Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
JENNINE PERKINSON
Advertising Director
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Tea party must
freshen its cup
We like to think of Eastern
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But when it comes down to it, we
Oregon, home to some of the most
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of the Blue Mountain Community
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College bond, an issue that failed
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narrowly little more than a year
Taxes are an eternal issue in
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the anti-taxer statements against
Pendleton, for instance, is getting
the bond — and other issues, like
ready to skyrocket as the city tries
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to get a handle on its crumbling
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be plenty of people grumbling about
outside Hermiston decrying “BMCC the amount of our hard work that
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is siphoned away
pig was trucked into
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Pendleton, sporting
No one likes that
The yes votes
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outnumbered the something else to be
Letters to the editor
asked people to not
unwilling
no votes. Maybe entirely
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to recognize the
the anti-tax
and more power
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But when the
is worse than its edged, gruff and
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bite these days. uncompromising
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of that is due to the
hopeful a new “tea
hard work BMCC
party” candidate
put into rallying their troops and
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pitch for less spending without
But part of it, too, is that the anti-tax EHLQJDEUDVLYHRUSDUDQRLG$SHUVRQ
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who can show they understand
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the importance of education,
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Tuesday passed — in places both
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well-intentioned but dead-end
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district to think differently about
was thumped in his race to win
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a seat on the Hermiston School
The problem with the tea party at
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so anti-community, intentionally or
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went down too, albeit by a tighter
Oregon, where friends and neighbors
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passed by a wider margin than it did ZRUOGJRµURXQG
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Sure, some measures failed: the
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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
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Klamath Falls Herald and News
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Senate follows the lead of
the Legislature’s House
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The Oregon House
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a bill that would
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“stations,” which actually
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a self-pay basis when no attendants are
at the station, say in the middle of the
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would apply to counties with less than
40,000 population, such as Lake County
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There are a lot of wide open spaces
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how unlikely it is for that dot 50 or 60
miles down the thin blue line on the road
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many cases, any other
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We doubt if the
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gasoline in Oregon,
though, and that’s
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to those who need it, including those
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people passing through isolated areas,
it would help farmers and ranchers and
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It’s a big help
to farmers
and ranchers.
OTHER VIEWS
Platinum pay in
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They reason that “this is a winner-
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take-all society and that people with
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richly rewarded,” said Richard Vedder,
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the director of the Center for College
“With many issues and concerns
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“But I think that things are getting
Frank
affordability and tuition, such a salary
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Bruni
will affect the ability of the president
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Comment
to work with the Texas Legislature,”
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in an email obtained by The Austin American- SULYLOHJHGSRVLWLRQVQRWWRHQULFKWKHPVHOYHV
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discordant note in light of
commonplace among college
the challenges confronting
presidents, the sum — or, more
higher education today, and it
precisely, the sentiment behind
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it — is worthy of note and
How do you defend
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the transfer of teaching
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responsibilities to low-paid,
adequate thought to the
part-time adjuncts when the
symbolism and dissonance
president is sitting so pretty?
of extraordinarily generous
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compensation packages,
costs, which indeed need
which are in sync with this era
cutting? How do you explain
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steep tuition increases,
glaring income inequality but
mammoth student debt and the
out of line with the ostensible
failure to admit more children
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from poor families?
Ideally, higher education is
How do you summon
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students back to the liberal
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arts and away from mercenary
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priorities?
It supposedly calls students to
The high salaries are
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frequently defended on the
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But that message is muddled
president’s job is all
when some of the people
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who run colleges wallow in
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payments and perks that would
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thousands of extra dollars, on
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corporate boards? Rensselaer’s
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which he left in 2013, he got a package of
The high salaries are also defended
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It was a one-time bonanza, including deferred
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The Chronicle of Higher Education
should money be the main yardstick and
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currency? Shouldn’t ethics compete with
colleges from 2012, the most recent year
economics, as they sometimes do when a
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the president of Rensselaer Polytechnic
The lofty pay of college presidents is part
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of higher education’s increasingly corporate
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bent, of the blurred lines between the campus
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political candidates who speak of “public
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who has an annual base of $1 million plus
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$400,000 in additional compensation,
Frank Bruni, an Op-Ed columnist for The
according to The American-Statesman.
New York Times since June 2011, joined the
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New York Times in 1995. Over his years, he
breeds more like it, as schools’ trustees
has worn a wide variety of hats, including
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chief restaurant critic and Rome bureau chief.
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Their
extravagance
strikes an
especially
discordant
note in
light of the
challenges
confronting
higher
education
today, and
it undercuts
their moral
authority.
YOUR VIEWS
EO coverage of small school
track not up to snuff
To the East Oregonian sports department:
I was disappointed but not surprised that you
didn’t send a reporter to the Columbia Basin
Conference district track championship in
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Our family is a track family, both our boys
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to send a reporter to our district meets; now
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So my family would like to say “good job”
to all the athletes that are going to state, and all
the athletes that competed this year for your
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been noticed and praised, like all the other
hard working athletes in other local sports
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Remember, track is the oldest sport in the
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LETTERS POLICY
Loal King
Pilot Rock
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.