Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Tuesday, November 7, 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
Looking for
leadership,
not more excuses
Bad news keeps rolling out from
is disconcerting that, according to
the governor’s office, Brown only
the Oregon Health Authority. But
instead of taking responsibility, Gov. learned of the problem when Allen
took over as OHA director. It is
Kate Brown not only ducked it but
also tried to spin it as positive news. disturbing that Brown, through her
press release, tried to spin the snafu
The issue is that OHA paid
instead of accepting her share of the
too much to regional health-care
responsibility.
organizations, collected too much
Indeed, this does sound like
money from the feds as a result,
Cover Oregon,
and might have to
but not in the way
repay all of it.
The OHA
Brown suggested.
Brown
The Cover Oregon
announced
apparently
fiasco stemmed
the issue in a
overpaid $74
from Gov.
roundabout way
John Kitzhaber
last week, issuing
million to 16
appointing the
a press release
coordinated care wrong people
headlined “New
to key jobs, not
OHA Leadership
organizations.
keeping close tabs
Takes Action
Someone must be on the project and
to Resolve
dubious
Overpayments
held responsible. accepting
progress reports.
Made in Wake
That also sounds
of Cover Oregon
like this new OHA
Failure.” It
fiasco.
praised new OHA director Patrick
As governor, Brown is CEO of
Allen “and his team for acting
a multi-billion-dollar organization
quickly to bring stability and
with tens of thousands of employees.
transparency to OHA’s work on
behalf of Oregonians. After just two A good CEO develops a solid record
of hiring the right people, giving
months leading OHA, Allen has
them freedom to do their jobs while
directed staff to resolve yet another
also staying on top of their work. In
consequence of the Cover Oregon
technology failure. Governor Brown that regard, Brown has a decidedly
mixed record, although she did
appreciates that Allen is making
eventually oust Lynne Saxton as
the resolution of these issues the
OHA director and bring in the
top priority and looks forward to
well-regarded Allen.
monthly updates on his team’s
It’s notable that Saxton was
progress in resolving them.”
forced to resign in the wake of
The overpayments were made
another failure of leadership at
to coordinated care organizations
OHA, as the department sought
for patients who were eligible
to undermine the credibility of a
for both Medicaid and Medicare.
Portland health care provider that
This occurred from 2014 through
was questioning the state’s rate-
mid-2016.
making process. Saxton denied any
Brown is the state’s CEO. She
active role in the plan, but stepped
is responsible what happens on her
down anyway.
watch after becoming governor in
No one, especially a politician,
February 2015.
likes to look bad. But a good CEO
Mistakes happen. Still, it is
builds confidence, trust and respect
disappointing that OHA apparently
by taking responsibility when things
overpaid $74 million to 16
go awry.
coordinated care organizations. It
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
Aggressive plan needed to
tackle harmful pollutants
Mankato (Minn.) Free Press
A
t a time when attention is being
paid to the devastating effects
pollution has worldwide —
killing more people every year than all
war and violence, a major study recently
revealed — the U.S. may be dialing
back its pollution controls.
Just the opposite should be
happening.
The United States should take its
role as a world leader seriously and be
aggressive in tackling pollutants that
make people sick. Asbestos and flame
retardants are among the pollutants
that do substantial harm; but instead
of putting into place an earlier plan
to look at chemicals in widespread
use that result in the most common
exposures, the new administration wants
to limit the review to products still
being manufactured and entering the
marketplace, AP reports.
For asbestos, that means gauging the
risks from just a few hundred tons of
the material imported annually while
excluding almost all of the estimated
8.9 million tons of asbestos-containing
products that the U.S. Geological Survey
said entered the marketplace between
1970 and 2016, according to AP.
That’s an alarming reduction,
including to those who actually respond
to alarms. Firefighters are put at risk
just as much by the hazardous materials
unleashed in a fire than the fire itself.
A National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health analysis of 30,000
firefighters deaths concluded firefighters
contract mesothelioma — caused by
inhaling asbestos fibers — at twice the
rate of other U.S. residents.
Sickness and death attributed to
responders working at 9/11 sites are
evidence of pollutant risk on a massive
scale. In June the World Trade Center
Health Program, the federally funded
organization that helps provide medical
treatment for people affected by the
attacks, counted more than 67,000
responders and 12,000 attack survivors
as enrollees, the Los Angeles Times
reported.
Construction workers who work
around asbestos during demolition
or remodeling as well as low-income
residents who live in less-than-ideal
conditions also are victims of such
chemical exposure. Those in the midst of
hurricane cleanup operations right now
are exposed to numerous pollutants.
The administration’s reason
for fighting tighter controls on the
hazardous material is transparent. Fewer
restrictions and less regulation are
equated with being pro-business.
Dialing back efforts to make our
environment safer, however, will take
an economic toll in multiple ways from
public health costs to loss of productivity
to future cost of cleanup.
Beyond the financial cost is
government accountability. Intentionally
exposing the public to known
carcinogens is ethically irresponsible.
LETTERS POLICY
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public
issues and public policies for publication. The newspaper reserves the right to
withhold letters. Letters must be signed and include city of residence and a
phone number. Email letters to editor@eastoregonian.com.
OTHER VIEWS
A conspiracy of inaction
on sexual abuse
I caught the journalism bug in
The magnitude of the awfulness,”
high school. I was fortunate to be a
Rosenberg continued. “But we knew
scholarship student at a rigorous New
something.”
York private school with a weekly
And yet no one did anything about
newspaper, and some of the older
it. People were afraid to, or didn’t
students I admired taught me the
know how. So they — we — became
power that the written word could
part of an unwitting conspiracy of
have.
inaction.
When we complained verbally
This conspiracy has spanned the
David
to teachers or administrators about a
relatively
powerless, like interns,
Leonhardt
problem, they could ignore us. When
secretaries and teenagers, to the
Comment
we put our arguments in writing,
wealthy and famous, as well as
they tended to pay attention. So we
every level of power in between. Jill
became teenage crusaders, inveighing against
Abramson, my old boss, is one of the toughest
perceived injustices. Sometimes, the subjects
journalists I know. Still, as a midlevel manager
were sophomoric (“censorship” of the talent
two decades ago, she didn’t go over the head
show), but often they were
of her old boss — Oreskes
serious (inequality, racism,
— to report his behavior at
South African divestment).
The Times, as she regretfully
Three decades later, I
said last week.
look back on the experience
Post-Weinstein, the
with deep gratitude. I also
emphasis has been on
look back with haunting
holding other abusers
regret.
accountable. So far, each seems to deserve his
For all of our crusading, we ignored the
delayed consequences. (And, yes, the severity
biggest story at the school. We were aware
of the various abuses varies.) I hope the
of the rumors — the teachers who made
exposés continue.
comments about girls’ bodies, the teacher
But post facto truth and punishment are
suspiciously friendly with female students, the not enough. We also need to figure out how
music teacher solicitous of male students.
to prevent future abuse. We need to make
But we never wrote about it. As best as
inaction feel unacceptable.
I can remember, we didn’t even talk about
Doing so will require changes from
writing about it. We didn’t know how. It
both organizations and individuals. Every
seemed too dark, too uncertain.
workplace and school should be asking
In 2012, the truth came out. My school
itself: Do people here know how to report a
— Horace Mann — had tolerated sexual
suspicion of abuse? Do they feel comfortable
molestation for decades. Administrators whose doing so even when, as is typical, they have
most solemn responsibility was protecting
only an incomplete sense of it?
children instead chose to look the other way
At most places, the answers remain no and
and protect child abusers. The music teacher,
no.
a cultish figure named Johannes Somary, was
Organizations need “multiple, accessible
the worst abuser during my time. One of his
avenues of complaint,” as a federal task
victims later committed suicide.
force concluded. These avenues should be
The current torrent of harassment
blazingly obvious, not buried in a corporate
revelations — following Jodi Kantor’s and
policy that nobody reads. They should include
Megan Twohey’s New York Times exposé of
anonymous reporting options. They should
Harvey Weinstein — has caused me to think
feed into a process that’s confidential and fair,
back on high school again, because every
including to the accused.
big case has had something in common with
Every leader should also read case studies,
Horace Mann.
to understand how frequently other leaders,
People knew.
at Horace Mann, NPR and elsewhere, have
Even if they didn’t know the details — I
bungled these situations, usually through
didn’t know what Somary was actually doing
cowardice. Often, a victim or someone else
— they knew that something was wrong. At
did summon the courage to come forward,
Fox News, many knew that Roger Ailes and
only to have the institution do little or nothing.
Bill O’Reilly mistreated women. At ABC,
But the changes can’t be only about
The New Republic and NPR, respectively,
policies and organizations. They need to be
people talked about the harassment by Mark
personal, too. I’m guessing that you get angry
Halperin, Leon Wieseltier and Michael
when you think about the abuse committed
Oreskes. In Hollywood, people talked about
by Weinstein, O’Reilly, Trump or Somary
Weinstein and Kevin Spacey — not to
— about the long-lasting misery they have
mention Donald Trump, who nonetheless
inflicted on other human beings. I certainly do.
became a heavily promoted reality star.
The next time I see something that doesn’t
As the screenwriter Scott Rosenberg has
seem quite right, I’m going to remember that
written about Weinstein, “Everybody knew.”
anger. One conspiracy of inaction is more than
(The full quotation includes a colloquial
enough for a lifetime.
adverb of emphasis between “everybody” and
■
“knew.”)
David Leonhardt is an op-ed columnist for
“Maybe we didn’t know the degree.
The New York Times.
I look back with
haunting regret.
YOUR VIEWS
Commissioner Givens should
focus on his own county
This is an open letter to the citizens of
Umatilla County regarding Commissioner
Larry Givens’ editorial in our local paper
opposing a home rule charter in Douglas
County. One would think Givens has his hands
full just managing the affairs of Umatilla
County. Yet you are paying him $90,853 a
year, not including benefits or PERS — which
is likely 35 percent more — to meddle in
Douglas County’s affairs. Really? We must
wonder why a Umatilla County commissioner
is concerned with a home rule charter
initiative happening in our community.
Are they afraid it’s catching? Let’s hope so.
It is both offensive and taboo for a
commissioner from another county to
involve himself in the politics and affairs of
another local government. Commissioner
Givens opposed our charter on behalf of our
commissioners, who are under suspicion for
misuse of federal Title III dollars as recently
reported in The Oregonian.
These same commissioners have closed
the county’s libraries and failed to support or
promote a local measure to keep them open,
outsourced public health services, have seen
fit to log old growth trees at our county parks
and approved planning permits allowing a
foreign corporation to take private properties
through eminent domain.
Are similar decisions in Umatilla County’s
future?
Our charter called for five commissioners
elected from throughout the rural areas of our
county, giving those outlying communities a
voice at the table, and a professional salaried
county manager; not just someone whose
only qualification is “they can win elections.”
Umatilla County citizens are very generous
considering your county’s median income
is $45,000 and you pay your commissioners
more than $90,000 a year — and that doesn’t
even include the cost of their benefit package.
Douglas County commissioners’ salaries
are $77,459 annually, or $121,000-plus with
benefits and PERS. A bit out of whack when
you consider the average annual income in
Douglas County is right around $38,000.
Starting to see our point?
Home rule is the privilege of citizens at the
grass roots level to manage their own affairs
and institute measures requiring accountability
from elected officials. Home rule assumes
government concerns should be solved at
the level closest to the people and is the
cornerstone of a democratic local government.
Diana Larson and Stacey McLaughlin
Myrtle Creek