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 * «
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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
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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.
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