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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 28, 2009)
i l ’e ^Jorthuib Cßhsmier O c to b e r 2 8 , 2 0 0 9 Page A 3 Group Challenges Carter Appointment Lawsuit calls hiring into question J ake T homas T he P ortlanb O bserver by A conservative group stated M onday that it intends to file a law suit against the state De partm ent o f Human Services over the hiring o f form er State Sen. M argaret Carter, a long time local African-A m erican leader. Com m on Sense for Oregon awarded Carter, DHS, and the G o v e rn o r’s o ffice its third "G olden Fleece A w ard” for her appointment to a high-pay ing jo b that the group alleges violated the O regon Constitu tion. C a rte r, the first A fric a n A m erican woman elected to the Legislature, stepped down in A ugust to take a $ 121,872- a-year position as the state’s deputy D irector for H um an Services Program s. During the last legislative session, which ended in June, C arter co -ch aired the Joint Legislative Ways and M eans Com m ittee, which has broad in f lu e n c e o v e r h o w sta te agencies are funded, includ ing DHS. Both C arter and DHS have Margaret Carter denied that there w ere any back-scenes tit-for-tat nego tiations while she was doing budget work. But Ross Day, the execu tiv e d ire c to r o f C o m m o n Sense for Oregon, called the h irin g “ s e lf-d e a lin g at its w o rst.” D ay alleges that C a rte r’s appointm ent violates a clause o f the O regon C onstitution that prohibits lawmakers from taking any civil office that was created or saw its funding in creased while in office. During the last legislative session, law m akers voted to create the Oregon H ealth Au thority, w hich w ill oversee many services once provided by DHS. It also created the D HS d ep u ty a d m in istra to r sition, and will file papers for position, w hich C arter now the lawsuit later this week. DHS S pokesperson Patty occupies, to adm inister cer tain divisions o f the depart W entz, said that C arter was sick and unavailable for com ment. R ep . L a rry G a liz io , D- ment. W en tz d id n 't h a v e any T igard, left the L egislature about the same time as Carter comment on the lawsuit, but to take an adm inistrative job pointed out that there w ere w ith the O regon U niversity errors in the statement by the System. Day said he doesn’t g ro u p . F o r in s ta n c e , th e have a problem with G alizio’s group said that H ouse Bill appointm ent because his po 2009 created C a rte r's p o si sition w asn’t created while he tion. It didn’t; it created the Oregon Health Authority. was still in the Legislature. It also incorrectly identifies Day told the Portland O b server that he has no evidence Carter as the co-chair o f the that C arter and DHS worked "W ays and M eans C om m it behind the scenes for the po tee.” Obama Issues Health Emergency Bicycling Pays Dividends A s rush fo r vaccines hits clinics (A P) - H ealth and Hum an Ser v ic e s S e c r e ta r y K a th le e n S ebelius said M onday the H 1N 1 flu v accin e "is com in g out the do o r as fast as it co m es o ff the prod u ctio n line." But at the sam e tim e, she ac know ledged delays in getting a sufficient supply for all those de m anding it. "We were relying on the m anu facturers to give us their numbers and as soon as we got num bers we put them out to the public. It does appear now that those num bers w ere overly rosy," Sebelius said. "We do have a vaccine that works," she said. P resid en t B arack O bam a d e clared a health emergency over the w eek en d to give h o sp itals and health professionals more leeway from fed eral reg u latio n s to re spond to the illness. Sebelius said officials now have a supply o f about 16.5 m illion doses o f the vaccine, while con ceding th at's m illions o f doses below the amount needed. She couldn't predict ju st how w idespread the virus, also called the swine flu will be. Roughly a thousand people have died from it so far in the United States. But she also said officials do not be lieve there is yet any cause to close dow n sch o o ls and c e ase o th e r daily activities. Said Sebelius: "If we had found the virus a little earlier we could have started a little earlier." Asked what advice she would give to people who have waited futilely in line for shots, the sec retary replied, "I w ant them to com e back." "I hope that people aren't dis couraged," she said. "I know it's frustrating to w ait in line and par ticularly if you end up with no vac cine. We wish this could have been sm oother, that we had a larger supply. We knew it would come in waves." Sebelius sought to assure people th a t e v e n tu a lly th e re w ill be enough supplies "for everyone." Dr. Anne Schuchat, who heads the Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Division o f the Centers for Disease Control and Preven tion, said it's hard to predict how long the H 1N 1 wave will continue, so even getting vaccinated a few months from now — when vac cine supplies are more plentiful — w on't be too late. "It w ouldn't be too late," she said. "We don't know how long this increase w ill go on. ... We might see another wave after the first o f the year. I think it's im portant for people to take steps to protect themselves." continued ^ ^ f r o m Front hopes that it builds upon its exist ing network of bike lanes, with em phasis on creating more “bike bou le v a rd s,” w hich are streets with little or no car traffic. She points to places like the L add’s Addition in southeast, and the east bank espla nade as examples. In addition to infrastructure, edu cation is also a critical com ponent, said Birk, who characterizes the re lationship between them as “fingers on a hand.” Earlier this month, the city began showing an educational video to po lice officers on how to better handle bicycles. The video notes that “the outlaw edginess” that was associated with bikes is now a thing of the past. In dow ntow n, and e lse w h e re , some businesses have asked that their parking spaces be replaced with “bike corrals” that allow more people to lock up their bicycle. Jean Baker, the president o f the Alliance of Portland Neighborhood A s s o c ia tio n s , said th a t h a v in g more bike infrastructure can som e times help businesses since the cli entele it attracts can access them more easily. She generally doesn't anticipate more problems for businesses from increased bicycle infrastructure be cause city streets are often wide enough to accommodate both. “The streets are wide downtown, and not a problem,” she said. While Portland mulls over its plans for increasing its bicycle infrastruc ture, many other U.S. cities are quickly catching up, said Birk. “New York is blowing us away right now," said Birk of the Big Apple’s in vestments in cycling. She also points to Minneapolis, Seattle, and San Fran cisco as cities to watch for bikes. “There’s a lot cities out there that are going to give us a run for our money,” she said. EUENTCENTER Spirit Mountain's spectacular Event Center features headliner concerts, comedy and live sporting events. 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