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OPINION
East Oregonian
Tuesday, August 9, 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
Measure 97
bails out PERS
Gov. Brown sides with unions
over taxpayers and real reform
The bill to provide outsized
pensions to government workers in
Oregon is coming due.
A new report on the Public
Employees Retirement System
(PERS) says that contributions to
the fund will need to increase $885
million in the 2017-19 biennium.
Such massive increases are projected
for subsequent years as well.
The increases are the result
of providing public employees
with pension beneits far beyond
Oregon’s ability to pay.
The campaign to raise taxes to
continue this largess has begun. Gov.
Kate Brown last week endorsed
Measure 97, a $3 billion-a-year
general sales tax increase disguised
as a toll on large corporations.
The governor said the tax is
necessary to provide stable support
for schools and other government
services. If our governor were as
transparent as she claims to be, she
would admit the obvious: Measure
97 raises taxes to underwrite PERS.
Gov. Brown’s smokescreen
became apparent in April. She
avoided mention of the PERS crisis
in her State of the State address
then later told a reporter: “There
isn’t a path forward” to reform the
retirement system.
The reality is quite different.
Oregon’s Supreme Court predictably
struck down in 2015 bipartisan
legislation that reduced beneits
already earned by state employees.
However, the justices made clear
that future beneits could be
changed.
Among the available options:
• Reduce the assumed rate
of return on PERS investments.
Currently, participants are
guaranteed a 7.5 percent return.
Returns should match market rates.
• Require participants to
contribute to PERS. That’s the case
in most private-sector retirement
plans. While public employees are
required to contribute to a second
beneits plan, that beneit is often
paid by taxpayers via the employer.
• Change the retirement age.
The federal government adjusted
the retirement age to protect Social
Security. Oregon should do the
same. The average state worker
retires after 22 years of service and
earns a PERS beneit equivalent
to 56 percent of their inal average
salary. Those who retire after 30
years received 81 percent of their
inal average salary. Astonishingly, 7
percent of PERS retirees earn more
in retirement beneits than they did
while working.
• Cap earning levels. Mike
Bellotti receives $513,612 annually
in retirement beneits as the former
athletic director and football coach
of the University of Oregon. There’s
no logical reason state taxpayers
should foot the bill for such gold-
plated state workers in the future.
These reforms would reduce
the cost of PERS and ensure its
long-term sustainability. They
would also allow our schools and
local governments to spend more to
address real needs without raising
taxes.
Instead, Gov. Brown is doing
the bidding of Oregon’s public
employee unions, who are heavily
inancing Measure 97. These same
unions are pouring money into
Brown’s election campaign and to
those of legislative leaders.
They, not school children, are the
true beneiciaries of Measure 97.
At a glance
The average PERS beneiciary
receives $27,881 each year.
Social Security beneits add more.
Public employees in Oregon earn
richer retirement beneits and
contribute far less than those in
Washington and Idaho.
The average full-career state gov-
ernment employee in Oregon has a
retirement beneit exceeding the
earnings of 90 percent of full-time
employees in the state.
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
Alexie tries writing
for a younger crowd
N
oted Northwest writer Sherman
Alexie has long been a local
favorite. Born in Eastern
Washington and based in Seattle, his
works — whether
novels or short stories
or poetry — have
strong ties to the Paciic
Northwest.
A Spokane/Couer
d’Alene Indian, Alexie
wrote the screenplay for
the 1998 movie “Smoke
Signals” and is the
author of the widely-
read young adult novel
“The Absolutely True
Diary of a Part-Time
Indian,” which won the
National Book Award.
In interviews, Alexie has noted
“Snowy Day” as the irst book that really
spoke to him as a child.
“On the cover was a dark boy in a red
coat out in the snow,” Alexie told ALAN
Review in 2008. “I instantly igured he
was Indian, he wasn’t, but I thought he
was. I connected to that main character
almost instantly in a lot of ways.”
Alexie wanted to provide that
connection and spark to a new
generation of readers.
And he didn’t want to
wait until they were
teens. So he wrote
“Thunder Boy Jr.,”
which was released
earlier this summer and
is geared to beginning
readers. It’s a picture
book mostly, containing
just a few dozen words.
I gifted it to my new
niece Cora. And while
not yet at reading age,
she was enthralled by
the large colorful pages and the work of
illustrator Yuyi Morales. Soon enough it
may speak to her, and a life-long love of
reading is something worth supporting.
As are central characters of all different
colors and creeds.
— Tim Trainor is opinion page editor
of the East Oregonian.
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.
Hillary’s summer of love
I
and several Senate Republicans told
t’s looking more and more like
me how surprised and impressed they
Donald Trump is the best thing that
were by her work ethic, warmth and
ever happened to Hillary Clinton.
willingness to cooperate.
He’s deinitely the strangest.
For many months now, she has
With his its of pique, spasms of
been sending signals that a second
ignorance and lashes of demagogy,
Clinton administration would differ
he has turned the GOP’s favorite
from President Barack Obama’s in
boogeywoman into its summer crush. I
the earnestness and aggressiveness of
haven’t seen a love story this unlikely
Frank
its bid for bipartisan cooperation. Her
since “Harold and Maude.”
Bruni
pick of Sen. Tim Kaine as a running
Dozens of prominent Republicans
Comment
mate it into that framework. He’s
have come out and said that they’ll
liked and respected by Republican
vote for her or consider it, including,
colleagues, a dynamic that Clinton surrogates
just last week, the Silicon Valley titan Meg
immediately stressed.
Whitman, the Jeb Bush conidante Sally
What hasn’t happened, though, is the
Bradshaw, and Maria Comella, a former
construction of a substantive, policy-based
spokeswoman for two of Trump’s most
bridge across the aisle. She moved leftward
pugnacious promoters, Chris Christie and
during the primaries to deal with Bernie
Rudy Giuliani.
You can expect that list to grow. The
Sanders’ challenge, and many of her positions
Clinton campaign clearly does. As Bloomberg are anathema even to those Republicans who
Politics and The Washington Post reported
prefer her to Trump.
last week, Clinton’s aides have gone so far
Does she change that over the next months
as to set up something of a special operation
or, if elected, upon taking ofice? Does she
— a defection watch — to
have to? There are some
monitor news accounts
fascinating forks in the
and any other public hints
road ahead — some big
that a Republican leader
decisions — all created
is thinking of renouncing
by the singular mess of
Trump, so that someone on
Trump’s candidacy and the
Team Clinton can reach out
possibility, suggested in the
and ask him or her to take
latest polls, including one
the next step. The Times’
that showed her ahead in
Jonathan Martin revealed
Georgia, that he’ll lose the
that Clinton herself called
election by a devastating
Whitman a month ago.
margin.
I envision a box of
Many Democrats smell
cigars en route to Colin
a rout, hope that a slew of
Powell, long-stemmed
Republicans go down with
roses for Condoleezza Rice,
Trump, and fantasize about
a brand-new smartphone
a subsequent Democratic
for Sen. Lindsey Graham.
dominance in Washington
Hallmark should consider
that will allow the party to
a line of come-to-Clinton
enact laws without much
cards, with a donkey and
if any Republican input
an elephant gazing into
and assistance. After all the
each other’s eyes against
Republican obstructionism
the setting sun of Trump’s
that they’ve put up
orange head.
with, they ache for such
The breadth of GOP
liberation.
affection for Clinton
But such a rout would
shouldn’t be overstated.
presumably require Clinton
The grudging nature of
to campaign stridently
it can’t be overlooked. If
against endangered House
Trump stormed off and a
and Senate Republicans
more appetizing Republican
between now and Nov. 8,
was put on the menu, these
an approach at odds with
Clinton converts would most likely revert to
her current entreaties to the Whitmans of the
their usual diet. And there’s a real limit to the
world.
number of Republicans who will publicly
It would also be a huge, risky bet on
embrace her.
sustained Republican disarray and a durable
But many, many more Republicans
Democratic advantage, without which
are privately rooting for her. By making
Republican revenge would be swift and
clear that they won’t vote for Trump, they
merciless. Obama deied Republicans during
intend to throw the election her way. After
the irst two years of his presidency, only to be
decades of demonizing her and all those
tormented by them for the remainder of it.
Benghazi hearings, a noteworthy contingent
That’s why I’m hoping that Clinton takes a
of Republicans are giving her a degree of
different, big-tent tack, and combines passion
active and passive help that less polarizing
projects with attention to areas of common
Democratic presidential nominees never
Democratic and Republican interest: tax
received. She’s gone from Republican voodoo reform, immigration reform, maybe even
doll to Post-Partisan Barbie.
education reform.
To appreciate the surprise of this, lash back
Yes, a big Democratic victory in November
on four words: “vast right-wing conspiracy.”
would give Democrats both the right and
That’s what Clinton labeled the political
the imperative to implement their most
enemies who exposed her husband’s sexual
deeply cherished ideas. But it would relect
involvement with Monica Lewinsky and who
the unpopularity of Trump as much as any
pressed, successfully, for his impeachment.
sweeping, compelling mandate for a particular
The phrase was larger than that ugly chapter.
program.
It traced the magnitude of suspicion and
And we’ve seen, in recent years, what
animosity that the Clintons felt toward many
sharply drawn lines and perpetual warfare
Republicans, and vice versa.
between the parties bequeath: legislative
And remember that toward the end of
paralysis, debased discourse and the precise
her husband’s administration, she provoked
public disgust with politics and politicians that
the fury of pro-Israel Republicans with a
has given rise to Trump. Here we are, stuck
public kiss of the Palestinian leader Yasser
and miserable.
Arafat’s wife, Suha. Now many of those
Clinton’s summer of love isn’t merely a
same Republicans are the ones most disposed
stunning narrative twist. It’s an opportunity,
toward her and opposed to Trump, whose
in the nick of time. Despite our supposedly
geopolitical naiveté and isolationist talk worry intractable partisanship, a swelling group of
them more than anything in her past.
highly visible leaders is putting country before
Clinton isn’t unschooled in appeasing the
indiscriminate allegiance to their party. That’s
other side. For all the lorid ighting that her
an invitation for Clinton to do a bit of the
husband did with congressional Republicans,
same. Of all politicians, she could be the one
he also moved rightward on occasion,
with the best chance to move us a few crucial
famously signing welfare reform legislation.
inches beyond this wretched sclerosis. Who
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when
would have ever predicted that?
she was inishing her irst year in the Senate,
■
I did a long magazine story on her and Chuck
Frank Bruni has been an Op-Ed columnist
Schumer’s effort to get help for New York,
for The New York Times since June 2011.
After decades
of demonizing
her and all
those Benghazi
hearings, a
noteworthy
contingent of
Republicans
are giving
her a degree
of active and
passive help that
less polarizing
Democratic
presidential
nominees never
received.
CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
President
Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Telephone comments: 202-456-1111
Email: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact