Page 4A
East Oregonian
Saturday, July 7, 2018
CHRISTOPHER RUSH
Publisher
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Merkley in Trump Country
J
eff Merkley (D-Ore.) is one of
the Senate’s most vocal critics
of President Donald Trump. So
his weekend in Eastern Oregon, where
Trump won a majority of votes in
each and every county, may be a little
different than his normal interactions
with D.C. and Portland crowds.
Merkley spoke to the East
Oregonian editorial board for an hour
Friday, before scheduled appearances
at a mill and a town hall in John Day.
Other stops this weekend include the
Wildhorse Pow Wow on Saturday in
Mission and a Sunday town hall in
Pendleton.
His discussion with our board could
not come at time when we, or the
country, have more pressing questions.
The current makeup of the Supreme
Court hangs in the balance — President
Trump is expected to name his nominee
on Monday at the White House. The
debate over immigration and ICE roils
from border to border, a trade war that
will harm American agriculture and
industry seems more likely, there is
turnover atop the EPA and the North
Korea nuclear deal shows signs of
unraveling. Lots to discuss.
But Merkley has the Supreme Court
seat top of mind at the moment, as does
the nation. He sees it as a massive fight
over women’s rights, the ability of
labor to organize and succeed, and the
longterm legality of unlimited money
in politics. (Merkley described the
Citizens United decision as “incredibly
corrupting to democracy.”)
But at its heart, he sees the battle
for the next Supreme Court justice as
a fight for the freedom and apolitical
nature of the judicial branch.
He’s realistic about his chances
of doing anything about it. He says
Democrats — outnumbered in the
Senate — know they cannot stop a
vote on whomever Trump picks. That
in itself is something that Merrick
Garland — Barack Obama’s choice
for an open seat in 2016 — never got.
Merkley believes Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell’s decision
not to let the Senate vote on Garland
“deeply damaged the integrity of the
(Supreme) Court” and no one is quite
sure if they can get that train back on
its tracks.
If Garland had not won over a
majority of senators, so be it. Merkley
said he could live with that, and
constituents would be able to hold
their senators accountable for the votes
they cast. But because McConnell did
not allow a simple vote on the open
seat until a Republican president was
in place, Merkley said he now thinks
of the Supreme Court as “a political
organization” whose recent verdicts
have been in favor of the privileged
and powerful, rather than a majority of
citizens.
Merkley knows that many Eastern
Oregon voters he encounters, who
may not like Trump’s racism and
immorality, voted for the man mostly
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Sen. Jeff Merkley congratulates Michael Shafer, son of recently-elected county com-
missioner John Shafer, at right, during a previous tour through Eastern Oregon.
because of the Supreme Court. They
knew he would have one seat to fill,
and now with a retirement he has a
second. Trump’s legacy, which so far
has been beset by a revolving-door
cabinet and a lack of meaningful policy,
could be cemented by a conservative
Supreme Court for decades or more.
But, we’re all wondering, at what
cost?
If the Supreme Court is just
another political tool, its status among
Americans will begin to decline.
And our enemies around the world,
who want to undermine American
democracy, would love nothing more
than to see Americans lose faith in
another of our foundational institutions.
A research Pew study found that
Americans’ respect for Congress
remains in the gutter. Respect for the
presidency has taken a nose dive under
Trump, and our thoughts about our two
political parties are abysmal and getting
worse. In recent surveys, the military
and the Supreme Court stood out as
beacons that a majority of Americans
have faith in — and very little else. It
would be a shame to squander that faith
to partisan bickering and backbiting.
“(Trump’s nominee) is going to be
voted on, and it’s going to come down
to where a majority of senators come
out,” said Merkley, rather glumly.
That’s how democracy is supposed
to work: a vote. But the fact that a basic
vote on the merits is hailed as a return
to normalcy — instead of focusing
on how a range of monumental legal
issues could be re-litigated, upending
our society — shows just how much
we’ve broken in recent years.
OTHER VIEWS
Down and out on $117,000
I
YOUR VIEWS
Greg Walden not doing
enough to stop Trump
Representative Walden’s campaign
rhetoric portrays him as an active legis-
lator working on behalf of District 2 con-
stituents. But as chair of the Energy and
Commerce Committee, he now is high in
the hierarchy of the governing party and
has an important leadership role to play in
broad questions of governance. He appears
to be ignoring the elephant in the room.
Our current chief executive is steering
the ship of state toward an iceberg: a trade
war simultaneously with China, Mex-
ico, Canada and Europe, with big implica-
tions for agriculture in our district, possi-
ble destruction of our alliances (especially
NATO) and cozy relationships with dic-
tators in Russia, North Korea and Turkey.
The TPP, our best shot at managing the
growing economic power of China on our
terms, was thrown away within days of the
inauguration.
Without addressing the big issues of
the day, Mr. Walden’s various legislative
efforts on our behalf are a bit like mov-
ing District 2 out of a berth in steerage
and into a first class cabin on the ship of
state. We could be better off by some mea-
sures, but still headed for the iceberg. Mr.
Walden, please add your voice in Congress
to those exhorting the administration to
change course on trade and treaties.
David Harris
Maupin
Pendleton city council
has no role as bankers
As a taxpayer in our community, I am
dismayed at the necessity of Pendleton
Development Commission. I do not
understand the necessity of the city council
members to also be the makeup of the
PDC.
The council feels that they are a
banking operation. The loaning of money
for interior remodeling should left to the
banking community. The PDC is setting
a precedent to help undermine private
banking.
Al Plute should go to the bank, not his
past fellow councilors, as he is not a true
steward of his properties, which I have
pointed out to Mr. Plute as far back as his
tenure on the council. He just blows it of
with feeble excuses.
If the mayor wants to invest in the
Bowman project, let him invest his own
money.
Larry Platek
Pendleton
CONTACT YOUR PRESIDENT
Donald Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the
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www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
t’s beyond laughable that a one-
is nothing compassionate or
bedroom apartment can sell for
financially sound in spending
$1.5 million in San Francisco
$250 million a year on homeless
services that still leaves thousands
— and get multiple offers within
sleeping outside.
a day. Or that dumpsters sport
In order to do the other thing
satirical “for rent” signs. Or that
that Breed wants to do, build more
the asking price for a side order
of Brussels sprouts at many
Timothy housing of all kinds, she has to
secure the social contract. That is:
restaurants is $16.
Egan
Can people accept more crowded
Beyond laughable because
Comment
neighborhoods, in a city that is
such stories pass like a Bay Area
already the second most densely
breeze in the city named for a
pauper from medieval Assisi. But the latest populated in the nation, if they feel that
elected leaders do not have a decent plan
assessment of the out-of-reach quality
— or a clue?
of one of the world’s great places to live
In Seattle, the nation’s fastest-growing
came as a real jolt:
city for this decade, the social contract
A family of four earning $117,000 is
is nearly broken. The city used to be run
now classified as low income in the San
by creative problem solvers. Now, an
Francisco area. This threshold, used to
ideologically driven city council dreams
determine eligibility for federal housing
up new things to anger residents while
assistance, is the highest in the nation —
seeming to let the homeless have the run
and no surprise.
of the place. The latest backward move
Once upon a time in the American
was a tax on jobs — quickly repealed after
West, the most exclusive places — Sun
a citizens’ revolt. While the council was
Valley, Aspen, Lake Tahoe, the San Juan
trying to target Amazon, the city’s biggest
Islands in Washington state — were
private employer, the tax would have
known as “Golden Ghettos,” an imperfect
also hurt grocery stores and family-run
term used by trendy demographers.
businesses, as if they caused the homeless
But now the entire West Coast, from
San Diego to Vancouver, British Columbia, crisis and spike in real estate.
An unholy alliance of socialists and
is a string of gilded megalopolises. These
are the tomorrow cities, the tech cities, the developers threatens to destroy the city’s
cities of the young and educated. And each single-family neighborhoods with a major
upzoning — further disrupting trust
is struggling with a prosperity crisis that
between residents and politicians. If the
threatens the very nature of living there.
intent is to make Seattle more affordable,
A New Yorker would say, so what, get
this approach has failed. The city has built
used to paying through the nose to live in
a tiny space on limited land. But people on more new units of housing over the last
five years than in the prior half-century.
the West Coast, perhaps naively, are not
And yet Seattle continues to lead the
ready to say, “Fuhgeddaboudit.” Not yet.
nation in home price increases.
With varying degrees of success, they are
No matter what you hear anecdotally,
fighting for the soul of their cities.
Residents of San Francisco are troubled people will continue to move to the West
Coast. The city of St. Francis has seen far
by the same things that we are in my
hometown, Seattle — the homeless and the worse than the present crisis. More than
half the population was homeless after
high cost of living. The issues are linked,
the 1906 earthquake. But by midcentury,
but not entirely.
it was the American city, birthplace of the
“Walking the streets of San Francisco
United Nations.
can be a frightening, demoralizing, even
We need a new urbanism. For all the
unhealthy experience for residents and
grumping about how great the cities
tourists alike.” This comment came from
facing the Pacific used to be, they can be
the woman just elected mayor of San
greater still if the bright minds now trying
Francisco, London Breed.
to “disrupt” a grilled cheese sandwich
Raised in poverty, and the first
can focus on the biggest challenge of this
African-American chosen to lead the city,
generation.
Breed has vowed to remove homeless
— Timothy Egan, New York Times
encampments within a year. There
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newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual
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Send letters to managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.