Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Friday, May 15, 2015
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
Tip of the hat to Tom Insko, the new president of Eastern Oregon
University.
While it’s not a prototypical hire, we think it’s an inspired one.
Insko is a businessman, manager of 18 manufacturing facilities and plants
for Boise Cascade. He graduated from EOU and has been working outside
of academia ever since.
Despite that nontraditional résumé, we support the decision of the EOU
search committee and Oregon State
Board of Higher Education, who both
unanimously chose Insko for the post.
While students and faculty are
nervous at the thought of an outsider
taking the reins, we think a shakeup may
be necessary. Declining enrollment and
a lack of regional marketing have put the
school in a precarious position — more
students are taking classes at Pendleton
High School than EOU right now.
If we want to keep Eastern Oregon
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under local control, it’s going to take some new philosophies from the
administration. It’s also going to take some consistency in administration.
We hope Insko is able to provide both.
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The city has made great strides to become a regional destination for
the national holiday, with an excellent
parade and thrilling PBR bullriding in
the hallowed Round-Up Grounds. But
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big step backward for the festivities, and
leave the growing crowds wanting.
Yet we are still holding out hope that
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bursts of gunpowder into the sky.
The dollars shouldn’t be too much
of a problem — there are groups with
plenty of desire to make Fourth of July a
dawn-to-dusk extravaganza. But what is
needed is a volunteer crew to take on the labor-intensive prep work, tear-
down and planning. If a group like the Round-Up or Chamber of Commerce
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sign up.
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
Two-way communication the way
toward Forest Plan improvement
by The Corvallis Gazette-Times
T
he U.S. Forest Service has started
its “listening sessions” throughout
the region on its update to the
Northwest Forest Plan. The Siuslaw
National Forest held one of those
sessions last week in Corvallis.
This week, the Willamette National
Forest held a pair of sessions, one
Monday night in Pleasant Hill, south
of Eugene, and another one that
was scheduled for
Wednesday night in
Stayton.
The Forest Service
plans to hold these
meetings in every
national forest that
has been affected by
the Northwest Forest
Plan, which is to say,
pretty much every
national forest in the
Northwest.
These sessions are
part of what is certain
to be a drawn-out
process to revise the
Northwest Forest Plan,
which has guided
management decisions
by the Forest Service
and the BLM in this
area since 1994.
Designed to protect the
northern spotted owl
and other threatened
species that rely on old growth forests,
the plan sharply reduced logging on
federal lands throughout the region —
cutbacks that gutted the economies of
timber towns.
The session in Corvallis, as you
might imagine, brought out people
with dramatically divergent ideas about
how to manage the nation’s forests, and
you saw the same split of opinions in
Pleasant Hill. (This editorial was written
before the Stayton session, but it would
be surprising indeed if the story was
different there.)
But there was one notable point
of agreement among virtually all the
participants in the Corvallis and Pleasant
Hill sessions: People on all sides of the
political spectrum asked for assurances
that the Forest Service was sincere about
truly listening to what the public has to
say.
And there’s a related point that’s
just as important: A representative of
the Siuslaw Watershed Council at the
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to make a point of communicating in
plain English “because so many people
do not understand Forest Service-ese.”
(To be fair, the Forest Service is not
the only federal — or
state — agency that
speaks in its own
lingo. Consider, for
example, the U.S.
Bureau of Land
Management, which
last week released
its four-volume
draft resource
management plan
and environmental
impact statement for
western Oregon. The
last two volumes are
entirely devoted to
appendices.)
But even though
the Forest Service
is not the only
offender, these still
are legitimate issues
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to keep in mind as
they go through these
sessions. They’ve hit
all the right notes so far, but it’s early
(very early) in the process. And, in some
cases, the Forest Service brings decades
worth of baggage to each of these
meetings.
That baggage won’t get swept away
overnight. It would be silly to expect
otherwise.
But by following through on its
promise in these meetings to let others
do most of the talking, taking pains
to make sure that all of the interested
parties are kept apprised of the status of
the plan update, and doing everything
possible to translate Forest Service-ese
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in years to come that its load of baggage
has grown a little lighter.
It is certain to
be a drawn-
out process
to revise the
Northwest Forest
Plan, which
has guided
management
decisions by the
Forest Service
and the BLM in
this area since
1994.
OTHER VIEWS
GOP better get used to
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“As long as you’ve got enough
10 GOP candidates in a few 2008
money for gas, you can stay in
debates. There were eight Democrats
the race,” says one veteran Iowa
in a 2008 debates, and nine in some
Republican operative of the sprawling
2004 showdowns. But no one has
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ever gotten near the number of GOP
take a long time for this to play out.”
candidates today.
Yes, there are tons of stories in
It’s generally assumed that a debate
the press about this or that candidate
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raising zillions of dollars. But the truth
far too large to handle in the traditional
Byron
is, a lot of Republican hopefuls — an
format. But organizers might go
York
unprecedented number — will have
ahead and do it anyway, because the
Comment
the wherewithal to run at least bare-
alternative — cutting some candidates
bones campaigns for many months to
out before anyone has even gotten a
come. And some of them could help shape
chance to speak to the debate audiences —
the race and its top issues, even if they never
would not sit well with a lot of Republicans.
climb into the top tier.
Why not just have a really long debate
Perhaps a single candidate will break out
— there’s no reason it has to be limited to 90
with a big lead by the beginning of fall. But
minutes or two hours — and give everyone his
it’s more likely that won’t happen, which
or her say?
could lead to a series of
“If they have any sense,
results in the early 2016
they will start out with
contests that seem less than
debates that are too big and
conclusive.
try to winnow them out over
the fall,” says the second
“In the last election,
operative. “If they start out
Mitt Romney and Rick
with too much winnowing,
Santorum tied in Iowa with
there will be backlash from
24.6 percent of the vote,”
voters.”
notes another GOP strategist.
Or maybe there’s some
“You’re going to have a
creative solution. Put 14
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candidates’ names in a
would bet you anything that
hat, pick out half, and
20 percent wins Iowa, and
then the other half, and
maybe that 18 percent wins.”
hold Debate A and Debate
If a losing candidate has
B at the same time. It
enough money for gas —
would be a nightmare for
especially if he’s getting a
organizers, but it would
SuperPAC boost — why pull
cover everybody. Or
out when the winner only
maybe try some sort of pod
got 18 percent of the vote?
system with several smaller
Likewise, Romney won
the New Hampshire primary with 39.3 percent debates.
Jaded veterans of the political game will
of the vote. This time, “It looks to me like 25
scoff at such plans. No matter how big the
percent could win New Hampshire — maybe
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22 percent,” notes the strategist.
will come from a very small group — Bush,
Right now, there are 14 candidates in
Walker, Rubio — and the rest is just show.
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Maybe that’s true. But the show is
by the RealClearPolitics average of polls:
important. Should, say, Bobby Jindal
Bush, Rubio, Walker, Paul, Cruz, Huckabee,
— currently polling at 1.3 percent in the
Christie, Carson, Perry, Kasich, Santorum,
RealClearPolitics average, putting him in
Graham, Jindal and Fiorina, in order of their
13th place — be included in debates? Only
current standing in national surveys.
if Republicans want to hear from the only
There are still others not in the average.
candidate who has actually written a plan to
Donald Trump, for example, is not in the
replace Obamacare. Should Carly Fiorina — 1
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percent, in 14th place — be included? Only
new WMUR Granite State poll of New
if Republicans want to hear from a candidate
Hampshire — ahead of nine candidates who
are in the average. Then there are John Bolton, who has run a Fortune 50 company.
The point is, there are a lot of smart
George Pataki and others who are showing up
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at Republican campaign events.
going to be in the race for some time. Of
There’s been a lot of discussion, publicly
course they should be part of the conversation.
and behind the scenes, about how to conduct
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Byron York is chief political correspondent
Republican debate in the 2012 primary
for The Washington Examiner.
season was nine candidates; there were
No matter how
big the field is,
they say, the
winner will come
from a very
small group —
Bush, Walker
Rubio — and
the rest is just
show.
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 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.
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.