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East Oregonian
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Saturday, October 6, 2018
Brown, Buehler spar in testier second debate
By DIRK VANDERHART
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Meeting Thursday eve-
ning for the second of
three planned gubernatorial
debates, Democratic Gov.
Kate Brown and Republi-
can state Rep. Knute Bue-
hler were more willing to
attack each other’s record
than when they faced off
two nights before.
On a wide array of issues,
Brown and Buehler set forth
at the Medford event to
build a narrative about their
opponent.
As he has since spring,
Buehler questioned Brown’s
“status-quo”
leadership,
saying she’s failed the state
on important issues like edu-
cation, homelessness and
overall stewardship of pub-
lic dollars.
“This is an issue that
has to be dealt with,” Bue-
hler said of the state’s lag-
ging school system, the cen-
tral issue of his campaign.
“(Brown is) not willing to
spend the political capital
to tell her biggest support-
ers that this problem has to
be fixed.”
Brown hit back, painting
her opponent as a political
chameleon whose campaign
trail promises on issues like
immigration and gun control
don’t match his nearly four
File photos
Rep. Knute Buehler (left) and Gov. Kate Brown squared off in the second of three
debates on Thursday in Medford.
years in the state Legislature.
“I feel like I’m running
against two candidates: Rep.
Buehler and candidate Bue-
hler,” Brown said.
Despite the occasional
barbs, the debate was cordial
— and packed more sub-
stance than style points from
the two candidates. In an
hour, moderators from Med-
ford’s KOBI-TV managed
to cover issues that included
transportation, gun control,
natural disasters, drug addic-
tion and homelessness.
Throughout it all, the
one-minute answer for-
mat allowed the candidates
to largely stick to talking
points. But Brown and Bue-
hler also took nearly every
opportunity to rebut.
Missing from the debate
was Independent Party can-
didate Patrick Starnes,
who’d participated two
nights earlier. The event’s
sponsor declined to include
Starnes, saying surveys
showed he didn’t meet a
threshold of support from 10
percent of voters.
When discussion turned
to the state’s problematic
public pension system, the
candidates were asked to
rate it as an item of concern
on a scale of one to 10. Costs
for paying down a $22 bil-
lion unfunded liability in the
system increasingly eat up
money that could otherwise
go to other services, such as
public education.
Brown rated the problem
an eight, but attacked Bue-
hler’s suggestion that pub-
lic employees be required
to pay into the system with
money that, today, goes
into personal retirement
accounts.
“I don’t think it’s appro-
priate that we cut retire-
ments of our hardworking
Oregonians, like firefight-
ers,” Brown said.
Buehler, who has pledged
meaningful reforms to the
system, rated its problems a
nine on the scale.
“This is an issue that has
to be dealt with,” he said.
“It’s an issue that, unfortu-
nately, Gov. Brown has not
led on.”
In one of the more tell-
ing exchanges of the night,
the candidates were asked to
name a program they’d cut
or shrink to help balance the
state’s next budget, which
may face a sizable shortfall.
Buehler, who’s declined
to answer the same question
with specifics in the recent
past, didn’t hesitate to say
he’d cut a clean fuels pro-
gram that requires the use of
gasoline that emits less car-
bon dioxide. Buehler earned
enemies in the state’s envi-
ronmental community for
voting against that program
in 2015, but he insisted on
Thursday that groups like
the Sierra Club oppose sim-
ilar programs because of
concerns about the environ-
mental impacts of ethanol.
Brown, on the other hand,
refused to single out a pro-
gram for budget cuts.
“I will work with Repub-
licans and Democrats to
make sure that we are mak-
ing investments in our edu-
cation system,” she said
when pressed.
“I don’t believe you can
cut your way to a better
education system.”
When talk turned to
earthquake preparedness,
Brown touted the passage of
a $5.3 billion revenue pack-
age last year for transpor-
tation projects statewide, a
package Buehler opposed.
“I don’t know what he
was going to use to fix the
Medford viaduct,” Brown
said, playing to the South-
ern Oregon crowd watching
on their televisions. “Maybe
Scotch tape.”
Buehler explained: “I
voted no for the transporta-
tion package for some very
important reasons. One is
it was too small. It wasn’t
enough.”
As she did on Tuesday,
Brown attacked Buehler for
voting against two gun con-
trol provisions that have
become state law: one that
allows courts to take guns
away from people deemed
a threat, and another that
expands background checks.
Buehler, a gun owner,
said he supported “common
sense” gun control measures
like outlawing bump stocks,
creating a three-day waiting
period to buy handguns, and
increasing the legal age to
purchase “assault weapons”
to 21.
The candidates will meet
for their final debate Tues-
day in Portland.
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
Mostly cloudy with
a few showers
Partly sunny
Cool with partial
sunshine
Clouds and sun, a
shower; cooler
Cool with periods
of sun
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
62° 40°
56° 38°
62° 47°
55° 41°
56° 35°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
66° 39°
62° 38°
68° 51°
61° 43°
OREGON FORECAST
62° 36°
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
62/46
53/32
64/33
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
58/40
Lewiston
64/44
65/38
Astoria
62/44
Pullman
Yakima 66/34
61/37
58/40
Portland
Hermiston
65/46
The Dalles 62/38
Salem
Corvallis
66/40
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
51/37
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
66/39
52/33
53/35
Ontario
63/42
Caldwell
Burns
58°
34°
70°
41°
87° (1958) 25° (2012)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
66/41
0.00"
Trace
0.09"
5.15"
7.04"
6.65"
Today
Medford
65/46
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018
and exposed himself to her on
July 9 during a drunken inci-
dent in Sunriver, Oregon.
“We allege that he was
trying to coerce his vic-
tim into a sexual act that she
did not want to engage in,”
Deschutes County District
Attorney John Hummel told
the newspaper.
Rickerson declined to
comment to the newspaper
when reached by phone. His
lawyer, Casey Baxter, did not
immediately return a mes-
sage Friday from The Associ-
ated Press seeking comment.
Rickerson is the state
supervisor for the federal
agency’s Washington state
office in Lacey.
A 2015 agency news
release announcing his posi-
tion noted he would over-
see about 115 employees
and offices that manage nat-
ural resources issues through
Washington.
Fish and Wildlife spokes-
man Gavin Shire in Vir-
ginia told the AP the federal
agency has taken “appro-
priate administrative steps.”
Shire declined to elaborate
on what those steps were and
on Rickerson’s current status,
citing personnel matters.
In court Thursday in Bend,
Circuit Judge Stephen Forte
ordered Rickerson to have
no contact with the woman.
Rickerson was conditionally
released.
A female Fish and Wild-
life employee contacted the
federal agency’s inspec-
tor general to report that an
incident took place when
the two stayed in the same
rental house in Sunriver over
the summer, the newspaper
reported.
Sun.
N 4-8
NW 6-12
Boardman
Pendleton
58/33
BEND (AP) — Prosecu-
tors in Oregon have charged
the head of the Washington
state office for the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service after he
was accused of touching and
exposing himself to a female
co-worker during a summer
conference.
Eric Rickerson, 52, faces
six counts, including coer-
cion, third-degree sex abuse,
harassment and indecency
in Deschutes County Cir-
cuit Court, The Bend Bulletin
reported .
Coercion is a felony in
Oregon punishable by up to
five years in prison. The other
charges against Rickerson are
misdemeanors.
Prosecutors allege that
Rickerson, who lives in
Olympia,
Washington,
touched the woman’s chest
and thigh without her consent
WINDS (in mph)
61/41
55/24
0.00"
0.01"
0.16"
6.53"
12.34"
9.10"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 49/35
67/42
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
56/38
63/40
58°
38°
69°
43°
92° (1980) 25° (1916)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
60/37
Aberdeen
58/34
64/40
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
61/45
Federal administrator accused
of touching employee in Oregon
SW 4-8
W 4-8
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
7:00 a.m.
6:26 p.m.
3:44 a.m.
5:39 p.m.
New
First
Full
Last
Oct 8
Oct 16
Oct 24
Oct 31
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 97° in Clarksdale, Miss. Low 11° in Bodie State Park, Calif.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Town hall to discuss Special Olympics
East Oregonian
Britt Oase, Special Olym-
pics Oregon’s new CEO,
will be on hand to discuss
updates with the program.
Town hall meetings are
being held across the state in
the wake of the financial dif-
ficulties reported in the late
spring. The nonprofit orga-
nization canceled several
events, training and activi-
ties, including the 2018 Sum-
mer Games. Oase will share
her vision for the future of
Special Olympics, as well as
work being done in the last
three months to build a sus-
tainable organization.
The
local
meeting
— encompassing Spe-
cial Olympics programs in
Hermiston-Pendleton, Mil-
ton-Freewater, and Baker,
Grant and Union counties —
is Wednesday, Oct. 10 from
6-8 p.m. at The Salvation
Army, 150 S.E. Emigrant
Ave., Pendleton. Athletes,
their families, coaches and
Special Olympics support-
ers are encouraged to attend.
Special Olympics pro-
vides year-round athletic
training and sports competi-
tions for children and adults
with intellectual and devel-
opmental disabilities. There
is no charge for athletes to
participate. For more infor-
mation about the Herm-
iston-Pendleton program,
contact Kristi Smalley at
541-567-1546 or smalleys@
eotnet.net.
For more about the state
organization or the town hall
meeting, contact info@soor.
org, 503-248-0600 or visit
www.soor.org.
Sheriff apologizes for deputies’ comment
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
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-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
50s
cold front
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60s
70s
80s
90s
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warm front stationary front
high
110s
low
PORTLAND (AP) —
Clackamas County Sheriff
Craig Roberts has criticized
“callous comments” that three
of his deputies made on cell-
phone videos while an inmate
was in a padded jail cell and
flailing around uncontrollably
from a drug overdose.
The Oregonian/Oregon-
Live reports he said two of
the deputies were disciplined
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and the third who took the
videos resigned. The sher-
iff didn’t describe the type of
discipline.
He also apologized to the
inmate’s family in his state-
ment, now nearly two years
after the encounter.
The sheriff released two
videos a day after The Ore-
gonian/OregonLive
made
a public records request
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