Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Saturday, March 5, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
EO MEDIA GROUP
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MIKE FORRESTER
STEVE FORRESTER
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Pendleton
Chairman of the Board
Astoria
President
Pendleton
Secretary/Treasurer
CORY BOLLINGER
JEFF ROGERS
Aberdeen, S.D.
Director
Indianapolis, Ind.
Director
OUR VIEW
State rules in a
federalist land
The United States, most of us
accomplished.
learned in our elementary civics
Take minimum wage.
classes, employs a federal system of
That may be the most timely
government.
discussion, since a bill was signed
Oregon, being the progressive
into law by Oregon Governor Kate
state that it has been for the last 50
Brown this week.
years, has been ahead
Earlier this session,
of federal action on
the Legislature
Addressing approved the highest
some issues. But that
presents problems.
minimum
issues on a statewide
Take marijuana.
wage in the nation,
state-by-state DQGEHFDPHWKH¿UVWWR
The state has
decriminalized
by geographic
basis has its differ
possession and use for
area. By 2022, wages
adults, but it remains
will rise to a minimum
problems,
illegal at the federal
$14.75 an hour in
especially for of
level. That means
Portland, $13.50 in
adults are free to grow
mid-size
border towns. Oregon’s
in Oregon soil and
counties and $12.50
smoke under Oregon
in rural areas, which
sky, but aspects of the industry
includes all of Eastern Oregon.
President Barack Obama praised
that step beyond state lines quickly
the state for its action, but Obama
become mired in a murky legal
has been unable to persuade the
quandary. Insurance and banking
Republican-led Senate from
systems have been wary of getting
bumping up the federal minimum
involved in something that is legal
wage past $7.25, which he was able
in the state, but illegal under federal
put into practice in 2009.
law.
The problem with raising
From our view in Eastern
minimum wage at the state level will
Oregon, drug policy needs federal
be most devastating in places like
directive. The U.S. should either
Ontario, a town that borders Idaho,
enforce federal law on the books
where minimum wage still comes in
that regards marijuana as illegal, or
at $7.25.
it should change that federal law
As wages rise on the Oregon
so the marijuana industry can be
side of the state line, will industry
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that relies on unskilled labor — like
states that allow it.
agriculture — move over to Idaho?
Or take immigration.
If you own a restaurant or a farm in
State Sen. Bill Hansell’s driver’s
Ontario, you are right to be nervous
card plan way back in 2014 was
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viability of your business in an
issue in the larger environment of
environment where labor rules are so
the country’s broken immigration
dramatically different just a stone’s
policy. The law allowed illegal
throw away.
immigrants to get a driver’s license
We understand and support state
and car insurance.
rights. Clearly, people in California
Yet voters, in a ballot initiative,
and people in Alabama want to live
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under a different set of laws — and
The thought was that the bill made
that’s what makes the U.S. such
life easier for people who were
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breaking federal law. It may have
Those laws must be Constitutional,
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and basic rights of Americans must
problem — but in the face of such
be respected from sea to shining sea.
blatant disregard for federal law, it
But sometimes we need federal
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law to take the lead and solve the
At the same time, multiple
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attempts at immigration reform, led
facing.
by presidents of both parties, have
Yet the U.S. Congress has
failed to gain traction in a divided
been ground to a halt by partisan
Congress. Immigration policy
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remains a mess at the federal level
across the nation have taken on the
and voters clearly don’t want states
bigger lift of legislating, but there
to try to nickel-and-dime short term
are clear problems with that.
solutions. They want a consistent
Places like Ontario, where states
national approach to what is clearly
a national issue, and they’ll live with with dramatically different political
philosophies rub elbows, suffer the
the broken system until a complete
most.
overhaul or crackdown can be
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.
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 Send letters to
211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
OTHER VIEWS
Donald Trump, the great betrayer
ow, at long last, the big guns
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are being brought to bear.
The Better Business Bureau gave the
Now, at long last, some major
school a D- rating in 2010.
Republicans like Mitt Romney are
“They lure you in with false
speaking up to lay waste to Donald
promises,” one student, Patricia
Trump.
Murphy, told The Times in 2011.
For months Trump’s rivals and
Murphy said she had spent about
other Republicans have either retreated
$12,000 on Trump University classes,
in silence or tentatively and ineptly
much of it racked up on her credit
David
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Brooks cards. “I was scammed,” she said.
that voters like about him: for being a
The barrage can continue with
Comment
slapdash, politically incorrect money-
Trump Mortgage. On the campaign
hungry bully.
trail, Trump tells people he saw
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the mortgage crisis coming. “I told a lot of
Republicans are raising their heads and
people,” he has said, “and I was right. You
highlighting Trump’s actual vulnerability: his
know, I’m pretty good at that stuff.”
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Trump’s biggest lies are the ones he tells
anybody but himself.
himself. The reality is that Trump opened his
+HVHGXFHVSHRSOHZLWKKLVFRQ¿GHQFHDQG mortgage company in 2006. Others smelled
his promises. People invest
a bubble, but not Trump. “I
time, love and money in him.
think it’s a great time to start
But in the end he cares only
a mortgage company,” he
about himself. He betrays
told CNBC. “The real estate
those who trust him and
market is going to be very
leaves them high and dry.
strong for a long time to
It’s unpleasant to have to
come.”
play politics on this personal
Part of the operation was
level. But this is a message
a boiler room where people
that can sway potential Trump
cold-called clients, sometimes
supporters, many of whom have only the
pushing subprime loans and offering easy
barest information on what Trump’s life and
approval.
career have actually been like.
Jennifer McGovern had trusted Trump and
This is a message that can work in a sour
went to work for him. But she got stiffed in
and cynical time among voters who already
the end. In 2008 a New York state Supreme
feel betrayed. This is a message that can
Court judge ordered Trump Mortgage to pay
work because it’s a personality type everyone
her the $298,274 she was owed. The bill
understands. This is a time when it is not in
wasn’t paid.
fact too late, when it may still be possible to
“The company was set up in a way that we
prevent his nomination.
could never recover what we were owed,” she
The campaign against Trump has to
told The Washington Post.
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The stories can go on and on. The betrayal
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of investors when his casino businesses went
same message. Donald Trump betrays.
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It can start with Trump University, where
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Trump betrayed schoolteachers and others
The betrayal of American workers when he
who dreamed of building a better life for
decided to hire illegals. The people left in the
themselves.
wake of other debacles: Trump Air, Trump
Trump billed his university as a place
Vodka, Trump Financial, etc.
people could go to learn everything necessary
These weren’t just risks that went bad.
about real estate investing. According to a
They were shams, built like his campaign
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around empty promises and on Trump’s
general, Eric Schneiderman, more than 5,000
fragile and overweening pride.
people paid $40 million, a quarter of which
The burden of responsibility now falls on
went to Trump himself.
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Internal Trump University documents
at all levels. For years they have built
suggest that the university wasn’t really
relationships in their communities, earned the
oriented around teaching, but rather around
right to be heard. If they now feel that Donald
luring customers into buying more and more
Trump would be a reckless and dangerous
courses.
president, then they have a responsibility to
According to the New York lawsuit,
their country to tell those people the truth, to
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rally all their energies against this man.
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Since the start of his campaign Trump has
non-anonymous forms in front of them,
had more energy and more courage than his
pressuring them into giving positive reviews.
opponents. Maybe that’s now changing.
During breaks students were told to call their
Ŷ
credit card companies to increase their credit
David Brooks became a New York Times
limits. They were given a script encouraging
Op-Ed columnist in September 2003.
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It’s unpleasant
to have to play
politics on this
personal level.
YOUR VIEWS
GOP is a grass roots party,
there is no “establishment”
Political season is in full swing and I am
hearing a lot of talk about outsiders and what
the “establishment” is trying to do. These
entities are real, but where do they get their
power?
The Republican Party is a grassroots
party and all of the power begins in our
neighborhoods, or in political language known
as precincts.
In Umatilla County there are 45 precincts,
each with 2 to 6 precinct committee persons
representing them on the county central
committee — 168 PCPs total. Delegates
elected by each of Oregon’s 36 county central
committees then make up the state central
committee that meets 3 to 4 times a year.
In presidential election years all PCPs are
asked to attend the state convention. The state
central committee every four years elects
one national committeeman and one national
committeewoman. These two from each
state and territory along with congressional
leadership make up the Republican National
Committee.
So who is the “establishment?” If you
trace the line all the way back you will see that
the establishment was put in place by you, the
voter.
There are three areas where the results can
turn out different than we would wish. First
is that the criteria for being a Republican is a
desire to register as one — that is it. It is not
like your church where you have to subscribe
to a set of beliefs to belong. Likewise, anyone
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that doesn’t mean they subscribe to the party
platform.
This brings us to the second area for
disappointing results, and that is the shallow
voter. There is no question that our culture is
changing dramatically in America. Politics
has transitioned for many from ideas to
entertainment. Too many can tell you who
is the quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks
but can’t tell you who their senator is, or
list the last ten Taylor Swift hits but are
hard pressed to list more than three of the
Ten Commandments. Why do we get the
results we get? Because we don’t know the
hard questions we should ask, let alone the
answers.
The third area that leads to less than
desirable results is your input to the process.
Vote. It is deplorable when we have less than
40 percent of registered voters turn in a ballot
on Election Day. Become involved in your
community.
There are 168 Republican precinct
positions in Umatilla County and currently
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40 are making the decisions for all 168
positions. This is an opportunity for your voice
to be heard. This Saturday morning while
you are drinking your coffee, go to http://sos.
oregon.gov/elections/Documents/SEL105.pdf
Print the form out, take it to the courthouse by
March 8 and let your neighborhood elect you
to the central committee this May.
Larry B. Moore, chairman
Umatilla County Republicans
Milton-Freewater