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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 4, 2017)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Thursday, May 4, 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 OUR VIEW Getting involved in Umatilla The city of Umatilla’s government city government, despite the fact has undergone significant change in that almost half the city is Latino. the last year, putting it at a fork in the That’s not a city government that is river. accurately representing the people, Back in 2016, city council which was rightfully brought up ushered its city manager to an early Tuesday by both Dufloth and Lyle retirement. They named then-public Smith, his fellow candidate for the works head Russ Pelleberg as the appointment. replacement. Pelleberg brought This has not been a city that has questionable credentials to the been transparent about its issues, job, including two college degrees whether it’s bluffing on your résumé, from Breyer not being upfront after crashing your State University, Corvette or not being a non-accredited Voters must to discuss diploma mill now keep the city willing serious questions in based in Panama. open session. The legitimacy of government The city of those degrees was accountable. Umatilla has not questioned during significant problems, his initial hiring, and both in the structure strangely doesn’t of the town and the culture of its seem to bother the council now. government. Both are fixable, Then-mayor David Trott but a lack of public comment and questioned Pelleberg’s credibility involvement exacerbates those after he promoted junk degrees from problems. a fake institution. Trott also claimed Dufloth said Tuesday that Umatilla Pelleberg lied on his application about his departure from his last job, but the is a jewel that needs some polish. We agree with the sentiment but would council has taken no action. Once it became clear he wasn’t going to make recommend something more than a light scrub. The way to rebuild public headway, Trott resigned in March trust is with more transparency, citing “irreconcilable differences.” which sometimes takes the form This week, two more city of real disagreement in the council councilors resigned including chambers. council president Mary Dedrick. The East Oregonian will do our One councilor who remains is Mike part to report the problems facing Roxbury, who quit his job with the the city as well as its successes, but Umatilla Fire Department about a voters are the most important part year ago and while on paid leave of keeping your public agencies had a questionable late-night crash accountable. If you are a resident of that does not seem to have been Umatilla, we urge you to get involved investigated in a timely or sufficient manner. He was elected to the council in your city and hold up that end of the bargain. seven months later. All interested parties should On Tuesday, the city appointed Daren Dufloth as Trott’s replacement, show up, speak up, and demand everyone in city government — meaning an unelected mayor will helm the council for more than a year. from mayor to manager to police chief to planner — treat the public There’s a lot going on here. as active partners. In this moment Personal animosities and friendships of turnover and churn, there is the have mixed into political differences opportunity for change. It should not and plain indifference. There are be discarded, nor should bad habits divided visions of how to move be further cemented into the culture Umatilla forward. There is also of decision making in the city. the total lack of a Latino voice in 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 Facts matter on Pendleton fire station decision Pendleton citizens want clear facts when they consider voting for a major project such as the new fire station. Here are some facts: 1. The new fire station location will save, on average, six seconds of response time compared to the existing site. 2. The response time is measured from the time fire service personnel board the truck or ambulance until the time they reach the fire or medical emergency. 3.The usual preparation time in the fire station is 60 seconds from the time the alarm is received. 4. If a citizen lives in Pendleton, the time you wait for service will be reduced. 5. The old St. Anthony Hospital location will provide better access to primary roads or to the freeway and will allow more effective traffic control in the event of a major fire event — when all equipment is dispatched. Please consider the above when completing your ballot. John Brenne Pendleton Fire station too big an ask for city voters We feel the bond measure for a new fire station which we are being asked to vote on May 16 is rather elaborate and costly to taxpayers. There is no doubt there needs to be improvements in the fire station and of the equipment. But we have major concerns about the very deluxe plans being submitted under the current bond proposal. Why do we need a museum in the new fire station when the city has so many other concerns and deficits? The surveys done said that response times are better. Really? Look at the large population on the North Hill. These homes will no doubt find their response time increased from the new proposed site. There were more centrally located sites proposed and the access to travel north, south, east or west seems more logical. The cost per square foot — there must be some gold plating along with the expensive counter tops, interior doors, decorative lighting, and landscape costs. How many employers provide on-site exercise facilities? And the need for a satellite police station because it is at the other end of town from the current station? We echo Steve Richards’ views from the April 26 opinion page and likewise “encourage the city to rein in the size and cost of the station and return to the voters with a more reasonable request.” OTHER VIEWS A lot of Republicans don’t want to repeal Obamacare “We’re going to go when we have repeal measure. the votes,” Speaker Paul Ryan said Other GOP lawmakers are openly Thursday when asked when the House conceding that whatever the House will pass a bill to repeal and replace does — if it does anything — it won’t Obamacare. Lawmakers will not be actually repeal Obamacare. Large parts constrained by any “artificial deadline,” of Barack Obama’s legacy legislation Ryan declared. will remain standing, a fact that more On March 24, when the Speaker Republicans are admitting as time goes pulled the GOP Obamacare bill before by. Byron what would have been a sure defeat, Some Republicans remain York he said, “We’re going to be living with optimistic, but in a much longer-term Comment Obamacare for the foreseeable future.” sense. “The process of removing a But why? Republicans have 238 2,300-page law with 20,000 pages seats in the House. Repealing Obamacare of rules can’t be done in one vote,” says will require 217 votes. Even with unanimous the member who estimated that 25 to 30 Democratic opposition, Republicans could Republicans don’t want to vote for repeal. lose 21 votes and still prevail on repeal. Why “The process will take two years.” haven’t they done it? The Republican-controlled House and By this time, it’s becoming increasingly Senate both voted to repeal Obamacare in clear that Republicans have not repealed January 2016. In the House, 239 Republicans Obamacare because a lot of Republicans do voted for repeal, while three voted against it not want to repeal Obamacare. and four did not vote. President Obama, of They don’t even want to sorta repeal course, vetoed the bill. Obamacare. The bill currently on the table, like Now, with a president who would sign an the bill pulled in March, falls far short of a full Obamacare repeal, there’s no way Republicans repeal of Obamacare. And yet Republicans still could get as many votes as last year. When repeal first failed last month, cannot agree on it. a number of commentators blamed the About a week after the first Obamacare conservative House Freedom Caucus. In the repeal failure, a House Republican, speaking days since, caucus members have made the privately, said the difficulty in passing the bill was not a parliamentary problem involving the case, convincingly, that they have shown an enormous amount of flexibility in trying to complexities of the Senate and reconciliation. No, the lawmaker said, “It is a problem that we reach agreement with the Tuesday Group, made up of House GOP centrists. have members in the Republican conference Now, the centrists — a number of that do not want Obamacare repealed, because Republicans refer to them as “the mods,” of their district. That’s the fundamental thing for moderates — appear to be moving that we’re seeing here.” the goalposts, even as the conservatives “I thought we campaigned on repealing it,” offer concessions. Conservatives suspect the lawmaker continued. “Now that it’s our the centrists were perfectly happy for turn, I’m finding there’s about 50 people who conservatives to take the blame for killing really don’t want to repeal Obamacare. They the first bill, but now are showing their true want to keep it.” colors by rejecting compromise on the second Other conservatives are saying similar version. things. In an email exchange Thursday The reason is fear. When the lawmaker afternoon, I asked one member where the latest said colleagues don’t want repeal “because of bill stood. “We absolutely do not have the their district,” that was another way of saying votes to repeal it,” he answered. “The fact that the members are all representatives, and the some members are balking at even allowing voters they represent don’t want repeal. From states to waive out of some of Obamacare regulations is proof positive. We’ve gone from The Hill on Thursday afternoon: “Many vulnerable Republicans are running scared. ‘repeal it root-and-branch’ to ‘Mother-may-I One moderate Republican was overheard in a opt out of some of Obamacare’ — and we still House cafeteria this week telling an aide: ‘If I are having trouble getting the votes.” vote for this healthcare bill, it will be the end In a phone conversation Thursday of my career.’” afternoon, another Republican, Rep. Steve Whichever faction inside the Republican King, quibbled a bit with the number of Party is to blame, it could well be that the House Republicans who don’t want to repeal conservatives’ numbers are basically right: Obamacare — he would put it in the forties — but felt certain there are lots of Republicans There are a lot of Republicans, say 40 to 50, who don’t want to repeal. “If you don’t want to who don’t want to repeal Obamacare. Given get rid of federal mandates to health insurance, unanimous Democratic opposition, that means that there are somewhere around 190, then it’s pretty clear you don’t want to get rid or maybe 195, House members who actually of Obamacare,” King said. want to repeal Obamacare. That will never get “Whatever we come out with, it will say the job done. Even a lower estimate, of 25 to to the American people that a full repeal of 30 members who don’t want repeal, would Obamacare is no longer in the cards,” King make success impossible. And if that is the added. case, the question is, why are Republicans Yet another Republican member, in an trying? email exchange, estimated that there are 25 ■ to 30 House Republicans “who don’t want Byron York is chief political correspondent to be forced to make the repeal vote.” Even for The Washington Examiner. that lower number would be enough to sink a Bob and Chris Adelman Pendleton Excellent public safety requires investment I think we would all agree that public safety is the most valuable of services the city provides. Pendleton enjoys a high quality of law enforcement and first responder services because, after all, it’s just the way it is. And when you do need to use those resources, you’re extremely thankful for them. Yet, public safety is likely the city service that we take most for granted. We just assume that it’s going to be there when we need it, and that it will continue indefinitely into the future. If public safety becomes diminished through lack of investment, poor leadership, morale or otherwise, it’s very challenging (and expensive) to correct and reinstate. Once in a while we need to make an investment in maintaining the standard of public safety services. Please vote yes for the fire bond. Mike Short 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. 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. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.