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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.
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