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NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Governor’s appointments closely match geographic populations
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
During her tenure as Oregon’s
governor, Kate Brown has proposed
157 people to fill state boards and
commissions.
Seven of those nominees are
residents of Eastern Oregon, 4.5
percent, which is almost exactly the
same proportion of Oregonians who
live on the east side of the state.
Oregon has more than 250
boards and commissions with 1,364
executive appointments, according
to public records the East Orego-
nian obtained from the governor’s
office.
Brown’s appointments became
an issue in March when she fired
Melinda Eden of Milton-Freewater,
Colleen Johnson of La Grande, and
Morgan Rider of Portland from the
Environmental Quality Commis-
sion. The move irked Republican
Sen. Bill Hansell of Athena, who
in early May opposed Brown’s
replacements on the commission,
all who live west of the Cascades.
All of the governor’s nomi-
Governor forgives boy
for swiping hazelnut, pen
SALEM (AP) — The governor of
Oregon has pardoned a fourth-grade
boy who swiped a hazelnut and a
pen during a recent tour of the state
Capitol.
Gov. Kate Brown on Thursday
tweeted out a photo of the boy’s
apology letter along with the hashtag
#cutestmailever and the caption, ‘I
think we can forgive Samuel, don’t
you think, Oregonians?’ The tweet
immediately got many likes and
retweets.
In the pencil-written letter, Samuel
explains that he visited the Capitol
Building on a classroom tour on April
19 and took the items.
“These things were not mine and
it was wrong for me to take them. I’m
very sorry,” he wrote. “I hope you and
the people of Oregon can forgive me.”
Included with the letter were the
pen and $1 to cover the cost of the
stolen hazelnut.
In a return letter, Brown said she
accepted his apology and forgave him
on behalf of all Oregonians.
“Oregon is a special place. I hope
we can work together to keep it that
way,” the governor wrote.
As a final gesture of goodwill, she
enclosed a new pen for Samuel to
“remember this event.”
Eclipse a wild card
during wildfire season
Authorities think this summer
is going to be average for wildfire
activity.
Despite a cool, wet winter, that
still means about 4,000 small and
large fires. And while oncoming El
Niño ocean conditions may mean a
warmer than usual summer, there’s
no indication of drought.
But John Saltenberger with the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says
there is one wild card. The hundreds
of thousands of people who’ll be in
the Oregon wilderness to watch the
solar eclipse on Aug. 21.
“Traditionally we see spikes in
the number of human ignitions that
come on holiday weekends such as
July 4th such as Labor Day. This is
going to outstrip all of that,” he said.
“It’s unprecedented. At this point,
I don’t have a feel for how many
extra fire starts we may likely suffer
during the eclipse event. But it’s not
trivial,” said Saltenberger.
nations must be approved by the
Senate.
After reviewing the complete
list of appointments Hansell
commended the governor for repre-
sentational parity, but said it matters
which boards rural Oregonians are
on. He said it makes sense to have
Eastern Oregon residents on the
Environmental Quality Commis-
sion even if state law does not
require it.
Brandon Persinger, Hansell’s
legislative director, said state
statutes establish the boards and
commissions and some do have
geographic requirements.
The Water Resources Commis-
sion by law must have three of its
seven members from east of the
Cascade mountains, Persinger said.
Eric Quaempts of Adams is the
north-central representative and
Bruce Corn of Ontario is the eastern
representative. An at-large member
serves as the third.
Geography is not a requirement
of the 24-member Public Safety
Standards and Training Board,
which Malheur County Sheriff
Brian Wolfe serves on. Persinger
said the board by law must have
a minimum numbers or sheriffs,
police chiefs, fire chiefs and other
public safety professionals, along
with one city administrator and one
member from the public
Hansell said he met with the
governor’s office, which promised
to work to have more rural Orego-
nians on state boards. He also said
he and Persinger would dig into the
data to find out the extent of Eastern
Oregon voices serving on boards
and committees.
Bryan Hockaday, Brown’s press
secretary, said in an email that the
governor “prioritizes diversifying
each board and commission to
include gender, gender identity, race,
ability, veterans and geographic
parity among the membership.
She considers recommendations of
stakeholders, legislators and staff to
ensure Oregonians have access to
leadership opportunities that move
our state forward.”
Hockaday also said the governor
balances her appointments across
the five congressional districts,
which each have roughly the same
population.
Mike Thorne of Pendleton is a
former state senator who serves as
one of 15 members on the Oregon
State University Board of Trustees.
State law requires the board have
one OSU student, one faculty
member and one staff member, but
the other seats can be filled at the
governor’s discretion. Thorne said
geography matters, but not at the
expense of expertise and ability.
“You want talented people that
you also know can do the job,” he
said.
Thorne said in his years in the
Senate — from 1973 to 1991 — as
many as 35 residents of Umatilla
County served on state boards at
one time. To achieve that level of
representation, he said he constantly
fed names of talented locals to
the governor’s staffer in charge of
executive appointments.
The state’s 30 senators and
60 representatives should know
better than the governor who
would benefit a board, he said,
so if lawmakers are not satisfied
BRIEFLY
with the number of people from
Eastern Oregon on boards and
commissions, they should regularly
propose names from their districts.
Hansell said he is working
on that and asked the governor’s
office for a list of board vacancies.
Specific details about executive
appointments, including the interest
form and membership handbook,
are available online at this link:
www.oregon.gov/gov/admin/
Pages/How_To_Apply.aspx.
The state of Oregon’s population
in 2016 was 4,076,350, according
to data from Oregon Blue Book.
The counties of Baker, Gilliam,
Grant, Harney, Malheur, Morrow,
Umatilla, Union, Wallowa and
Wheeler had a combined popula-
tion of 181,900, or 4.5 percent of
the state.
Some 2 million people — a
tick more than half the state’s
population — live in Portland
and its surrounding communities,
according to U.S. Census data. Out
of the 157 executive appointments
made by Brown, 78 are from the
Portland area — nearly 50 percent.
Oregon Child Welfare
director resigns after
six months on job
and calls for a culture change at
the agency.
Under Alhusseini’s direc-
SALEM — The director of tion, which began shortly after
Oregon’s beleaguered Child the agency released a detailed
Welfare division of the state outside report on the foster care
Department of Human Services system’s shortcomings, the
is stepping down after six division seemed eager to make
improvements.
months on the job.
Alhusseini came to Oregon
Lena Alhusseini, who joined
the agency in early November from Brooklyn, N.Y., where
after it conducted a national she was executive director of
the Arab-American
search,
submitted
Family
Support
her resignation as
Center. She did
child welfare director
not return a phone
Wednesday
after-
message
seeking
noon.
comment by dead-
She did not return
line.
a phone message
Earlier this year
seeking comment by
state
lawmakers
deadline. A depart-
learned
children
ment
spokesman
being screened after
declined Friday to Alhusseini
reports of abuse and
provide answers to
neglect remained in
further
questions
unsafe situations after being
about Alhusseini’s departure.
She will stay on at the deemed safe by DHS staff.
In
March, Alhusseini
agency, leading an effort to
recruit diverse employees, until unveiled a new training
simulation for social workers.
Sept. 1.
DHS Director Clyde Saiki Last week, she announced an
announced Alhusseini’s depar- initiative to equip caseworkers
with iPhones and tablets, in
ture in a statement Friday.
“I respect Lena’s vision for what was portrayed as an effort
child welfare — a framework to increase productivity and
of community engagement and home visits.
Saiki said that the agency
support — and that essential
work will continue,” Saiki said. would continue to emphasize
“However, Lena and I agree child safety.
“Moving forward, our focus
that we have not been able
to get the results we need to must be on the basics,” Saiki
wrote, including correctly
achieve.”
Saiki himself is retiring Sept. screening reports of abuse and
1. He will be replaced by the neglect, ensuring safe place-
current director of the Oregon ments and “ensuring ongoing
Youth Authority, the state’s oversight and support in family
agency overseeing juveniles in foster care and residential
placements.”
the criminal justice system.
“In addition, we must
Both departures come as
DHS struggles to recover continue our efforts toward the
after significant documented culture change needed to put
problems in child welfare. children’s safety at the center
Starting in 2015, news reports of every decision and action,”
revealed the agency did a poor Saiki said.
According to a spokesman
job monitoring management
and safety issues at a Portland for DHS, Alhusseini’s annual
foster care provider, prompting salary of $150,000 will not
further scrutiny of the system change with her new position.
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
Saerom England/Office of Oregon Governor Kate Brown via AP
This photo provided by the Office of Oregon Gov. Kate Brown shows
a portion of an apology letter from a fourth-grader to Gov. Brown, ex-
plaining that his class had toured the Capitol on a field trip in April
2017 and how he took a hazelnut and a pen from the Capitol Building.
In a note replying to the letter, which included the pen in question and
a $1 reimbursement for the hazelnut, Brown thanked the young man
and wrote “I accept your apology and forgive you.”
Saltenberger’s main concern is
that the eclipse coincides with really
hot, dry, windy conditions.
About half of all wildfires are
started by humans. The rest are
sparked by lightning.
— Oregon Public Broadcasting
Luxury hotel planned
in Walla Walla
WALLA WALL — By this time
two years from now, guests coming
to Walla Walla for its world-class
wines will be able to stay overnight
at what developers are calling the
town’s first contemporary four-plus-
star hotel.
Developers who plan to revitalize
the former 1907 Odd Fellows
Building at 28 S. Spokane St. into
The Penrose Walla Walla Hotel &
Spa have provided a vision for the
building, details of its ownership,
and a rough opening for the massive
downtown Walla Walla project.
Anticipated for an early 2019
opening, the project includes a
“significant” new building addition
to complement the existing main
building, the developers announced.
The 82-room boutique hotel
will have a restaurant, bar, meeting
spaces and rooftop event terraces,
and poolside food and drink service,
all located in the restored building
that is already listed on the National
Register of Historic Places.
The redevelopment of the
property has been highly anticipated
as Seattle architect and manager
Stephen Day and partners have had
contact with the city, county, Port of
Walla Walla and Downtown Walla
Walla Foundation over the last year.
The construction is intended
to complement what exists in the
main structure. Similarly, the hotel
development is designed to compli-
ment what exists in Walla Walla with
the emergence of an internationally
recognized wine producing region.
— Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
Lawmaker won’t block
push for presidential
popular vote
SALEM (AP) — Democrats are
planning to make a final push this
year to have Oregon join almost a
dozen states that want to sidestep the
Electoral College and elect the U.S.
president by popular vote.
Previous efforts to join the
so-called National Popular Vote
interstate compact have failed three
times since 2009, with Democratic
Senate President Peter Courtney
blocking it in each instance.
This year, however, Courtney says
he’ll concede if Oregon voters have
the final say.
The National Popular Vote
movement gained momentum after
President Donald Trump’s Electoral
College victory in November. It’s
triggered when enacted by states
that, collectively, have at least 270
electoral votes. House Bill 2927
would add Oregon’s seven electors
to the compact, which currently has
165 votes.
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