Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
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 Office Manager
MIKE JENSEN
Production Manager
OUR VIEW
Sworn in to
the swamp
Donald Trump’s campaign for the
presidency put many Republicans in
a bind.
The billionaire real estate mogul
and reality TV star brought flash and
fire to the race, but no detailed policy
or even conservative philosophy to
hang a red ball cap on.
A few noted Republicans signed
on early, seeing his populist potential
and willing to embrace the chaos that
his candidacy would bring. Others
signed off publicly, arguing a Trump
presidency would be damaging to
America.
But many kept their silence and
their distance. Those interested in
winning an election down ballot from
Trump knew it could take a tightrope
act to maintain their own Republican
voting base while appealing to a wide
enough demographic to keep their
seats.
The argument was made that
Hillary Clinton (or any Democrat)
should not be the next president of
the United States. And if Trump was
elected, then a Republican Congress
would keep the often inscrutable
president in check and aligned to his
newfound ideals.
With 16 days until Trump’s
inauguration, there is dwindling
evidence the body is up to that task.
Late Monday, with less than 24
hours before the new Republican-led
Congress was to be sworn in, GOP
leaders voted to move the Office
of Congressional Ethics under the
control of Congress. Instead of having
an independent body to investigate
allegations of misconduct, complaints
would be handled within a House
committee (that would conveniently
be controlled by Republicans). A fox
would be stationed at the door of the
hen house to take complaints from any
chickens that felt something was awry.
The change was pushed by Rep.
Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and backed by
legislators who feel they have been
unfairly targeted by the office. There
have been several high-profile cases
of legislators, both Republicans and
Democrats, found guilty of bribery
and corruption because of the work of
the office, which was formed in 2008.
We were pleased to see our own
Rep. Greg Walden as well as House
Speaker Paul Ryan opposed to gutting
the office. But Congress didn’t drop
the effort until President-elect Trump
tweeted against the proposal.
Removing an ethics office didn’t
fit with his latest slogan, “Drain the
Swamp,” and would have been a
questionable first move by a Congress
intent on proving it has both the
vision and discipline to “Make
America Great Again.” Flexing that
new Republican muscle to silence a
nonpartisan ethics office on Day 1,
only to be rebuked by the man they
are supposed to be keeping in check,
makes us worry that they might not be
up to the task.
It also puts that much more
pressure on Walden, Ryan and other
leaders in the House to deliver a
clear message that Republicans are
interested in cleaning up D.C. and not
adding to the swamp.
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
New city council has a
clear sense of direction
O
n the 3rd of January, a
high-quality services from our
new mayor and two new
city staff, police, fire department,
city councilors were
public works, parks, library,
seated in Pendleton. Two other
airport, and convention center.
council members have been on
One of our ongoing projects is to
the job for just a few months,
improve the public’s satisfaction
and there is a feeling of a new
with customer service. Our
beginning at city hall.
city manager, Robb Corbett, is
I want to emphasize that the
already working on improving
John
leadership of Pendleton’s mayor
communications between the
Turner
of 12 years, Phil Houk, was
city and its citizens on how we
Comment
directly responsible for many
provide services. In addition to
great things that have happened
holding regular meetings with
in Pendleton. Your new mayor and city
interest groups, he has started a monthly
council intend to continue down the
electronic newsletter that currently goes
path of improving the infrastructure and
out to more than 600 people. If you are
economy of our city.
not receiving it, call the city manager’s
During January, the city council is
office and get on the list.
expected to adopt four goals to set our
Several things that are happening now
priorities for planning and budgeting for
make me believe we are already on the
the next two years. These goals were the right track. The UAV test range at our
result of work done by a large committee regional airport has produced enough
of local citizens representing businesses,
revenue to put our airport operations in
education, the arts, the hospital, finance,
the black, and revenues are continuing
construction, and government. After
to grow. The Downtown Association is
taking a list of 12 proposed goals to more working hard to make our downtown
than 20 meetings and getting 245 ballots
core vibrant and attractive. Main Street
back from our citizens, the top four goals store vacancies are at the lowest point
became quite clear. Those top-priority
in years. Construction on our schools
goals say we should be providing a stable and at the college, made possible by
source of funding for infrastructure,
voter-approved bonds, will result in safe,
expanding the economy, developing
secure, and effective classrooms that will
quality commercial, industrial, and
make us the envy of Eastern Oregon.
residential properties, and providing more Travel Pendleton is working closely with
housing for all levels of income. We
volunteers from the Round-Up, Happy
are in the process of building measures
Canyon, the Main Street Cowboys
of effectiveness for each of these goals
and other organizations to increase the
so we will know when we are making
number of events that pull large numbers
progress on them.
of tourists into our city each year. Our
One thing that becomes rapidly
upgraded convention center makes us
apparent when looking at these four goals a uniquely desirable venue in northeast
is that, by nature, they are all linked. We
Oregon for these types of large events.
need more housing to support a growing
Citizens of Pendleton should be
economy, we need solid infrastructure
full of confidence that a lot of talented,
(not just streets) to attract new companies, energetic, and conscientious people
and we need quality properties for both
are working hard to improve our city.
business and residential uses. Solutions to If you want to get more involved, then
these issues will take time but I believe it
volunteer. We can always use your ideas
is important for our citizens to know that
and energy.
your city council has a focus and a sense
■
of direction for at least the next two years.
John Turner was sworn into his first
The city will continue to provide
term as Pendleton’s mayor on Tuesday.
The Snapchat presidency
N
ormal leaders come up with
enemies.
policy proposals in a certain
Over the past weeks, we’ve
conventional way. They
treated the president-elect’s
gather their advisers around them
comments as normal policy
and they debate alternatives — with
statements uttered by a normal
briefing papers, intelligence briefings
president-elect. Each time Trump
and implementation strategies.
says or tweets something, squads
President-elect Donald Trump
of experts leap into action, trying to
doesn’t do that. He’s tweeted out
interpret what he could have meant,
David
policy gestures in recent weeks,
or how his intention could lead to
Brooks
say about the future of the United
changes in U.S. policy.
Comment
States’ nuclear arsenal. But these
But this is probably the wrong
gestures aren’t attached to anything.
way to read Trump. He is more
They emerged from no analytic process and
postmodern. He does not operate by an
point to no implemental effects. Trump’s
if-then logic. His mode is not decision,
statements seem to spring spontaneously
implementation, consequence.
from his middle-of night-feelings. They
His statements should probably be treated
are astoundingly ambiguous and defy
less like policy declarations and more like
interpretation.
Snapchat. They exist to win attention at the
Normal leaders serve an office. They
moment, but then they disappear.
understand that the president isn’t a lone
To read Trump correctly, it’s probably
monarch. He is the temporary occupant of
best to dig up old French deconstructionists
a powerful public post. He’s the top piece
like Jean Baudrillard, who treated words not
of a big system, and his ability to create
as things that have meanings in themselves
change depends on his ability to leverage
but as displays in an oppositional power
and mobilize the system. His statements are
struggle. Trump is not a national leader; he
carefully parsed around the world because
is a national show.
presidential shifts in verbal emphasis are
If this is all true, it could be that the
not personal shifts; they are national shifts
governing Trump will be a White House
that signal changes in a superpower’s actual holograph. When it comes to the substance
behavior.
of actual governance, it could be that
Donald Trump doesn’t think in that
President Trump is the man who isn’t there.
way, either. He is anti-system. As my “PBS
The crucial question of the Trump
NewsHour” colleague Mark Shields points
administration could be: Who will fill the
out, he has no experience being accountable void left by a leader who is all facade?
to anybody, to a board of directors or
It could be the senior staff. Trump will
an owner. As president-elect, he has not
spew out a stream of ambiguous tweets,
begun attaching himself to the system of
then the hypermacho tough guys Trump
governance he’ll soon oversee.
has selected will battle viciously with
If anything, Trump is detaching himself.
one another to determine which way the
In a very public way, he’s detached himself
administration will really go.
from the intelligence community that
It could be congressional Republicans.
normally serves as the president’s eyes and
They have an off-the-shelf agenda they are
ears. He’s talked about not really moving
hoping that figurehead Trump will sign,
to the White House, the nerve center of the
though it has nothing to do with the issues
executive branch. He’s sided with a foreign
that drove the presidential campaign.
leader, President Vladimir Putin of Russia,
It could be the permanent bureaucracy,
against his own governmental structures.
which has an impressive passive-aggressive
Finally, normal leaders promulgate
ability to let the politicians have their news
policies. They measure their days by how
conference fun and then ignore everything
they propose and champion actions and
that’s “decided.”
legislation.
I’ll be curious to see if Trump’s public
Trump doesn’t think in this way, either.
rhetoric becomes operationalized in any
He is a creature of the parts of TV and
way. For example, I bet his bromance with
media where display is an end in itself. He is Putin will end badly. The two men are both
not really interested in power; his entire life
such blustery, insecure, aggressive public
has been about winning attention and status
posturers; sooner or later, they will get in a
to build the Trump image for low-class
schoolyard fight.
prestige. The posture is the product.
It will be interesting to see if that brawl
When Trump issues a statement, it may
is just an escalating but ultimately harmless
look superficially like a policy statement,
volley of verbiage, or whether it affects the
but it’s usually just a symbolic assault in
substance of government policy and leads to
some dominance-submission male rivalry
nuclear war.
game. It’s trash-talking against a rival,
■
President Barack Obama, or a media critic
David Brooks has been a senior editor at
like CNN. Trump may be bashing Obama
The Weekly Standard, a contributing editor
on Russia or the Mideast, but it’s not
at Newsweek and the Atlantic Monthly,
because he has implementable policies in
and he is currently a commentator on “The
those realms. The primary thing is bashing
Newshour with Jim Lehrer.”
YOUR VIEWS
City hall, stewards of public
property
With the New Year comes a new mayor and
city council and hopefully a policy that will
address an emphasis on maintaining essential
infrastructure and returning excess public
property to the private sector and back on the
tax rolls. As stated by our former mayor during
a meeting concerning the current use of city
property by BMCC for a baseball field, the city
is the steward of all city property and, as such,
responsible for its condition. The failure of this
stewardship is apparent in the current condition
of Fire Station No. 1, the deterioration of our
city-owned parking lots and city streets, and
the condition of our water and sewer systems.
Our new mayor, apparently hand-picked by
our outgoing mayor, has promised to make this
his primary emphasis and hopefully an end to
potholes and brass plaques.
Cleaning up the blight should also be
a priority since the Restore Pendleton
Committee has not been a stellar success at
this endeavor, its primary mission. It’s taken
well over a year to get any action on the Old
City Hall building, but it’s inexcusable that the
Edwards Apartments, the two houses behind
the Knights Inn Motel, the shanty behind the
new Oregon Grain Growers distillery, and
probably others sitting vacant for years haven’t
received similar attention. Vacant property
owned by the city has been a problem in
my neighborhood for quite some time. The
adjacent property owners use it for a parking
area and dump. Though city hall is aware of
the problem, there seems to be no interest in
cleaning it up.
City hall is again leaning in the wrong
direction by promoting a street tree program
in the downtown area. Sure they look nice,
but there doesn’t seem to be any enthusiasm
from business and property owners or the city
to clean up the resulting mess or repair the
broken sidewalks. It just turns into an added
expense for taxpayers. Check along the nice
paver sidewalk bordering the chamber of
commerce parking lot and you’ll find cast-iron
tree surrounds with stumps or missing trees
much like the several on Main Street where
trees have been removed. I looked on the
approved tree list. Crab apple? You just gotta
love that bird poop on your car when you park
on Main. Even those new trees in front of the
East Oregonian are hanging with that luscious
fruit.
A new mayor and some fresh thinking on
the city council — will it make a difference?
Rick Rohde
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.