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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 18, 2016)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Friday, March 18, 2016 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW Tip of the hat; kick in the pants A kick in the pants to the long brewing brouhaha — now bubbled over — as the Pendleton Farmers Market moves off Main Street. The fallout has everyone upset. And when the source of tension is as minor as a few parking spaces, that is generally a sign of poor communication and negotiation. Pendleton city manager Robb Corbett — passing along the complaints of a few Main Street business owners — warned the farmers market their permit could be revoked if the problem of trucks parking too near the event was not remedied. Perhaps he went to the nuclear option too early? The Farmers Market bolted, and now dust is in everyone’s eyes. The Farmers Market is not a perfect event and improvements can be made. Everything has pros and cons, and much of life is how you look at it. Some businesses, and some people, accept a challenge and work to make the best out of it. Others work only to avoid the challenge. But anyway you slice it, Pendleton is worse off by this latest dust up. 7KH)DUPHUV0DUNHWFDQ¿QGDKRPHDQ\ZKHUH²LWVIDQVDUHPDQ\DQG they are passionate about the weekly summer celebration of our region’s agricultural bounty. But there is no place where the Farmers Market does more good for the community than on a block of its beautiful Main Street. 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 Consider the statewide impact of minimum wage hike 5HS0LNH0F/DQH53RZHOO%XWWH asked House Speaker Tina Kotek, '3RUWODQGWRUHIHUWKHELOOWRWKH:D\V DNLQJDVWDQGIRU¿QDQFLDO and Means Committee. “To consider stewardship, Rep. Barbara Smith this bill without the appropriate level of :DUQHU'3RUWODQGDVNHGKHU budget scrutiny would be a disservice fellow legislators last month to delay a vote on a bill so that it could be reviewed to the people we are elected to represent ¿UVWE\WKH-RLQW&RPPLWWHHRQ:D\VDQG and would represent a failure of our ¿GXFLDU\GXW\DVJXDUGLDQVRIWKHVWDWH Means. budget,” McLane wrote in a Feb. 12 The bill, which would create two letter to Kotek. VKRUWWHUPSRVLWLRQVWRGHYHORSSXEOLF .RWHNGLVDJUHHG7KH¿VFDOLPSDFW records processes consistent across statement, she state agencies, posed noted, forecast an a minimal cost. But ³LQVLJQL¿FDQW´FRVW Smith Warner noted to the state for the that because House current budget. She Bill 4135 carried added that she did D¿VFDOLPSDFWLW not believe referring should be properly the bill to Ways and vetted by Ways and Means would change Means, the legislative the “indeterminate” appropriations estimate of the bill’s committee that potential costs. A determines budget referral, she wrote in priorities. After several her Feb. 16 response, minutes of discussion “would only result that underscored the in delayed action on routine nature of the bill and would not sending such bills to the change the predicted committee, legislators ¿VFDOLPSDFWRQWKH approved the referral. budget.” And when you If only that moment need to ram through RI¿VFDOUHVSRQVLELOLW\ major policy in a could have lasted. No VKRUWRQHPRQWKORQJ such luck. Just one legislative session, week later, the same H[SHGLWLRXVQHVVWDNHVSUHFHGHQFHRYHU Democratic legislators who supported transparency. HB 4135’s trip to Ways and Means The argument raises another concern. opposed a similar route for Senate Bill Legislators repeatedly pointed to the 1532, which would phase in the highest statewide minimum wage in the country. ¿VFDOLPSDFWVWDWHPHQW¶VDVVHUWLRQWKDW It marks at least the third time in the short the wage hike’s costs are “indeterminate” to dismiss calls for more scrutiny. It’s legislative session that Republicans’ call WRFRQVLGHUWKH¿QDQFLDOFRQVHTXHQFHVRI as if they believe that the inability to precisely calculate a future liability is a this bill fell on deaf ears. OHJLWLPDWHH[FXVHWRLJQRUHLW Now that the bill has become law, Kotek certainly wasn’t alone in however, the public is listening as refusing to route the bill to Ways and universities are warning of the “tough Means. Sen. Peter Courtney also could choices” ahead, as The Oregonian/ have, and did not, refer the bill to the OregonLive’s Andrew Theen reported. joint committee as it made its way 3XEOLFXQLYHUVLWLHVDUHH[SHFWHGWRSD\ through the Senate. Democrats in the millions more in the coming years to Senate rejected Republicans’ motion to FRYHUWKHKLJKHUZDJHVRIPLQLPXP refer the bill there. And before voting ZDJHZRUNHUVSULPDULO\VWXGHQWV for the bill, Ways and Means Committee That could translate into fewer student &R&KDLUPDQ5HS3HWHU%XFNOH\ employees, fewer hours for students or '$VKODQGGHIHQGHGWKHQRQUHIHUUDO higher tuition and fees, Theen reported. Despite the budget implications, the 7KHKLJKHUH[SHQVHVDQGSRWHQWLDO bill does not require additional general downsides shouldn’t be a surprise to fund dollars in the current budget, he OHJLVODWRUVFRQVLGHULQJWKH¿JXUHVZHUH said, ignoring the fact that some of the among the few calculations provided universities and other public employers E\DEDUHERQHV¿VFDOLPSDFWVWDWHPHQW facing higher costs could very well seek drafted for the bill. The analysis also more money as the hike goes in effect. noted that the direct cost of the increase Legislators can try to parse the for state employees is less than $100,000 decision to skip Ways and Means review IRUWKHELHQQLXP$QGWKH statement warned that the bill potentially DQ\ZD\WKH\OLNH%XWWKHLUH[FXVHV don’t obscure the inescapable truth that poses an unfunded mandate for local JRYHUQPHQWVZKRVHH[SHFWHGFRVWVZHUH leaders sought to limit public discussion RYHUWKH¿QDQFLDOKLWWKDWWKLVZDJHKLNH “indeterminate.” will have on the entities that the public With universities alone facing more funds. Unfortunately, it will once again WKDQPLOOLRQLQH[WUDFRVWVLQWKH be the public that pays. FXUUHQWDQGEXGJHWF\FOHV The Oregonian T Now that the bill has become law, the public universities are warning of the “tough choices” ahead — layoffs of minimum wage workers, primarily students. OTHER VIEWS Goodbye, Bushism E ven in the last limping years Russia increasingly aggressive and of his deeply unpopular the Islamic State camped out in administration, George W. Bush Iraq and Syria, you can see why was still popular with Republican many conservative elites imagined voters. After Barack Obama took that Americans — and Republican RI¿FH%XVK¶VLPDJHSRSSHGXSLQDQWL primary voters, especially — might Obama iconography, with a cheeky want a more hawkish, even Bushian “miss me yet?” attached. And as his successor to Barack Obama. presidency receded, Bush’s favorable But alas for Rubio, it turned out Ross UDWLQJVÀRDWHGXSZDUGULVLQJDERYH Douthat that Republicans didn’t want any of Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s as the this. Comment 2016 campaign got underway. They didn’t want comprehensive These numbers were no doubt immigration reform, which shouldn’t present in Jeb Bush’s consciousness when he have been surprising because they hadn’t made his fateful and destructive decision to wanted it when Bush was president, either; it run for president. But they were also clearly was an idea that had hung around and hung part of Marco Rubio’s read on the Republican DURXQGZLWKRXWHYHU¿QGLQJDFRQVHUYDWLYH Party, which ultimately led him to last night’s constituency outside Washington. FDPSDLJQHQGLQJGHIHDW(YHQPRUHWKDQ 7KH\GLGQ¶WZDQWDQRSWLPLVWLFQH[W George W. Bush’s own brother, Rubio tried generation version of social conservatism, to make himself an heir to Bushism, and to SUHIHUULQJHLWKHU7HG&UX]¶VROGWLPHUHOLJLRQ build a bridge between the last Republican or Donald Trump as the church’s heathen administration and the one that he aspired to ERG\JXDUGLQDSRVW&KULVWLDQODQGVFDSH lead. Rubio’s defeat, like most in politics, had They didn’t care about the size of Rubio’s PDQ\FDXVHVDZHDNJURXQGJDPHDPHGLD WD[FXWEHFDXVHDOOWKHFDQGLGDWHVZHUH strategy that was overwhelmed by Donald SURPLVLQJDELJWD[FXWWKH\ZHUHDOOHTXDOO\ 7UXPS¶VFDEOH79GRPLQDQFHDSHUVRQDDQG implausible, and voters — even conservative positioning that made him a second choice all YRWHUV²MXVWDUHQ¶WDVWD[REVHVVHGDVWKH\ over the map but a winner hardly anywhere, a were in the Reaganite glory days. youthful mien in a “hard man for hard times” They did want, perhaps, a different election, and of course that one dreadful New domestic policy than the uncreative platform Hampshire debate. Romney had offered, one that promised less But in purely ideological terms, what to the wealthy and more to the working class. primary voters were rejecting when they But Rubio’s halfhearted reform conservatism rejected him was the political synthesis of was outbid and overwhelmed by Trump’s George W. Bush. brassy promises to renegotiate trade deals, In domestic politics, that synthesis had four slap on tariffs, leave entitlements untouched SLOODUVDVLQFHUHVRFLDOFRQVHUYDWLVPURRWHGLQ and bring back the jobs of 1965. DSHUVRQDOQDUUDWLYHRIIDLWKDFHQWHUKXJJLQJ And they did want a kind of hawkishness “compassionate conservatism” on issues — but not a Wilsonian hawkishness, in service related to poverty and education; the pursuit to an ambitious grand strategy to stabilize or of comprehensive immigration reform as a remake the Middle East. No, they wanted a means to win Latinos for the GOP; and large Jacksonian hawkishness, one that promised DFURVVWKHERDUGWD[FXWVWRSODFDWHWKHSDUW\¶V to rain destruction on our enemies without the GRQRUVDQGVXSSO\VLGHZLQJ mess of nation building. In foreign policy, Bushism began with These desires don’t add up to a new the promise of restraint but ultimately came Republican synthesis, and the candidates to mean hawkishness shot through with who have catered to them more successfully Wilsonian idealism, a vision of a crusading haven’t devised one. Trump’s populist, America whose interests and values were illiberal Jacksonianism can’t unite the party perfectly aligned. WKHZD\%XVKRQFHGLGDQG&UX]¶VKDUGHGJH From his arrival in Washington, Rubio social and economic conservatism probably seemed intent on imitating this combination can’t win the median voter the way Bushism of ideas. He associated himself with did twice (well, once plus a close second). neoconservative foreign policy proposals But they do add up to the desire for a new and personnel. He became the face of synthesis, and an understanding that whatever comprehensive immigration reform, take the Republican Party needs now, it can’t just three. He wooed a rising generation of be what worked for Bush and Karl Rove until HYDQJHOLFDODQG&DWKROLFDFWLYLVWV+H¿OOHG Iraq went sour and Wall Street melted down. out a domestic policy portfolio with “reform At times, Rubio’s biography, his youth and conservative” ideas on welfare reform, health his eloquence seemed to make him the natural FDUHKLJKHUHGXFDWLRQDQGIDPLO\IULHQGO\WD[ candidate for a party in search of What Comes policy. And then to make sure nobody accused 1H[W$QGLQFHUWDLQZD\VKHZDVYLFWLPL]HG him of being some sort of redistributionist by a conservative electorate that fears the squish, he attached those ideas to a sweeping future, that wants any “new” synthesis to FDSLWDOJDLQVDQGFRUSRUDWHWD[FXW simply recreate the glories of a vanished Politically it was by no means a crazy American past. strategy. For all his blunders, George W. Bush But he was also a victim of his own fateful is still the only Republican candidate for look backward, his assumption that what president to win the popular vote in the last worked for the last Republican president could \HDUVDQGWKHRQO\¿JXUHWRVXFFHVVIXOO\ be made to work again. It didn’t, it couldn’t, unite and lead a fractious party. Parts of DQGLWSUREDEO\ZRQ¶WEHWULHGDJDLQ:KRHYHU Bushism look more optimistic, inclusive and wins the nomination in 2016, George W. Bush economically relevant than either the angrier has gone down to defeat. Tea Party message that Rubio piggybacked Ŷ on in his 2010 Senate campaign or the generic Ross Douthat joined The New York “Mr. Republican” messages that John McCain Times as an Op-Ed columnist in April 2009. and Mitt Romney lost with in 2008 and 2012. Previously, he was a senior editor at the $QGZLWKWKH0LGGOH(DVWLQÀDPHV Atlantic and a blogger for theatlantic.com. 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 city of residence and daytime phone number. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
