VIEWPOINTS
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Quick takes
Minimum wage hike passes
Minimum wage is for a minimum skill
set. It was never designed to be a living
wage. This is going to kill small business.
— Tygh Campbell
When people have more money, they
spend more money. Sounds like it’s a win
for the economy. Small businesses will have
to sink or swim. Maybe the owners will
have to get a minimum wage job too.
— Richard Ryan III
So all these people wanting higher
wages, do they realize the more you make
the more they take? Your raise won’t be
huge since they’ll just take more in taxes.
— Stephanie Baird Lloyd
I’m waiting for someone to point out that
passing this legislation in a short session
is in violation of Oregon’s constitution on
what business is to be done in the short
session.
— Matt Mann
When employees feel valued they do
strive to better their workplace. Better yet,
when they are allowed to buy in (or get
shares as part of retirement) they take better
care of the building, they work harder and
they seem happier.
— Jennifer Hamlin
One of the great lessons of the Twitter age is
that much can be summed up in just a few words.
Here are some of this week’s takes. Tweet yours
@Tim_Trainor or email editor@eastoregonian.
com, and keep them to 140 characters.
YOUR VIEWS
In support of John Turner
John Turner is a worthy candidate for
mayor of the city of Pendleton. John has
the necessary administrative skills to lead
Pendleton as we approach the third decade
of the 21st century. His sense of humor,
openness, and willingness to listen to all
sides in a complex debate has me believing
in his ability to be mayor of Pendleton.
John is committed to this region, involves
himself in local issues, loves to hunt and
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better outcomes as a city. Please join me in
supporting John Turner as the next mayor of
the city of Pendleton.
David Nelson
Oregon state senator (ret.)
Pendleton
Great news, Pendleton! John Turner has
decided to run for mayor. Pendleton has
been fortunate to have several hard-working
mayors over the last 20+ years, and John
Turner will continue that tradition. I’ve had
the pleasure to know and work with John
for a number of years and I have found
John to have a unique ability to see the big
picture, solve problems and bring various
groups together for a common goal, based
on cooperation.
John’s skills are exactly what we need at
this time in city government. Please support
John Turner in this upcoming election.
Kevin Hale
Pendleton
John Turner deserves your support in his
bid to become mayor of Pendleton. I have
worked closely with John in his former
capacity as president of Blue Mountain
Community College, and in his current
capacity as commissioner of the Port of
Umatilla.
John is always well informed on the
issues before him. He is a strong leader
while at the same time recognizing the
importance of consensus building. He is
a creative thinker. He knows how to get
the public’s business done in an open
and thoughtful manner. Pendleton needs
someone like John.
Doug Hojem
Pendleton
CONTACT YOUR
REPRESENTATIVES
U.S. Senators
Ron Wyden
Washington office:
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
La Grande office:
541-962-7691
Jeff Merkley
Washington office:
313 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753
Pendleton office:
541-278-1129
State Senator
Bill Hansell, District 29
900 Court St. NE, S-423
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1729
Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us
State Representatives
Greg Barreto, District 58
900 Court St. NE, H-38
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1458
Rep.GregBarreto@state.or.us
Greg Smith, District 57
900 Court St. NE, H-482
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1457
Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us
East Oregonian
Page 5A
Lands managers value cooperation
A
s employees
of federal land
agencies in
Oregon, we are entrusted
by Congress with the
responsibility to help
steward and manage
federal lands for all
Americans. This is a
Jamie
tremendous honor and
Connell
responsibility we take
Comment
seriously.
And we can’t do it
alone.
As public lands
belong to all Americans,
managing these lands
is a collective effort.
It is a privilege to
work alongside local
communities, partners,
and the public to help
achieve the long-term
health, productivity, and
protection of public lands.
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across the country, our best work is
accomplished by working with diverse
partners and stakeholders — ranchers,
environmentalists,
sportsmen, local
communities, schools, and
private industries.
Though our agencies
have different missions,
we share a common goal
of managing public lands
in a cooperative manner
Jim
with you, the people who
Peña
own them.
Comment
The future management
of public lands requires
cooperation over
confrontation.
In Oregon and across
the West, there are
countless examples of
collaborative groups
working together to
achieve positive results.
One recent shining
example was the work
accomplished across
agencies, states, counties and ownership
lines to create and implement land-use
plans that avoided a listing of the sage-
grouse as endangered.
Managing public lands is sometimes
It is crucial
that we listen
to each other,
ind common
ground, and
work together.
challenging. There are a variety of uses,
interests, and opinions on how these lands
VKRXOGEHPDQDJHGDQG¿QGLQJEDODQFHLV
not without challenges.
That is why it is crucial that we listen
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ZRUNWRJHWKHUWR¿QGFRPPRQVHQVH
solutions.
Individually and collectively, we are
committed to these principles of listening,
talking, and working together to achieve
the greatest good. We strive for these
things in good faith every day.
Public lands belong to all Americans
— they are yours to enjoy and participate
in their management. That’s one of the
reasons public lands are so special.
We look forward to continuing our
work with local citizens, communities and
partners to manage public lands so we can
ensure the special places we love can meet
the needs of today and remain available
for future generations to enjoy.
Ŷ
Jamie Connell is the acting State
Director, Bureau of Land Management
Oregon/Washington. Jim Peña is the
Regional Forester for the U.S. Forest
SerYice’s Paci¿c 1orthwest Region.
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By SETH MICHAEL WHITE
Writers on the Range
O
n a cold Tuesday in January,
when the Malheur occupation
was in full swing, I marched
alongside demonstrators in Portland
to support the ousting of the Bundys
and their armed militia. We were pretty
much a hodgepodge group of birders,
conservationists and nature-loving
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instead, demonstrators held signs high,
telling the story of why we were there.
“Bundy go home now.”
“I (heart) Harney County.”
“Public lands are America’s refuge.”
“Keep it public, keep it wild.”
My motivation for showing up was
partly based on my personal history with
the refuge. In the late 1990s, I received
my early training as a biologist along the
Blitzen River and its tributaries, which
ÀRZIURPJODFLHUFDUYHGYDOOH\VLQWKH
Steens Mountains.
Malheur’s ecosystem depends on
the Blitzen and its streams, for they are
the source of the area’s icy water. That
clean water also means that the condition
of the fragile riverbank — its willow,
cottonwood, alder and aspen — is crucial.
On and around the refuge, I recall
driving with biologists over seemingly
endless highways through the sagebrush
sea, jackrabbits darting into the road at
night, and chatting with locals over berry
pie at the Frenchglen Hotel. We met a
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a frank but uncomfortable conclusion: He
believed that the forests he’d spent much
of his life protecting would have been
much healthier if they’d been allowed to
burn.
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he told us. Whether he was right or wrong,
we knew he cared deeply about the fate
of the forests and the land. We met other
locals who loved the refuge’s trout streams,
its abundant game and thriving bird
communities.
In the decades since then, I’ve worked
alongside federal and state employees,
tribal members and ranchers who share
a common interest in protecting the
West’s rangelands.
In Wyoming,
another hotbed of
confrontational range
politics, I knew a cattle
rancher who proudly
hung an award for
sustainable grazing
practices on his living
room wall. All the
Malheur takeover tells
us is that some ranchers
(and some wannabe
ranchers) and their anti-
government supporters
have never understood
the concept of publicly owned land.
This pattern has a deep history.
In a turn-of-the-century letter to The
Oregonian, the secretary of Crook
County’s Sheep Shooter Association of
Eastern Oregon said: “If we want more
range we simply fence it in. … These mild
and peaceful means are usually effective,
but in cases where they are not, our
executive committee takes the matter in
hand, and being men of high ideals as well
as good shots by moonlight, they promptly
enforce the edicts of the association. ... ”
At the Portland rally last month, Sean
Stevens of Oregon Wild warmed up the
crowd with some protest songs. He added,
“We can show the gang that’s out there
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how you really make a public statement
in support of something.” He meant: Let’s
keep it peaceful, folks, and that is how
we tried to get our message across to the
hundreds of people who were willing to
listen to us.
Other speakers included Bob Sallinger
of the Portland Audubon Society, who
said he wanted the refuge’s invaders
prosecuted. Jarvis Kennedy of the Burns
Paiute Tribe asked: “Would the authorities
have been so patient if the occupiers had
EHHQ1DWLYHV"´
On Jan. 20, the day after
demonstrations against
the occupiers took
place across Oregon in
Portland, Eugene, La
Grande and elsewhere,
Gov. Kate Brown broke
her long silence by
speaking out against the
Bundys and their allies.
On Jan. 21, the FBI began
intensive negotiations
with the occupiers,
leading to a chain of
events that put some
of the occupiers in jail,
turned one into a martyr,
and herded the remaining few into a small
huddle, shivering around
DG\LQJFDPS¿UH
When I think back on the 41 days of
a refuge under siege, what I like to recall
is that cold day in Portland, when my
fellow demonstrators and I marched from
Holladay Park to the federal building in
the Lloyd District. We formed a tight-knit
group and swarmed into the courtyard
as perplexed bureaucrats gazed down on
us from behind their closed windows.
Unarmed and unprotected, we chanted our
demand: “Public lands in public hands,
public lands in public hands. …”
We walked away after a while, and
after drinking some hot coffee, we all went
back to our working lives or on to daycare,
to pick up the kids. We’d said our piece,
and we hoped that people were listening.
Ŷ
Seth Michael White is a contributor to
Writers on the Range, an opinion service
of High Country 1ews. He is a biologist in
Portland who works on issues related to
river conservation.
All the takeover
tells us is that some
ranchers and their
supporters have
never understood
the concept of
publicly owned
land.
A little reality on immigration
D
onald Trump built
his campaign on
the promise to
build a wall along the
Mexican border. The
idea is attention-grabbing
(and unworkable). But
the striking thing is that
it’s not too far away from
David
the current Republican
Brooks
orthodoxy.
Comment
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could be a movement
conservative and be for reasonably open
immigration policies. Ronald Reagan, Jack
Kemp, Steve Forbes and George W. Bush
all took open positions on immigration.
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prove your conservative credentials by
saying you want to deport undocumented
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KLJKHULPPLJUDWLRQÀRZV1RZ'RQDOG
Trump brings Republican crowds to their
feet by bashing the supposed criminal
hordes sneaking up from Mexico.
The problem with this new orthodoxy
is that it is completely obsolete. It’s based
on a view of migration that may have
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to do with reality today.
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into this country illegally is dropping,
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peaked in 2005 and has been dropping
since. The share of immigrants coming
from Latin America is falling sharply.
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from Asia than Latin America, and the
disparity is growing.
There are more Mexicans leaving the
United States that coming in. According
to the Pew Research Center, there was a
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If Trump builds his wall, he’ll lock more
Mexican immigrants in than he’ll keep
out.
Trump plays up the alleged threat of
crime committed by immigrants. But
the overall evidence is clear. Immigrants
make American streets safer. Roughly 1.6
percent of immigrant males between ages
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ZLWKSHUFHQWRIQDWLYHERUQ$PHULFDQ
men of the same age. Among native-born
men without a high school diploma,
about 11 percent are incarcerated. Among
similarly educated Mexican, Guatemalan
and Salvadoran men here,
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incarcerated.
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cities between 1994 and
2004 found that violent
crime rates decreased
as the concentration of
immigrants increased.
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shown that a big share of
the drop in crime rates
in the 1990s is a result of the surge in
immigration.
Trump plays up the threat of terrorism.
But the real threat is that our border
agencies spend so much time tracking
down people who want to be gardeners
that they don’t have the resources to track
down the people who want to be suicide
bombers. Fighting terrorism by going after
the whole swath of immigration policy is
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There’s a reason Republicans from
Reagan to Bush supported reasonably open
immigration policies. They are and have
always been good for America.
A new summary of the research from
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Engineering and Medicine found that
immigrants are integrating into society
as well as ever. The bulk of the evidence
shows that immigrants have a hugely
positive effect on total American GDP
while having little effect on overall wages.
The surge in Asian immigration will
bring a gigantic number of highly skilled
people, who end up with higher education
levels than the American average, higher
productivity levels and higher incomes.
So why is the Trump message selling?
Well, economic growth has been slow
and wages have been stagnant (mostly
because technology is displacing workers).
Government is dysfunctional and the
immigration issue has become a symbol
for how elites are out of touch with the
mainstream.
But mostly it’s the clash of two
trends: the graying of the GOP and the
browning of America. The
Republican primary base
is more and more made up
of older people, who have
VLJQL¿FDQWO\PRUHQHJDWLYH
views about immigration.
Second, by 2044, America
will be a majority-minority
country. This is a very
different America than the
one people who grew up in
the 1960s were used to. It’s
a historical transformation that is bound to
raise very legitimate concerns.
The way for Republicans to address
these concerns, though, is not to build a
wall and treat immigrants as suspicious
alien invaders. It’s to work on our legal
immigration system — make the system
ample and streamlined enough so that most
people come here in the right way, in a
way they can be vetted.
Admit more skilled immigrants and
fewer unskilled ones. This would be a
giant boon to the economy overall. It
would make our immigration policies
less geared to serving the elites — giving
them ample supplies of nannies and nail
polishers. Reducing the supply of unskilled
immigrants may do something to raise the
wages of unskilled natives and ease their
legitimate concerns.
Donald Trump’s GOP is a rear-window
party pining for a white America that is
never coming back. Ronald Reagan’s GOP,
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immigration system and attract the people
who will make the country innovative,
dynamic and interesting for decades to
come.
Ŷ
David Brooks became a 1ew <ork Times
Op-Ed columnist in September 2003.
Trump plays
up the alleged
threat of crime
committed by
immigrants.