Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
OTHER VIEWS
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Elfering, Bailor have
little in common
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opposite candidates than the two
running for Umatilla County
commissioner.
Challenger Tom Bailor uses the
word “future” in just about every
sentence, while Bill Elfering might
be the most backward-looking
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Elfering told the editorial board he
supports the prohibition of alcohol,
an idea nearly a century behind the
times.
Bailor, on the other hand,
describes the county as running on
“AOL” and that it needs to “upgrade
to at least Google to get to 2050.”
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difference in outlook, they do have
one thing in common: Neither will
get our endorsement in the Umatilla
County commissioner’s race.
Perhaps Bailor is not even
a serious candidate. He had a
dismal showing in the last county
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percent of the vote.
He also has no name recognition
outside of Pendleton and Mission
and he doesn’t have the personality
to win over voters who don’t know
him. And he has no plans to run the
kind of active campaign needed to
overcome this initial disadvantage.
Elfering, the current county
commissioner, is therefore the heavy
favorite to retain his seat. But we’ve
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term on the commission. And our
biggest gripe is his lack of concerns.
According to Elfering, everything
is hunky-dory in county government.
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ever. EOTEC? A shining beacon
of success. County emergency
dispatch? All clear. Management and
morale? Two thumbs up.
Nothing to see here, and nothing
to be done either. So perhaps, with
so little to be concerned with, the
county should look into changing
the structure of its government, like
Morrow County has done, to three
part-time commissioners and one
full-time, unelected county manager?
No, said Elfering. It ain’t broke.
This laissez-faire, hands-off
approach toward the operation of
government is perhaps not what
you’d expect from the former head of
the county’s Republican Party.
Yet that’s Elfering re-election pitch.
He told the editorial board that “people
have already invested in me four
years of training” and that he wants to
“continue to do the good things I’ve
been able to do for the county.”
He touts one of his major
achievements as recording county
commissioner meetings, an idea
he freely admits to stealing from
longtime losing county commissioner
candidate Michael Cannon.
There’s no doubt the county
is running better than it was four
years ago, trimmed down with
commissioners taking on added
responsibilities. But comparing
Elfering’s self-prepared re-election
resume with his vision for the next
four years, it’s clear he has been
along for the ride and not driving the
bus.
We hope next term, voters get
more return on their investment.
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.
Culture corner
The newspaper is supposed to be
a place to learn things. And we’d be
foolish to think we’re the only provider
making content of interest and value.
So today we’re unveiling a new
weekly feature for the opinion page that
we’re calling the “Culture Corner.”
This will be a place where newsroom
and editorial board
members will tip
you off to something
important they read
or watched or listened
to in the last week.
Or something not
important at all.
From distinguished
journalism to silly time
wasters, the tips and
recommendations will
vary widely. But we hope you’ll learn
something and have a tidbit to talk about
at the water cooler.
Let’s start out with a fun one from
editorial page editor Tim Trainor: www.
radiooooo.com
Yes, that’s radio — with four more
Os tacked onto the end.
Type that website into your search
bar. Although still in it’s beta testing
stage, radiooooo.com is a fascinating
place to spend some time. The site
allows users to discover worldwide pop
music of the last century.
You can click any country on the
map, choose a decade, and listen to
some illustrative music of the time and
place. You can listen
to East German rock
from the 1960s. Or a
Peruvian waltz from
the 1930s. How about
modern-sounding
calypso music from
Sierra Leone that was
recorded in the 1950s?
Or do you ever wonder
what they’re listening to
in Australia right now?
Or Uzbekistan?
It’s all there, along with ways to
individualize your experience by
requesting slow, fast or weird tunes.
You’ll be blown away at the amazing
variety of sound makers. And without
even realizing it, you’re getting a history,
geography and culture lesson while
you’re doing your audio exploration.
Hillary is not sorry
I
with my husband at Camp David,”
t’s hard not to feel sorry for Hillary
there would have been a Palestinian
Clinton. She is hearing ghostly
state for 15 years.
footsteps.
Hillary may be right that Bernie is
She’s having her inevitability
building socialist castles in the sky. But
challenged a second time by
a moralizing senator with few
Bernie is right that Hillary’s judgment
accomplishments who chides her
has often been faulty.
on her bad judgment on Iraq and
She has shown an unwillingness
special-interest money, breezily rakes
Maureen to be introspective and learn from her
in millions in small donations online,
mistakes. From health care to Iraq to
Dowd
draws tens of thousands to rock-star
the email server, she only apologizes
Comment
rallies and gets more votes from young
at the point of a gun. And even then,
women.
she leaves the impression that she is
But at least last time, it was a dazzling
merely sorry to be facing criticism, not that
newcomer who also offered the chance to
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break a barrier. This time, Hillary is trying to
On the server, she told Andrea Mitchell
fend off a choleric 74-year-old democratic
of NBC News that she was sorry it had
socialist.
been “confusing to people and raised a lot
Some close to the campaign say that those
of questions.” She has never acknowledged,
ghostly footsteps have made Hillary restive.
maybe even to herself, that routing diplomatic
The déjà vu has exasperated Bill Clinton, who HPDLOVZLWKFODVVL¿HGLQIRUPDWLRQWKURXJK
griped to an audience in New York on Friday
a homebrew server was an outrageous,
that young supporters of Bernie Sanders get
reckless and foolish thing to do, and disloyal
excited because it sounds good to say, “Just
to Obama, whose administration put in place
shoot every third person on Wall Street and
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HYHU\WKLQJZLOOEH¿QH´
Wouldn’t it be a relief to people if Hillary
At the Brooklyn debate, there was
just acknowledged some mistakes? If she said
acrimony, cacophony, sanctimony and,
that her intentions on Libya were good but that
naturally, baloney.
she got distracted by other global issues and
Hillary gazed at Bernie as though she could took her eye off the ball? That the questions
hypnotize him into skedaddling. And Bernie
that should have been asked about Libya were
ZDYHGKLVLQGH[¿QJHUDQGÀDSSHGKLVKDQGV not asked and knowing this now would make
miming that he won’t budge, no matter how
her a better chief executive?
aggravating it is for Clinton Inc.
Obama, introspective to a fault, told Chris
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Wallace of Fox News that not having a better
to underscore his vision of himself as the
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moral candidate. And Hillary headed to
was the worst mistake of his presidency. But
California, underscoring Bernie’s portrayal
as usual, Clinton, who talked Obama into it,
of her as the mercenary candidate. She
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attended fundraisers headlined by George
security advisers told Kim Ghattas for a piece
and Amal Clooney in San Francisco and at
in Foreign Policy, Clinton “does not see the
the Clooneys’ LA mansion that cost $33,400
Libya intervention as a failure, but as a work
per person and $353,400 for two seats at the
in progress.”
head table in San Francisco — an “Ocean’s
Clinton accused Sanders of not doing his
Eleven” safecracking that Sanders labeled
homework on how he would break up the
“obscene.”
banks. And she is the queen of homework,
Clinton sowed suspicion again, refusing to
always impressively well versed in meetings.
cough up her Wall Street speech transcripts.
But that is what makes her failure to read the
And Sanders faltered on guns, fracking and
National Intelligence Estimate that raised
releasing his tax returns. But he was gutsy,
doubts about whether Iraq posed a threat to the
in a New York primary, to say he’d be more
U.S. so egregious.
evenhanded with Israel and the Palestinians.
Like other decisions, it was put through a
As my colleague Tom Friedman has warned,
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we can hurt Israel by loving Israel to death.
not want to be seen, in that blindingly patriotic
Hillary alternately tried to blame and hug
time, as the bohemian woman standing to the
the men in her life, divvying up credit in a
left of the military.
self-serving way.
When Barack Obama was warned by
After showing some remorse for the 1994
some supporters in 2002 not to make a speech
crime bill, saying it had had “unintended”
against the Iraq invasion because it might hurt
consequences, she stressed that her husband
his political future, he said he was going to do
“was the president who actually signed it.”
it anyhow because the war was a really terrible
On Libya, she noted that “the decision was
idea.
the president’s.” And on her desire to train and
What worries me is whether Hillary has
arm Syrian rebels, she recalled, “The president WKHFRQ¿GHQFHWRPDNHGHFLVLRQVFRQWUDU\WR
said no.”
her political interests. Can she say, “But it’s a
But she wrapped herself in President
really terrible idea”?
Barack Obama’s record on climate change
Ŷ
and, when criticized on her super PACs, said,
Maureen Dowd, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer
well, Obama did it, too.
Prize for distinguished commentary and author
Sanders accused her of pandering to Israel
of two New York Times best sellers, became an
after she said that “if Yasser Arafat had agreed Op-Ed columnist in 1995.
YOUR VIEWS
Gas tax failure
hurting city streets
Friday, half the street was
paved behind a new multi-million
dollar school rehab on Southeast
Alexander. Half the width of the
street, and just in front of the school.
If the 5 cent per gallon gas tax had
passed this wouldn’t be happening
because there would have been
money to pave the whole street from
Southeast 11th to Southeast 15th.
Rex Morehouse and others say
that the citizens of Pendleton were
the only ones paying for the new
streets; however, Mr. Morehouse,
you and I were at the same
community meeting where the stats
on the previous 5 cent gas tax was
presented and we both know that 54
percent of the revenue raised was
from out-of-town drivers. With the
economy growing and the price of
gas down I suspect that the percent
of out-of-town drivers paying the 5
cent tax would have higher this time.
The city says they will be paving
the streets with the worst problems
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problem be that half the width of the
street behind Washington School is
all that is paved on a street that is
about four blocks long? Why is it
that streets that are already paved, be
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before those that are nothing but dirt
and gravel get considered? Isn’t no
pavement worse than pavement with
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patch? I think so.
Why should all the residents of
a neighborhood be made to suffer
due to one or two who don’t want
progress for fear that their property
taxes will raise? Granted we do not
live in Montee Addition or on the
North Hill, but we still pay taxes
just like everyone else and we
deserve the same city services as
everyone else, rich or poor.
I suggest they pave Southeast
Alexander from 11th to 15th. The
street doesn’t need sidewalks the full
length but it does need paving. I also
suggest that the city look at all the
other streets that are not currently
paved and come up with a plan to
get them paved without forcing the
residents into footing the bill for an
LID that most can’t afford. If the
residents of the street take ownership
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solution that is both acceptable to the
city and to the state and the city will
be better for it.
Most small businesses have a
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expense to operate and not one
penny of guaranteed income.
The Oregon Legislature just
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every employer in the state with
not one penny of funding or proper
vetting of the costs. The expense to
the state alone will be massive. The
bill was passed with emergency
declaration by the Democratic
majority preventing it from being
eligible for referral to the ballot.
If this is about social justice,
why were the voters not allowed
to decide in November? Motor
voter, minimum wage, dump
coal — all passed when the gavel
dropped with a rubber stamp at
the governor’s desk. It’s about
votes and building the power of
the already dominant Democratic
Party.
To Mr. Henry sitting on gold
plated retirement, don’t lecture me
on “got mine, up yours.”
Sign the petition; search No
Fake Emergencies.
Barbara A. Wright
Pendleton
Bruce Staley
Pendleton
Emergency clause
abused by legislature
Marks makes a mark
I would like to support Becky
Marks as a city council member.
Becky has been an excellent
resource for us at The South Hills
Apartments as well as to me
personally. As a council member
Becky is not over our ward;
however, she has always referred us
to the appropriate council members
and we have obtained great results.
To name a few:
1. The city planners wanted to
change the name of our street from
28th Drive to Houtama Road. This
change would split our complex
in two, meaning all 80 apartments
would have to change their
addresses including everything to do
with our business. Also, our complex
would be referred to as Houtama
Apts. (We are well known as The
South Hills Apts., an upstanding,
quiet and safe place to live.)
2. We here at The South Hills
have had extreme problems with
a communications company here
in town. Becky contacted the city
attorney. The city attorney in turn
contacted me wanting to know
about our problem because it
concerned a practicing business
that is contracted with the city of
Pendleton. We no longer have any
problems with this company.
3. Becky has listened and taken
information to the appropriate
people concerning housing here in
Pendleton.
Becky understands where
“We the People” are coming
from and what our needs are. She
conscientiously supports the people
of Pendleton in many diverse areas.
Her input and intentions are much
appreciated. For us Becky Marks
has made a difference!
Teri Prock, site manager
Dot Veristain, assistant manager
The South Hills Apartments
Pendleton
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. Send letters
to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendle-
ton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.