Page 4A
East Oregonian
Friday, August 3, 2018
CHRISTOPHER RUSH
Publisher
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
Founded October 16, 1875
Tip of the hat,
kick in the pants
A tip of the hat to firefighters
everywhere, running toward the
smoke and flames in a battle that
often looks unwinnable at the outset.
It’s a dangerous but crucial job.
Lives and property are at stake every
time a wildfire flares up. It’s a high-
pressures situation that takes expertise,
communication, coordination and plenty
of sweat and tears.
Fortunately, there are many men and
women who train for that task every
day, and when the fires from wheat
fields to mountain forests begin to burn,
they’re ready.
It’s early August and we’ve already
seen our fair share of wildfires, from
Wilson Prairie to Juniper Canyon to
Harris Park. More destructive fires are
burning through other parts of the west,
many with tragic results already.
We know the next two months may
literally feel like hell in some places.
We’re grateful for those who are ready
at a moment’s notice to head into the
fight.
A kick in the pants to Greg Walden
for his elusiveness on whether to
accept a debate with opponent Jamie
McLeod-Skinner.
We get it — there’s not much the
Republican incumbent has to gain by
taking the stage with his Democratic
adversary. In 10 terms he has become
a known name and face in the 2nd
Congressional District, and a twin-billed
event with his lesser-known opponent
gives her credibility. There’s also the
potential of a gaffe, though Walden’s
career in broadcast and experience in
front of a crowd makes that unlikely.
We’d guess, as his staff has essentially
said, he just doesn’t consider it worth his
time right now to make a plan.
That’s a pretty flippant response,
especially after seeing Walden make the
time for a fundraiser in Portland (outside
Photo contributed by NWIC8
Firefighters work on the Wilson Prairie fire in south Morrow County.
his district) with Paul Ryan (outside his
home state) this week.
We’re very interested in what Walden
and McLeod-Skinner have to say about
their goals in the second district, and
would like to hear them defend their
positions on the same stage at the same
time. We always appreciate the chances
our editorial board have to sit down
with the candidates, but hearing them
together is informative and compelling.
The rest of Eastern Oregon should get
that chance.
When McLeod-Skinner approached
Walden at the Chief Joseph Days parade
last week, he said he looked forward
to debating her. We hope he intends to
follow through.
OTHER VIEWS
Manafort’s trial and Trump
T
YOUR VIEWS
A standing ovation
for Gary Neal
Gary Neal is retiring after a long and
remarkably successful career at the Port
of Morrow and I wanted to take this
opportunity to pay tribute to him as a giant
in our industry.
He and Kathy welcomed my wife Julie
and I to the area when we relocated from
New Mexico and took employment at
the Port of Umatilla. They were among
the first people we met when we were
adjusting to a new opportunity. I will
always remember their kindness.
A couple of weeks ago Gary received
a standing ovation from his peers at a
conference of the Pacific Northwest
Waterways Association in Clarkston,
Washington, where he was a port
commissioner before accepting his
current position at the Port of Morrow.
He is universally held in high regard by
elected officials and captains of industry
across a broad spectrum from trade and
infrastructure to finance and workforce
development.
The Port of Morrow itself is arguably
one of the finest pieces of geography in
the entire Pacific Northwest. It is uniquely
situated at the confluence of the Columbia
River, the interstate highway system and
the Union Pacific mainline.
Founded in 1960, the commissioners
and staff of the Port of Morrow have
invested a significant portion of their lives
into this enterprise. The courage, vision,
and hard work they have shown has borne
impressive results, creating thousands of
jobs and adding value to raw materials
grown, produced, and manufactured in this
region.
The complexity of such an undertaking
cannot be overestimated. It is one thing
to have a diamond in the rough, but
something entirely astounding to create a
treasure.
The infrastructure alone — electricity,
steam, water, wastewater, roads, rails, and
river terminals — has required decades of
dedicated and persistent work with private
industry and government at every level
from local to national. The Port of Morrow
is what it is because of Gary, the staff, and
his commissioners.
Gary is known, and deserves to be
known, on a first name basis from City
Hall to the Halls of Congress. His
achievements have contributed to the
community and will continue to do so for
generations to come.
I will miss him and wanted to take one
last time to thank him and acknowledge a
small part of what he has accomplished in
an extraordinary career.
Kim Puzey
Port of Umatilla general manager
Temple an outstanding judge
I was an attorney in Hermiston for
nearly 40 years. During that time I
appeared in court in nearly every county in
the state and probably appeared before at
least 50 different circuit court judges.
Some were not so good. Others were
very good. Eva Temple is among the best
I ever appeared before. It is astonishing
to me anyone would file affidavits against
her. To do so is really disheartening. She
is a very good judge. We are lucky to have
her on the bench.
Tom Ditton
Hermiston
CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
Greg Barreto, District 58
900 Court St. NE, H-38
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1458
Rep.GregBarreto@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.
Greg Smith, District 57
900 Court St. NE, H-482
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1457
Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us
he word collusion probably
Politicians before Trump have
won’t come up in the
mingled with unsavory types,
Alexandria, Virginia,
elevating the practical benefit above
courtroom where Paul Manafort
the reputational cost. Presidents
sweats out much of this and the next
before him have groomed attack
few weeks. It’s possible, too, that
dogs and invited swine and vultures
Donald Trump won’t be mentioned,
in the door. But Trump’s bestiary is
at least not often.
different. More feral. More rabid.
Frank
But make no mistake: Manafort’s
Mangier.
Bruni
trial on bank- and tax-fraud charges,
The newspaper publisher to
Comment
stemming from political consulting
whom Trump is closest is David
in Ukraine that predates his stint
Pecker of the National Enquirer.
with Trump’s 2016 campaign, has plenty to
Manafort took the reins of Trump’s
do with the president and plenty of potential campaign from Corey (“womp womp”)
to hurt him.
Lewandowski, mocker of caged migrants
That’s not just because Robert Mueller,
and yanker of a female journalist’s arm.
the special counsel, is tightening the screws
Such model citizens as Rob Goldstone
on Manafort in the hope — apparently futile and Sam Nunberg flitted around the
so far — of extracting unrelated evidence
operation, while such moral touchstones
against Trump. It’s because Manafort
as Roger Ailes and Roger Stone muttered
is such a gilded, sordid reminder of the
advice from the sidelines. Hovering over
them all was the ghost of Roy Cohn. Trump
company that Trump keeps and of how he
met and courted the legendarily despicable
sees and navigates the world. They’re like-
lawyer early on — and idolized him. When
spirited plutocrats. Fellow plunderers.
it came to ethics, Cohn was Trump’s poster
As prosecutors lay out their case
boy.
against Manafort, jurors will hear about a
Trump attracts pillagers, braggarts,
man whose vanity and thirst for splendor
hacks. They’re in his past, his present, his
eclipsed any discretion about whom he
joined forces with, where he had to travel to family, his Cabinet. They confuse wealth
consort with them and how he conducted his with merit, glitter with character, and they’re
all about fast lanes and short cuts, which is
business. Sound like any real estate tycoon
to say that they’re reflections of him.
you know?
Manafort is the mirror extraordinaire.
They’ll learn that in order to amass as
He made his fortune by holding his nose.
much and live as large as he did, Manafort
His Washington lobbying and consulting
contrived ways to beat the system and
firm represented what Betsy Woodruff and
fatten his winnings. Rules were for chumps
Tim Mak of The Daily Beast described
who didn’t have manses, suits, trinkets
as “a rogue’s gallery of clients far away
and gadgets like his, or so his thinking
from D.C.’s genteel corridors of power:
apparently went. I’m acquainted with that
dictators, guerrilla groups and despots with
philosophy, and so are you. It’s shared by a
no regard for human rights — including
certain orangey blowhard with aggressive
one man responsible for mass amputations
lawsuits, convenient bankruptcies, stiffed
creditors and phony philanthropy in his past. and another who oversaw state-sanctioned
rape.”
You could argue that yoking Trump
Mueller filed court papers on Monday
to Manafort isn’t fair, because Manafort
alleging that Manafort made more than $60
also worked for other presidents and was
million consulting for pro-Russia politicians
officially employed by Trump’s campaign
and political parties in Ukraine. To avoid
for all of five months. My response would
taxes, he funneled the money illegally
be: Michael Cohen.
through offshore accounts, according to the
He and Trump were entwined for more
criminal charges against him. That helped
than a decade. And he’s another piece of
amoral work: a dubiously gifted lawyer who pay for a lavish wardrobe of custom suits,
a dazzling collection of multimillion-dollar
secretly taped clients; a profane guardian of
properties, such home improvements as a
Trump’s image who threatened detractors
waterfall and a putting green, three Range
with intense pain and utter destruction; a
Rovers (which are British-made, last I
smarmy fixer who used hush money to
cover Trump’s erotic tracks; an indefatigable checked) and a Mercedes-Benz (German).
So much for America First. He always
scammer who sought to sell his access to the
put himself and his prodigious appetites
president to the highest bidders, domestic
first. That was the secret of his prosperity
and foreign.
until it was the recipe for his doom. Trump
A detailed report in The Times last
has much the same disposition. Time will
May explored — or, rather, marveled at —
tell if he meets the same fate.
Cohen’s shadowy financial deals, the riches
———
that mystically materialized for him and the
Frank Bruni, an Op-Ed columnist for The
strange turns of his career. Strangest to me
New York Times since June 2011, joined the
was that he “at some point began carrying
newspaper in 1995 and has ranged broadly
a licensed pistol in an ankle holster.” I
across its pages. He has been both a White
suppose that’s how all the smart thugs keep
House correspondent and the chief restau-
their guns from ruining the silhouettes of
rant critic.
their suits.
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