Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Friday, July 28, 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
OTHER VIEWS
OTHER VIEWS
When the White House
lies about you
Remembering ‘Harkie’ L
A
File photo
Frank Harkenrider, at the time a Hermiston City Councilor, represents the
Desert Shriners on a float in the Stanfield Fourth of July parade.
truly full life is
Hermiston High School. He
something like a play.
wasn’t a man preoccupied with
And a quality production
image. Perhaps this was part of
includes an extraordinary cast
the reason why he seemed to
of characters — some serious
have his finger on the pulse of
and some colorful.
the community and reflected
Among the most interesting
a genuine understanding and
appreciation for the daily lives of
characters on my life’s stage
those he was regularly-elected to
has been my friend Frank
George
Harkenrider, the irrepressible
Murdock represent.
When I was named editor and
Hermiston icon who died this
Comment
publisher of the East Oregonian,
week at the age of 90.
I last saw Harkie several
the first person to contact me was
months ago at the groundbreaking
Harkie. He contacted me many times
for the new senior citizens center in
thereafter but always called from the EO
Hermiston — a facility for which he
offices in Hermiston where there was
worked tirelessly and that appropriately
a direct line that saved long distance
will bear his name. At the ceremony
charges. I was always happy to hear
he was frail and wrapped in a blanket
from him because anyone who writes a
to stave off the cold winds blowing
column needs to know unique characters
across the site, but
in order to get ideas.
he appeared clearly
I got enough stories
pleased to be present.
from Harkie that he
As the ceremony
could have been the
came to a close,
feature every week.
he summoned the
Some of the
most amazing tales
strength to stand up
surrounded his athletic
briefly for a quick
career as both an
photo session. He
undersized Division
stayed long enough
I recruit and then as a
to greet attendees
Division I water boy
before being whisked
who once delayed the
off. I thought at the
start of a major college
time how fortunate it
football game because
was that he could be
he accidentally turned
present for the initial
the water wagon over
stage of construction
on the 50-yard-line.
because there was a
He made many
chance he would not
see the project through to its completion. friends with his oil business, including
the late Don Hawkins of Pendleton.
Sadly, my concerns were reality.
Much of their banter surrounded
Frank Harkenrider was both a long-
Buckaroo-Bulldog athletics.
time businessman and a tireless public
One time Harkie suggested he
servant whose record of public service
would like to come to Pendleton so
spanned more than half a century. As
I could take him and the Deacon to
noted in an earlier article, he saw the
population of Hermiston grow from 800 lunch at Hamley’s for a discussion of
old times. Somewhere around 3 p.m. I
to 17,000 — a fact he shared frequently
began to wonder if we were also going
as part of his repertoire of stories
to have dinner.
about the success of the community he
One of his greatest loves was the
embraced with every ounce of his being.
melon fest he invented in order to
In the course of its journey from a
acquaint the citizens of Portland with
dusty village of 800, Hermiston has
both Hermiston and its trademark
had the good fortune of being home
products. I had the pleasure of
to a collection of visionaries with the
accompanying Harkie and Mayor Bob
wisdom, energy and foresight to lay the
on several such ventures.
foundation for what would ultimately
One time the two of them brought
become an economic powerhouse that
a pickup load of melons to the East
today is both Eastern Oregon’s largest
Oregonian for distribution to the staff.
community and one of the fastest
I told him I thought that effort was
growing cities in the state.
intended to remind Portland about the
Having been in leadership positions
that made him an integral part of critical existence of Hermiston. Without missing
a beat he said “it’s also good to remind
decisions and benchmarks in that
the EO of the same thing.”
remarkable saga will serve as Harkie’s
One morning during my tenure at
legacy. At a time in our history when
the newspaper, I called the house and
the motives and agenda of many elected
asked to speak to Frank. Bev, his wife
officials is being called into question,
of six decades, said he was out opening
it is refreshing to pause and remember
the contributions of an individual whose up Main Street in Hermiston for the
motives and agenda were never in doubt. day — just like he does every morning.
His stops always included Hermiston
While many public officials are
Drug and Hale’s with another one or two
guided by opinion polls, Harkie was
thrown in from time to time.
long on opinion and short on polls. The
I’m not quite sure what the daily
term operating with the courage of one’s
routine looks like in heaven, but if there
conviction is often used loosely. This
is a downtown that needs opening up
gentleman invented it.
every morning, there’s no doubt in my
While he occupied a role in the
community often filled by someone with mind who will be doing it.
a large home in a fancy neighborhood,
■
Frank and Beverly have lived for years
George Murdock is a Umatilla
in a modest dwelling not far from
County Commissioner.
Frank was both
a longtime
businessman
and tireless
public servant
whose record of
service spanned
more than half
a century.
YOUR VIEWS
Memories of the late, great
Frank Harkenrider
Frank Harkenrider was a gem!
Forty years ago my husband Gary
and I were newlyweds, and we needed
to sell a piece of property Gary owned
that required a city variance, so that we
could buy or build our own home. At the
city council meeting I will never forget
Frank telling the rest of the council to
get that variance passed so these young
folks could get on with their lives. What
a sweetheart, and what a character.
Marilyn Stolz
Hermiston
LETTERS POLICY
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public
issues and public policies for publication. Submitted letters must be signed by
the author and include the city of residence and a phone number. Send letters
to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
ast week the White House told
House where the line between idiocy
a lie. It was a small lie and,
and malice isn’t always clear.
given the epic scale of this
To give Scavino the benefit of the
administration’s mendacity, a trivial
doubt, I asked the CIA spokesman
one. It just happened to be about me.
to set him straight. I also rebutted
On Thursday I interviewed CIA
his claim on Twitter, emailed and
Director Mike Pompeo on a public
left messages with him on his
stage at the Aspen Security Forum.
private number, and wrote the new
We covered everything from Russian
communications director, Anthony
Bret
meddling in the U.S. election to the
Stephens Scaramucci, at his personal email
war in Syria and the nuclear deal with
address.
Comment
Iran. The director also broke some
No acknowledgment. No response.
policy ground with a veiled suggestion
The tweet has not been deleted. The
that the administration might pursue regime
CIA has not publicly corrected the record.
change in North Korea.
The White House is knowingly allowing
There was one sour moment. Midway
Scavino’s falsehood to stand. That’s called
through the interview, Pompeo abruptly
lying — which, as Pompeo might say, is
slammed The New York Times for publishing
“unconscionable.”
the name last month of a
So what’s new,
senior covert CIA officer,
you ask? Well, not
calling the disclosure
much, at least if you’re
“unconscionable.”
comfortable with a
The line was met with
political dispensation
audience applause. I
in which a senior
said, “You’re talking
White House official
about Phil Agee,” and
can stonewall without
then repeated the name.
compunction and expect
Pompeo replied, “I don’t
everyone else to yawn
know that name,” and the interview moved on. and shrug. Every administration has a few
My startled rejoinder was not a reference
sulfuric personalities. This one bubbles over
to the covert CIA officer unmasked by
and erupts with them, like a fetid geyser at
The Times, but rather a fumbled attempt to
Yellowstone.
refer to the law governing such disclosures.
Nor is it new that Scavino’s attack is
Philip Agee, as Pompeo and everyone in the
also part of a broader White House effort to
audience knew, was the infamous CIA officer
demonize The New York Times. Also in Aspen,
Gen. Tony Thomas, head of the Special
who went rogue in the 1970s, wrote a tell-all
Operations Command, alleged in an interview
memoir, and publicly identified the names of
that an effort to kill the Islamic State leader
scores of CIA officers, front companies and
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi failed on account of
foreign agents. His disclosures led Congress
a leak to “a prominent national newspaper”
in 1982 to pass the Intelligence Identities
— no prizes for guessing the paper he had in
Protection Act, aka the “Anti-Agee Act,”
mind.
which made it a federal crime to reveal the
The general’s claim was also dubious,
names of covert agents. Agee died in Havana
at least as far as The Times was concerned.
in 2008.
Taken with Pompeo’s outburst and Scavino’s
If I could have a do-over, I would have
recalled the name of the law itself, not the man lie, it raises the question of whether normally
apolitical figures aren’t being conscripted into
after whom it was informally named. I might
Trump’s war on the press. That’s a worrying
have asked Pompeo why the government
didn’t just put the law to the constitutional test thought for institutions, like the CIA, that are
supposed to remain above the fray to preserve
by suing The Times.
public trust.
L’esprit de l’escalier: I plead guilty.
Here’s what worries me more: One judges
What I didn’t do is disclose the name of
a liar less by the whoppers he tells than by
any covert officer — nor would I have, since
I disagree with The Times’ decision to publish the fibs — by his willingness to live outside
the truth even when the advantages of doing
it. So it came as a bad surprise when, the
so are almost negligible. Scavino’s failure to
following morning, Dan Scavino, the White
correct the record on something as minute as
House director of social media, tweeted that I
my exchange with Pompeo suggests he’ll lie
had.
about anything. And this is the guy who stands
“CIA Dir Pompeo calls out @NYTimes
at the heart of the Trump administration’s
for publishing name of an UNDERCOVER
social media operation — the most demagogic
CIA agent,” he wrote on his official Twitter
enterprise of our time.
account, adding, “Just as disgraceful? @
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has
BretStephensNYT REPEATS name 2x’s!” He
also posted a brief clip of the exchange — but already warned Scavino that he violated
the 1939 Hatch Act in April by engaging in
muted my voice when I mentioned Agee.
“prohibited political activity.” If Anthony
This was nasty, manipulated and false,
Scaramucci is serious about cleaning house in
but it wasn’t necessarily a lie. If Scavino had
his new shop, dismissing Scavino should be a
never heard of Agee, didn’t know the name
priority. I’ll take it instead of the apology I’m
of the CIA officer whose name was published
still owed.
by The Times and didn’t bother to fact check
■
before tweeting, he might have inferred from
Bret Stephens won a Pulitzer Prize for
my reply that I had indeed done what he
commentary in 2013. He began working as a
alleged.
columnist at The New York Times in April.
That’s a plausible surmise about a White
The White House is
knowingly allowing
a falsehood to
stand.