Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
OTHER VIEWS
For
Donald
Trump,
Supreme Court to
decide strong-arm case two outrage-free weeks
H
The problem with the American
according to the Corps, its
regulatory state is that the regulators jurisdictional determination was
have established rules designed
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to force the compliance of the
the Administrative Procedures
regulated and to deprive them of
Act because it neither compelled
due process in an impartial court.
Hawkes to do anything, nor
A case heard last month by the
restricted its actions. In short, the
U.S. Supreme Court hopefully will
company had “adequate remedies”
build on earlier
available that
preclude litigation.
decisions that make
it easier for property
The Corps
It’s
a
cheap
bit
is twisting the
owners to challenge
of extortion, not language to
agency decisions in
federal court.
compliance
unlike how the force
without judicial
In Hawkes
Chicago mob review. It knows
Co. Inc. v. Corps
of Engineers,
with such a
sells protection. that
determination any
the question of
reasonable property
judicial review
owner will either
rests on whether a
determination by the U.S. Army
give up entirely or go through the
time and expense of the permitting
Corps of Engineers that it has
jurisdiction over property under the process. It would be extremely
foolish to go forward without a
&OHDQ:DWHU$FWLVD¿QDODJHQF\
permit and risk criminal prosecution
action subject to challenge, or
merely an opinion a property owner DQGWKHUXLQRXV¿QDQFLDOSHQDOWLHV
can consider and disregard, albeit at attached to a possible guilty verdict.
It’s a cheap bit of extortion, not
future peril.
unlike how the Chicago mob sells
Hawkes Co. planned to mine
protection.
peat moss on wetland property
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of
it owned in Minnesota. After
Appeals agreed, in only slightly less
numerous meetings with the
LQÀDPPDWRU\WRQHV
company and visits to the site, the
“The Corps’ assertion that the
Corps concluded that there was a
Revised J.D. is merely advisory
VLJQL¿FDQWQH[XVEHWZHHQWKHVLWH
and has no more effect than an
and the Red River of the North,
ZDWHUVRIWKH86DVGH¿QHGE\WKH environmental consultant’s opinion
Clean Water Act, some 120 miles
ignores reality,” it wrote.
away.
By not allowing immediate
It made a jurisdictional
judicial review, it wrote, the Corps
determination that a permit would
achieves the result it desires without
be required before the company
testing its assertion of jurisdiction.
In unanimously deciding a
could move forward.
similar case, the Supreme Court
According to the Corps, this left
was more direct.
Hawkes with only three options.
It could abandon the project.
“[T]here is no reason to think
that the Clean Water Act was
It could perform the necessary
uniquely designed to enable the
environmental impact studies,
which take several years and cost
strong-arming of regulated parties
into ‘voluntary compliance’
hundreds of thousands of dollars,
and apply for a permit. It could
without the opportunity for judicial
ignore the determination and
review....”
We think the court will side with
proceed with the project and defend
plaintiffs. The Corps’ assertion
itself if prosecuted.
is clearly a distinction without a
What it could not do is contest
difference.
the determination in court because,
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.
ave you noticed something
blowback was intense. In the days
different about the Trump
before the April 5 Wisconsin primary,
campaign? It’s been more
Trump’s rivals -- not just the Cruz
than two weeks since the last really
campaign but Wisconsin’s formidable
outrageous thing the Republican front-
conservative talk-radio lineup — used
runner has said or done. In the old days
it over and over against Trump.
— say, a month ago — Trump would
But Trump was about to make
have set off multiple hair-burning
things even worse. During a March
controversies in the same period. But
30 interview with MSNBC’s Chris
Byron
now — nothing.
Matthews, Trump said that, were
York
It’s not an accident. When it comes
abortion to be banned, there should
Comment
to outrageousness, Donald Trump
be “some form of punishment” for
has dialed it back, on purpose. And
women who have abortions. Angering
indications from Trump world are that the new both pro-lifers and pro-choicers, Trump then
pattern will continue. (An obvious warning:
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It might not; by the time this article appears,
The controversy dragged on for days.
it’s always possible Trump could do or say
Add to that Trump’s attack on Gov. Scott
something so shocking that
Walker, and the Trump
the campaign is rocked for
campaign was done in
days.)
Wisconsin; Cruz beat Trump
Why the change? Ask
48 percent to 35 percent.
people knowledgeable about
The newly energized
the campaign, and they’ll
#NeverTrump forces saw
say the addition of new
the state as a turning point
staff has had a quick effect.
that gave them a real shot at
Pushed by his children,
keeping Trump short of the
Trump has expanded his
1,237 delegates he needs to
super-tight circle of advisers
win the GOP nomination.
with the addition of Paul
And then something
Manafort, and now others,
changed. On March 29,
too. The sense is that Trump
as things were falling
actually can listen, both to advice on what to
apart in Wisconsin, Trump announced the
say and not to say. The message has evolved;
hiring of Manafort, the veteran Republican
he is a better candidate than the man who
operative. Manafort ostensibly joined to serve
messed up right and left just a few weeks ago. as Trump’s convention manager, but his role
With his latest crusade against “voterless
quickly expanded, in part at the expense of
victory,” Trump is scoring points again, not
campaign manager Corey Lewandowski,
so much against Ted Cruz directly, but against who at the time was facing possible criminal
the Republican establishment — always
prosecution for a March 8 incident in which he
Trump’s most comfortable target. For Trump,
grabbed a female reporter’s arm after a press
Cruz’s vulnerability is not that he is part of
conference in Florida. (Authorities in Florida
the establishment, but that he has gotten in
announced on Thursday that the matter would
bed with the establishment as the only way to
be dropped.)
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It took Manafort a few days to get up to
the Republican National Committee and
speed. But since his arrival, Trump has been
insider campaign rules pays off everywhere
remarkably outrage-free. He’s still giving the
— especially if Trump is not making critical
same basic performance in his rallies, but
unforced errors at the same time.
he has been a little more discriminating in
To see the changes in the Trump campaign, his press appearances — two straight weeks
look at the four-week period between March
without appearing on a Sunday chat show —
22, when Trump began to blow up his own
and has stayed away from doing obviously
campaign, and now. On the night of March 22, dumb things, like attacking his opponent’s
Trump saw a low-budget, anti-Trump Super
wife. The campaign hopes the bad period is
PAC ad featuring a photo of his wife. He went over.
straight to Twitter. “Lyin’ Ted Cruz just used
Now the question is whether Trump has
a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his
the discipline to stay on a relatively error-free
ad,” Trump tweeted. “Be careful, Lyin’ Ted, or course. He had some very good luck when
I will spill the beans on your wife!”
the GOP primary schedule took him from his
Not content to stop there, Trump made
disastrous performance in Wisconsin to his
WKLQJVLQ¿QLWHO\ZRUVHWKHQH[WQLJKW0DUFK
best state of all, New York, and then to other
23, when he retweeted a meme from one of
friendly northeastern states.
his followers that featured a glamour shot of
But Trump will need more than luck to
0UV7UXPSQH[WWRDQXQÀDWWHULQJSKRWRRI
suppress the impulses that have gotten him
Mrs. Cruz.
into trouble in the past. He’ll need to be a
It’s a simple rule of politics that you don’t
better candidate.
attack your opponent’s wife — or husband,
Ŷ
for that matter, unless his name is Bill Clinton.
Byron York is chief political correspondent
Trump had trampled all over the rule, and the
for The Washington Examiner.
Changes have
come to Trump’s
campaign since
the addition of a
new campaign
manager.
YOUR VIEWS
Scott Fairley the choice
in Pendleton’s Ward 2
We are very fortunate to have
Scott Fairley run for city council,
Ward 2. He is a native of Pendleton
and understands well the issues
facing our community. He also
has the right experience for the
position. He has demonstrated he
has sound judgment in all matters.
He will be excellent in representing
all of us.
I urge you to support and vote
for Scott Fairley for City Council,
Ward 2.
Bob Reese
Pendleton
Lack of transparency
costs city of Pendleton
This letter is in response to the
headline “City council debates on
how to communicate.”
Following their standard
operating procedure, the city
council hired a consultant to tell
them that the members of the
city council, the city manager,
and the mayor will no longer be
able to respond to inquiries about
issues or write editorials to the
East Oregonian defending their
performance.
Councilor Tom Young thinks
that it’s inappropriate to contact
DQHOHFWHGRI¿FLDOWRWDONWRWKHP
about an issue that he or she may
be concerned about. He believes
WKDWHOHFWHGRI¿FLDOVVKRXOGKDYH
a buffer like Josh Earnest, who
simply disseminates information as
Obama’s press secretary.
Communication is a
two-way process involving the
electorate and the voters’ elected
representatives. In many cases,
there is a chasm between the two
when the elected representatives
pursue their own personal interests
rather than the will of the people.
Evan McKenzie was, and
Chuck Wood is, of the opinion
that the parking of bicycles is the
city’s top priority. There are several
pages dedicated to requirements for
bicycle parking for businesses in
the city’s 110-page universal plan.
Another area of contention
is the city giving away the farm
in order to encourage outside
developers to build unaffordable
housing when there are local
developers who hire locally and
know what the market can bear for
rental housing.
,¶PFHUWDLQWKDW,FRXOG¿QG
a quote in the EO from one
of the politicians stating that
2016 is going to be the year of
transparency. When transparency
is used to describe a political
situation, it means holding public
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It is obvious that the city council
wants autonomy and disdains
accountability.
The transparency of the local
government will now become
opaque.
Jerry Cronin
Florence
Milton-Freewater
schools levy support
My wife and I would like to
express our strong support for
the upcoming Milton-Freewater
Schools bond proposal and to urge
all residents to vote yes on May 17.
Over the course of each
of our careers, we have been
blessed to meet extraordinary
families and witness thousands
of students grow into impressive
and successful young adults. It is
our hope that these same young
people will choose to return to
Milton-Freewater to raise their own
children when the time comes, as
we did as lifelong residents and
Mac-Hi graduates.
When we got married and
decided to start a family, we chose
this community as our home
without hesitation. We have owned
four homes in Milton-Freewater
as well as our farm over the years,
DQGHDFKWLPHZHKDYHEHQH¿WHG
from increased property values
leading us to the home we love
today.
Do we like to pay higher taxes?
No one does. However, we had two
children and they were raised in
the Milton-Freewater district from
kindergarten through graduation
from Mac-Hi. They all received a
wonderful education and they are
very productive citizens today.
When they were little kids
in school, I am sure that a lot of
senior citizens voted to support
our children’s education by taxing
themselves, when they probably
could not afford it either. Well, now
it’s our turn ... and we will surely
support this bond by voting “yes.”
Let’s leave a legacy just as our
parents did.
For new families to choose our
great community over neighboring
cities, it is imperative that we pass
this bond. Not only are our school
buildings in need of updates to
stay current with surrounding
districts, but a failed attempt has
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this great community.
The district is working
diligently to continue a rich history
of educating outstanding young
people.
Prospective families, like the
families that bought our three
previous homes, need to know that
the school system has our support
in this endeavor. Vote yes for the
bond proposal to better our schools
and assure our community a bright
future.
Lewis Key
Mayor, Milton-Freewater