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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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