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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 6, 2015)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Friday, March 6, 2015 OTHER VIEWS Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher JENNINE PERKINSON Advertising Director DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW Tip of the hat; kick in the pants Michael Jordan — no, not that Michael Jordan — abruptly announced his UHVLJQDWLRQDVWKHVWDWH¶VGHIDFWRFKLHIRSHUDWLQJRI¿FHU7KXUVGD\ Jordan, who the Associated Press charitably described as “closely linked to former Gov. John Kitzhaber,” made an ill-advised decision to ask the Oregon State Police to investigate the leak of Kitzhaber’s emails, which the then-governor asked Jordan’s agency to destroy. Willamette Week is in possession of the leaked emails and plenty of other Oregon media have asked for the information via public records requests. The timing of Jordan’s announcement was also ill-advised. It came just hours before Brown was inaugurated and gave a speech that trumpeted a new era of transparency. Yet that same day, Jordan was causing headlines of his own making, trying to ferret out who gave information — concerning state business and stored on state servers — to the press. It made Brown look hypocritical. But now, with Jordan on his way out, it looks like Brown’s desire for increased transparency really is authentic. One way to increase that feeling would be by stopping the whistleblower witch hunt and getting back to governing. We tip our hat to the governor’s initial steps in that direction. A kick in the pants to that dreaded spring forward into Daylight Savings Time. Sure, we all like the longer evenings and additional sunshine that comes along with the time-hack, but what we don’t like is an already too-fast weekend disappearing even faster. One fewer hour of sleeping or lazy Sunday morning time with paper and coffee — poof! — up in smoke. If we had our druthers, spring forward would take place at 4 p.m. on Monday, so all the sudden —Bam! — it’s quitting time. Maybe that could happen every week. And then a weekly fall back, so HYHU\ZHHNHQGLVH[WHQGHGE\DQKRXU A person can dream, can’t they? Well, not this weekend, when sleep will be at a premium. 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 Rural Oregon shouldn’t suffer from ill-thought federal rules The (Bend) Bulletin We regret to report that HUD is using ACS to establish LMISD to determine CDBG funding. We regret to report that because it’s a tangle of federal government alphabet soup. And there’s serious worry it’s hurting Oregonians in small towns. Soup can, in fact, be bad for you. Small towns have the same kinds of needs that big cities do for infrastructure improvements. But because of the way the government decides which communities get federal funding, small towns can get denied funding even though they qualify. A few weeks ago, we wrote about how this problem was hurting Haines, population 400, in Eastern Oregon. It needs a $5 million water system improvement. But the problem is far worse than just the problem for Haines. Here’s a rundown of the alphabet soup: The HUD is the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It has a program to help pay for infrastructure improvements. The federal government prioritizes which projects get funded by looking at the economic status of communities. The ACS is the American Community Survey. The survey — done by the Census Bureau every year — looks at a small sample of the population. Small sample sizes in small towns can create survey results that GRQ¶WDFFXUDWHO\UHÀHFW the community. The LMISD is the Low and Moderate Income Survey Data derived from the ACS. That data is used to determine eligibility. The CDBG is Community Development Block Grants. Those are the grants that small towns in Oregon can qualify for. Actually, eight towns in the Eastern Oregon counties of Baker, Grant, Morrow, Umatilla, Union and Wallowa lost CDBG eligibility with this method of using the ACS. The Oregon Infrastructure Finance Authority says use of ACS in communities of fewer than 10,000 is problematic. Oregon’s Congressional delegation recently wrote a letter to HUD Secretary Julian Castro requesting that it investigate the adequacy of its calculations. Small towns should not be denied funding because the federal government can’t count. The federal government should pay to ensure its count is correct. Small towns should not be denied funding because the federal government can’t count. GOP scrambles to keep Obamacare subsidies in case of Supreme Court victory W the subsidies” in the case of a court hat happens if Republicans decision striking them down. win the Supreme Court case Hill Republicans fear such a against Obamacare? They scenario would create huge pressure might end up like the dog that caught on Republican governors, who the car. originally declined to create Obamacare This week the court will hear H[FKDQJHVLQWKHLUVWDWHVWRFKDQJH oral arguments in King v. Burwell, FRXUVHDQGVHWXSVWDWHH[FKDQJHV the case challenging the payment of The result could ultimately be an Obamacare subsidies through the Byron 2EDPDFDUHWKDWLVHYHQPRUH¿UPO\ IHGHUDOH[FKDQJHV,IWKHMXVWLFHVEDU York URRWHGDQGGLI¿FXOWWRUHSHDOWKDQLWLV the payment of subsidies through Comment now — all because of a Republican WKRVHH[FKDQJHVLWZRXOGEHERWKD “victory” in court. victory for the health law’s critics and a To avoid all that, GOP lawmakers have problem for Republicans running Congress. GHFLGHGWRNHHSWKHPRQH\ÀRZLQJ0D\EHWKH Which is why a Senate GOP working payments won’t be called group has been meeting for subsidies, but they will be PRQWKVWR¿JXUHRXWZKDWWR subsidies. The essence of do should the challenge to Obamacare — government Obamacare succeed. subsidizing the purchase of ,W¶VDGLI¿FXOWSUREOHPRQ health insurance premiums several fronts. First, even in — will remain intact. a victory scenario, nobody For those conservatives knows just what the court who don’t like the idea will do. Would subsidies stop of Obamacare as a new immediately? After some entitlement, who worry that period of time? Republican it is furthering a sense of lawmakers don’t know any dependency on government more than anyone else about — well, that is going to what path the justices will continue, no matter what choose. happens in King v. Burwell. More importantly, nobody The GOP working group still hasn’t decided knows what will follow. Recently Health and RQDVSHFL¿FSODQ2QHJURXSPHPEHU6HQ Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Ben Sasse, has proposed a system based on Burwell told Republicans the administration the old “Cobra” law that allowed people to has no “Plan B” should Obamacare lose in continue their health insurance after leaving court. “We know of no administrative actions a job. Under Sasse’s proposal, the subsidies that could, and therefore we have no plans would continue for 18 months, until Congress that would, undo the massive damage to our passes a new health law to supersede health care system that would be caused by an Obamacare. adverse decision,” Burwell told the GOP. Is that even remotely a possibility? If the So Republicans are working on their own Supreme Court rules in June, Sasse’s 18-month plan. “We’re committed to helping the people plan would tide things over until the beginning who have been hurt by the health care law,” of 2017, when there might be a new Republican said Republican Sen. John Barrasso, leader of SUHVLGHQWWDNLQJRI¿FH2UWKHUHPLJKWEHD the working group. “We’re not going to help new Democratic president, which would stop the law, but we’re going to help the people, so GOP plans right there. And even if there is a they are not left in the lurch.” What that means is Republicans are going to Republican in the White House, remember WKDWDIWHUVL[\HDUVRIWDONLQJWKH*23KDV\HW ¿QGDZD\WRFRQWLQXHSD\LQJVXEVLGLHVWRWKH to unite behind any alternative to Obamacare. estimated 7.5 million Americans who receive There’s nothing to assure they’ll ever do it. WD[SD\HUIXQGHGKHOSWRSD\WKHLULQVXUDQFH Back in August 2013, when some premiums through the federal Obamacare Republicans were trying to defund Obamacare, H[FKDQJH even if it meant shutting down the government, The prospect of seeing those people lose one of the shutdown leaders, Sen. Ted Cruz, their subsidies — even though some have argued that, “The Obama administration’s plan received them for a short period of time, is very simple — to get as many Americans and even though Obamacare has imposed as possible addicted to the subsidies, addicted burdensome costs on many other Americans to the sugar. They know the simple fact that in — is just too much for Republican lawmakers modern times, no major entitlement has ever to risk. gone into effect and then been undone.” “We’re worried about ads saying cancer Now, as they work to keep the money patients are being thrown out of treatment, and Obama will be saying all Congress has to do is ÀRZLQJHYHQLQWKHHYHQWRIYLFWRU\LQ.LQJY ¿[DW\SR´VDLGRQHVHQLRU*23DLGHLQYROYHG Burwell, Republicans are proving that Cruz’s remarks were right on target. in the work. In recent private polling for the Ŷ conservative group Independent Women’s Byron York is chief political correspondent Voice, a huge majority of respondents said it would be important to “do something to restore for The Washington Examiner. GOP lawmakers have decided to keep the money flowing. Maybe they won’t be called subsidies, but they will be subsidies. YOUR VIEWS Radical minimum wage hike would devastate small business I read with interest the East Oregonian’s editorial about substantially increasing PLQLPXPZDJHVDQGRWKHUEHQH¿WVWKDWZRXOG become mandated. Although I frequently disagree with their position, I had to agree that the effects of this legislation could and would be devastating to small business, which by the way supplies the vast majority of jobs in Oregon. First, the facts: The states with the highest minimum wage are: Washington, D.C $9.50; Washington $9.47; Oregon $9.25; Connecticut and Vermont (tie) $9.15; California and Rhode Island (tie) $9.00. Their unemployment rates rank as follows: Washington, D.C. 51st (worst in nation); Washington state 37th; Oregon 43rd; Connecticut 40th; Vermont 11th; Rhode Island 46th; California 49th. This trend is very VLJQL¿FDQWDQGSRLQWVWRWKHIDFWWKDWKLJKHU minimum wage rates do indeed lead to lower employment due to small business cutting jobs or going out of business. Couple this with the other pending legislation that also mandates SDLGVLFNWLPHDQGPDQGDWRU\ÀH[WLPH scheduling and employment will take a big hit. It makes you think that Salem wants more unemployment! Check for yourself, states with the lowest unemployment rates are at or just slightly above the federal minimum wage rate. We passed a constitutional amendment to increase PLQLPXPZDJHEDVHGXSRQLQÀDWLRQEXWLW seems that is not enough anymore. Please contact not only our local representatives, but all state representatives and let them know we cannot stand any more unfunded mandates from either the state of Oregon or the federal government. LETTERS POLICY Neal Simpson Pendleton The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services 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. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
