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OPINION
East Oregonian
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
OTHER VIEWS
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
MARISSA WILLIAMS
Regional Advertising Director
MARCY ROSENBERG
Circulation Manager
JANNA HEIMGARTNER
Business Ofice Manager
MIKE JENSEN
Production Manager
OUR VIEW
Richardson for
Secretary of State
It is likely that Democrats will
— Cover Oregon and the Columbia
continue to dominate Oregon politics River Crossing come to mind —
having a Secretary of State in charge
after the results of November’s
of the audits division that was at
election are tabulated.
some level not in lockstep with the
Governor Kate Brown is likely
governor’s ofice would have been
to win her irst election for the
helpful for taxpayers.
top seat in state government. The
Perhaps those
Senate and House are
debacles may well
favored to remain in
It is important have debacled,
Democratic control.
and hundreds of
If that’s the case
that voters
millions of tax
— with one party
ind a way to dollars would still
having its hands on
been lushed
almost all the levers
provide a check have
down the toilet. But
of power — then it is
on Democratic with a member of
important that voters
an opposite party
ind a way to provide
Party power
as Secretary of
some check on that
State, Oregonians
power. Voters can
in Oregon.
would have had a
do that by electing
more thorough and
Republican Dennis
transparent accounting of why the
Richardson for Secretary of State.
mistakes happened and responsible
Richardson, you may remember,
decision-makers held accountable.
was defeated by soon-to-be-
That would give Oregonians more
disgraced Gov. John Kitzhaber in
conidence that similar mistakes
2014. He has spent a decade in the
Oregon legislature, rising to speaker wouldn’t happen again.
Richardson’s main competitor,
pro tem and a powerful co-chair
Democrat Brad Avakian, is looking
of the joint Ways and Means
to use the position as a stepping
Committee.
stone to higher statewide ofice. He
Richardson has a history of
straightforward conservative votes, a would look to expand the ofice of
Secretary of State, and would likely
willingness to engage a Democratic
be to the left of the governor’s ofice
majority and conduct a statewide
on many issues. While that may be
campaign in opposition to them.
delightful for some parts of Oregon,
As Secretary of State, Richardson
it doesn’t sound so good out here on
would be able to concentrate solely
the wide prairies.
on the iscal impacts of legislative
Because he would be in charge of
decisions, support reorganization
the audits division and be one of the
of poor-performing state ofices
few Republicans within the upper
and increase transparency and
echelon of state government, we
accountability.
support Richardson for Secretary of
In regards to major state
State.
government failures in recent years
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.
YOUR VIEWS
Trump an embarrassment
to men everywhere
EOTEC deserves criticism,
should be able to accept it
On behalf of mature men everywhere
— and by “mature men,” I mean those
of us who have learned that masculine
strength must be tempered with empathy
if it is to protect and serve the common
good — I would like to apologize to
all women for letting Donald Trump
masquerade as one of us.
During Sunday’s town hall debate,
Trump dismissed the vile words
he spoke in that leaked “Access
Hollywood” tape as “just locker room
talk,” implying that all post-pubescent
heterosexual men talk that way with
each other behind closed doors, and
we all feel that way about the women
around us, and we would all just grab
them by the genitals if we thought we
could get away with it.
Mature men do not, and would not,
talk or act this way. But I understand
now that women may never feel
completely safe around us men,
because you can never be totally
sure whether they are mature men or
developmentally-stunted predators like
Trump. And that grieves me.
To my fellow men — mature men —
I would just like to point out that Trump
is delecting criticism of his puerile,
indefensible behavior by attempting
to pass himself off as the avatar of
red-blooded American masculinity. This
cannot go unchallenged, for it is a grave
insult to our collective manhood. Men
can and should be better than this. We
cannot allow him to represent us in any
public capacity, let alone the highest
ofice in the land. I urge you to vote
accordingly.
To Trump himself, I say: If you think
you’re such a tough guy with such great
stamina, then pick the time and place,
you son of a Klansman. I’m calling you
out under the Marquess of Queensberry
Rules. Let’s see whether you can box
for your honor half as well as you can
“wrestle” for spectacle. If your doctor
says you’re too old and frail, then I will
settle for ighting any of your equally
disreputable sons.
I just get irritated when the East
Oregonian lets George Anderson attack
people on their opinions of EOTEC. This
man has such thin skin he needs to take
off his suit coat, roll up his sleeves and
get out into the sunlight and help his skin
get thicker. George is the self-appointed
attack dog for the EOTEC board. Rick
Rohde has his right to voice his opinion.
Although I agree about the EOTEC
need and hope it prospers, I disagree with
George’s statements. You see, we have
had the land in Hermiston on Airport
Road for decades due to land swap deals
from public entity to public entity. There
was no intention to ind an alternative in
Milton-Freewater or another location.
The $8 million is a phony number used
and has no merit, due to the fact that the
land already set aside would be used
eventually as intended. We would not
have lost the fairgrounds at all, just a
lot of the public’s conidence, and trust,
coming from the end result of this project
EOTEC was brought in without a lot
of foresight. You see, the fairgrounds
were supposed to get done irst, but it
was decided by a few and not the rest of
us, the many, to build EOTEC irst. You
see, George, since numerous taxpayer
funding grants were received, Mr. Rohde
as a taxpayer should be able to voice his
opinion. Not just your opinion.
EOTEC was poorly designed, poorly
implemented by the board, and did not
give the proper oversight that they should
have diligently done when mostly with
taxpayer money (state grants, city tax
money, county tax money, and motel
owners’ tax money) was used. The Frew
management company was mismanaging
the project and was not truthful to the
board and taxpayers on several instances.
They should have been ired from the
project — but no, they kept them on for
this last phase.
So again, George is defending lack
of oversight, mismanagement and a
deadline that is over a year late. Nice!
Goes to show you that cronyism is still
alive and well.
Dave Wahler
La Grande
Perry W. Hawkins
Hermiston
Trump bounces back in debate
S
T. LOUIS — You can make
audience.
a good argument that Donald
To what end? After the debate, I
asked Trump spokesman Jason Miller
Trump won the second
whether the women’s presence had
presidential debate with Hillary
any effect in the room.
Clinton. You could also argue that no
“Who knows?” Miller answered.
one won. But it’s probably beyond
“Then why do it?”
dispute that Trump’s performance will
“Because Juanita Broaddrick and
shut down Republican defections from
Kathleen Willey and the other woman
his struggling campaign, at least for
Byron
had their voices stomped out for far
now.
York
too long,” Miller answered. “Hillary
Say you were a Republican
Comment
Clinton has been a part of that. So has
lawmaker contemplating breaking
the media. What we’re simply doing
with Trump. You didn’t do it Saturday,
is giving them the opportunity to have their
when several GOP oficials jumped, because
you wanted to see how Trump would do in the story told.”
When the sex portion of the show was
debate Sunday night. Now you’ve seen it — a
inally over, the debate moved on to Clinton’s
more aggressive, hard-hitting and focused
emails, and then to what used to be known as
effort than Trump’s losing performance in
actual issues: Obamacare,
Debate One — and you’re
Trump’s call for a temporary
probably not going to
ban on immigration from
abandon Trump now.
some terrorist-affected
Contrary to expectations,
countries, Syria, political
the debate did not begin
transparency, taxes.
with a punch-in-the-gut
Trump didn’t display
question about Trump’s
any more policy depth than
lewd video. Instead,
he has in the past — it is
an audience member
astonishing, for example,
approached the issue in the
that he seems to have
softest, most indirect way,
learned nothing more about
asking both Trump and
a replacement for Obamacare since the GOP
Clinton whether they feel they are “modeling
primaries. But overall, he effectively used
appropriate and positive behavior for today’s
each issue to slam Clinton and the Obama
youth?”
administration, arguing that he would be able
Neither candidate actually answered the
to get things done where they failed. Clinton
question, but Trump did a far better job than
was on the defensive for much of the debate’s
Clinton of pivoting to issues — the issues he
last hour.
wanted to talk about, including Obamacare,
The bottom line was that Trump
terrorism and the trade deicit. In the irst
weathered the sex portion of the debate — a
debate Sept. 26, Trump didn’t seem to know
development which would have seemed like
what a pivot was. The second debate marked
a miracle just 36 hours earlier — and showed
the moment he learned that basic debate
strength in the policy sections. Beforehand,
maneuver.
many observers would have predicted Clinton
After the opening, co-moderator Anderson
would crush Trump in both.
Cooper administered the punch-in-the-gut
Then Trump scored well on Obamacare,
video question. “You bragged that you have
and then on taxes, and then did OK on
sexually assaulted women,” Cooper said to
foreign policy. Finally, he scored well at the
Trump. “Do you understand that?”
end with an actual compliment of Clinton’s
Trump dismissed the video repeatedly as
tenaciousness.
“locker room talk,” apologizing and saying
And so Trump won, perhaps, or certainly
he was embarrassed by it. And then Trump
didn’t lose.
pivoted again, this time suggesting the video
What does that mean? Well, if a campaign
was a minor issue compared to the threat
has one foot in the grave, simply not dying is
posed by Islamic State.
a big win.
Clinton had her say, arguing that the video
But if Trump thinks the debate will push
was not an aberration but the essence of
Trump. “I think it’s clear to anyone who heard the lewd tape problem into the past, he’ll
soon ind that’s not the case. And of course,
it that it represents exactly who he is,” she
any new revelations — and there were lots of
said.
rumors on Sunday — could start the whole
With both sides having spoken, was the
Republican panic-and-bolt cycle again, with
Trump video portion of the debate over? Not
more GOP lawmakers heading for the exits.
at all. The other moderator, Martha Raddatz,
But that’s for the days ahead. The
took her turn at the question, and that’s when
bottom line Sunday is that Trump was in an
Trump brought up the Bill Clinton women.
enormously dificult and pressure-illed spot.
Shortly before the debate began, Juanita
If he lost badly to Clinton, the signiicant but
Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey and Paula Jones
manageable number of Republican defections
were escorted by Trump aides into the hall.
from his campaign might have turned into
They took prominent seats in the Trump
a stampede. Instead, Trump held things
section, but they were well out of Hillary
together.
Clinton’s line of sight. If Clinton had to rely
No, that’s not expanding the Trump
only on what she could see, she wouldn’t have
electorate. It’s not converting independent
known they were there.
voters. But for a man with his back against the
Which raises a question: What was the
wall, Sunday night’s debate was a welcome
point? Before the debate, a number of Trump
change in fortune.
supporters, like Newt Gingrich, thought
■
bringing in the Bill Clinton victims was a
Byron York is chief political correspondent
dumb idea. But Trump not only met with
for The Washington Examiner.
them before the debate, he posted them in the
Trump effectively
used each issue
to slam Clinton
and the Obama
administration.
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.