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OPINION
East Oregonian
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Time to think
about November
There is more than Trump
versus Clinton to think about this
November.
The presidential race is definitely
sucking up a lot of the election air,
and rightfully so. This is the leader
of the free world we’re talking
about, and the top two candidates
have deep flaws that require constant
spelunking in order to get to the
bottom of them.
But don’t let that one race keep
you from researching the others. And
just as importantly, don’t let your
annoyance with Trump and Clinton
keep you from thinking about and
voting in the dozens of other races
where your vote will have a much
bigger impact. Because let’s face
it — Oregon is never going to go for
Donald Trump. But in the myriad of
other decisions, your vote matters to
a much larger degree.
And if it’s not quite decision time
yet, it is time to get serious about
educating yourself on the issues.
Our editorial board will sit
with many local and statewide
groups with something at stake in
November. We’ll do our best to ask
the difficult questions and demand
straight answers. We will pass along
what we learned and what we think
in editorials and endorsements.
We also will set aside a large
chunk of space for your letters on
the candidates and issues. We hope
our readers take the opportunity to
not just mimic talking points in their
letters of support, however. That
gets repetitive and readers tune them
out. We recommend putting your
personal thoughts to paper (or email)
and use your own reasoning instead
of what campaigns try to pound
into us from stump speeches and
advertisements.
In Umatilla County, it’s mostly
a light ballot. Perhaps the most
competitive local race will be that
for sheriff: incumbent Terry Rowan
has been challenged by Ryan
Lehnert for the position.
In our cities, Pendleton council
races were all decided in the May
primaries. In Hermiston, candidates
have until August 30 to make it on
the council ballot, and Mayor Dave
Drotzmann has no challenger. We do
hope to see some competitive races,
like we did last time around, and
encourage anyone thinking about
running to step into the field.
We also will spend a lot of
time on statewide issues, from the
interesting race for the governor to
the handful of measures that will be
in front of Oregon voters. Measure
97 is perhaps the most drastic tax
legislation since Measure 5 was
passed back in 1990, and it requires
looking over with a fine-toothed
comb.
The campaign season can seem
interminable and vacuous, and
perhaps you were right to ignore
the chatter until now. But now is the
time to take it seriously, and make
your vote a knowledgeable one
come November.
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
Oregon’s cagey relationship
with the public continues
The Oregonian
t shouldn’t require superhuman
tenacity, legal expertise or deep
pockets to be able to review how
school districts, state environmental
regulators or other governmental
agencies handle the public’s business.
But in Oregon, where legislators
routinely shield agencies from disclosure
requirements and where agencies
demand as much as $1 million to
retrieve data for the public, those seeking
to scrutinize government workings have
needed to summon all three.
That’s not likely to change much,
even with the recent release of proposed
public records reforms by Oregon
Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum.
Rosenblum’s draft amendments
provide some worthwhile ideas, but
the proposal avoids tackling some
of the biggest problems facing those
seeking public information. The draft
amendments to the public disclosure law
leave unlimited the fees that agencies
can charge for fulfilling requests. The
reforms lack any built-in consequences
for public bodies that take excessive
amounts of time to respond. Agencies
can continue citing any one of the more
than 400 exemptions that shield public
records from public scrutiny.
In short: Oregon’s cagey relationship
with the public continues.
Still, the proposal offers a foundation
upon which Rosenblum and her task
force of public officials, journalists,
citizen advocates and others can and
should build more aggressive reforms.
True government accountability and
transparency depend on it.
First, the positives.
The proposed changes give shape
to a law that currently measures
compliance with fuzzy standards of
whether an agency responded “as soon
as practicable and without unreasonable
delay.” Rosenblum’s proposal calls
for specifying that public bodies
acknowledge a request within five
business days and fulfill them within 10,
except for schools that are not in session.
It also calls for producing an exhaustive
catalogue that lists the exemptions
legislators have authorized over the
years. And a new statement of purpose
makes clear that the default mode for
government should be to make records
accessible to the public — with narrowly
construed exceptions.
But the fixes are largely symbolic
and won’t resolve many of the conflicts
that citizens and media members
reported to the task force, such as the
I
$1,042,450.20 estimate Portland Police
cited to fulfill a request from The
Oregonian/OregonLive’s Carli Brosseau
for information from the bureau’s
evidence database, or the $750 that the
Department of Environmental Quality
wanted to charge The Oregonian/
OregonLive’s Rob Davis to search and
produce emails with a few keywords.
For many citizens who don’t have the
resources or desire to spend such money,
$750 might as well as be $1 million.
This is how a government thwarts
citizen scrutiny.
With no consequences in the
proposed legislation, it’s unclear whether
the fixes would have prevented one
of the most egregious public-records
runarounds recently. In December
2014, Anne Marie Gurney with the
Freedom Foundation requested from
the Department of Human Services the
names and contact information for home
health care workers to alert them of their
rights regarding paying fees to unions.
Although the information was public,
the agency stalled and put Gurney off
for four months — long enough for the
Legislature to pass a law exempting
that information from public disclosure
laws. Gov. Kate Brown signed the bill,
despite knowing there was an unfilled
request for the information, Brown
acknowledged earlier this year.
Fortunately, there’s still time to
strengthen the proposed reforms. Veteran
Oregonian/OregonLive investigative
reporter Les Zaitz, who serves on the
task force for the Oregon Territory
Chapter of the Society of Professional
Journalists, plans to raise the issue of
fees at an Aug. 31 meeting. And Michael
Kron, the attorney general’s special
counsel who is heading up the public
records task force, said Rosenblum
wants to continue convening the
group to tackle fees and streamlining
exemptions, even if those issues don’t
get addressed in the 2017 session.
Separately, Brown’s office is developing
a proposal for a public records advocate
to handle disputes.
These are promising steps. But as
Zaitz noted, there needs to be a change
in mentality as well as a change in law.
Public officials need to get away from
this misconception that they own public
records and that citizens gain access only
by their good grace, he said, adding “this
is about citizens watching what their
government is doing.”
Rosenblum, Brown and legislators
need to show with their actions that
that’s an outcome they genuinely want to
support.
OTHER VIEWS
From Trump, a stunning
admission and a new direction
n general, in a campaign filled with
for decades taken black support for
controversial statements, it’s fair
granted. Citing figures on poverty,
to say Donald Trump doesn’t do
education, and crime, Trump said,
apologies and he doesn’t do regret.
“If African-American voters give
Which is why it was extraordinary that
Donald Trump a chance by giving me
in his speech in Charlotte Thursday
their vote, the result for them will be
night — one of his first under a new
amazing ... Look at how badly things
campaign management — Trump did
are going under decades of Democratic
that rarest of things: He expressed
leadership ... It is time for a change ...
Byron
regret for rhetorical excesses of the
What do you have to lose?”
York
past and conceded that they may have
“Change” — Trump hit the theme
Comment
caused pain for some people.
over and over, portraying himself as
“Sometimes in the heat of debate
the “change candidate” to voters wary
and speaking on a multitude of issues, you
of electing Democrats to a third consecutive
don’t choose the right words or say the right
term.
thing,” Trump told the crowd at the Charlotte
Much of the speech was a tighter, more
Convention Center. “I have done that. And
disciplined indictment of Clinton along
believe it or not, I regret it. And I do regret
the lines of Trump’s older speeches. But in
it. Particularly where it may have caused
Charlotte, Trump admitted his own rhetorical
personal pain. Too much is at stake for us to
sins before laying into Clinton for her
be consumed with these
substantive lapses.
issues.”
“The American people
That was new Trump.
are still waiting for Hillary
Very new Trump.
Clinton to apologize for all
But there was much more
of the many lies she’s told
new Trump in Charlotte.
to them,” Trump said. ‘Tell
Trump introduced a theme
me, has Hillary Clinton
of a “New American Future”
ever apologized for lying
— his team capitalized in
about her illegal email
his prepared text — which
server and deleting 33,000
all Americans would reach
emails? Has Hillary Clinton
by working together in a
apologized for turning the
Trump administration.
State Department into a
For the man who at the Republican
pay-for-play operation where favors are sold
convention proclaimed that “I alone can fix”
to the highest bidder? Has she apologized for
the nation’s problems, the Charlotte speech
lying to the families who lost loved ones at
represented a remarkable turn toward common Benghazi?”
effort. According to the prepared text, Trump
There were the standard Trump critiques
used the word “together” seven times in the
of big trade deals. Of a corrupt system. Of
speech, which must be a record for him.
immigration practices. But there were also
(He used “together” once — once — in
rhetorical turns everywhere. For example,
his convention acceptance speech.) From
when Trump declared that he would “refuse
Charlotte:
to let another generation of American children
“We are one country, one people, and we
be excluded from the American Dream,”
will have together one great future.”
he turned a term favored by immigration
“I’d like to talk about the New American
reformers to his own uses: “Let our children
Future we are going to create together.”
be dreamers, too.”
“This isn’t just the fight of my life, it’s the
In all, it was perhaps Trump’s most
fight of our lives — together — to save our
remarkable speech of the campaign — and the
country.”
third noteworthy effort this week. On Monday,
“We are going to bring this country
Trump gave a solid speech on his proposals to
together.”
fight radical Islamic terrorism. On Tuesday, he
“Together, we will make America strong
gave a sharp and focused speech on law and
again.”
order, coupled with an appeal to black voters.
Now, much of that is political boilerplate.
And then Thursday night in Charlotte.
But it is political boilerplate that Trump, the
Among other things, the North Carolina
unconventional politician and speaker, has not speech defied expectations set by some of the
used before.
reporting on the recent changes at the top of
And not just “together” — Trump also
the Trump campaign. Some press accounts
added a message of inclusiveness that could
suggested that Trump’s decision to bring
have come from any mainstream politician,
in Breitbart executive Steve Bannon and to
Democrat or Republican. But not, until now,
promote pollster Kellyanne Conway somehow
from Donald Trump.
amounted to an effort to return to the old
“We cannot make America Great Again if
Trump of the Republican primaries. The
we leave any community behind,” Trump said. original wild man so beloved by a winning
“Nearly four in 10 African-American children margin of GOP voters would come back.
are living in poverty. I will not rest until
That’s not at all what has happened so
children of every color in this country are fully far. Trump’s speech in Charlotte suggested a
included in the American Dream. Jobs, safety, candidate willing to take a new approach to
opportunity. Fair and equal representation.
the formidable problems he faces in this race.
This is what I promise to African-Americans,
Perhaps the old Trump will come roaring back
Hispanic-Americans, and all Americans.”
at any moment. But Trump in Charlotte was
Trump expanded on the appeal to black
something entirely new.
voters that he made Tuesday night at a
■
speech in West Bend, Wisconsin, charging
Byron York is chief political correspondent
that Hillary Clinton and Democrats have
for The Washington Examiner.
I
In all, it was
perhaps Trump’s
most remarkable
speech of the
campaign.
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. Submitted letters
must be signed by the author and include city of residence and a phone number. Send
letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.