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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 16, 2017)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Tuesday, May 16, 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 OTHER VIEWS Is Trump obstructing justice? Submitted Photo Gov. Tom Mcall in front of Surfsand Motel at Cannon Beach in 1967. Beach Bill a reminder for stewardship Saturday marked a momentous between high and low tides of the day in state history. It was on that beach as being publicly owned. day 50 years ago in 1967 — in a Controversy arose in 1966 when publicity stunt — that then-Gov. Bill Hay, the owner of the Surfside Tom McCall landed in a helicopter Motel in Cannon Beach, roped off in Cannon Beach to declare simply a section of the beach on dry sand that Oregon needed to keep its exclusively for motel guests. Since beaches open. the 1913 legislation McCall’s stunt only protected wet In many other led to passage of sands, the Beach Bill coastal states, the Beach Bill, the was introduced to landmark legislation guarantee dry-sand portions of that established public areas would always be beautiful beaches publicly accessible as ownership of the Oregon Coast. well. are privately The Beach Bill We should all be glad he did, and for the owned with “No nearly died in foresight of those who legislative committee, Trespassing” passed it. We should but passed in June signs and no remember that in many 1967. McCall signed other coastal states, it into law a month public access. portions of beautiful later, ensuring “free beaches are privately and uninterrupted owned with “No Trespassing” signs use of the beaches” between the and no public access. low-water mark and the vegetation McCall’s actions fueled public line. Our beaches, forests, plains and support for the bill, which closed a loophole in well-intentioned 1913 mountains are what makes Oregon unique. The state has a history of legislation that declared Oregon putting a high priority on protecting beaches were public highways them for public use, and as summer and guaranteed public access to arrives we’re glad to have so much nearly all of the state’s 363 miles of coastline. The 1913 law, though, unfettered access to the natural beauty. only protected the “wet sands” 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 Future looks bright The county commissioners’ office forecasts a bright future for Umatilla County. Four new data centers at an estimated $500 million apiece add significant growth potential to the Hermiston area while the driving force for economic development in Pendleton appears to be tied to the restoration of the Rivoli Theater. With the closing of JC Penney, the city of Pendleton spearheaded by the Pendleton Development Commission and the Pendleton Downtown Associ- ation, now flush with city cash, have the golden opportunity to revise their food hub plan. Rather than use valuable shovel-ready industrial property, establishing a new professional soup kitchen on downtown Main Street would attract some much-needed diversity in the overall customer base that the city is desperately seeking. Meanwhile the contractor for Pendleton Heights continues to pres- sure the city council into a questionable deal to permit the transfer of money from his left pocket to his right so he can get a loan to refill that left pocket. He mentioned something about the city living up to its half of the partnership. Is he really part owner of City Hall now? It sounds to me like he just needs bigger pants with more pockets. It’s budget time again at City Hall and a quick read, if that’s even possible, revealed an interesting fact. Though PP&L pays the city $1.1 million, yes that’s million, a year for the privilege of providing our electrical and street light service and maintenance, the city is budgeting $190,000 to pay the electric bill to operate those street lights. Rather than use the franchise fee money, the bill is paid from the street repair fund. Didn’t Public Works just ask for an additional $100,000 or so because of the poor condition of the streets because of the rough winter? It’s no wonder our streets are in such sad shape. Just a bit of free advice, if you ever get a chance to take a ride on a B-25, it’s well worth it. Well, that’s the latest news in a nutshell, happy trails. 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. W hen George Washington Patterns emerge. Trump also ousted was preparing to take office, Preet Bharara, a U.S. attorney who everybody wondered what infuriated Moscow and investigated to call him. Senators proposed lofty Tom Price, Trump’s secretary of health titles like “Illustrious Highness” and and human services. Likewise, Trump “Sacred Majesty.” fired Sally Yates, the acting attorney But Washington expressed irritation general, after she warned the White at such fawning, so today we are House that Michael Flynn could led by a modest “Mr. President.” Nicholas be blackmailed over his lies about Later, Washington surrendered office Kristof Russian contacts. after two terms, underscoring that In short, Trump challenges Comment institutions prevail over personalities the legitimacy of checks on his and that, in the words of biographer governance, bullies critics and Ron Chernow, “the president was merely the obfuscates everything. Trump reminds me less servant of the people.” of past American presidents than of the “big That primacy of our country’s institutions men” rulers I covered in Asia and Africa, who over even the greatest of leaders has been a saw laws simply as instruments with which to decisive thread in American history, and it’s punish rivals. one reason President Donald Trump is so It’s reported that Trump sought a pledge of unnerving. His firing of James Comey can be loyalty from Comey. That is what kings seek; seen as simply one element the failure to provide one got of a systematic campaign to Thomas More beheaded. But undermine the rule of law and In a nation of laws, in a nation of laws, we must democratic norms. loyal to laws, norms and we must be loyal be The paradox is that Trump institutions, not to a passing purports to be (like Richard to laws, norms and autocrat. Nixon) a law-and-order acknowledges institutions, not to a that Trump president. His administration he was frustrated by the has ordered a harsh passing autocrat. Russia investigation and that it crackdown on drug offenders, was a factor in firing Comey. when we should be scaling up This may not meet the legal addiction treatment instead. Trump is focusing test for obstruction of justice, but step back on chimerical fraud by noncitizen voters, even and you see that Trump’s entire pattern of as he impinges on an investigation into what behavior is obstruction of the rule of law and could be a monumental electoral fraud by democratic norms. Vladimir Putin. He favors tough law and order Earlier this year I quoted a presidential for the little guy. historian as saying that “there’s a smell of Comey took the investigation into possible treason in the air,” and it’s essential that we collusion between the Kremlin and the have a thorough investigation to find out what Trump campaign seriously enough that for happened. With Senate Republicans blocking his last three weeks leading the FBI he was an independent commission, that means that getting daily updates, according to The Wall Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Street Journal. The new acting director of must choose an independent special counsel to the FBI confirms that the inquiry is “highly probe Russian interference in our election. significant.” George Washington warned that we need For months, as I’ve reported on the checks on leaders because of the “love of multiple investigations into Trump-Russia power and the proneness to abuse it.” This connections, I’ve heard that the FBI prophecy was tested during Watergate, and investigation is by far the most important as a teenager then I watched Republicans one, incomparably ahead of the congressional like Howard Baker, Lowell Weicker, Elliot inquiries. I then usually asked: So will Trump Richardson and William Ruckelshaus fire Comey? And the response would be: Hard heroically stand up for their country rather to imagine. The uproar would be staggering. than for a corrupt president of their own Even Republicans would never stand for that. party. Partly because of them, our institutions Alas, my contacts underestimated the triumphed. myopic partisanship of too many Republicans. The passion for truth over politics was Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, then periodically expressed in a Latin phrase: spoke for many of his colleagues when he fiat justitia, ruat caelum. Let justice be done, scoffed at the furor by saying, “Suck it up and though the heavens fall. move on.” Now that principle is tested again, and so This goes way beyond Comey. When are we, all of us — politicians, journalists, judges block presidential orders, Trump judges and citizens. denounces the courts. When the opposition In particular, this is the moment of truth criticizes him, Trump savages individual for GOP moderates like Sens. Susan Collins, Democrats. When journalists embarrass Jeff Flake and Bob Corker, who may hold him, Trump threatens to tighten libel laws decisive power. Will they align with George and describes the press as “the enemy of the Washington’s vision of presidents as servants people.” of the people or with Trump’s specter of His Trump has also challenged and evaded Sacred Majesty, the Big Man of America? the ethics rules that traditionally constrain Will they stand for justice, or for obstruction administration officials. He has breached the of it? four-decade norm that presidential candidates ■ release their taxes. And — how else to put Nicholas Kristof grew up on a sheep and this? — he has waged war on truth. These cherry farm in Yamhill. Kristof, a columnist days, any relationship between White House for The New York Times since 2001, won the statements and accuracy seems coincidental. Pulitzer Prize in 1990 and 2006. OTHER VIEWS Too much at stake to pass drug bill The Bend Bulletin, May 13 I t’s easy to bash drug companies. When the consumer list price of something like Mylan’s EpiPen rises to $609 from $94 in just seven years, bashing comes easily. But one solution proposed to the Oregon House of Representatives seems almost guaranteed to make the problem worse, the sponsors’ good intentions notwithstanding. While having government decide what’s a reasonable price for a drug might sound like a good idea, it’s one more likely to go wrong than not. Prescription drugs make up about 9.8 percent of what the nation spent on drugs as of 2014, just as they did in 1960, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control. If House Bill 2387 is approved, the state will set up something called the Oregon Premium Protection Program, which would require manufacturers of expensive drugs or those with rapidly rising prices to justify their prices. Then, the state would demand rebates based on what prices were paid in a select group of other countries. Rebates would go to the insurers, and the bill would bar the benefits boards of public employee unions from collecting any out-of-pocket costs from workers for drugs deemed to be too expensive. Oregon makes up only about 1.2 percent of the U.S. population, making it easy for a manufacturer to refuse to sell here. The group of nations against which Oregon prices would be measured do pay less for drugs than we do. But each one bargains for the country as a whole, and no one in the U.S., much less Oregon, does that. Locally, there’s this: Central Oregon has a growing bioscience sector that could be hurt by the punitive nature of the measure. Testimony at a public hearing on the bill made all those points, and while unions and insurance companies favored it, family doctors, ordinary citizens, AIDS activists and representatives of an ovarian cancer foundation, among others, all said the bill would do more harm than good. There’s too much at stake not to take opponents’ fears seriously. HB 2387 should be defeated.
