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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 2018)
OFF PAGE ONE WYDEN: Find things that get students excited about going to school Page 8A East Oregonian Continued from 1A Multiple students asked Wyden to share why he thinks Oregon’s graduation rates are so low, how he plans to help raise them, and how he plans to make college more affordable. One student noted the cor- relation between other states’ higher graduation rates and better teacher pay. “You’re going to get an ‘A’ in every class,” Wyden quipped, before noting that unlike most other states, the federal government owns most of Oregon’s land, which limits the types of businesses or facilities that could be built on the land and, subsequently, pay local taxes. Wyden said he wrote the law that created the Secure Rural Schools program, which allows schools in rural Oregon counties to get payments from the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. That money, he said, helps Oregon schools make up for some of the money they lose out on in local taxes. Wyden said as far as rais- ing the graduation rates, he’d like to see more schools lean into career and technical edu- cation, add STEAM (Sci- ence, Technology, Engineer- ing, Arts and Mathematics) to their curricula, and find things that get students excited about going to school. Addressing college afford- ability, he cited a bill he intro- duced last year with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Vir- ginia Sen. Mark Warner, the “Know Before You Go” bill, which he said makes data about schools’ graduation rates, debt levels and poten- tial to earn and repay debt afterward available to stu- dents, breaking the informa- tion down by specific colleges and programs of study. “I’ve also said debt repay- ment should be tied to the income you’re making,” he said. Several students and adults asked Wyden about his plans to make health care more affordable. “Do you believe health care is a privilege or a right?” one student asked. Wyden said he believes it’s a basic right, and that his pri- ority is containing the cost. “Going after the middle- men that are ripping off the system,” he said. “We’re spending enough money for all Americans to get basic, good, equal coverage.” Among his concerns, he said, is that after presenting a tax bill last week, Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell said Congress should cut spending on programs like Social Secu- rity and Medicare. A student asked Wyden to name a vote he regretted. Wyden said there have been several, but said a recent one was his support of Secre- tary of the Interior Ryan Zin- ke’s appointment. “He said he’d be like Teddy Roosevelt — a champion of the outdoors,” Wyden said, adding that Zinke so far has not lived up to that promise. Wyden said in most of his town hall meetings, the most common call has been for government transparency and accessibility. be that King George will get with Shafer and write up an article on his positions,” according to the comment. “King George will then have it published in the EO under one of their writer’s names. I have strongly suspected sev- eral times that King George was writing his own articles ... I also find it unsettling that King George has such an influence over John Shafer,” the post continued. “To me it appears that King George would have undue influence over policy brought before the board.” The post writer did not provide a name. Giv- ens, Shafer and Murdock denounced the post. “I’m sad to see it go in that direction,” Shafer said. “Obviously, I’m not going to go in that direction.” He also discounted the notion he would be Mur- dock’s lackey. “I guarantee you that’s not going to be the case,” Shafer stated. “The name calling is dis- appointing, and I think unbe- coming,” Murdock said, and the writer’s lack of transpar- ency did not sit well with him. “If you’re going to say something about some- body,” he said, “at least have the courage to sign your name.” Murdock added the jab at the East Oregonian did not ring true. He was publisher of the newspaper 2007-09 but said the EO has never given him “any kind of a free ride.” Shafer and Murdock also said they do not know each other. Murdock does know Shafer’s son, Michael Sha- fer, through his 4-H and leadership activities, and Murdock wrote a college recommendation letter for him. Givens said he did not know about the Facebook post until late Tuesday Staff photo by E,J. Harris Hermistom High School senior Alexis Perez asks Sen. Ron Wyden about high school graduation rates on Tuesday during a town hall meeting at Hermiston High School. Staff photo by E,J. Harris Sen. Ron Wyden talks about the issues he agrees on, and disagrees on, with Presi- dent Donald Trump on Tuesday during a town hall meeting at Hermiston High. Givens Shafer afternoon. “Frankly, I’m surprised by it,” he said. “I think it’s very disheartening.” Givens managed the Facebook page during the primary. He said he gave the page to Umatilla County Fair Board member Mel Keely, who wanted it for the write-in campaign to get Givens a fourth term. Giv- ens was adamant he does not control the page and did not write the post. “Absolutely not,” Givens insisted. He also has been on the bad end of an anonymous negative message. About two weeks ago, Givens Murdock received hand-written mail at the courthouse calling him a “pathetic loser.” He said he did not know who sent it and has no idea who posted the attack on Face- book. Givens said he would try to find out, but did not hold out hope of anyone taking responsibility. Keely of Hermiston and fellow fair board member Don Miller of Milton-Free- water have come forward as the primary movers behind the write-in campaign. Miller said he has nothing to do with the Facebook page. The EO was not able to reach Keely by deadline. Kim Lindell, county elec- tions manager, said she was not aware of any success- ful county-wide, write-in campaigns. Bill Elfering of Hermis- ton, elected in 2016, is the one Umatilla County com- missioner who does not have to run this year. He said campaigns bring tension, including for Givens and Murdock. “Are they feeling the stress of the campaign?” Elf- ering said. “They certainly are.” He also said his fellow commissioners have not let personal differences get in the way of conducting county business, “But I sure will be glad when we’re out of the turbu- lence of the campaign,” Elf- ering said. Election night is Nov. 6 — less than two weeks away. ——— Contact Phil Wright at pwright@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0833. PERS: Reform falls under the League of Oregon Cities’ top priorities Continued from 1A lenges. The state has a bill due, he said, and it’s time to pay. Smith said he believes the best way is to issue pension bonds, which would stabi- lize the bill for government entities, such as schools. He likened it to a family that gets in over its head in credit card debt and goes to the bank to refinance their debt into a single payment. The refinance may make it easier on the family to get a handle on their problem, but they still need to figure out a way to either increase their income or cut their expenses to free up money to start paying off their debt. In practical terms for the legislature, that means rais- ing taxes or cutting spend- ing. Voters won’t be happy about new taxes, but they also won’t be happy about cuts to public safety, health care or education. “It’s going to be hard,” Smith said. “The question is whether the Legislature has the fortitude to make those hard decisions.” PERS reform falls under the League of Oregon Cit- ies’ second highest prior- ity of cost containment and revenue reform. The other part to that priority — prop- erty tax reform — is one that Smith told council- ors they shouldn’t count on being tackled in the 2019 session. A repeal of Mea- sure 5, which caps property tax revenue for cities, would take a vote of the people. Smith said he had no prob- lem voting to refer the ques- tion to voters, but didn’t see a majority of the legislature being willing to do so. One revenue reform Smith said he felt sure would take place in the 2019 session is implementation of a carbon tax. However, Smith said he had a feel- ing the money raised by tax- ing carbon-producing busi- nesses for emissions would go toward the Department of Environmental Quality to fund more regulations and monitoring, not into educa- tion or the PERS liability. While Smith doesn’t sup- port that idea, he said it’s important for legislators in the minority to come to the table for discussions on leg- islation they don’t support in order to “make it less intrusive” for rural Oregon when it inevitably passes. Eighty percent of legisla- tors live within an hour’s drive of the capitol, he said, and are writing bills from that perspective. Smith feels an obligation to his district to make sure Eastern Ore- gon is included in discus- sions so that he can negoti- ate changes to the bill that TIMBER: $500,000 approved to assist with planning Continued from 1A GIVENS: ‘Frankly, I’m suprised by it. I think it’s very disheartening’ Continued from 1A Wednesday, October 24, 2018 will mitigate harm to rural Oregon. “If you pound the table, they say ‘That’s nice, now go sit over there,’” he said. It’s a lesson many fresh- man legislators have to learn, and Smith said East- ern Oregon is mostly rep- resented by freshman leg- islators right now, with longtime rural representa- tives such as John Huffman leaving The Dalles and Ted Ferrioli leaving John Day. It has created a real leadership vacuum, he said, as rural Oregonians have lost rep- resentation by people who sit on key committees and understand how the govern- ing process works. “That really puts us at a disadvantage,” he said. District 57 is well-posi- tioned in that regard, how- ever, because Smith serves on a long list of influential committees. Most signifi- cantly, he is vice chair of the House Revenue Commit- tee and co-vice chair of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means. That means Smith has influence on both the revenue-raising and the spending side of the legis- lature — something that he said is almost unheard of in Oregon. As for the LOC’s other priorities, Smith said the number one priority voted on by city councils — men- tal health — is also on the legislature’s mind and would definitely come up in the upcoming session. “As a state we are going to pay for people’s men- tal health care; the ques- tion is how are we going to pay for it?” he said. “Are we going to do it wisely and compassionately?” He said he supported Umatilla County’s desire for an expansion at the county jail to better deal with inmates who are dealing with mental health issues. As for other priorities that are more specific city con- cerns, Smith said he would get together with city leaders in his district during the ses- sion and talk about how he could best support those pri- orities. One example of that was the LOC’s sixth priority of preserving cities’ ability to contract with a third party on building inspections. The legality of that has been called into question. City manager Byron Smith said if that isn’t addressed Hermis- ton would no longer be able to do the city of Umatilla’s inspections. During the work session councilors brought up vari- ous other concerns and ques- tions on topics, such as for- est health and funding water and sewer infrastructure for small cities that can’t afford needed projects. Councilor Jackie Myers brought up the transporta- tion payroll tax that came into effect in July and is coming due for employers now. Myers, who works as an accountant, asked Smith how she should answer cli- ents who ask what the tax is for. She also complained that the state does not have the online infrastructure set up to take payments, forcing accountants to fill out forms by hand and get a check from the employer and mail it in. Smith and assistant city manager Mark Morgan explained the payroll tax goes toward public transpor- tation, such as bus systems and ride shares. By statute, 90 percent of the money generated in each county must stay in that county, which is expected to gener- ate more than $1 million per year that Umatilla County will be able to spend on expanding public transpor- tation options in the county. Smith said he was sur- prised to hear Myers’ com- plaint about how difficult the state was making it to pay the tax, and said when he saw the director of the Oregon Department of Rev- enue at a call center open house in Fossil on Tuesday he would definitely bring it up and see what needed to be done to fix it. laboration has helped keep us out of court.” Collaboratives are groups, such as nonprof- its, that help steer the federal government’s thinking on logging and thinning projects and build agreement among the timber industry, envi- ronmental groups and others. Another recent tool that’s expected to increase timber vol- ume from national for- ests is the “good neigh- bor” authority granted by Congress in 2014 that allows state govern- ments to carry out proj- ects on federal land. While such logging projects are still subject to federal environmental laws, states have more flexibility with contract- ing rules and are able to carry out projects more effectively, said Mike Cloughesy, forestry director of the Oregon Forest Resources Insti- tute, which organized the tour. Federal contracting regulations are more complicated and have set wages for certain jobs — such as road crews — whereas state regulations allow for more cost-effi- ciency, he said. Earlier this year, Ore- gon lawmakers approved $500,000 for the Ore- gon Department of For- estry to assist with the planning and implemen- tation of projects under the “good neighbor” authority. As ODF increases its capacity to manage such projects, the Willamette National Forest hopes to eventually reach about 120 million board-feet in timber volume, said Beck, the forest’s super- visor. The forest is esti- mated to produce about 1 billion board-feet a year in new timber. At roughly 650 mil- lion board-feet of tim- ber harvested in 2018, the Forest Service region that includes Oregon and Washington this year achieved its highest vol- ume in two decades, he said. “The future looks bright,” Beck said. The OFRI tour, held on Oct. 19, included a visit to new mass tim- ber buildings under con- struction on Oregon State University’s cam- pus using cross lami- nated timber and mass plywood, which are pre-fabricated panels that allow for the effi- cient assembly of multi- story wooden structures. The group of about 50 lawmakers, govern- ment officials and indus- try representatives also walked through long- term research plots at OSU’s McDonald-Dunn Forest that analyzed dif- ferent harvest and refor- estation methods. The university har- vests about 7 million to 9 million board-feet a year from 15,000 acres that include the McDon- ald-Dunn and surround- ing forests, said Steve Fitzpatrick, director of research forests at OSU’s College of Forestry. Managing the for- estland presents unique challenges due to the high volume of tourists and the proximity to res- idential homes, which can lead to controversies and compromises over forest management, he said. “You get the full range of emotions, from ‘Well, it’s your prop- erty’ to ‘I’m going to sue you,’” said Fitzpatrick.
