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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 16, 2016)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Friday, December 16, 2016 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 Office Manager MIKE JENSEN Production Manager OUR VIEW Tip of the hat, kick in the pants A tip of the hat to the stranger, that anonymous helper who shows up just in the nick of time to help with a perilous predicament then vanishes as mysteriously as they appeared. We’ve heard stories of these good Samaritans for the past week, but specifically overnight Wednesday as the snow storm stranded motorists. Whether it’s a single person showing up to help dig a car out of a drift or a group helping push or shovel or otherwise free a vehicle and get the driver back on the road, they seem to be everywhere. Many times, names are not exchanged. The helper merely goes along with their day (or night) without expectation of anything more than a thank you. We’re happy to oblige, and look for the chance to pay it forward. A kick in the pants to Pendleton’s refusal to invest in snow plowing services. First, to clear the air — the city did not sell its snow plow to buy a statue. Rumors like that swirl along with the falling snow each winter. In reality, the city has a plow it uses in only select circumstances. Like when it needs to clear snow to access utilities. Sure, it was a once-in-a-decade overnight snowfall Wednesday. But every winter there is at least a day or two that we could use a plow to make getting around town safer and easier. We’ve been told people didn’t like their roads cleared when the city used to provide the service in the 1990s. Nobody likes a pile of snow in their driveway. But if those are the only two options — leaving snow stacked on the city’s streets or piling it up on private property — the city isn’t trying hard enough to solve the problem. A tip of the hat to the Oregon Emergency Board, made up of 20 lawmakers, for denying $3.8 million to the Department of Corrections for the construction of a second women’s prison in Oregon. There are many things this state needs, and another prison isn’t one of them. Dedicating more money, and emergency dollars at that, to a prison project is not a good use of our state funds. Instead of approving the expenditure, the emergency board told the corrections department to work with counties to whittle their female inmate population enough to relieve the need for a second facility. The second prison was planned to open in Salem in June to house as few as 20 inmates to start. Of course, that’s just a start. Surely there would be need, at our current pace, to fill that prison in a few years and start planning the next. We’d rather see the state put its corrections dollars to use on improving diversion and rehabilitation programs that don’t require big slabs of brick and mortar. 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 Time to invest in voter fraud investigation The (Bend) Bulletin, Dec. 9 I f there’s one thing certain about voter fraud, it’s this: There’s not much research into how much fraud there actually is. It’s time that changed. Oregon would be a good place to begin. According to an article in The Bulletin by reporter Taylor W. Anderson, state Rep. Mike Nearman, R-Independence, and James Buchal, a lawyer and Republican from the Portland area, have filed a potential ballot measure with the Secretary of State’s Office that would amend the constitution to require proof of citizenship to register to vote. The measure also would allow all current registrations to expire in two years so that all who hope to vote in Oregon would have to re-register, with proper identification. In some cases the state would be required to issue copies of Oregon birth certificates for free. That’s a lot of work for county clerks and the Secretary of State’s Office, and it would be a hassle for the more than 2.5 million voters currently registered in the state. It may or may not be necessary. A 2012 Pew Center on the States study of voter registration found problems, though they stem from things other than fraud. Research into voter registration fraud generally comes from studies of particular elections after the fact. It may well be that the number of cases of fraud reported are a tiny fraction of voter frauds committed. Or not. But without studies, no one knows for sure. The first step in fixing a problem should be to find out if Oregon has one. Would the proposed change in voter registration accomplish anything? Oregon lawmakers should ask if it is possible to do a more extensive study of fraud in Oregon. Even if it is not possible, it may expose weaknesses in the current system that should be addressed. As the Pew study noted, most states lack the modern data matching techniques used by business. Can Oregon do more? Lawmakers should ask. OTHER VIEWS Dinner and a kiss-off for Mitt F much.” arewell, Mitt Romney, farewell. The man he’d denounced so Romney, who once spent vigorously during the campaign, he nearly a decade being rejected added, had “a message of inclusion by the American electorate, got the and bringing people together, and his heave-ho from Donald Trump this vision is something which obviously week — passed over for the secretary connected with the American people of state nomination in favor of an in a very powerful way.” If you had oil executive who is great pals with asked Romney at that moment what Vladimir Putin. Gail It is, of course, extremely Collins he thought about Trump University, he’d probably have announced plans fashionable in Trump’s Washington to Comment to enroll. be great pals with Vladimir Putin. Also But then, whammo. He was to be a general or a climate change passed over for Rex Tillerson, the CEO of denier. Romney was always suspicious Exxon Mobil, who seemed to pop up out of of Russia, never served in the military, nowhere. Trump was reportedly moved by and although he came up with multiple positions on the environment over the years, recommendations from Republican luminaries he would still have been one of the only like former Defense Secretary Robert Gates Trump nominees to have and former Secretary of State sporadically held an opinion Condoleezza Rice. Rice that the globe was warming. and Gates have a consulting It’s not like the list of firm that counts Tillerson’s appointees doesn’t have company as a client, but that variety. Rick Perry once had nothing whatsoever to do competed in “Dancing With with their miraculous, totally the Stars.” Linda McMahon, coincidental and spontaneous the new head of the Small decisions to drop his name. Business Administration, is Roger Stone, a political probably the only one who’s consultant who frequently performed in a professional presents himself as a Friend wrestling competition. of Trump, told a radio talk McMahon is among the show host that the whole highest-ranking female wooing of Mitt was just an nominees. effort to “torture” the former At the very tiptop, so far, presidential candidate. is Elaine Chao, Trump’s Another theory is that pick for secretary of Romney’s problem was transportation. We failed to elect a woman a failure to apologize for those campaign president, but if Chao is confirmed, there insults. will at least be a woman 13th in the line of It’s possible. Romney did once write a succession. book called “No Apology.” However, given On Wednesday, Trump named Romney’s his track record, a better title might have been niece as head of the Republican National “No Apology Normally, Unless Something Committee. Do you think that was an attempt Else Happens.” to make Mitt feel better — or worse? He had Should we feel sorry for him? He’d have reasons to think he’d get more than a job for been a more qualified pick than Tillerson. But his brother’s daughter. really, Romney has been such a jerk during It’s true that during the campaign he had this election that it’s hard not to giggle. called Trump “a phony, a fraud,” and said He made a huge, dramatic profile in some rather unflattering things about Trump courage out of his refusal to support Trump, University, Trump Magazine, Trump Vodka but he didn’t have the spine to say that he’d be and Trump Steaks. But after the election, voting for Hillary Clinton. Instead, Romney everything seemed fine and dandy. He was straddled that swamp masquerading as moral getting meetings with the president-elect, high ground where he rejected everybody, being dined (not wined; they’re both took no responsibility for anybody, and teetotalers) at a fancy Manhattan restaurant in therefore was no help at all. front of half the national media. Then, when the man he denounced as a Hard not to feel optimistic when the other fraud got elected, Mitt was instantly in the apparent top finalists for state were David employment line, grinning and blowing Petraeus, a man currently on probation for kisses. Suddenly we were reminded of all sharing military secrets with his mistress, and the years of political shape-shifting, when Rudy Giuliani, who had so come to resemble Romney’s opinions on everything from gun a bad-tempered Rottweiler that he did control to health care changed with every everything but howl at the moon. twitch of the polls. After his big public dinner date with ■ Trump, Romney burbled to reporters that they Gail Collins joined The New York Times had a “discussion about affairs throughout the in 1995 as a member of the editorial board world, and these discussions I’ve had with and later as an Op-Ed columnist. In 2001 she him have been enlightening and interesting became the first woman ever appointed editor and engaging. I’ve enjoyed them very, very of the Times’s editorial page. When the man he denounced as a fraud got elected, Mitt was instantly in the employment line, grinning and blowing kisses. YOUR VIEWS The decay of democracy We’ve reached a very serious state of affairs in this country (perhaps the actual turning point towards the demise of our country) when, as NPR’s reporting Thursday exemplifies, it’s become necessary to actually “report” (or provide a tutorial over the nation’s airwaves) on one of the very basics of our democracy — that is, the “why” behind the importance of presidential news conferences. Incredible. Les Ruark Arlington 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.
