Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 2018)
Page 4A East Oregonian Tuesday, November 13, 2018 CHRISTOPHER RUSH Publisher KATHRYN B. BROWN Owner DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor WYATT HAUPT JR. News Editor Founded October 16, 1875 OUR VIEW Brown needs to tackle PERS reform K ate Brown was re-elected as Oregon governor with 49.99 percent of the vote in the latest statewide results. She should never forget that number. Nei- ther should her Democratic colleagues in the Oregon Legislature. Even if her tally edges past 50 percent in the final results, voters did not seem very enthusiastic for her policies or her performance. Oregon needs a new Kate Brown, one who will govern from the center instead of one who is seen as placating the public-employee unions and their allies, who not only helped keep her in office but also added to their Democratic majorities in the Legislature. Brown has resolutely opposed signifi- cant changes in the Oregon Public Employ- ees Retirement System, even though the pen- sion system’s $22 billion unfunded liability is grabbing ever-larger pieces of city, county, school and state agency budgets. It remains confounding that the governor and unions are willing to sacrifice current jobs — and the public services those employees perform — to prop up pensions. A number of worthwhile changes have been proposed by state Sens. Betsy John- son, D-Scappoose, and Tim Knopp, R-Bend; League of Oregon Cities; Oregon School Boards Association; and other individu- als and organizations. Meanwhile, the need for PERS reforms is an ongoing topic at the annual Oregon Leadership Summit because so little has been accomplished during Brown’s tenure. Yet Brown and her cohorts argue that the proposals would accomplish too little, would be unconstitutional and would break con- tracts. Not so. Certainly, any changes could not be retro- active. The Oregon Supreme Court has been clear. But going forward, even small changes collectively could have a significant impact on PERS’ stability. As to the legality of some proposals, only the courts can determine that; it is worth legislating those good ideas and putting them before the courts. The current pension system pits job-seek- ing and current public employees against retirees and those close to retirements. That is insane, which is why everyone should have a stake in meaningful PERS reforms. AP Photo/Don Ryan, File Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, left, poses for photos with supporters after a rally on Oct. 17 in Portland. Now that Brown no longer has to curry favor to gain re-election, she should strive to govern from the moderate center and repre- sent all of Oregon, not just the urban popu- lation centers whose Democratic voters pro- pelled her re-election. She must set well-defined, achievable goals in key areas: improving mental health care for youth and adults, lengthening the school year and boosting graduation rates, YOUR VIEWS combating homelessness, developing afford- able housing, strengthening foster care while reducing the need for it, expanding sub- stance-abuse treatment and fighting the opi- oids epidemic, and expanding economic opportunity throughout rural Oregon. Brown tends to have so many priori- ties that they become meaningless. To be an effective governor, that must change. PERS reform is the place to start. OTHER VIEWS Let the people vote he United States finally rights (29 percent). has the pro-democracy “It comes from this general movement that it needs. concern about democratic Last week, ballot initiatives institutions not being reflective to improve the functioning of of the will of the people,” Ezra democracy fared very well. In Levin, a co-founder of Indivisible, Florida — a state divided nearly told me. Leah Greenberg, also equally between right and left — a co-founder, says, “We have David more than 64 percent of voters to unrig the rules.” Best of all, Leonhardt the success of the recent ballot approved restoring the franchise Comment initiatives shows that these attitudes to 1.4 million people with felony exist among many centrists and convictions. In Colorado, Michigan conservatives, too. and Missouri, measures to reduce True, some pro-democracy changes are gerrymandering passed. In Maryland, not realistic anytime soon. Trump and this Michigan and Nevada, measures to Senate won’t enact a new federal Voting simplify voter registration passed. “In Rights Act, nor will they grant the full red states as well as blue states,” Chiraag rights of citizenship to the residents of Bains of the think tank Demos says, “voters overwhelmingly sent the message: Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. But many other changes are feasible. We’re taking our democracy back.” At the state level, a wave of new Of course, there is still an enormous governors and legislators will soon take amount of work to do. Voting remains office, and they can accomplish a lot. more difficult here than in almost any States that don’t have automatic voter other affluent country. On Election Day, registration should adopt it. (Hey, Gov. I had to wait in line for 45 minutes, even Andrew Cuomo: Isn’t New York supposed though I have a job that gives me the to be a progressive leader?) States that luxury of voting in the middle of the day. have not yet created nonpartisan offices to And this country also suffers, draw congressional districts should follow unfortunately, from an anti-democracy the examples of Colorado, Michigan and movement: Leaders of the Republican Missouri. Party — out of a fear of the popular will If governors and legislators won’t — keep trying to make voting harder. They have closed polling places, reduced voting act, citizen activists should, using ballot hours and introduced bureaucratic hurdles. initiatives. Most of these measures will pass, in both blue states and red. Arizona, Amid last week’s mostly good news, Florida and Ohio, among others, could Arkansas and North Carolina passed new hold initiatives to establish automatic voter-identification measures that are registration, Stephen Wolf of Daily Kos clearly intended to hold down African- has noted. Still other states could follow American turnout. Most outrageously, top Florida’s lead and re-enfranchise people Republicans, including President Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio, are arguing with felony convictions. This is also a moment to think that Florida should not carefully count all ambitiously about a pro-democracy of the votes from this year’s election. agenda. Any Democrat considering a 2020 Overall, though, the election was an run for president should be working on a excellent one for American democracy. democracy plan, much as any Democrat The battle has now been fully joined: running in 2008 had a health care plan. Progressive activists have come to My own wish list includes universal understand the importance of promoting voting by mail, which some parts of the and protecting democracy. Most citizens — across the political left, center and right West use — and which lifts turnout much more than automatic voter registration — agree. alone. I would also like to see more Before the midterms, the leaders of places lower the voting age to 16 for local Indivisible, the big progressive grassroots elections, as a few Maryland cities have. If group, conducted a national survey of its you’re old enough to operate a lethal 2-ton members — people who had marched, vehicle, you’re old enough to have a say in knocked on doors or otherwise gotten your community’s future. politically involved over the past two More democratic participation won’t years. The survey included a list of issues, and asked which should be the Democrats’ solve all of the country’s problems. But it will solve some of them. The United States top priorities after the midterms. It has low voter turnout for a reason: Our included health care, gun safety, the system — with workday elections, long environment, civil rights, reproductive voting lines and cumbersome registration rights, taxes, the courts, education and rules — is designed to discourage mass criminal justice reform. And there was participation. That same system once a landslide winner. But it wasn’t any of barred women, African-Americans and those issues, important as they are. 18-year-olds, among others, from voting. The winning issue was democracy. The system has changed before, and it Some 69 percent of respondents named can change again. It is already starting to. it in their top three priorities. Health care ■ finished a distant second, at 48 percent. David Leonhardt is a columnist for the Then came the environment (43 percent), judicial nominations (32 percent) and civil New York Times. T Staff photo by Kathy Aney A helicopter maneuvers into position for a water drop onto a fire that started near Weston on Aug. 9, 2017. Keep helicopters on the front lines Medford Mail Tribune ith firefighting resources spread thin around the West in a big fire year, luck and timing can make all the difference. If high-capacity helicopters happen to be here and available when a major lightning storm hammers Southern Oregon, that’s good. If those helicopters already have been committed to big fires burning elsewhere, that’s not so good. So it only makes sense that local officials should explore ways to procure our own dedicated aircraft, so they’re ready and waiting to be called on to attack fires before they have a chance to grow into conflagrations. Jackson County commissioners are considering spending $2 million to station two Type 1 helicopters here during fire season. Type 1 helicopters are capable of hauling and dropping up to 3,000 gallons of water or retardant at a time. By comparison, Type 2 choppers carry hundreds of gallons. As luck and timing would have it, two Type 1 helicopters were standing by at the Ashland airport July 15 after working the Klamathon fire earlier in the month. So W 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. when a lightning storm ignited 145 new fires, those aircraft were able to attack many of them right away. Dave Larson, southwest district forester for the Oregon Department of Forestry, says there is no doubt that the presence of those aircraft meant fewer of those fires became big fires, but he wants a detailed study of the past 15 fire seasons before local officials lobby for state funding. It’s possible that one Type 1 helicopter and three Type 2 choppers might be a more effective mix for initial attack. That’s a prudent step, but not if it means a delay in seeking funding. The 2019 Legislature convenes Jan. 22, and lawmakers will be adopting the next two- year state budget. As a practical matter, $2 million is not a great deal of money, considering ODF spent $60 million fighting fires in this region this year. And it’s a bargain if dedicated aircraft reduce overall firefighting costs by keeping fires small. This area’s legislative delegation should make it a priority to secure state funding. If necessary, the county should put up the money for the first year just to get the aircraft here in time for next summer’s fire season. 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.