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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 12, 2015)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Friday, June 12, 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 the multiple groups in Pendleton who came together WRPDNHVXUHWKHFLW\KDVD)RXUWKRI-XO\¿UHZRUNVVKRZWKLV\HDU The Fraternal Order of Eagles deserves credit for taking on the risk and the work. The Pendleton Round-Up and Wildhorse Casino deserve credit for ponying up the dough. And residents deserve credit for speaking up and telling the city that you just can’t wish America a happy birthday without some colorful explosions. There was some pushback that the ¿UHZRUNVVKRZZLOOKDSSHQRQ-XO\ not on the holiday proper. But moving the show up a day is a pro, not a con. )RXUWKRI-XO\¿UHZRUNVRQ-XO\LV actually an awesome alternative. It’s not so much this year, because July 4 falls on a Saturday, square in the middle of the weekend. But more often than not, it falls on a weekday when hardworking Americans are only DEOHWRFDVKLQRQRQHGD\RIYDFDWLRQ:KHQWKDW¶VWKHFDVH¿UHZRUNVRQ holiday eve are even better. You can stay up late, get a little silly, sleep in the next morning and then go out and celebrate the good ol’ US of A by barbecuing your buns off. Is this a great country or what? A tip of the hat to our standout stars of a successful springs sports VHDVRQLQ(DVWHUQ2UHJRQ 0RVWLPSUHVVLYHPD\KDYHEHHQWKHDOO(DVWHUQ2UHJRQVRIWEDOO¿QDO between Pilot Rock and Weston-McEwen, won in dramatic fashion with a game-winning play at the plate. The Rockets took home the title, but both programs should be congratulated for excellent seasons. We can’t forget those girls from Milton-Freewater either. Mac-Hi’s softball team stormed through the playoffs, en route to their second-straight state title. Can they go for a three in a URZ":H¶OO¿QGRXWQH[WVSULQJ Pendleton’s softball team excelled as well, but dropped their nail-biter of a VWDWHWLWOHJDPHWR¿QLVKDVUXQQHUVXS And the baseball team pulled off upset after upset in their side of the tournament, coming up just short of making a state title game appearance of their own. All in all, it was a season of showing the boys and girls of Eastern Oregon can really play some ball. 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 Limiting campaign contributions The (Eugene) Register-Guard Oregonians have voted in favor of campaign contribution limits three times, with the earliest measure winning DSSURYDOLQ(DFKDWWHPSWZDV eventually spiked by the state Supreme Court on grounds that the Oregon Constitution provides bulletproof protection for free speech, including the kind in which money does the talking. Campaign contribution limits pass constitutional muster in 44 states and at the federal level, but not in Oregon. Voters deserve a chance to say whether that should be changed. Senate Joint Resolution 5 would provide that opportunity. It would place on the November 2016 ballot a proposal to add a simple amendment to the state Constitution: “The Legislative Assembly, or the people through the initiative process, may enact laws limiting or prohibiting contributions made in connection with political campaigns.” That’s it. SJR 5 does not ask OHJLVODWRUVWRHVWDEOLVKVSHFL¿FOLPLWV on campaign contributions. It doesn’t require that they endorse limits of any kind. Approval of SJR 5 would mean nothing more than that the Legislature believes the voters ought to decide whether to remove the constitutional impediment that blocks limits. A separate piece of legislation, Senate %LOOZRXOGVHWVSHFL¿FOLPLWVWKDW would take effect if SJR 5 is approved. The proposed limits are equal to those in federal law: Individual donors could give up to $2,600 to candidates, and political action committees could give up to $5,000. Those limits sound about right, but Gov. Kate Brown has a better idea: On Wednesday she asked the Legislature to create a task force to recommend appropriate contribution limits. Brown, at whose behest SJR 5 was introduced while she was secretary of state, called for the task force after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a May 26 ruling, tossed out Montana’s contribution limits on grounds that they were too low — a maximum of $170, for instance, for individual donations to legislative candidates. Because no limits could take effect until after the voters laid the constitutional groundwork late next year, Oregon has plenty of time to consider what the appropriate limits would be. But the task force would have a deadline. Oregon’s last attempt to limit campaign contributions came in 2006, when voters faced a pair of initiatives — a constitutional amendment to allow limits, and a statutory proposal HVWDEOLVKLQJVSHFL¿FOLPLWV The split 2006 vote is evidence of Oregonians’ healthy wariness of proposals that might weaken the free-speech protections their constitution provides. But SJR 5 would not place an asterisk alongside the ironclad guarantees in Article I, Oregon’s Bill of Rights. It would amend Article II, which deals with elections. There’s also reason to scale back hopes that SJR 5 would reduce the amount of money in politics. Contribution limits are no panacea; if RQHGRRULVFORVHGPRQH\ZLOO¿QGLWV way into the political system through another. The U.S. Supreme Court, with its 2010 Citizens United decision, threw one door wide open by prohibiting limits on political spending by independent groups whose activities are supposedly not associated with candidates’ campaigns — even when it’s clear that candidates and independent groups are moving with the unspoken coordination of a synchronized swimming team. But while there’s reason to doubt that SJR 5 would restore Oregon politics to some imagined golden age of political purity, there is strong evidence that the lack of limits on campaign donations has unwanted effects. According to The Oregonian, legislative campaigns in Oregon are the second most costly in the nation on a per-capita basis, trailing only New Jersey. The National Institute on Money in State Politics lists Oregon as having the 12th-highest spending on legislative races in 2010. All 11 states with higher spending had larger populations than Oregon. Expensive campaigns are good for no one but big donors. Candidates who are forced to raise large amounts of PRQH\WRPRXQWFRPSHWLWLYHUDFHV¿QG themselves beholden to a few powerful groups and wealthy individuals. The voices of those who contribute only a little or nothing are drowned out. The Legislature should give Oregonians a chance to decide whether ensure that more voices are heard in campaigns, and approve SJR 5. OTHER VIEWS GOP rivals see opportunity in Hillary’s weakness A t its most basic level, Hillary have problems trying to match Barack Clinton’s polling problem Obama’s winning performance in is pretty simple: Everybody DQG2EDPDGLGZHOOZLWK knows her. ZRPHQZLQQLQJSHUFHQWLQ When a poll reveals that, say, 20 and 55 percent in 2012, according to percent of voters have a favorable exit polls. Clinton might well replicate, impression of Candidate A, and or maybe even exceed, those numbers. SHUFHQWKDYHDQXQIDYRUDEOH But Obama also did reasonably impression, and 50 percent don’t know well with men, too — winning 49 Byron enough to have any impression — SHUFHQWLQDQGSHUFHQWLQ York well, it’s not great news, but it also 2012. Can Clinton do that? It’s unclear. Comment says Candidate A has room to grow. It should be noted that simply He or she can work on that big group having an unfavorable impression of of undecideds and try to leave them with a a candidate does not mean a voter will not favorable impression. vote for that candidate; faced with an either-or Clinton, perhaps the most famous woman choice in a general election, voters often hold in the United States, if not the world, doesn’t their noses and cast a ballot for a candidate have that opportunity. In the latest CNN they don’t really like. But the more voters poll of the Democratic dislike Clinton, the greater presidential race, for Republicans’ chances of H[DPSOHMXVWSHUFHQW winning undecided voters. said they have no opinion GOP candidates of her. Fifty percent said increasingly see openings they have an unfavorable to press Clinton on the opinion her, versus 46 three topics dogging her percent favorable. campaign today — her For Clinton to surpass secret email system, the 50 percent favorable, she Clinton Foundation’s will have to convince ¿QDQFLDODIIDLUVDQG people who already Benghazi — as well as know her, and who have Clinton’s near-total silence probably known her for on all of them. years, to change their “The press avoidance opinion of her. Not an easy and scandals are starting task. to take a toll,” says an adviser for another The CNN survey, and other similar GOP campaign. “Her numbers are sliding polls released recently, shows some pretty backwards as the curtain is starting to get VLJQL¿FDQWVWUXFWXUDOSUREOHPVIRU&OLQWRQ drawn on a lot of these issues. There are One is the yawning divide between the GH¿QLWHO\RSSRUWXQLWLHVIRU5HSXEOLFDQV´ opinions that men and women have of her. There are signs some Republicans are “Want to talk gender gaps? She has a DOUHDG\EHQH¿WLQJ,Q&11¶VSROOEDFNLQ huge one,” notes one adviser to a Republican March, Clinton led Marco Rubio in a head- presidential campaign. The adviser points to to-head matchup 55 percent to 42 percent. In several in the CNN poll: the new poll, she leads Rubio 49 percent to 46 ƒ:KHQDVNHGZKHWKHU&OLQWRQ³FDUHVDERXW percent. people like you,” 57 percent of women said In March, Clinton led Rand Paul 54 percent \HVZKLOHMXVWSHUFHQWRIPHQVDLGWKH WRSHUFHQW1RZVKHOHDGVSHUFHQWWR same — a 21-point gender gap. percent. ƒ:KHQDVNHGZKHWKHU&OLQWRQ³LQVSLUHV In March, Clinton led Scott Walker 55 FRQ¿GHQFH´SHUFHQWRIZRPHQVDLG\HV percent to 40 percent. Now, she leads 49 while just 41 percent of men said so — a percent to 46 percent. 16-point gender gap. Of course the GOP has problems of ƒ:KHQDVNHGZKHWKHU&OLQWRQ³LVKRQHVW its own, but numbers like that convince and trustworthy,” 49 percent of women said Republicans they are on the right track — and \HVZKLOHMXVWSHUFHQWRIPHQDJUHHG²D that Clinton herself will continue to help them 15-point gender gap. in the polls. ƒ:KHQDVNHGLIWKH\KDYHDQRYHUDOO “With every shoe that drops, people favorable or unfavorable opinion of Clinton, become more and more convinced that Hillary 54 percent of women said favorable, while just Clinton cannot be trusted,” says an aide at yet SHUFHQWRIPHQVDLGWKHVDPH²DSRLQW another GOP campaign. “They increasingly gender gap. believe she’s in this for herself, and that ³7KRVHDUHWKHGH¿QLWLRQRISUREOHPDWLF entrusting her with our safety and security is a data,” notes the GOP campaign adviser. really, really bad idea.” “Imagine the story if these numbers existed Ŷ for a Republican.” Byron York is chief political correspondent The numbers also suggest Clinton could for The Washington Examiner. For Hillary Clinton to win, she will have to convince people who already know her to change their opinion of her. 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.
