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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.