, the Columbia River Mari-
time Museum, the multiplex theater, the
regional hospital, the Astoria Aquatic Cen-
ter, the new Safeway, restoration of the
Liberty Theatre, and so much more. With
each passing year, you have improved, and
we found our forever home 11 years ago.
D
Something happened to you in the past
few years; what motivated you so long ago is
diminishing, and I’m worried for you. Your
previous productive leadership has gone,
retired or moved away. Your new stewards
are not treating you well. They want to hurt
your homeowners and businesses by giv-
ing them to vagrants and people who cannot
help you, but in fact, will kill you.
Be aware, my dear lady, there are peo-
ple afoot with power that will deface
you, and diminish your value, by letting
the vagrants take over. Dear sweet Asto-
ria, your crime has risen, and your offi-
cials want to make it worse by spreading it
throughout your borders.
Wake up, my fair lady, before you are over-
run, like Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles
and Ukraine. I love you, Astoria. Please save
yourself! The hordes are coming …
BILLIE O’NEEL
Astoria