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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 22, 1983)
Page 4 Portland Observer, June 22. 1983 EDITORIAL/OPINION Study ignores crisis causes The state of education in the U.S. is fast be coming one of the major issues of the upcoming presidential election. While calling for a return to basics, Ronald Reagan is refusing to consider more federal aid to education. With his dismal record on education, one might wonder why Reagan would have appoint ed a National Commission on Education in the first place. It was not done in the interest of edu cating young people to be creative citizens. No, the study was undertaken under pressure from business and the military. The Navy said 25 V* of its new recruits cannot read at the 9th grade level. Business and the military complain that students are not equipped for advanced tech nology. The study — “ A Nation At Risk” — found that 23 million adults and 13 percent of the 17- year-olds are functionally illiterate. However, it made no mention of some of the significant causes of the failure of the public schools. • No mention was made of federal and state funding cuts, ye, all over the nation school systems have been forced to the brink of bank ruptcy. • The report does not mention the inequities in financing schools across the country. • No mention is made of the current econom ic crisis and the devastating affect in regions of high unemployment and plant closure. • There is no mention of the role racism has played, the effects of segregation, or of differ ences between schools in black and white com munities. In light o f these omissions it is necessary to conclude (hat the study is a cover-up o f the real causes of educational decline and o f those who are responsible. The Commission’s solution is for state and local government and private citi zens to provide financial support and stability to bring about reform. It is ironic that the groups that requested the study arc the ones responsible for siphoning funds from the educational system. The military has demanded more and more money while business and banking have sought greater tax breaks. Only massive federal aid can save the public education system and (hat must come through setting priorities and insuring that the business world pay its share and through cutting the mili tary budge,. Fadeley fights for principles A constitutional amendment requiring a sales tax has been adopted by the Oregon House, along with a constitutional limit on state and local spending. The whole package was sold as “ property tax relief.” Its ultimate result would be to reduce (at leas, temporarily) no, only the property tax on homes bu, also on large corpo rate land holdings and potentially even to reduce income taxes. Thus, it would shift the tax burden from the large landholders and big busi ness to those of moderate income who spend the largest portion of their earnings on consumer goods. The blame for this tax must rest squarely on House Speaker Grattan Kerans and many of the "liberal” Democrats who, although they voted against it in the end, endorsed the idea of refer ring a sales tax to the people throughout the ses sion. These people could have stopped the push for a sales tax in January, which would have al lowed the Revenue Committee to develop ac ceptable alternatives. Unfortunately, Revenue Committee Chair man Throop’s only interest was forcing through a sales tax. After he wasted five months trying to do the impossible and could not ge, the sales tax through the Revenue Committee, Kerans gave him a new committee that would do his bidding. Also at fault are the “ liberals” who voted for the sales tax — Barbara Roberts, Vera Katz, Jim Hill, Hardy Myers and Tom Mason. Some of those who voted for the sales tax say they are against it but that it should go to a vote o f the people. I f this bill ever gets to the ballot and is voted down, those Legislators who voted for it — no matter wha, their motives— will be re sponsible for the consequences. The measure now passes to the Senate, where Senate President Ed Fadely will take a different tack. Rather than pussy-footing around with an unjust measure, attempting to justify aiding a bill he is morally and intellectually opposed to, Fadeley' will do everything in his power to kill it. Fadeley will borrow a trick from Kerans: rather than appoint an unprecedented “ select commit tee" to insure the tax’s survival, Fadeley will appoint a select committee to kill it. Fadclcy’s is a more honest approach and, hopefully, will save the people o f Oregon fro: n a fiasco at the polls and the expensive special ses sions and special elections that would have to follow. Quorum o f One S A L E M — A fter Saturday's house vote sending the sales tax on to the Senate, a member o f the upper chamber's revenue committee paused as we passed through the empty Senate chamber. Motioning to the silent floor, the member o f fered this prediction: that's where the sales tax w ill be stopped. Seems she is convinced that the sales tax measure will escape the Revenue Comm ittee only to die a deserved death before the full body. " T h e president is very much op posed to the sales tax and that seems to be the m ajority feeling on the flo o r." As you’ve undoubtedly heard, it looked like the Senate wouldn't have to deal with the measure at all. On the initial House vote last Satur day, the measure fell one vote short o f the 31 any legislation needs to carry in thebO-member body. Then, Republican leader Larry Campbell changed his vote to aye, pushing the measure over the constitutionally- established threshold o f 31. From this perspective, Cam p bell's stated reason for changing his vote is faulty. The minority leader told the House that he felt com pelled to change hit vote and allow the sales lax to pass so the hundreds o f hours put into drafting the meas ure wouldn't go for naught. A poor justification. Representa tive. If . as this writer is convinced and Campbell seemed to be saying, the sales tax is poor public policy, the fact that the House Revenue Com- Letters to the Editor WPPS decision victory for people To tha Editor: matically affect everyone's ability to sell bonds here in Oregon. Yet he failed to mention the billions o f dol lars that would have been extracted from every Oregon fam ily in order to pay for two dead nuclear plants had these court cases not been pur sued — dollars that could be used here to create jobs and energy by pursuing conservation. The governor doesn't understand that when municipal law says you must have a vote o f the people in order to indebt those people for millions in dollars, and if you don't have that vote, your contract is in jeopardy. The governor doesn't understand that when the Oregon Constitution says that a city cannot lend its credit to a public or private corporation, and the city has done just that, then the WPPSS contracts are in jeopardy. The governor doesn't understand that the W PPSS bonding council knew there could be potential viola tions o f municipal and constitu tional law before any o f the W PPSS 4 and 3 bonds were sold. W ith such a lack o f understand ing o f this complex issue, one might be able to understand how the gov The statement o f June 15th by Governor Atiyeh implying that O re gon ratepayers must bear the re sponsibility for the W PPSS finan cial fiasco not only shocked but sad dened me. He did nothing more than mimic a recent statement by a New York banker who said “ the people o f the Northwest have a choice — they can pay now or pay later.” The people have won a great vic tory with the Washington Supreme Court decision, and the governor should have applauded the efforts of those citizens in the city of Spring- field who have brought a similar case to the Oregon Supreme Court. Instead, he assured the citizens of Oregon that they would pay come “ hell or high w ater" for the bonds sold to build W PPSS 4 and 3. He chose to remind all o f us that the default on those bonds will dra- Measure 9 pays off To tha Editor: The recent “ m othballing" of WPPSS nuclear plant »3 under scores the wisdom o f Oregon voters who passed Ballot Measure »9 in 1978. Assuming this plant is never completed. Measure »9 prevents PGE from charging ratepayers for their $210 million investment in this project. Already Measure »9 has prevent ed PGE from charging their rate payers for hundreds o f millions of dollars unwisely invested in the ter minated Pebble Springs and Skagit power plant projects. Measure *9 prohibits private u tili ties from including the costs o f a construction project in their electric rates until the project is complete and producing power. Measure «9 passed with 69% o f the vote after a campaign waged by Oregonians for U tility Reform, the Grange and Farmers Union. Oregon Consumer ‘Thls is the moral way I Portland Observer o“ “ ^ *1 * « The P o rtla n d O b server IU S P S 959 6801 i t published «very Thursday by E x« Publishing Company. Inc . 2201 North Killings worth. Portland Oregon 97217. Post OTI ice Bos 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208 Second class postage paid at Portland, Oregon The Arcrieerf iJ T w rw r was estabitsb»,t m 1970 MEMBER Subscriptions »15 00 per year m the Tri County area Post m a tte r Send address changes to the Portland O b ten er, P O B o. 3137, Portland. Oregon 97208 A lfred L. Henderson, Editor/Publisher A ! Williams, A d ver lisi ng Manager Aisocieffon - Founded 7M9 283 2481 N atio n a l A d vertising R ep resentative A m a lg am a te d Publishers Ine N e w Vorh porter that he believes the fairest tax is a progressive income tax. That leads him to look for ways to fund his relief plan through the income tax mode. His preferred method? Close the loopholes that currently allow people with excess income to shelter that money from the revenue department. A t this writing, Hanlon is most interested in tightening up the capi tal gains system. Described by one staffer as the Reaganomics o f the last decade, the capital gains sys tems rewards those who make money from long-term investments rather than pulling green-chain down at tne local m ill. Income qual ifying for capital gains is taxed at a rate SO percent less than normal in come. The idea is that to take ad vantage o f the lower tax rates, peo ple with money* to spare will make long-term investments that will help the economy as a whole. However, I find it hard to see how it helps me if someone buys 100 shares o f Pacific Northwest Bell, holds it for the required time, sells at a profit but is taxed at a lower rate than those that work for their money. Under Hanlon's plan, capital gains treatment would be allowed only on investments that would create jobs or spur local industry. Perhaps an exception should be made for the purchase and resale of the home the taxpayer occupies. But, it’s an idea being practiced in C alifornia with success and one Oregon should consider. mittec has wasted the last five months futilely fashioning a bill that flies in the face o f logic and Oregon tradition is no reason to hold your nose and vote yes. However, what's done is done and there's no sense crying over spilled milk 'cause it wouldn't be taxed anyway. The focus has shifted to the other legislative chamber. W ith that shift comes the first real test o f the presidency o f Sen. Ed Fadely (D-Eugene). As stated above, Fadeley is on record, at times vehemently, against a sales tax. Following the House vote, he re leased a statement calling on the legislature to " rid itself o f the alba tross around its neck fn d turn to the pursuit o f true property tax relief.” One could argue, then, that it would be a sorry indictment o f Fadeley's leadership if the Senate votes to refer the sales tax to the people. A knowledge o f Fadeley's personality, his understanding o f the legislative process and his acute dislike for being bested would lead the smart money to bet against the sales tax. Which is not to say that property tax relief won't come. The head of the Senate Revenue Committee, Charles Hanlon (D-Cornelius). is already building consensus for a program where people are provided such relief to the tune of five-dollars- per-thousand-dollars o f assessed home valuation. Hanlon has talked about funding the program through a modified sales tax, but last week told this re- League, and State Council o f Senior Citizens. W hile Measure *9 slowed the in crease in electric rates, they are still rising. Further a telephone rate shock appears just around the corner. This indicates that utility reform and tougher regulation is still very much needed. I suspect voters would now give the same treatment to a measure for a Citizens U tility Board or an elect ed Public U tility Commission as they did to Measure *9 in 1978. DaveMcTaagua Chief Petitioner Ballot Meeeure M 10K4SE 72nd Ave. Milwaukie. Oregon *7222 ernor can criticize the one public o f ficial who joined with a few state legislators, like myself, some ten years ago and tried to prevent this financial catastrophe, Congressman Jim Weaver. But what saddens me the most about the governor’s comments is that (his slate deserves a governor who w ill lead us on issues that affect Oregonians pocketbooks so dram a tically instead o f criticizing (hose citizens who have tried to prove in a court o f law that this debt is unfair and illegal. Instead, our governor defends the New York bondholders and says the people o f Oregon will pay. I disagree with the governor. The people didn't make the agreements to pay and never had the opportuni ty to vote on the question o f wheth er or not they wanted to pay for W PPSS 4 and 5. I will continue to applaud those citizens who have brought court action on this issue and I will continue to help facilitate an end to these illegal contracts (hat threaten to bilk billions o f dollars from Oregon families. Grattan Karana, Spaakar of tha Houaa Cease votes 'No' To tha Editor: Your editorial o f June 8 indicates that I supported Speaker G rattan Kerans* new select committee on property (ax relief via the sales tax. That is not accurate. I was excused on the date o f that vote, at home, ill with my continued 7-week battle against a particularly tenacious upper respiratory viral infection. I remain firm ly committed to vote against and speak against the sales tax on the floor. I f it gets referred to the voters, I will send a mailing to all voters in my district asking them to vote against it. Jana Caaaa State Rapraeantatlva Dlatrlct 1» Weapons system fC o n lin uedfrom page I cot. 3) many in the peace movement won’t be satisfied with “ politicians' plati tudes,” Solomon said. The nuclear freeze, for example, was reduced to a platitude when the U .S. House voted for the freeze one week, and to fund the M X missile the next, he said. Ashland, along with three other U .S. cities have declared themselves I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I nuclear-free zones, prohibiting the production, transport, or storage of nuclear weapons in their city limits. New Clear Vision organizer Chuck Bell promised local activists won't stop until Portland joins the growing list o f cities, provinces and nations in the U .S ., Canada, Europe, and the Pacific that have declared they will have nothing to do with nuclear weapons. Receive your Observer by mail— Subscribe today. 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