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Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Saturday, April 1, 2017 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 EO MEDIA GROUP East Oregonian • The Daily Astorian • Capital Press • Hermiston Herald Blue Mountain Eagle • Wallowa County Chieftain • Chinook Observer • Coast River Business Journal Oregon Coast Today • Coast Weekend • Seaside Signal • Cannon Beach Gazette Eastern Oregon Real Estate Guide • Eastern Oregon Marketplace • Coast Marketplace OnlyAg.com • FarmSeller.com • Seaside-Sun.com • NorthwestOpinions.com • DiscoverOurCoast.com OUR VIEW The curious case of the sacked The strange persistence of guilt EQC board I OTHER VIEWS In a move that defies both logic and comprehension, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown abruptly fired three members of the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission. This is the latest episode of the governor’s meddling in the business of a supposedly independent state commission. Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, had it right when he said, “We cannot have the governor of our beautiful state firing Senate-confirmed volunteer members of a commission, simply because they don’t do what she wants them to do.” Legally, a governor has the authority to fire political appointees, including commission members. But such actions should be exceedingly rare and must be fully explained. Oregonians deserve that, especially given Brown’s professed commitment to transparency. Nothing about her action makes sense. That includes the press release issued by her office on Wednesday. It announced her appointment of three new members to the Environmental Quality Commission, thanked the three departing members, avoided saying they had been fired, and gave no clue to her reasoning — including why she kept two members. But the political infighting seems to come down to the commission’s recent hiring of Richard Whitman to head the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, an agency that has endured rough times. Whitman is a former aide to Brown and Gov. John Kitzhaber, and a former director of the state Department of Land Conservation and Development. He served as acting DEQ director so it is not surprising that the commission unanimously gave him the permanent job after conducting a national search. Brown’s staff said she was dissatisfied with the selection process — that it took too long and was insufficiently “collaborative” with the governor’s office. Yet they said Brown had confidence in Whitman’s abilities. The first part of the governor’s concern may highlight a flaw in the hiring process — that independent commissions and semi-autonomous agencies, which abound in state government, might lack the expertise and resources to adequately manage top-level hiring. That concern deserves a close look by the Legislature during the final three months of its 2017 session. But the question of “collaboration” is deeply troubling. State law clearly says the governor shall appoint the commission members, the state Senate shall decide whether to confirm those appointments, and the commission shall appoint the DEQ director. Given that Whitman is in place and Brown professes confidence in him, why now sack a majority of the commissioners? The ousted commissioners say it’s because Brown did not want them to appoint Whitman. They also say that Brown was late in making her desires known. Even if those allegations are only partially true, they raise serious questions about how much involvement a governor should have in a supposedly independent commission. Brown has been at odds with the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission over gillnetting in the Columbia River. She also defied her fellow members of the State Land Board in ordering the Division of State Lands to create a plan for keeping the Elliott State Forest in public ownership. As in this latest instance, her rationale was not fully explained. The trend is disturbing. Oregonians have wanted stronger leadership from Gov. Brown. But her sacking of three EQC commissioners smacks of retribution, not leadership. 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. n 1981, philosopher Alasdair is still vestigially shaped by religious MacIntyre opened his book “After categories. Virtue” with a passage that is And yet we have no clear now famous. Imagine if we lost the framework or set of rituals to guide theoretical coherence of science. us in our quest for goodness. Worse, Imagine if we still used scientific people have a sense of guilt and sin, words like neutrino and atomic weight, but no longer a sense that they live in but had no overall framework to a loving universe marked by divine explain how they fit together. mercy, grace and forgiveness. There is David That’s the state of our moral Brooks sin but no formula for redemption. discourse today, he suggested. We still The only reliable way to feel Comment use words describing virtue and vice, morally justified in that culture is to but without any overall metaphysics. assume the role of victim. As McClay Religious frameworks no longer organize puts it, “Claiming victim status is the sole sure public debate. Secular philosophies that grew means left of absolving oneself and securing out of the Enlightenment have fallen apart. one’s sense of fundamental moral innocence.” We have words and emotional instincts about “If one wishes to be accounted innocent, what feels right and wrong, but no settled one must find a way to make the claim that criteria to help us think, argue and decide. one cannot be held morally responsible. This That diagnosis seemed accurate to many is precisely what the status of victimhood people, and it seemed to point toward a culture accomplishes.” of easygoing relativism. With no common I’d add that this move takes all moral criteria by which to judge moral action we’d striving and it politicizes it. Instead of seeing all become blandly nonjudgmental — sort of moral struggle as something between you and chill, pluralistic versions of Snoop Dogg: You God (the religious version) or as something do you and I’ll do me and we’ll all be cool that happens between the good and evil within about it. Whatever feels right. yourself (the classical version), moral struggle But that’s not what’s happened. We now happens primarily between groups. haven’t entered the age of milquetoast We see events through the lens of moral bourgeois relativism. Instead, society has Marxism, as a class or ethnic struggle between become a free-form demolition derby of the evil oppressor and the supposedly innocent moral confrontation: the cold-eyed fanaticism oppressed. The moral narrative of colonialism of students at Middlebury College and is applied to every situation. The concept of other campuses nationwide; the rage of inherited sin is back in common currency, only the alt-right; holy wars over transgender these days we call it “privilege.” bathrooms; the furious intensity at every As the political scientist Thomas U. Berger town-hall meeting on every subject. put it, “We live in an age of apology and American life has secularized and grand recrimination.” The conflicts on campus take political ideologies have fallen away, but on a Salem witch trial intensity. In the Middle moral conflict has only grown. In fact, it’s East, the Israelis and the Palestinians compete the people who go to church least — like the for the victimhood narrative. Even America’s members of the alt-right — who seem the heartland populists see themselves as the most fervent moral crusaders. victims of the oppressive coastal elites. Steve We’re living in an age of great moral Bannon is the Frantz Fanon of the whites. pressure, even if we lack the words to Sin is a stain, a weight and a debt. But at least articulate it. In fact, as Wilfred McClay points religions offer people a path from self-reflection out in a brilliant essay called “The Strange and confession to atonement and absolution. Persistence of Guilt” for The Hedgehog Mainstream culture has no clear path upward Review, religion may be in retreat, but guilt from guilt, either for individuals or groups. So seems as powerfully present as ever. you get a buildup of scapegoating, shaming and Technology gives us power and power Manichaean condemnation. “This is surely a entails responsibility, and responsibility, moral crisis in the making,” McClay writes. McClay notes, leads to guilt: You and I see I notice some schools and prisons have a picture of a starving child in Sudan and we restorative justice programs to welcome know inwardly that we’re not doing enough. offenders back into the community. They tend “Whatever donation I make to a charitable to be more substantive than the cheap grace organization, it can never be as much as I of instant forgiveness. I wonder if the wider could have given. I can never diminish my society needs procedures like that, so the carbon footprint enough, or give to the poor private guilt everybody feels isn’t transmuted enough. ... Colonialism, slavery, structural into a public state of perpetual moral war. poverty, water pollution, deforestation — ■ there’s an endless list of items for which you David Brooks has been a senior editor at and I can take the rap.” The Weekly Standard, a contributing editor at McClay is describing a world in which Newsweek and the Atlantic Monthly, and he is we’re still driven by an inextinguishable currently a commentator on “The Newshour need to feel morally justified. Our thinking with Jim Lehrer.” YOUR VIEWS Hermiston schools just trying to keep up with demand The Hermiston School District and the Hermiston community faces a challenge of dealing with significant growth in student enrollment, a challenge that most districts in Eastern Oregon don’t have. For other school districts, their major challenge is determining how to continue to provide a quality educational experience when the funding of their general fund is reduced because of their declining enrollment. For Hermiston, the challenge is providing adequate classroom space for all of the students that enter the halls of our schools. Of these two challenges, we much prefer dealing with the challenge of growth rather than dealing with budget cuts. The community continues to grow bringing more students in to our school system. The proposed bond will provide for improved safety for our students and also provide the classroom space to educate our students. Please join us in voting yes on the Hermiston School Bond in the May 16th election. The education of the youth of our community must continue to be a focus for us all and is something we must all commit to funding. Steve and Janet Williams Hermiston Special meeting to focus on tribal spending Just like the U.S. Constitution, our Umatilla Tribal Constitution gives our tribal citizens the right to “peaceably assemble” to address tribal governance issues. Thus, a proper petition has been filed with the tribal government to convene a special General Council meeting. The meeting will be at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 6, 2017, at the tribal governance center. There are legitimate questions on some of the decisions that tribal officials have made on how tribal funds are used. A tribal member recently wrote in our tribal newspaper about some concerns on financial issues. The special meeting will be an opportunity for grass-roots tribal members to ask legitimate questions on their concerns on tribal spending. I know I have concerns. Bob Shippentower Pendleton Compromise for the Pendleton fire station I have a compromise to the $10 million bond issue. I think that the majority of voters and even the fire personnel will agree that the old theater site is the best place for fire protection. It is twice as big as the present fire station. Southwest Second Street could be closed for one block next to station, and the lot next to Baxter Auto on Second Street could be used for training; I don’t think Baxter or Western Auto would object. Also, there is a large city-owned parking lot across the street that could be used for parking or training, close to the population center for ambulance service and fire protection, and near downtown with old multi-story buildings that need quick fire response. I would be willing to support a $5 million bond for this site if the city council of Pendleton would forgo their 3 percent raise or assessed value for two years and look to cut costs for the taxpayers of Pendleton and make police, fire and streets their top priority. I think $5 million is enough for a fire station that would meet Pendleton’s needs for the forseeable future. As far as equipment for the fire department, they should never be short of lifesaving equipment. We pay $2.60 per month for public safety; this has been enough for years for fire equipment. Last year the council voted to buy police cars instead of the lifesaving equipment that the fire chief says we need. We need to defeat this excessive $10 million bond issue. Then we can have a real discussion about how to take care of our long-term fire protection and police protection for our city. Rex J. Morehouse Pendleton How many chances will Rep. Walden get? Perhaps at Congressman Walden’s urging, county GOP chairs in the Second District are writing opinion letters that not only defend him, but claim there is some sort of campaign by a dark out-of-state organization to “smear” poor Greg in the pages of local newspapers. Nonsense. For the record, I’m one individual, and am not part of any anti- Walden “conspiracy.” I am simply a lone letter writer who wants to share his views with fellow voters elsewhere in the Second District. So here goes: Our congressman’s fingerprints are all over the recent “Repeal/Replace” legislation, something so poorly conceived that it never came to a vote. Greg was a major author of that debacle of a bill. His bill (“Waldencare?”) would have left millions of low-income people without insurance, while — get this — giving huge tax breaks for the very, very wealthy. Now Greg’s gone and done it again! At the urging of big GOP donors, he’s voted to repeal our internet privacy protections. These are protections that even extreme conservatives say were among of the best things to come out of the Obama years. Twenty years ago, freshman Congressman Walden was a decent guy, a relatively moderate-conservative. Since then, like a jellyfish, he’s drifted off into a distant current, where only the desires of the rich and powerful seem to matter. Will voters continue to fall for this, election after election? “You can fool some of the people all of the time.” But maybe, just maybe, try reading some true, principled conservative columnists like Michael Gerson, Kathleen Parker, and Jennifer Rubin. They gave Obama hell for eight years. Today, their disgust at the cynicism of Trump, Ryan, and Walden is profound. Jeff LaLande Talent 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 newspa- per reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual ser- vices 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.