Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Thursday, June 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
OUR VIEW
As summer arrives,
think sunshine
Oregon lawmakers are in danger
The Society of Professional
of missing an important opportunity Journalists spearheaded the concept
of the Oregon Sunshine Committee
to make state government more
and earned bipartisan support for it,
transparent, democratic and — we
believe — better.
including from Secretary of State
As the legislative session draws
Dennis Richardson and Gov. Kate
to its July 10 close, House Bill 2101 Brown. The bill is also supported
remains stuck in
by such wide-
the House Rules
ranging interests
Committee.
former Deputy
Transparency is as
This bill would
Attorney General
provide for extra
good for good Pete Shepherd,
analysis and notice
the statewide
government.
of legislation
transparency group
that could affect
Open Oregon,
government
Oregon State Public
transparency. It also sets up a
Interest Research Group (OSPIRG),
balanced, nonpartisan committee
the Oregon Environmental Council
and more than 10 other nonprofit
to update and simplify Oregon’s
public interest groups.
confusing thicket of more than 550
The Sunshine Committee would
records-law exemptions that gets
give the public a seat at the table
larger each year.
during exemption review as already
“The overwhelming majority of
happens in Washington, Virginia,
Oregonians want their government
to be open and accountable. There
New York, Maine and Tennessee.
has been very little opposition to
The bill also would also
create Open Government Impact
this bill, but it has not received a
hearing,” said Shasta Kearns Moore, Statements for bills moving through
Oregon Territory Chapter of the
the legislature. This means that
Society of Professional Journalists’
every piece of legislation that has
sunshine chair.
the potential to close public access
And we understand why some
to information would get a statement
are happy to keep the public in the
on the arguments for and against
dark about controversial issues.
creating more secrecy.
Journalists are the key providers
Oregon has an opportunity
of information to the public —
with this bill to make a major leap
information that often makes life
forward for transparency in the
more difficult for those in power.
state at negligible cost. We think
And the steady accumulation of state the legislature should take it, or at
government data that is off-limits to the very least argue the bill on its
public eyes consolidates that power
merits in open session. Secrecy is
in the hands of a few and makes us
easier, but it doesn’t make for better
all less-informed voters.
government.
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.
OTHER VIEWS
Is national popular vote more
fair than electoral college?
The Medford Mail Tribune
T
he 73 million Americans who
voted for someone other than
Donald Trump for president —
outnumbering Trump voters by more
than 10 million — might understandably
support the national movement to
sidestep the Electoral College and award
the top job in future elections to the
winner of the popular vote. Oregon is on
its way to joining that movement after
the state House voted
to do so along party
lines.
To abolish the
Electoral College
would require
amending the U.S.
Constitution — a
daunting task. But it
could be circumvented
if enough states agree.
Here’s how:
Individual states
enact legislation
pledging their Electoral College votes
to the candidate who wins the national
popular vote, regardless of how their
state’s electorate voted. If enough states
sign on to what’s called the National
Popular Vote Interstate Compact to total
the magic number of 270 electoral votes
needed to win the White House, those
states would determine the winner.
That sounds good in theory, but it
raises some interesting issues. In the 2016
election, for instance, Donald Trump
lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million
votes, but won just enough votes in three
key states to give him the electoral votes
he needed. If Michigan, Pennsylvania and
Wisconsin had signed on to the Interstate
Compact, those states would have
awarded their Electoral College votes to
Hillary Clinton, even though their voters
narrowly picked Trump.
Other states where Trump won
handily also would have been forced to
deliver their electoral votes to Clinton, if
their state had joined the compact. Then
there is the likelihood that just enough
states sign on to reach the 270 number,
but the rest don’t. Are their electoral votes
irrelevant?
In Oregon, where Clinton won easily,
Democratic voters would have been
happy to have the Interstate Compact in
place. But in some future election, the
result could conceivably be reversed, and
the candidate chosen
by Oregon voters
could narrowly lose
the popular vote but
still get all seven of
Oregon’s electoral
votes.
Supporters of the
Interstate Compact
argue that the current
system prompts candi-
dates to concentrate
their campaigning in
swing states, ignoring
states they consider safe and those where
they have little support. But there is no
guarantee that would change appreciably
under the Compact system. In fact,
candidates would be more likely to spend
most of their time and money in big cities
and urban states with large concentrations
of voters. It was Clinton’s overwhelming
wins in the urban parts of California and
New York that gave her the bulk of her
popular vote margin.
The Oregon House has approved the
Interstate Compact three times before,
only to have it blocked by Senate
President Peter Courtney. This year, he
says he will allow a Senate vote if the
matter is referred to the voters.
That still would leave the national
effort little more than 60 percent of the
way toward its goal. If Oregon voters are
given a say, they should be sure it’s what
they want before voting yes.
To abolish the
Electoral College
would require
amending the U.S.
Constitution — a
daunting task.
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.
OTHER VIEWS
On a Portland train, the
battlefield of American values
A
scapegoating of refugees, Muslims and
merica may seem leaderless,
immigrants. To me, Trump “values”
with nastiness and bullying
are primarily narcissism, nepotism and
ascendant, but the best of our
nihilism.
nation materialized during a moral
crisis on a commuter train in Portland.
And this is infectious: Cass Sunstein
A white man riding on that train on
of Harvard cites psychology research
Friday began screaming anti-Muslim
indicating that Trump has made it more
insults at a black 16-year-old girl and
acceptable for Americans to embrace
her 17-year-old Muslim friend wearing Nicholas xenophobia. I wrote last year that
a hijab. One can imagine people
Kristof “Donald Trump is making America
pretending not to hear and staring
meaner,” prompting bigotry in rural
Comment
fiercely down at their phones; instead,
Oregon where I grew up, and around
three brave passengers stepped forward
the country.
We don’t know whether the murderer on the
to protect the girls.
The three were as different as could be. One Portland train felt empowered to scream at a
was a 23-year-old recent Reed College graduate Muslim girl because of Trump’s own previous
who had a mane of long hair and was working
Islamophobic rants, any more than we can be
as a consultant. Another was a 53-year-old
sure that Trump’s denunciation of reporters led
Army veteran with the trimmest of haircuts
a Montana candidate to body slam a journalist.
and a record of service in Iraq and Afghanistan. But when a president incites hatred, civilization
The third was a 21-year-old poet and Portland
winces.
State University student on his way to a job at
If all that is one thread of America, another
a pizzeria. What united the three
is represented by those three
was decency.
men who stepped forward on
When they intervened, the
that train. It’s also represented
man harassing the girls pulled
by the good Samaritans who
a knife and slashed the three
helped them when they were
men before fleeing. Rick Best,
stabbed, by the countless people
the veteran, died at the scene.
who joined vigils to honor the
Taliesin Namkai-Meche, the
victims and who donated more
recent Reed graduate, was
than $1 million in a few days for
conscious as he waited for an ambulance.
the families of those killed and for the survivor.
A good Samaritan took off her shirt to cover
It’s terrific that the White House eventually
him; she recounted that some of his last words
acknowledged these heroes in a tweet. But
were: “I want everybody on the train to know,
it would have been more convincing if the
I love them.” He died soon after arriving at the
tweet came sooner and from Trump’s own @
hospital.
realDonaldTrump account rather than the @
Another passer-by stanched the bleeding of
Potus account mostly managed by his staff.
the student poet, Micah Fletcher, and called his
What the three men in Oregon understood,
mother to tell her to go to the hospital — but
but the White House doesn’t, is that in a healthy
played down the injuries to avoid terrifying
society, Islamophobia doesn’t disparage just
her. Fletcher underwent two hours of surgery to Muslims, racism doesn’t demean blacks alone,
remove bone fragments from his throat and is
misogyny hurts more than women, xenophobia
recovering.
insults more than immigrants. Rather, we
Police arrested Jeremy Christian, 35, a
are all diminished, so we all have a stake in
white supremacist, and charged him with the
confronting bigotry.
murders. The train attack doesn’t fit America’s
Best, the veteran, had three teenage children
internal narrative of terrorism, but it’s a
and a 12-year-old daughter, and I hope his kids
reminder that terrorism takes many forms.
understand that their dad died challenging a
Last year Americans were less likely to be
venomous intolerance that threatens our social
killed by a Muslim terrorist (odds of 1 in 6
fabric. He fell on the battlefield of American
million) than for being Muslim (odds of 1 in 1
values. He deserves the chance to be buried at
million), according to Charles Kurzman of the
Arlington National Cemetery.
University of North Carolina.
One thing I’ve learned in my reporting
In tragedy, we can sometimes find
career is that side by side with the worst of
inspiration. In that train car, we saw that
humanity, you find the best. The test for all
courage and leadership are alive — if
of us is whether we can similarly respond to
not always in Washington, then among
hatred and nihilism with courage and, in the
ordinary Americans converging from varied
dying words of Namkai-Meche, with “love.”
backgrounds on a commuter train, standing
After coming out of surgery, weak but
together against a threat to our shared humanity. indomitable, Fletcher wrote a poem that offers
I’d been dispirited by recent events.
us guidance. According to the Oregonian, it
President Donald Trump’s overseas trip marked read in part:
an abdication of American leadership, with
“I, am alive.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel concluding
I spat in the eye of hate and lived.
that Europe can no longer rely on the United
This is what we must do for one another
States. The Trump budget was intellectually
We must live for one another.”
dishonest and morally repugnant, with cuts
■
in global AIDS funding alone that may cost 1
Nicholas Kristof grew up on a sheep and
million lives.
cherry farm in Yamhill. A columnist for The
Today’s White House seems to stand for
New York Times since 2001, he won the Pulitzer
nothing loftier than crony capitalism and the
Prize twice.
What united
the three was
decency.
YOUR VIEWS
No respect for authority
Aretha Franklin was always one of my
favorites. “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” was the song I
always loved to hear over and over. It seems
respect is much harder to find now, however,
and it is a sad thing.
It seems everywhere you look now you see
evidence of the lack of respect. Take Beyoncé
at the Super Bowl halftime show where she
showed a gross lack of respect for police; take
Black Lives Matter, who promote violence
against police. Look at the looting and rioting
— even here in our own Portland — where
“protesters” break windows and burn cars and
stores with no respect for property or the public.
Look at our colleges, who used to be strong
defenders of the right of free speech. Berkley
students rioted and caused a great deal of
damage, all because they didn’t happen to agree
with a speaker invited to the campus. Look at
the Berkley police when they didn’t even show
up at these riots to uphold the laws they swore
to enforce.
Look at some of our governors and mayors
who have no respect for our Constitution
and federal laws by creating sanctuary cities
(such as Portland and Seattle). These cities
now harbor many illegal criminals across the
country — some who have been deported up to
15 times.
Look at the privileged athlete Colin
Kaepernick, who disrespected our country
and our flag by not standing for the national
anthem. Now the Seahawks are interested in
him playing in Seattle? If they take him that
will be the last Seahawk game I will watch.
Look at the parade of rich celebrities who
have uttered such violent statements and threats
to our president (Madonna said she wanted to
blow up the White House). Look at the students
who have shown little respect for the vice
president as he gave a graduation speech at
Notre Dame.
It seems like we used to be able to disagree
— or play against a rival team — and still end
up shaking hands and having respect for one
another. If you don’t like the President, at least
have some respect for the office of President.
That attitude seems to be gradually giving way
to violence and hatred everywhere you look.
I expect it from ISIS but not from our own
citizens here is the USA.
I used to love Rodney Dangerfield with his
“I get no respect.”
It isn’t so funny now. Maybe it’s time to
remind ourselves of Lee Greenwood’s great
song. And I’d gladly stand up (so stand up
Kaepernick) next to you and defend her still
today.
David Burns
Pendleton