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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
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Circulation Manager
JANNA HEIMGARTNER
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Production Manager
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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.