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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
Stepping on a slippery slope
M
y son Nick, a podcast
the business side and the news side
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.)
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.