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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2015)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Saturday, February 21, 2015 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor EO MEDIA GROUP East Oregonian • The Daily Astorian • Capital Press • Hermiston Herald Blue Mountain Eagle • Wallowa County Chieftain • Chinook Observer • Coast River Business Journal Oregon Coast Today • Coast Weekend • Seaside Signal • Cannon Beach Gazette Eastern Oregon Real Estate Guide • Eastern Oregon Marketplace • Coast Marketplace OnlyAg.com • FarmSeller.com • Seaside-Sun.com • NorthwestOpinions.com • DiscoverOurCoast.com MIKE FORRESTER Pendleton Chairman of the Board STEVE FORRESTER Astoria President TOM BROWN Bigfork, Mont. Director KATHRYN B. BROWN Pendleton Secretary/Treasurer JEFF ROGERS Indianapolis, Ind. Director OUR VIEW Sins of transmission ,GDKR3RZHU&RPSDQ\ZDQWV ,GDKR3RZHU¶VSURSRVHGZD\WR to build a transmission line from do that is by building huge towers Boardman to Hemingway, Idaho, stringing transmission lines across that would transfer energy between the landscape, private property and the Columbia Basin and the some of Eastern Oregon’s most intermountain west. EHDXWLIXOODQG,W¶VQRWH[DFWO\ Currently, that transmission line cutting edge, but it’s the best would cut across prime farmlands affordable technology we’ve got. and wildlands in Eastern Oregon and In general, we think the narrower western Idaho, as well as the not- we can make our footprint the so-prime lands in better, and we’re in between. favor of protecting In one sense The initial valuable areas pushback that (private property we’ve done happens when any and forest ecology) looks-good-on- the damaging when we have the paper project is opportunity. An part: we’ve grafted onto the real interstate energy world is already corridor that runs build dams XQGHUZD\3URSRVHG along the same and coal plants strip of land we’ve routes as currently drawn would blast already pulverized and erected through some of and paved into an thousands of the most productive interstate makes agricultural land sense on paper. But windmills. in the region while of course, there others would run are drawbacks to directly over homes that, too. Hundreds or through some of the natural of miles of bright, blinking lights landscapes of the Blue Mountains. can wear on drivers and cause a Some of those “micro-siting safety hazard. Many of our great LVVXHV´FDQEH¿[HG$IHZIHHW Eastern Oregon vistas — although here and there can change the we’d argue you have to get off trajectory of the line, allowing it to the freeway to see anything worth bend around bedposts and houses. seeing — would be detrimentally And just putting towers on a non- impacted. irrigated side of the road compared 7KRXJKLWLVQRW\HW¿QDQFLDOO\ to an irrigated side can help save IHDVLEOHLQWKHJUHDWH[SDQVHRI some of our most productive ag the American West, we think the land. That isn’t always possible, future will eventually bring buried however, and like any multi-million power lines to our country, as has dollar, hundreds-of-miles-long EHHQGRQHE\¿UVWZRUOGHFRQRPLHV energy project, there will be plenty abroad for generations. of missteps, complaints and power But that’s far in the future. plays ahead of us. And last we’ve heard, there is no In one sense, we’ve done the magic energy source that has no damaging part: we’ve built dams and ill effects and is able to power the coal plants and erected thousands world’s engines and automobiles of windmills. In the grand scheme, and electrical outlets. Until then, we these have a larger impact than a tall, have to burn damaging fuels and narrow line cutting from horizon to string ugly, buzzing lines across our horizon. beautiful world. And at the very least, we Whether the Boardman- should get relatively cheap and to-Hemingway line is an H[FHSWLRQDOO\UHOLDEOHHQHUJ\IURP environmental, aesthetic and the line. economic sin we’re willing to pay That’s the pro-argument to be — that remains to be seen. made: we’re creating energy here But we need to think ahead and right now, relatively green when think big when it comes to energy. compared to the rest of the world, Being too NIMBY might save a DQGZHQHHGWR¿QGEHWWHUZD\VWR backyard, but we’ve got a whole share that energy across the grid. world to worry about. Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. OTHER VIEWS The cost of union decline L ike many Americans, I’ve been Many Americans think unions wary of labor unions. drag down the economy overall, but Full-time union stagehands scholars disagree. American auto at Carnegie Hall earning more than unions are often mentioned, but $400,000 a year? A union hailing its Germany’s car workers have a strong defense of a New York teacher who union, and so do Toyota’s in Japan and smelled of alcohol and passed out in Kia’s in South Korea. class, with even the principal unable to In Germany, the average rouse her? A police union in New York Nicholas autoworker earns about $67 per hour City that has a tantrum and goes on Kristof LQVDODU\DQGEHQH¿WVFRPSDUHG virtual strike? with $34 in the United States. Yet Comment More broadly, I disdained unions Germany’s car companies in 2010 as bringing corruption, nepotism and produced more than twice as many rigid work rules to the labor market, impeding vehicles as American companies did, and they the economic growth that ultimately makes a ZHUHKLJKO\SUR¿WDEOH,W¶VWRRJOLEWRVD\WKDW country strong. the problem in the U.S. sector was just unions. I was wrong. Or look at American history. The peak The abuses are real. But, as unions wane in years for unions were the 1940s and ’50s, American life, it’s also increasingly clear that which were also some of the fastest-growing they were doing a lot of good in sustaining years for the United States ever — and with middle class life — especially the private- broadly shared prosperity. Historically, sector unions that are now the periods when union dwindling. membership were highest Most studies suggest were those when inequality WKDWDERXWRQH¿IWKRI was least. the increase in economic Richard B. Freeman, a inequality in America +DUYDUGODERUH[SHUWQRWHV among men in recent that unions sometimes decades is the result of the EULQJLPSRUWDQWEHQH¿WVWR decline in unions. It may industry: They can improve be more: A study in the morale, reduce turnover and American Sociological provide a channel to suggest Review, using the broadest productivity improvements. methodology, estimates that ([SHUWVGLVDJUHHDERXW the decline of unions may how this all balances out, account for one-third of the but it’s clear that it’s not a rise of inequality among men. major drag. “To understand the rising inequality, you “If you’re looking for big negatives, have to understand the devastation in the labor HYHU\ERG\NQRZVWKH\GRQ¶WH[LVW´)UHHPDQ movement,” says Jake Rosenfeld, a labor said. H[SHUWDWWKH8QLYHUVLW\RI:DVKLQJWRQDQGWKH Joseph Stiglitz notes in his book “The author of “What Unions No Longer Do.” 3ULFHRI,QHTXDOLW\´WKDWZKHQXQLRQVZHUH Take construction workers. A full-time strong in America, productivity and real construction worker earns about $10,000 hourly compensation moved together in less per year now than in 1973, in today’s manufacturing. But after 1980 (and especially dollars, according to Rosenfeld. One reason after 2000) the link seemed to break and real is probably that the proportion who are wages stagnated. unionized has fallen in that period from more It may be that as unions weakened, than 40 percent to just 14 percent. H[HFXWLYHVVRPHWLPHVJUDEEHGWKHJDLQVIURP ³$OOWKHIRFXVRQODERU¶VÀDZVFDQGLVWUDFW SURGXFWLYLW\3HUKDSVWKDWKHOSVH[SODLQZK\ us from the bigger picture,” Rosenfeld writes. FKLHIH[HFXWLYHVDWELJFRPSDQLHVHDUQHG “For generations now the labor movement on average, 20 times as much as the typical has stood as the most prominent and effective worker in 1965, and 296 times as much in voice for economic justice.” DFFRUGLQJWRWKH(FRQRPLF3ROLF\ I’m as appalled as anyone by silly work Institute. rules and $400,000 stagehands, or teachers’ Lawrence F. Katz, a Harvard labor unions shielding the incompetent. But unions economist, raises concerns about some aspects also lobby for programs like universal of public-sector unions, but he says that in prekindergarten that help create broad-based the private sector (where only 7 percent of prosperity. They are pushing for a higher workers are now unionized): “I think we’ve national minimum wage, even though that gone too far in de-unionization.” ZRXOGGLUHFWO\EHQH¿WPRVWO\QRQXQLRQL]HG He’s right. This isn’t something you often workers. hear a columnist say, but I’ll say it again: I I’ve also changed my mind because, was wrong. At least in the private sector, we in recent years, the worst abuses by far should strengthen unions, not try to eviscerate haven’t been in the union shop but in the them. corporate suite. One of the things you Ŷ learn as a journalist is that when there’s no Nicholas Kristof grew up on a sheep and accountability, we humans are capable of cherry farm in Yamhill, Oregon. Kristof, a tremendous avarice and venality. That’s true columnist for The New York Times since 2001, of union bosses — and of corporate tycoons. writes op-ed columns that appear twice a 8QLRQVHYHQÀDZHGRQHVFDQSURYLGHFKHFNV week. He won the Pulitzer Prize two times, in DQGEDODQFHVIRUÀDZHGFRUSRUDWLRQV 1990 and 2006. As unions wane in American life, it’s also increasingly clear that they were doing a lot of good. YOUR VIEWS Ore. senators favor immigrants over Americans Stand by decision to locate 5HTXDEURQ]HDW%URZQ¿HOG Both Oregon senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, are eager to force Americans to pay the costs of the president’s illegal amnesty. This despite the fact federal judge Andrew Hanen just agreed that Obama’s DPQHVW\¿DWLVLOOHJDO Congress can most easily block the amnesty by refusing to pay for the bureaucratic processing of millions of new applicants. But both Wyden and Merkley have repeatedly voted against bringing up HR 240, the amnesty defunding bill that recently passed the House. Both of them ZDQWWKHLQLWLDO¿YHPLOOLRQQHZDSSOLFDQWV to be able to legally compete against entry- level citizens while Obama adds another 30 million work permits in increments. At that point, we won’t have a recognizable country anymore. Americans will have lost our voice in favor of a chaotic avalanche of low-skilled Third World poor. How will that improve the lives of the Americans Wyden and Merkley pretend to represent? The placement of the Requa bronze VWDWXHDWWKH%URZQ¿HOG3DUNVLWHZRXOGEH appropriate since the artist sized it for that space. Lyneil Vandermolen Tualatin Carol Schacher Petteys Parkdale, Ore. Every effort was made and every procedural step was taken to ensure that the statue was placed in the optimum location. This included approval by the Arts Commission and 100 percent approval by the city council. I have personal qualms about the location, but believe the site was set and the money raised based on prior agreement. At this point, I believe we should embrace this generous gift of public art and change our debate to how future art and sites should be funded and placed. Terry Andersen Pendleton Requa helped me get a scholarship from Stanford and he did the same for hundreds RIDWKOHWHVGXULQJKLVORQJWHQXUHDW3+6 They may no longer live here but they have written about how Requa inspired them. Let’s compare this loyalty to Requa with “the beloved” Stella Darby who inspired young women to become prostitutes so that VKHFRXOGSUR¿WIURPWKHLUODERU Jerry Cronin Pendleton Let me urge that the terms of the original agreement stand and that the memorializing of a special man who made a long-standing and lasting contribution to generations of \RXQJSHRSOHLQWKH3HQGOHWRQDUHDDQGWR the community in general go forward. Fred vonAppen Missoula, Montana I am writing this letter in support of SODFLQJWKH5HTXDVWDWXHDWWKH%URZQ¿HOG 3DUNORFDWLRQ,WVHHPVWRPHWKDWWKLVPDWWHU has gotten blown out of proportion by a few people that don’t like the placement. What it comes down to is this: The city council was presented with the proposed location, which was agreed upon by the city FRXQFLO7KH3HQGOHWRQ/LQHEDFNHUVDQGWKH organizers of the fundraising efforts have lived up to their end of the deal. It’s now time for the city to live up to their end, and place the state in the approved location. Kelly Dietz Pendleton Editor’s note: These letters have been ed- ited for space considerations and to remove duplicity. They are published in their entirety at eastoregonian.com. LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspa- per reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual ser- vices and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
