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OPINION
East Oregonian
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Legislators ignore impact
of minimum wage hike
Supporters of minimum wage
hikes pooh-pooh critics who warn that
increased labor costs lead to lower
employment.
They suggest that employers,
notorious for sitting on bags of money,
are able either to absorb increased
labor costs, or increase prices to offset
costs without negative impacts to
employees.
It’s political claptrap Oregon
legislators spouted this month when
they passed a three-tiered wage
hike scheme. The people who run
Oregon’s public universities quickly
proved it a fallacy.
The law hikes the current statewide
minimum wage of $9.25 to $9.75 in
July.
Under the law, the state is divided
into three regions. Over six years the
wage increases by different rates in
each region, based on population,
median income and cost of living.
In Portland, the minimum wage will
reach $14.75, in rural and coastal
counties with struggling economies it
will top out at $12.50, and $13.50 in
the rest of the state by 2022.
State budget analysts couldn’t
begin to calculate how much this
would cost government, let alone
private businesses, in extra wages and
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said, because studies show that
increasing minimum wages has no
impact on employment and hiring.
The people who run Oregon’s
public universities must not have
received the memo.
Universities typically hire students
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jobs around campus. The wages of
students in the federal work study
program are picked up by the federal
government, but hundreds of others
are paid out of university coffers.
Shortly after Gov. Kate Brown
signed the measure into law, The
Oregonian reported that the wage
hikes will cost the seven universities
millions in additional labor costs, and
force them to look at cutting hundreds
of jobs held by student workers to cut
costs.
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told the paper that the hike would
increase the cost of the more than
7,800 students it pays by $4.8 million
in the next biennium. At the University
of Oregon, the tab will be an extra
$2.3 million in the same period, and
rise to $6.1 million extra when the
wage hits the top rate. Portland State
University is looking at $2.5 million in
extra costs in the 2017-2019 cycle.
A spokesman for OSU said the
hike could cost 650 to 700 students
their jobs. PSU said it would likely
make budget cuts and raise tuition.
It probably came as no surprise to
freshmen economics majors that a
multi-million dollar hike in labor costs
has to be offset either by an increase
in revenues — tuitions and fees — or
a reduction in expenses — job cuts.
Unfortunately, legislators skipped that
class.
If caught off guard that public
universities, agents of the state, are
talking job cuts in light of hikes
in the minimum wage, imagine
their surprise when local retailers,
restaurants, hotels, nurseries, orchards,
packing houses and processors start
doing the same.
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.
YOUR VIEWS
Trump mischaracterized
by this paper
I strongly object to your March
16 Our View reference to a person
running for the presidency; calling him
a “vicious racist” is in very poor taste
for your newspaper. This is not news
reporting, this is slander. If you can’t
say something nice about someone
then don’t say anything. This man is
spending most of his own money to run,
not like the other people, and I believe
that he has the guts to make America
strong again.
James Tiede
Hermiston
Obama’s legacy and Cuba
I have a question for all the Barack
Obama haters out there: Are the people
of Cuba better off with the United States
inside the tent urinating out, or outside
the tent urinating in? We have spent
50 years being bellicose and thumping
our chest with the Castro government
and accomplished nothing. Now, Raul
Castro is discussing Cuba’s human
rights record with the President of the
United States. Our foreign policy toward
Cuba has been nothing short of stupid
for half a century and the people that
have suffered the most for that policy
are the people of that island nation.
We are practically “besties” with
Vietnam, but certain people on the
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Cuba. Why? That power corrupted a
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tyrant. That’s never happened before
in history. Time, albeit very short, has
exposed the same brilliant strategic
thinking of the people who opposed the
nuclear agreement with Iran. None of
the critics spend any time discussing
their alternative to a “bad treaty.” That is
and always will be an unwinnable war
against a country we don’t want to go to
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Donald Trump has the answer to ISIS
and the Middle East. He would “go in
fast and hard.” Why thank you general; I
don’t know why nobody thought of that
before your stroke of genius.
The people on the right are going
to be forced to admit that the Kenyan
community organizer has done a very
good job answering that early morning
phone call Hillary Clinton talked about
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color has done an excellent job overall.
There hasn’t been a hint of legitimate
scandal and Barack Hussein Obama has
done in seven years what Donald Trump
claims he wants to do — make America
great again.
It’s too early to know for sure, but I
think the history books are going to be
kind to President Obama.
Patrick J. Delaney
Hermiston
OTHER VIEWS
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W
hen an old order is in crisis,
One reasonable response to this
something distinctive happens
kind of stark challenge, this incipient
to the men who lead it.
revolution, would be soul-searching
A strange paralysis sets in, a curious
and a course correction. Trump would
mix of denial and resignation. W.B.
not have gotten this far, would not
Yeats’ famous line about the best
have won so many votes — especially
lacking all conviction captures part of
working class votes — if the Kempian
this, but only part. What really goes
vision had delivered fully on its
missing isn’t conviction itself but the
promises, if mass immigration, free
Ross
capacity to act on it — to adapt swiftly,
Douthat trade, deregulation and upper-bracket
resist effectively, or both. Instead the
tax cuts had really been the prescription
Comment
tendency is to freeze, like mice under a
for all economic ills.
hawk’s shadow, and hope that stillness
Another reasonable response would
alone can save you from the talons.
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For an unfortunate case study, in this year
Trump” movement, based on a recognition that
of Donald Trump’s rebellion against the
in this election conservatism as we’ve known
Republican Party as we’ve known it, look
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no further than the speaker of the House of
Trump is not repudiated then the American right
Representatives, Paul D. Ryan.
could be remade in his authoritarian image.
Ryan is not some corrupt functionary, some
Personally I would favor both: a Republican
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the barbarians come over the wall. He is an
the legitimate part of its populist critique, while
intelligent, principled, ambitious, and effective
also doing everything in its power to resist
political operator, with a clear vision for the
Trump himself. But if you watch or read Ryan’s
party that he helps to lead.
recent CNBC interview with my colleague John
That vision is close to the worldview of his
Harwood, you’ll see a man who seems unable
late mentor, Republican Congressman Jack
to go down either path.
Kemp. Kemp was a famous tax cutter, but
Repeatedly Harwood presses him on
also thought of himself as a “bleeding heart
whether the party needs to change to address
conservative,” a passionate believer in the
the concerns of the blue-collar Republicans
power of free markets and free trade to lift up
who are voting for Trump. And every time, as
the poor and dispossessed. He championed an
The Week’s James Pethokoukis pointed out
open door to immigrants, he campaigned for
afterward, Ryan simply returns to a 1980s-era
votes in blighted inner cities as well as Sun
message: cut spending, cut taxes, open markets,
Belt suburbs, and he believed that conservative
and all will be well. Asked about the possibility
principles could ultimately build a pan-ethnic
that some voters might see those policies
political coalition, purged of racialized appeals.
as “taking care of people at the top more
Ryan has zigzagged during his career, but his than you’re taking care of me,” he responds
Kempian core is clear. He’s a pro-immigration
dismissively: “Bernie Sanders talks about that
free trader, a supply-sider and an entitlement
stuff. That’s not who we are.”
reformer. He favors optimistic rhetoric about the
Yet when he’s asked about the threat that
American promise, paired with warnings about
Trump obviously poses to “who we are,” the
the perils of identity politics and the enervating
speaker — despite his admirable willingness to
effects of the welfare state. He spent the time
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between his months on the Romney ticket and
bring himself to make a counterendorsement, or
his ascent to the speakership in conversations
voice explicit opposition to Trump’s progress.
with antipoverty activists, on a Kempian quest
“I have to respect the primary voter,” he
for a new, less polarizing welfare reform.
says. “It’s not my decision, it’s their decision.”
And he has consistently critiqued Trump’s
And, “We’re going to have to work with
most demagogic forays — the proposed ban
whoever our nominee is.”
on Muslim travel to America, the footsie with
So in sum, faced with a potentially
white supremacists, the violent climate at
existential threat to his vision of conservatism
his rallies — as betrayals of what American
(not to mention his House majority), Ryan’s
conservatism ought to be.
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nothing.
But Trump isn’t just a random demagogue
Sit still. Just sit still.
promoting bigotry in some haphazard way. He
Everyone might return to normal.
has an agenda and a message, and it’s a dagger
The hawk might pass. It might.
aimed directly at Ryan’s vision for the party. On
It might.
issue after issue, from trade to immigration to
Ŷ
entitlement reform, a Trumpized party would
Ross Douthat joined The New York Times as
simply bury Ryanism/Kempism under white
an Op-Ed columnist in April 2009. Previously,
identity politics, and swing as far from Kemp’s
he was a senior editor at the Atlantic and a
enthusiastic minority outreach as the party
blogger for theatlantic.com.
could get.
OTHER VIEWS
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time to make ballot count
The (Bend) Bulletin, March 19
Nearly a quarter of Oregon’s voters could
have no say in important primary-ballot
elections May 17, as things now stand. Because
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iated voters in this state, they will be unable to
choose among the Democratic or Republican
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including governor and secretary of state.
That’s because the three major parties
— Republican, Democratic and Independent —
may decide for themselves who can participate
in party primaries. Republicans and Democrats
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ated voters or those registered with other parties
may not participate.
The Independent party, meanwhile, will
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alongside its party’s members. This is the
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are considered members of a major party in
Oregon.
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sidelines, however. With more than a month to
go before the April 26 registration deadline, they
have plenty of time to decide if they’d like to
join a party, even temporarily.
If they choose between Democrats and
Republicans, they will get ballots containing all
their party’s nominees, from president on down.
Those who become Independents will vote on
Independent Party candidates, generally running
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they’ll still get ballots, but those ballots will be
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asked to cast ballots in nonpartisan races — the
Crook County Commission, for example — and
on any local ballot measures in their districts.
Party shopping is a problem for some voters,
we know. If it is for you, pick a party, or no
party, and stick with your decision. If not — if
you see primary election registration as a tool
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— then by all means, change. If casting a vote
against Donald Trump is important to you, no
matter how many delegates he’s amassed, then
change. But do so by April 26. That’s the last
day you can and still get to cast that ballot.
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 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.