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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 29, 2015)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Wednesday, July 29, 2015 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher JENNINE PERKINSON Advertising Director DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW How much local control is too much? It’s a bad idea to create 36 different regulatory bodies across the state The Oregon Secretary of State’s attorneys. 2I¿FHKDVGHDOWDVHULRXVEORZWRDQ 7KH6HFUHWDU\RI6WDWH¶V2I¿FH effort to put a initiative on the ballot says such a sweeping “revision” that is designed to overturn laws can’t be accomplished with a ballot preempting local control of matters initiative. currently regulated by the state. Mary Geddry, a chief petitioner Though backers of the for the initiative, said that “Right to Local, Community proponents haven’t yet decided on Self-Government” initiative are a course of action but disagree with considering their options, we hope the Secretary of State’s conclusions. this puts an end to this nonsense. She says her group isn’t going to roll Initiative backers hoped to turn over. back state prohibitions on local “We’re talking about fundamental governments rights,” she said. banning genetically “Communities don’t PRGL¿HGRUJDQLVPV have the right to In theory, it’s and local regulation say ‘no’ under the hard to argue current system.” of pesticides. They also would like She’s right, the notion of local jurisdictions to they don’t. But be able to regulate local control has we suspect that fracking, oil and gas talking about great democratic she’s development and things liberals don’t coal exports. appeal. But in like. In addition In part, backers GMOs reality, it sets up to and banning seek to allow local pesticide use, jurisdictions “to sure certain a patchwork of we’re enact local laws “progressive” regulation that communities that protect health, safety, and welfare write their makes business would by: establishing the own minimum difficult. fundamental rights wage laws, gun of natural persons, regulations and their communities, environmental rules. and nature; securing those rights And if they decide they don’t like using prohibitions and other means; dry cleaners or meat packers, who DQGHVWDEOLVKLQJGH¿QLQJDOWHULQJ knows. or eliminating the rights, powers, But once passed, the measure privileges, immunities, or duties would be sauce for the goose. of corporations and other business 2I¿FLDOVKHUHLQWKHPRUHUXUDO entities operating or seeking to and largely conservative counties of operate in the community, to prevent Eastern Oregon might well decide such rights, powers, privileges, that Oregon’s protections on wolves immunities, or duties from don’t apply, or gun regulations they interfering with such locally-enacted believe make people less safe and fundamental rights of natural trample on personal freedoms, or persons, their communities, and state land-use restrictions that violate nature.” personal property rights. Backers collected more than During the 1990s, there was a 1,000 signatures on their petitions, proposal to give county commissions which gave them standing to receive the authority to regulate cougar a review for a ballot title — an hunting. This was tantamount to important step in getting the measure creating 36 wildlife management on the 2016 ballot. organizations across Oregon. The %XWWKH6HFUHWDU\RI6WDWH¶V2I¿FH plan died. rejected the initiative. It says the In theory, it’s hard to argue PHDVXUHLVWRREURDG6SHFL¿FDOO\ against “local” control. The notion the initiative would “effectuate has great democratic appeal. But in fundamental constitutional changes reality, turning each of Oregon’s 36 to the structure and division counties and 242 incorporated cities of powers of state and local into an independent duchy would governments” and alter the power set up a patchwork of regulation that of the legislative and executive would make everyone’s business branches, according to state GLI¿FXOWLIQRWLPSRVVLEOH 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 Stepping on a slippery slope M y son Nick, a podcast the business side and the news side D¿FLRQDGRVXJJHVWHGUHFHQWO\ is falling. Many companies with the that I’d enjoy a podcast highest journalistic standards are called “StartUp,” which tells stories adopting so-called native advertising of companies that are just starting out. techniques, which are meant to mimic ,QLWV¿UVWVHDVRQWKHVKRZ¶VKRVW the feel of the publication itself. Alex Blumberg, and his new business Martin Baron, the executive partner, Matt Lieber, train their editor of The Washington Post, microphones on their own company, gave a speech a few months ago Joe Gimlet Media, which Blumberg, who Nocera in which he said that journalists is also the chief executive, hopes to needed to “abandon the idea that the Comment turn into a podcast juggernaut. The newsroom can labor in isolation from second season, in which Blumberg is the business operations.” He added joined by a co-host, Lisa Chow, chronicles the that “advertisers are looking for innovative, highs and lows of a new dating app. measurable and successful ways to connect Nick was right. Blumberg, a co-creator of with potential customers.” He’s right, of NPR’s “Planet Money,” and Chow, formerly course. RI135DQG:1<&SURYHWREH¿UVWUDWH And isn’t that exactly what Blumberg and storytellers, hardly a surprise given their Chow are trying to do? backgrounds. What was a surprise were the When I spoke to Blumberg about the ads, commercials spliced into he acknowledged, with each episode. “StartUp’s” no hesitation, that “we’re second season was VWLOOWU\LQJWR¿JXUHLW sponsored by Ford Motor out.” In a recent Gimlet Co., the email marketer podcast devoted to Gimlet’s MailChimp, and Personal advertising, he and his &DSLWDOD¿QDQFLDO¿UP staff focused on an ad for But instead of running a Microsoft Outlook, in traditional ad, the co-hosts which Lieber, his partner, crafted little stories, often explicitly endorsed the conducting on-air interviews product, saying that he had ZLWKDFRPSDQ\RI¿FLDO FRQYHUWHG¿YHFROOHDJXHVWRLW%XWWKHKRVWV In one fairly typical ad, Blumberg of that podcast ultimately felt uneasy about interviews Ford’s “general manager of the having participated in the ad, and Gimlet factory tour,” who tells him about the living decided to stop doing ads that were too plants that cover much of a big factory roof. “endorse-y” (their word). Blumberg also told She explains how all the plants help warm me that part of the reason he and Chow are so the factory in the winter and cool it during the involved in creating the ads was that Gimlet is VXPPHU$IWHUVRPHEDQWHU%OXPEHUJ¿QLVKHV still a small company, and everybody has to do the ad with a gentle spoof of a traditional everything. He envisioned a day when there advertising tag line. “Ford,” he intones. would be a greater divide between business “Making pickup trucks under a living roof.” and editorial, though a host would likely still 0\¿UVWUHDFWLRQZDVRQHRIDPXVHPHQW be reading the ads. and even admiration. The ads were clever, and By the end of our conversation I found their cleverness caused me to remember them, myself giving Blumberg and his company the which is what advertisers want. EHQH¿WRIWKHGRXEW%XWPD\EHWKDW¶VEHFDXVH My second reaction was something akin I know his work from “Planet Money,” and to horror. The ads reminded me that the he’s built up capital in the trust bank. And I great CBS journalist Mike Wallace used to like how transparent he and Gimlet are about do commercials in the late 1950s for several the inherent problems that come with their cigarette brands that sponsored his interview kind of advertising. (A recent New York Times show. Wallace would take satisfying drags story about podcast advertising also featured from a cigarette while touting its taste, its Gimlet.) UHFHVVHG¿OWHUHYHQWKHFUXVKSURRIER[7KHUH But I can’t help it: It does have the feel is a reason journalists have stopped serving of a slippery slope. “The logical next step,” as commercial pitchmen: It raises all kinds of said Rick Edmonds, media business analyst SRWHQWLDODQGUHDOFRQÀLFWVRILQWHUHVW&RXOG at the Poynter Institute, “will be to set up a journalist beholden to a sponsor ever report an in-house studio that will produce ads for honestly about that sponsor if the need arose? advertisers. And maybe ask the journalists to Would he or she go easy on other companies write the copy. I think the line is sliding.” that might become sponsors — or shy away Gimlet’s honorable intentions from controversies that might drive away notwithstanding, I think he’s right. advertisers? Ŷ My third reaction was confusion. As Joe Nocera is an Op-Ed columnist. Before the Internet has eviscerated journalism’s joining The Opinion Pages in April 2011, he traditional business model, news organizations wrote the Talking Business column for The KDYHKDGWR¿QGQHZZD\VWRJHQHUDWH New York Times each Saturday and was a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine. revenue. The long sacrosanct barrier between My second reaction was something akin to horror. YOUR VIEWS Plenty of questions about state affordable housing funds The Bend Bulletin Gov. Kate Brown pushed a landmark request in the Oregon Legislature: $100 million for affordable housing. It didn’t happen. The amount approved by the Legislature was $42.5 million — or $62.5 million if you include $20 million in housing for people with mental illness. That $42 million plus could still help thousands of families. But there should be real concern about the state’s ability to put the money to work and how fairly the money will be allocated. Both Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, and Rep. Knute Buehler, R-Bend, raised questions about how well the state has been using the money it already has. The state created a document recording fee in 2009. It generated about $59 million for affordable housing. But the state has only spent over half that. The rest of the money for affordable housing was not doing anybody any good. Margaret Van Vliet, director of the state agency in charge — Oregon Housing and Community Services, has pledged to do better at, you know, building affordable housing. And it would also be good if there were a way to reduce its administrative costs. Even Van Vliet said she thought the program’s 10 percent administrative costs are high. The Legislature is going to have to continue to keep a close eye on the agency. Some legislators tried to pass a bill, House Bill 2198, requiring the agency to do more regular reporting about what it’s doing and ensure that it distributes money according to relative need. The bill failed in the last days of the Legislature. That could be an additional concern for Central Oregon. For instance, Deschutes County had contributed about $4 million to the fund. And in return, it has received only about $700,000 in SURMHFWV¿QDQFHG Brown told KATU in Portland that the additional money for affordable housing is “an incredible success. That’s a historic level of funding for Oregon and for the nation.” We wouldn’t call it an incredible success, yet. The state needs to prove it can do much better than it has in using the money effectively. YOUR VIEWS Feckless committees and management mar Pendleton This letter is in response to Rex Morehouse’s recent letter to the editor. He proclaimed, “When is a committee not a committee? I thought since April that I was attending the Capitol Improvement Committee. At the July 7 council meeting Mayor Houk informed me that I had been attending the Capitol Investment Advisory Committee.” First, it’s imperative to review some quotes about committees: “If Columbus had an advisory committee, he would probably still be at the dock” (Arthur Goldberg), and “A committee is a gathering of people who singly can do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done (Fred Allen). Mismanagement of advisory committees has a long history. Here is a quote in the East Oregonian: “Commission chairwoman MaryAlice Ridgeway said the commission used to have good attendance and make frequent recommendations, but meetings in recent years now boil down to reports from staff and votes on issues already decided by the council.” Morehouse went on to focus on decisions concerning sloppy budget management. Instead of complaining, local taxpayers should be asking questions such as why did the city council build an expensive road to GLYHUWWUDI¿FWRDEDUUHQLQGXVWULDOSDUNZLWK LETTERS POLICY no electricity, sewer or water connections? Why does the city council have a history of interagency loans such using the sewer budget money to spend on other projects that have not EHHQSUR¿WDEOH" Morehouse made a point about the expenditure of thousands of dollars for consultants. Here is an example: “Deb Galardi, a subconsultant for the city’s utility master plans, said, ‘A water system development charge was the largest proposed fee, which is determined by meter equivalents. If implemented citywide, the charge would range from $3,769 for a three-quarter-inch line to $301,550 for an eight-inch line.’” The proposed new charges would be for new developments. Fortunately, a teacher, McKennon McDonald, made the statement that “she was concerned that a higher system development charge for the airport might discourage development in an area the city has targeted for that purpose.” Time for another question. If you were a business looking for a location, which community would you select, Pendleton or Hermiston? The answer is obvious and it is safe to predict that the bond as well as the gas tax will not pass in November because people are fed up with the pathetic performance of our city management. Jerry Cronin Pendleton 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.
