Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
The system
is stacked
OUR VIEW
It’s no wonder people are lining
cash — and the lobbyists that launt
up to vote for Donald Trump.
it — have far too much power right
After reading the East Oregonian now in Oregon.
story “Lobbying, contributions dual
There are ways to make the
paths to political clout” by Capital
system better, though it won’t be
Bureau reporter Hillary Borrud, you easy. It is dificult because lobbyists
too may be inclined
and the majority of
to send a big broom
legislators — who
to the White House
the power
Cold hard cash have
and State Capitol
now — like the
— and the
and sweep out
current system as it
every vestige of
They are shielded
lobbyists who is.
the current political
by state laws, have
launt it —have few limits on what
class.
The article
they can do with
far too much
detailed in numbers
their dollars, and can
and personal
operate in a battered
power
examples the ease
media landscape
in Oregon.
and mystery through
with little risk that
which corporations
any misdeeds will
and special interest
be uncovered.
groups are lobbying the state.
To chip away at the status
It’s a closed circle of back-
quo, voters should support term
scratching in the halls of power,
limits and lobbyist transparency.
and it takes signiicant monetary
They should support clear public
investment in order to slip through.
records laws that allow the media
Borrud reported one such case.
and concerned citizens to hold our
In the last two years, a California
leaders responsible. They should
company called Vitu spent more
support strong campaign inance
than $200,000 on lobbying and
laws and hard caps on political
campaign contributions in Oregon.
donations. And they should hold
That included $20,000 to governor
politicians like Kate Brown to their
Kate Brown’s campaign. And where word when they make promises of
was Kate Brown earlier this month? transparency and openness yet fail to
Touting Vitu at the company’s
follow through.
headquarters right after it landed a
Trump is wrong. A lot. But he
state contract to provide electronic
is right when he points out that the
registration and titling services for
political system, as it exists now, is
Oregon car dealerships. Go igure.
not interested in being helpful to the
We understand that every
majority of middle-class Americans.
system needs “grease.” That’s
It’s much more interested in keeping
one way things get done —
the campaign dollars lowing, and
partnerships, support, favors and
having easy and unseen access to the
recommendations. But cold hard
lobbyists who hold the moneybags.
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
Partisanship torpedoes
Cover Oregon investigation
The (Eugene) Register-Guard
A congressional committee wants to
launch a criminal investigation into Cover
Oregon, the state’s ill-fated attempt to set
up an online health insurance exchange.
More than $300 million in federal
money vaporized during this debacle, so
Congress has a legitimate stake in inding
out what went wrong.
But the proposal by the Republi-
can-dominated House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee is a
thinly veiled attempt to target the state’s
Democratic leadership in an election year.
It makes no pretense of attempting to ind
out how Cover Oregon operated or what
went wrong.
Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz,
R-Utah, said a committee report — titled
“How Mismanagement and Political
Interference Squandered $305 Million
Federal Taxpayer Dollars” — was the
result of a year-long investigation.
Cover Oregon, which was approved
by a bipartisan vote of the state Legisla-
ture in 2011, was envisioned as a one-stop
social service hub, allowing people to
shop for health insurance and other public
services.
It was a grand idea. But it failed.
State oficials have blamed the
company they contracted with, Oracle
Corp., and sued the software giant.
Chaffetz has now waded into the fray,
with letters to U.S. Attorney General
Loretta Lynch and Oregon Attorney
General Ellen Rosenblum demanding a
criminal investigation — and prosecution
— of state oficials. Chaffetz also asked
Rosenblum to recuse herself from any
investigation because of her “closeness to
several of the prospective defendants.”
Chaffetz alleges state oficials misused
federal funds and commingled political
and oficial funds to boost the political
prospects of then-Gov. John Kitzhaber.
This isn’t the irst time congressional
Republicans have targeted Cover Oregon
in an election year. In 2014, Oregon Rep.
Greg Walden sought an investigation by
the Government Accounting Ofice.
Chaffetz’s demand for criminal
prosecution comes during another hotly
contested election year.
Democrats on the House Oversight
Committee issued a minority report this
week, latly contradicting the GOP report
on Cover Oregon. Democratic committee
members laid the blame for Cover
Oregon’s failure at the feet of Oracle
and said GOP committee members
ignored the company’s admissions that it
massively “screwed up.”
Oracle failed to deliver a functioning
website by the deadline, admitted its
work was deicient — as borne out by
independent analysts — and misled state
oficials by claiming everything was on
track when it wasn’t, the minority report
said.
Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the ranking
minority member on the committee,
stopped short of calling the GOP-led
investigation a witch hunt. But he noted
it focused on state oficials, rather than
the company responsible for the website.
More than 170,000 pages of documents
were obtained from the state government,
including the governor’s ofice, and only
3,200 pages from Oracle, Cummings
said. There were no depositions or
transcribed interviews with Oracle
employees, he said.
Chaffetz released the report as an
“unoficial staff report” rather than
an oficial committee report, thereby
avoiding requirements that it be consid-
ered, debated, voted on and approved by
the entire committee. This also meant the
report was not subject to amendment or
required to include minority views.
Cover Oregon was a failure that was
costly both to the state and the federal
government. An investigation into what
went wrong and what, if anything, can
be learned from it is warranted — as
is a review of any oficial wrongdoing.
Looking at how other state exchanges are
faring also would be valuable.
But this report, timed for release in
an election year and designed to avoid
scrutiny or debate, is at best a distraction.
Affordable health care for everyone is
a critically important issue for the United
States and deserves careful consideration
and sincere efforts to achieve this goal.
The attempt by the GOP majority in
the House Oversight Committee, led
by Chaffetz, to turn it into a political
“gotcha” is disheartening. The country
deserves better.
OTHER VIEWS
Why Trump attacked Martinez
any observers were mystiied
spoke to a GOP fundraiser at the
when Donald Trump attacked
home of David Koch in Palm Beach,
New Mexico Republican
Florida. Martinez, according to the
Gov. Susana Martinez. But the story
Post, “did not mince words. She told
was really very simple: Martinez hit
the crowd of about 60 wealthy GOP
Trump, so Trump hit back. Especially
backers that, as a Latina, she was
now that Trump is the GOP’s
offended by Trump’s language about
presumptive nominee, he attempted
immigrants. Noting her years working
to make an example of a Republican
as a prosecutor on the Mexican border
Byron
who won’t get with the program. It
and now as a border-state governor,
York
might work, or it might not, but from
Martinez said Trump’s plan to build
Comment
Trump’s perspective it’s the tactic he
a wall and force Mexico to pay for
used to beat 15 rivals for the GOP
it was unrealistic and irresponsible,
nomination.
according to multiple people in attendance.”
The Trump-Martinez bewilderment
Team Trump believes Martinez has
focused on four factors: Martinez is Hispanic,
continued to criticize him in private since
she’s a woman, she’s a Republican (head
those remarks. And when Trump traveled
of the Republican Governors Association),
to Albuquerque, after having clinched the
and she’s popular. “I think it sent all the
Republican nomination, Martinez told
wrong signals,” said Newt Gingrich, who has
reporters she was “really busy” and did not
generally been pro-Trump.
have time to attend.
“You particularly don’t
So Trump slammed
want to see your candidate
Martinez for, among other
who needs to ... get stronger
things, the state of the
with Latinos, and stronger
economy and a rise in
with women, attack a
food stamp usage in New
Mexico. “We have got to get
Latina woman Republican
your governor to get going,”
governor.”
he said. “She’s got to do a
“(Trump) has a problem
better job.”
with women, Hispanics, and
“There was no attack
Republicans,” said George
on a Latino or a woman
Will on Fox News Sunday,
governor,” Lewandowski
“so he attacks a Republican
said on Fox. “What this was,
Hispanic woman governor.”
was laying out the economic
Trump ignored all those
perspective of what the state
concerns. Also on Fox,
of New Mexico was doing,
campaign manager Corey
and he’s saying we need to
Lewandowski explained
do a better job.”
that Trump’s remarks about
It was that — plus a
Martinez at a May 24 rally
in Albuquerque — Trump said, “The governor threat to Martinez to get in line.
Trump conirmed as much at his news
has to do a better job. She’s not doing the job”
— was simply a continuation of Trump’s habit conference Tuesday. Asked why he went after
of discussing economic problems wherever he Martinez, Trump said, “She was not nice.
And I was ine — just a little bit of a jab. But
travels. “Outlining the economy of a speciic
she wasn’t nice, and you think I’m going to
location is something that he has done across
change? I’m not changing, including with
the country, everywhere we’ve gone, because
her.”
we need to highlight the problems that we
Perhaps Martinez will change her tone after
have and what we’re going to do to ix those
Trump wins New Mexico’s primary on June
problems,” Lewandowski said.
7. Perhaps not. As far as Trump is concerned,
It’s true. Trump has pointed to economic
attacking Martinez, to the (unknown) degree
problems in state after state. But he has no
that it angers Hispanic voters in general, could
more Republican rivals to defeat now, and
affect his fortunes far outside the boundaries
he is trying to consolidate GOP support. And
of New Mexico. But Trump apparently felt
there are those problems with Hispanic and
it was more important now to crack down
women voters. So why go on the offensive?
on Republican resistance, at least on GOP
To Trump, there was something more
politicos who openly attack him, than it was to
important at work. “(Martinez) continues to
attack him publicly and privately,” one person ignore Martinez’s opposition.
It’s not the way things are done these days.
in TrumpWorld told me recently. Trump has
made a principle of hitting back harder than he But the person in TrumpWorld looked back
to a time when powerful party bosses would
is hit. And he has been so effective that many
Republicans, elected and not, have decided the occasionally make an example of an off-the-
smart thing is to refrain from taking on Trump, reservation oficial just to inspire others to stay
in line. That’s still necessary, the person said,
even if they oppose him.
and that’s what Donald Trump is doing.
Not Martinez. In mid-April, the New
■
Mexico governor issued a “remarkably
Byron York is chief political correspondent
strong rebuke” to Trump, in the words of
for The Washington Examiner.
a Washington Post report, when Martinez
M
Trump
apparently felt
it was more
important to
crack down
on Republican
resistance
than ignore
Martinez’s
opposition.
YOUR VIEWS
New ire station needed, along
with city manager leadership
In a May 11 column on this editorial page,
I asked whether Pendleton’s main ire station
really needed to be replaced and urged a more
businesslike approach in the way city oficials
deal with this subject. Since then, I was
fortunate to get a tour of the ire station and
I have read a consultant’s report on it. Those
two things have changed part of my earlier
opinion.
In the tour offered by Fire Chief Mike
Ciraulo, it was clear to me that the 57-year-old
ire station is cramped in all respects. I think
it needs to be replaced at a bigger site. The
training tower on the current site cannot be
used because it is full of ire department
property forced out of the main building for
lack of space. Fire trucks and other emergency
equipment are backed into bays because the
site is too small to allow access from two
sides.
Diesel exhaust is a constant air pollution
problem in the tightly packed bays.
Fireighters of both genders are sandwiched
into space for sleeping, food preparation and
bathroom facilities. Space for communications
and record keeping is over capacity.
But the diesel exhaust might stand for
the No. 1 reason for a new ire station
— worker safety. Doors and windows are
not weatherized, ceilings leak, the building
violates construction codes. When a big ire
happens in town in the middle of the night,
commotion inside that ire station must be
something to behold.
A study report from a irm named
Mackenzie Engineering provides information
and detail on Pendleton’s main ire station. It
is available online.
As far as the way city hall is approaching
ire station replacement, I still think it’s better
to follow the chain of command: Department
heads report to the city manager, and the city
manager advises the city council on the way to
a inal decision by the public.
Fire Chief Ciraulo is scheduling
information meetings on the ire station and
entertaining comments on prospective sites for
a new irehouse. It’s as if city manager Robb
Corbett has designated Ciraulo to be the point
man for the city on a new ire station. What is
Corbett’s role? If the city manager is not being
the trafic cop or mediator in this issue, he
should be.
Mike Forrester
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. 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.