Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
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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
Remaking
Pendleton
City Council
It’s fantastic to see so many competitive races for Pendleton City Council.
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signs decorating Pendleton yards in each of its wards.
But that also means more responsibility rests on voters, who must parse
and pick between quality candidates.
But no need to feel overwhelmed. The East Oregonian editorial board sat
down with all 13 candidates still vying for seats on city council. We recorded
those interviews, which you can listen to on our website and on iTunes.
They allow you to hear each candidate in their own words, responding to
questions and prompts from the edit board.
You’re welcome to come to your own conclusion after listening to them
all. But if you’d like to hear what we took from those interviews, read on.
Ward 1
With such a posse of new cowboys gunning for council seats, one could
be tempted to kick the whole old guard out of town.
Becky Marks is the incumbent in Ward 1, the only woman running an
active campaign in council elections.
Her votes to keep the public from having a voice on marijuana policy in
the city, and her promise to ignore them if they overturn the city’s temporary
ban, is troublesome and undemocratic.
But there is no better option this time around.
Challenger James Tibbets has a troubled history of his own. He’s a better
person now than he was when convicted of a hate crime, but not ready to
take a leadership role in Pendleton.
Ward 2
Hardworking and energetic Chuck Wood decided not to run for
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He is a good communicator, both willing to listen and willing to throw
out ideas, has government experience and — at 49 and with a child still in
college — provides a necessary and long missing perspective on the council.
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Bob Ehmann has had eight years on city council, from 1992-2000, and
the electorate would be better served by bringing new voices into the fold.
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City council meetings are better when Rex Morehouse is involved. But
we think he is more useful to the city when reliably questioning councilors
during the public comment section rather than being another body on the
dais. We think he enjoys that more than being a councilor, too.
Ward 3
Tom Young decided not to run for another term in Ward 3. Three
candidates are in the running to replace him.
Dale Primmer is clearly the best choice.
He’s thought long and hard about the issues facing Pendleton and, of the
candidates most likely to win the election, comes in with the clearest vision
of how to bring changes. Setting goals and holding people accountable to
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expectations that the city needs to set.
It’s great to see young Cody Cimmiyotti throw his hat in the ring, but we
think he’s better off starting his political career the long way, on one of the
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collecting knowledge and experience. Hopefully his name will be on the
ballot in future elections.
Don Bennett did not separate himself from his competitors, nor from the
council’s general naysayers.
At-Large
In what may be the toughest decision on the ballot, we tabbed Paul
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If you remember, Jane Hill left this seat not long ago, and Chalmers
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deep knowledge of the inner workings of local government. His voice and
perspective are valuable on the council.
Rick Rohde would make an excellent councilor too. Perhaps no candidate
spends as much time caring for the city of Pendleton than he does — not
just when collecting litter from city streets, but attending council meetings
and sparking community discussion on the pages of this newspaper. He
has a clear approach to political issues and is not afraid to look askance at
things the city has been doing for years without thinking twice about. Like
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Paul Rabitaille was among the most enjoyable candidates to talk with, but
he lacked concrete and workable ideas to move the city forward.
Mayor
John Turner is running unopposed for the position after longtime
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Turner has a long history in Pendleton, earning respect and building
connections in numerous local institutions. That will be to his advantage.
Running unopposed means Turner hasn’t had to lay out much of a
campaign. He has used his time to praise the current mayor and council and
talk about the good things going in Pendleton. And though there are many,
Turner may be surprised to see the seriousness with which new faces want to
make changes to Pendleton and how its government operates. We hope he’s
willing to be part of that and help make this election a turning point for a city
that has been stuck in idle.
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
José Martí, the national poet
H
AVANA — Many nations have
source: the 19th-century poet and
attempted the transition from
journalist José Martí. I was amazed
revolutionary socialism toward
how much Martí’s name came up in
some form of democratic capitalism;
conversation here and how little Fidel
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Castro’s did. Martí is the national
The country has many things going
poet, the one who shifted the national
against it as tries to make the journey.
imagination, who told Cubans who
It suffers from the dysfunctions
they were and what their story was. He
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David
bureaucratic states lying heavy on
Brooks future.
society. Those at the top have been
One foundation head told me:
Comment
trained all their lives to regulate and
“When I’m depressed I try to read
control. The governing elites speak (at
something Martí wrote. He’s a father
great length) in lifeless ideological jargon.
who embraces you. I think he engages the best
The current government slogan — not
of Cuba.”
without haste, but without
Martí taught by
pause — suggests a steady
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reform process, but in fact the
independence all his life. He
old people running this effort
was jailed in Cuba and exiled
are halting and glacial. The
to Spain and elsewhere.
world is changing Cuba faster
He lived a good chunk of
than the Cuban state can cope.
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The neighborhoods feel
American imperialism but
warmer and more communal
writing admiring essays on
than those in many other
Whitman, Emerson and the
nations, but there are certainly a lot of young
Brooklyn Bridge. He excelled at prose, poetry
men lethargically hanging about all day
and political organization. He died in battle,
without much to do.
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Independent civic institutions are scarce.
He also taught through his writing, which
The young people, local scholars say, are
is quoted on all sides. He believed in an
disillusioned with all systems. They hope
independent Cuba, a moderate and democratic
technology will save them, or moving abroad
political system with protections to tame
will.
capitalism. His love of Cuba caused him to
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love all Cubans. He spent much of his life
has going for it: national pride. One
trying to unite and reconcile them. “Absolute
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to fail,” he wrote.
spirit that is today lacking in the United States.
But he was not primarily a systematic
The patriotism has prickly manifestations.
or programmatic thinker. “The problem of
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independence is not a change in form but
references into their conversations with
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Americans, just for the ornery satisfaction of
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it. There is also a pervasive (and sometimes
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completely unhelpful) sense of Cuban
envisioning a national purpose.
exceptionalism; the idea is that no other
It’s hard to be too optimistic about Cuba’s
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short-term future. The leaders are trying to
remarkably distinct.
square the mother of all circles — to have a
But there are glorious manifestations.
rich society but without rich people; to have
A lot of that national pride is based on
an entrepreneurial class but without losing the
cultural achievements. I am here with the
egalitarian solidarity; to have revolutionary
President’s Committee on the Arts and
socialism and also outside investment and
the Humanities, part of President Barack
growth, risk-taking and enterprise.
Obama’s reconciliation with Cuba. Musicians
But it’s exciting to see a nation that has a
like Smokey Robinson, Dave Matthews,
palpable sense of its own soul. It’s interesting
Joshua Bell, John Lloyd Young and Usher
to see what a powerful force a national
and creative types like playwright John
poet can be. Long dead, Martí is a precious
Guare and choreographer Martha Clarke,
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got to interact with their Cuban counterparts,
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Every nation needs to know who it is and
exchanges.
what its collective story is. I wonder if the
This is the way to see Cuba at its best. The
current U.S. malaise has something to do with
artistic community is consistently dazzling.
the way we have lost touch with our own
It’s not only the high artistic standards. There
national poets, or even a common sense of
is a radiating joy in performance that glows
who they might be.
out of each artist, a blaze from something deep
Ŷ
in the Cuban soul.
David Brooks became a New York Times
But Cuban national pride has another
Op-Ed columnist in September 2003.
Cuba’s
patriotism
has prickly
manifestations.
YOUR VIEWS
Lieuallen’s character sets him
apart in circuit court race
As a lawyer practicing in Umatilla County,
I am very concerned about the quality and
character of the two candidates for judge in
Umatilla County Circuit Court. I have known
both candidates for many years and have had
several cases with both of them. Both Jon
Lieuallen and John Ballard have the education
and legal experience for the job of circuit
court judge. However, they could not be more
different as persons.
Lieuallen is a home-grown family man
from this area, with four busy kids involved
in all kinds of activities. His wife is a medical
professional here also. He comes from a
farming/ranching background and has family
roots deep in our community. His hard-work
ethic has made him compassionate and
generous with his time and able to work
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circumstances.
Ballard, by contrast, portrays none of
these things. His scorched-earth litigation
style is damaging and unnecessary. It’s also
unprofessional. I was not at all surprised
to learn of his close call before the Oregon
Supreme Court in 2014, when he went to trial
on a Bar complaint alleging several violations
of Oregon rules of ethics.
While Ballard was ultimately not found
in violation of the rules, his conduct and
judgment so negatively impressed the trial
panel that it stated on the second page of the
opinion, immediately after stating that Ballard
was acquitted of the charges: “However,
it should be made clear that the trial panel
unanimously disapproves of Ballard’s
conduct... The claim by Ballard of “I owed
no duty to the wife” rang hollow with the
trial panel.... The trial panel found it offensive
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court, to be directly involved in surreptitiously
taking and holding the vehicle used by wife,
no matter the rationale offered.”
This is not the kind of person I want
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custody cases or any other kind of case, for
that matter. Skating on very thin ice ethically
and morally is not a talent I admire in a
lawyer, much less a judge.
I am voting for Jon Lieuallen for Circuit
Court Judge. His experience with prosecution,
defense, and serving as pro tem judge gives
him a fair and balanced approach to the law.
Lieuallen is a man of high moral character
and integrity who will bring honor and
professionalism to his courtroom. He is a
person worthy of respect and of your vote.
Kittee Custer
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. Submitted letters must be signed by the author
and include the city of residence and a phone number. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave.
Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.