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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 26, 2015)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Friday, June 26, 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 A tip of the hat to the BMCC rodeo team and Hermiston barrel racer Callahan Crossley for their women’s national collegiate title wins this week. Callahan is the third Crossley sister to FRPSHWHDWWKHQDWLRQDO¿QDOVIROORZLQJLQ the footsteps of Jade and Jordan. But she’s WKH¿UVW&DOODKDQWRULGHWRWKHJROG Teammates Danyelle Williams (second) and Jessica Lewis (seventh) added enough points to BMCC’s score to earn the school the team title. We’re excited to see these young women continue their rodeo careers, and wish them the best of luck — especially when they are riding in the Round-Up and Farm-City arenas. A kick in the pants to southern government leaders still standing by WKH&RQIHGHUDWHÀDJ Whatever Dixie means to southerners deep in their genteel and well- meaning hearts, it is in fact the symbol of treacherous rebellion against the United States. We’re 150 years removed from the Civil War, and the idea WKDWWKHORVLQJDUP\ZRXOGEHDOORZHGWRFRQWLQXHÀ\LQJWKHLUFRORUVLQWKH victor’s capitals is absurd. It’s more than just a symbol of the south, heritage or Dukes of Hazzard- style rebellion. It’s a symbol of racism and slavery, and a war in which 620,000 American soldiers died. And the longer that symbol is endorsed by the state, the more validity its message is given. Even though Charleston is a long ZD\IURP+HUPLVWRQWKHÀDJGHEDWH matters because we live in a union, where citizens are free to express themselves however they choose but governments must operate under a XQL¿HGFRGHRIDOOHJLDQFH +RZPDQ\%ULWLVK)UHQFKRU6SDQLVKÀDJVGR\RXVHHÀ\LQJLQSODFHV once occupied by those countries? If an ISIS cell sprang up somewhere in WKH86DQGZDVGHIHDWHGE\RXUWURRSVLQDGHDGO\FRQÀLFWZRXOGDQ\RQH DUJXHWKDWEODFNÀDJVWLOOKDGDSODFHRIKRQRURUKHULWDJH" A tip of the hat to women who don’t let workforce gender roles GLFWDWHWKHLUDVSLUDWLRQV ,Q7KXUVGD\¶VSDSHUZHSUR¿OHG'HDQQH6KXOPDQWKH¿UVWIHPDOH smokejumper in the nation, who faced criticism in the late 1970s and early VDVVKHWUDLQHGWRHQWHUWKHPDFKRSURIHVVLRQ2QFHVKH¿QDOO\JRWWKH MREVKHSURYHGKHUZRUWKDQGPRYHGXSWKH¿UH¿JKWLQJODGGHUWREDWWDOLRQ chief. Another more recent success story is Mackenzie Clarke from Damascus, Oregon, ZKRRQ:HGQHVGD\ZDVVZRUQLQDVWKH¿UVW female combat engineer to enlist in the Army National Guard. A combat engineer is one of FRPEDWVSHFL¿FMREVSUHYLRXVO\H[FOXVLYH WRPDOHVDQGWKH¿UVWRSHQHGWRZRPHQ Pioneers like Shulman and Clarke are important because they help normalize what VKRXOGDOUHDG\EHQRUPDO²TXDOL¿HGZRPHQ ZRUNLQJDORQJVLGHTXDOL¿HGPHQLQDOO¿HOGV And as that becomes more commonplace, issues like pay equality become much easier to take on. 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 Poking the Republican pyramid I s it my imagination, or are half the without any pirates. Reuters studied the governors in the country running results and estimated that Florida state for president? and local governments had anted up On the Republican side they’re $1.32 billion and generated 1,365 jobs, piling up like ... those huge stacks or $1 million per new employee. of walruses we see off the coast Often, the goal of these programs is of Alaska now that there’s global to simply lure a business from one state warming. A stack of governors! to another. Then we get a battle of the Different from the walruses only tax breaks, creating a hole that will have Gail in 1) lack of tusks, and 2) failure to Collins WREH¿OOHGE\\RXWKHRUGLQDU\WD[SD\HU EHOLHYHWKDWPHOWLQJLFHÀRHVDUHD Ohio, home of Kasich, offered Sears Comment serious problem. a $400 million deal to ditch Illinois and This week Bobby Jindal move to Columbus. Sears decided to (Louisiana). Next week maybe Chris Christie stay put after the Illinois Legislature passed a (New Jersey). Sometime in July, Scott Walker super-emergency $275 million counteroffer. (Wisconsin) and probably John Kasich One economics professor suggested the (Ohio). We’ve already got a bunch of former company should pay Ohio a 10 percent governors in the race, like Jeb Bush (Florida) commission. and Rick Perry (Texas). The guys who are “We’re disappointed that it didn’t work VWLOOLQRI¿FHKDYHEHHQVWDOOLQJDWWHPSWLQJWR out,” Kasich said in a statement. “But it is very disguise their total disinterest in their current exciting that Ohio was in serious contention jobs until a state budget is passed. Although up to the very end, and that it took a special Walker, in a stroke of political genius, has session of the Illinois Legislature to beat us.” decided that really means the day the budget is Honestly, this kind of thing ought to be supposed to be passed. unconstitutional. That’s Wisconsin’s problem. Our question 7KHJUHDWLURQ\KHUHLVWKDW¿QGLQJWKH for today is what we can learn about our lowest taxes generally isn’t a top business own national priorities from the governor- priority. What companies really want is candidates God has given us. to be near suppliers and markets. Maybe Almost all governors brag about their occasionally the CEO’s house. economic development programs — hey, it’s But tax cuts do help make friends. In economic development! But we could have Wisconsin, the state Economic Development an excellent conversation about how often Corp. board — which Walker used to these things really work. They’re frequently lead — approved a $6 million tax credit for huge, thudding wastes of money. Louisiana, Ashley Furniture Industries, whose owners for instance, covers about a third of the in-state forked over $20,000 to Walker’s re-election SURGXFWLRQFRVWVIRUDQ\PRYLHWKDW¶V¿OPHG campaign. As The Wisconsin State Journal there, a policy that will pay off only if it turns reported, in return for the tax credit, Ashley out that tourists visit New Orleans just because Furniture promised to expand the company it was the site of “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire headquarters and keep at least half of its Hunter.” FXUUHQWMREVLQWKHVWDWHIRUWKHQH[W¿YH\HDUV “Louisiana sank more into ‘Green Lantern’ Doesn’t that sound like a kind of low bar? than it is putting into the University of New Under Christie, New Jersey has handed out Orleans this year,” a state paper noted in $630 million to get companies to move jobs to December. the woebegone city of Camden. Which would Next door in Texas, then-Gov. Perry seem like a worthy goal, except that most of the claimed that his Texas Enterprise Fund jobs in question were already in the state — in created more than 12,000 jobs with a $50 fact, frequently in an adjoining neighborhood. million investment in an institute for genomic “Most of the jobs coming to Camden are medicine. It was actually more like 10 jobs ¿OOHGE\H[LVWLQJHPSOR\HHVZKRFXUUHQWO\ once you stopped counting every single work just a few miles away,” reported The biotech job created anywhere in the state for Associated Press. “Nearly all the recipients the previous six years. boast notable political connections.” In Florida, when Bush was governor, he I think we have a topic. Nudge the came up with a plan for biotech corridors governor pile and let the debate begin. that would spawn tens of thousands of jobs, Ŷ transforming the state just the way Disney *DLO &ROOLQV WKH ¿UVW IHPDOH KHDG RI 7KH World did in the 1970s, except possibly 1HZ<RUN7LPHVHGLWRULDOERDUG OTHER VIEWS ACA court ruling harms Oregonians Cascade Policy Institute T he U.S. Supreme Court decision today in the King v. Burwell case is a sad reminder that the President of the United States and his administration can arbitrarily interpret laws passed by Congress to suit their own purposes. In this case, the Affordable Care Act clearly states multiple times in its text that federal subsidies to offset insurance premiums can only be granted to individuals purchasing policies through an exchange “established by the state.” When most states failed to establish such exchanges, the IRS arbitrarily decided to grant subsidies to individuals who purchased insurance through the federal exchange, healthcare.gov, as well. By a six to three vote, the court told us that the president and his administration need not follow the language of the law because in the court’s opinion that could cause harm to the intent of the law which was to make insurance more affordable. How this decision will affect Oregon is fairly clear. Oregon originally set up its own state-established exchange, Cover Oregon. But when that $305 million project failed to VLJQXSRQHSHUVRQIRULQVXUDQFHRQLWVÀDZHG website, the Cover Oregon board voted to scrap the exchange and migrate Oregonians over to the federal exchange, healthcare. gov. Board members didn’t seem to care how this decision might impact subsidies for Oregonians, and after the fact said they were relying on federal assurances that they considered this arrangement a “supported state based marketplace” — meaning it would still qualify for subsidies even if the court were to rule opposite of how it ruled Thursday. What is clear now is that today’s decision could actually harm more Americans, and more Oregonians, than it helps. Now that the King ruling has found for the government, the Cato Institute believes that “approximately 157,000 [Oregon] individuals likely will continue to be subject to the law’s individual mandate requirement,” and 890,000 working Oregonians “also will continue to be subject to the employer mandates that are putting downward pressure on our economy.” These negative results stem from the ACA’s provisions that as long as subsidies make insurance somehow “affordable,” then the act’s mandates to purchase it remain in place. Today’s court decision does not end the discussion about who should control your health care and who should decide what, if any, insurance you must purchase at what price; but it does push that discussion farther into the future. It unfortunately postpones our ability to move toward a more individual, patient-centered health care and health insurance world. Ŷ )RXQGHGLQ&DVFDGH3ROLF\,QVWLWXWH LVDQRQSUR¿WSXEOLFSROLF\UHVHDUFKDQG HGXFDWLRQDORUJDQL]DWLRQWKDWIRFXVHVRQVWDWH DQGORFDOLVVXHVLQ2UHJRQ 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.
