Page 4A
East Oregonian
Thursday, April 5, 2018
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Multiple opportunities
for spring cleaning
When spring weather blows into
our area, many Oregonians find time
to spruce up their homes and their
neighborhoods.
A good spring clean after a long
winter with the doors and windows
shut tight can be a joyful and pleasing
experience — good for the health of
our bodies and minds, as well as the
financial health of our pocketbooks.
Luckily, local groups are helping
support the cleanup efforts.
Here are a few ideas:
Hermiston: Residents can bring up to
454.5 pounds of their own trash (except
tires) to Sanitary Disposal at 81144
N. Highway 395 for free this week,
and receive discounts on larger loads.
Then on April 14, everyone in Umatilla
County can take their recycling,
including tires, electronics, paints and
batteries, to Umatilla Electric Co-Op,
750 W. Elm. And on April 21, a city-
wide “I Love My City” cleanup project
will sweep several neighborhoods. Show
up at McKenzie Park at 9 a.m.
Umatilla: The city will host a cleanup
day April 7. McNary area volunteers can
meet at the Port of Umatilla offices, 500
Willamette St., and downtown and south
hill volunteers should meet at Umatilla
City Hall, 700 Sixth St. Dumpsters also
will be placed around the community
free of charge for disposal of yard waste,
junk, debris and general garbage. A
barbecue at Village Square Park will
follow.
Pendleton: The annual S.U.R.E.
(Stewards of the Umatilla River
Environment) cleanup of the river
levee is set for May 19. That cleanup
is a fun way to gather with friends
and organization members to pitch in
and clear trash from the parkway and
riverbank. To ensure there are enough
gloves, trash bags, refreshments and
food for lunch, RSVP to kbbrown@
eastoregonian.com.
There is also the opportunity to
clean up historic cemeteries, of which
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
John Spomer picks up trash as Tom Ditton throws a bag of garbage into the back of
his pickup during a volunteer cleanup on Theater Lane in Hermiston.
northeast Oregon has plenty.
The Oregon Commission on Historic
Cemeteries is partnering with SOLVE
to create the first statewide Oregon
Historic Cemetery Cleanup Day on May
12.
Volunteers across the state will
attempt to spruce up historic cemeteries
— many established in the 1800s — that
have become littered with invasive
weeds, woody debris, dirty headstones
and other problems.
The commission is helping to
organize volunteers for the statewide
event. To have your cemetery included
as a selection for volunteers, contact
Monica Gunderson at monica@
solveoregon.org or over the phone at
503-844-9571 ext. 336. Volunteers can
sign up now.
OTHER VIEWS
Trump-Russia and the rule of law
ecently, I took part
administration.
in a debate on the
When intelligence
question “Does
intercepts picked up
the Russia investigation
Michael Flynn, the
endanger the rule of
incoming national security
law?” I said yes.
adviser, talking to the
First, a caveat. If
Russian ambassador in
“endanger the rule of
late December, the Obama
law” means “destroys
Justice Department
Byron
our legal order and
saw that as a possible
York
threatens our democracy,”
violation of the Logan
Comment
then no, I don’t think
Act. (It wasn’t; many
the Trump-Russia
foreign policy experts saw
investigation does that. But if
nothing wrong with that.)
it means “involves our nation’s
Nevertheless, four days into
most powerful law enforcement
the Trump administration, Sally
and intelligence agencies in
Yates, the Obama holdover
reckless political conduct that
leading the Justice Department,
undermines our system of
sent agents to the White House
elections and the orderly transfer
to question Flynn, ostensibly on
of power,” then yes, the Trump-
the suspicion that he might have
Russia investigation does, in fact, violated the Logan Act.
endanger the rule of law.
It was that interview that
Two incidents from 2016 and
ultimately resulted in Flynn
early 2017 point to the danger
pleading guilty to one count of
posed by overzealous Trump-
lying to the FBI.
Russia investigators.
The bottom line is, the Flynn
The first is that the Justice
saga, which is at the heart of the
Department used the Logan Act,
Trump-Russia investigation,
which bars private Americans
appears to have hinged on a
from conducting foreign policy,
trumped-up suspicion that a new
as a pretense to pursue an
administration had broken a
investigation against the Trump
centuries-old law that has never
team.
been prosecuted before — when,
The Logan Act was passed
in fact, the new administration’s
in 1799 and has never been
real transgression was to make
used to successfully prosecute
clear it would throw away many
anybody. No one has even tried
of its predecessor’s policies.
since the 19th century. It is, by
The second incident that
any practical measure, dead
suggests the Trump investigation
— look up the legal concept of
threatens the rule of law is the
“desuetude.”
FBI’s use of the Trump dossier
And yet, in the summer of
— a Clinton campaign opposition
2016, some prominent Democrats research product — as a part of its
began accusing Trump of
counterintelligence investigation
violating the Logan Act.
into the Trump campaign.
They said he broke the law
To compile the dossier, a
by sarcastically encouraging
Democratic law firm hired the
Russia to release Hillary Clinton’s opposition research group Fusion
famous deleted emails. Several
GPS, which hired a former
called for hearings.
British spy named Christopher
Then, after Trump’s victory,
Steele, who paid a number of
stunned and angry Democrats
Russian “collectors,” who then
watched him prepare for the
talked to other Russians, who
presidency — and prepare to
provided gossip about Trump.
undo many of Barack Obama’s
The most spectacular gossip is the
policies.
dossier’s description of Trump,
Democratic Rep. Jared
in a Moscow hotel room in 2013,
Huffman introduced the “One
watching as prostitutes played out
President at a Time Act of 2016,” a kinky sex scene.
which would specifically subject
Steele took his material to
presidents-elect to the Logan Act. the FBI, and the bureau agreed
Rep. John Conyers, then the top
to pay Steele to keep gathering
Democrat on the House Judiciary dirt on Trump — an astonishing
Committee, asked the Justice
development in the midst of a
Department to investigate Trump
presidential election.
for a possible violation of the
And even though the pay-for-
Logan Act.
dirt deal fell through, the FBI
All of that was just political
still incorporated the dossier into
posturing — not a threat to the
its Trump-Russia investigation.
rule of law. But unbeknownst
It was used as the basis to ask a
to the public, the Obama Justice
secret court to grant a warrant
Department was using the
to wiretap an American, Carter
Logan Act as a pretext to take
Page, in October 2016.
action against the incoming
Now fast-forward to the
R
YOUR VIEWS
Show some compassion
for the homeless
I am a mother, a grandmother,
an artist, 63 and disabled. I don’t
do drugs, nor do I drink alcohol.
But I am also — not by choice — a
homeless person. I cry, I laugh, I love,
I feel, I care. It seems there is no one
out here who will speak for all of us
homeless people.
There are a few places that we
can go. When the temperature drops
below 32 we have the warming
station. We can have a hot meal once
a day Monday though Saturday at
the Salvation Army church. We used
to eat breakfast, but that church no
longer lets us have that. The kind
caring people who fixed and served
us breakfast are searching for a new
location, but none so far has been
found.
Some of us sleep under blankets,
some in lean-tos or tents, some in
campers, travel trailers and some
in RVs. Some have jobs they go to,
others like me are disabled and on
a low fixed income, others gather
bottles and cans to make money. We
lost our homes for many reasons:
some because the rent got too high
for them to pay and still survive;
others because their health was in
danger; yes, a few are drug users or
drinkers; some just got out of jail.
We are human beings and we do
buy from a lot of stores, yet we are
hated, harassed, shunned, and looked
at as if we are nothing but trash. We
are run out of town. Why can’t there
be a place where we can go to camp?
There are men, women and children
out here; most of us wish and dream
of being able to find our own home to
live in, a yard our children can play
in. But everywhere I go I get chased
out. Where I think it’s safe to park
and stay turns out to be another place
it’s forbidden.
We just want to live, love, laugh,
cry like every homebound person
gets to do. There is land that could be
turned into a place that we can go to.
But who cares? I believe in God — in
his Holy Bible it says to help and
care for the elderly, the poor and the
homeless, not shun us.
Linda Kuppenbender
Pendleton
CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
U.S. SENATORS
Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
La Grande office: 541-962-7691
Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753
Pendleton office: 541-278-1129
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Greg Walden
185 Rayburn House Office Build-
ing
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6730
La Grande office: 541-624-2400
GOVERNOR
Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court Street
Salem, OR 97301-4047
503-378-4582
REPRESENTATIVES
Greg Barreto, District 58
900 Court St. NE, H-38
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1458
Rep.GregBarreto@state.or.us
Greg Smith, District 57
900 Court St. NE, H-482
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1457
Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us
SENATOR
Bill Hansell, District 29
900 Court St. NE, S-423
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1729
Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the
East Oregonian editorial board. Other
columns, letters and cartoons on this page
express the opinions of the authors and
not necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
transition.
In early January 2017,
intelligence chiefs James Comey,
John Brennan, Mike Rogers and
James Clapper traveled to Trump
Tower to brief the president-elect
on Russian efforts to interfere
with the 2016 campaign.
After the briefing, by a plan
they had devised earlier, three
of them left the room, leaving
Comey alone with Trump.
Comey gave Trump a summary
of the dossier, including the
Moscow sex scene.
Imagine that. The very first
time the incoming president met
the FBI director face-to-face, the
FBI’s message was: We know
about you and those hookers in
Moscow.
In their new book “Russian
Roulette,” authors Michael Isikoff
and David Corn report Trump
thought the FBI was blackmailing
him:
“Trump had seen this sort
of thing before,” they write.
“Certainly, his old mentor Roy
Cohn — the notorious fixer for
mobsters and crooked pols —
knew how this worked. So too
did Comey’s famous predecessor
J. Edgar Hoover, who had quietly
let it be known to politicians
and celebrities that he possessed
information that could destroy
their careers in a New York
minute.”
The intel chiefs’ briefing of
Trump soon leaked to the media.
And the fact that top officials
had seen fit to tell the incoming
president about the dossier made
it a legitimate news story.
Within hours, Buzzfeed
published the entire dossier on the
internet.
As Sen. Charles Schumer
said as all this was happening:
“You take on the intelligence
community, they have six ways
from Sunday of getting back at
you.”
With the Logan Act, Obama
holdovers used a dead law as
a pretense to push the Trump
investigation. With the dossier,
they used unverified opposition
research not only to investigate
the Trump campaign, but to
execute a clever maneuver to
make the dirt public.
And this was all done by the
nation’s top law enforcement and
intelligence officials, targeting
a new president. So yes, it is
reasonable to say the Trump-
Russia investigation endangers
the rule of law.
■
Byron York is chief political
correspondent for The Wash-
ington Examiner.
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. 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.