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OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Defend Oregon fined $94,750 for misplaced ballots
Progressive group
takes responsibility for
miscommunication,
apologizes to 97 voters
By PARIS ACHEN
Oregon Capital Bureau
Defend Oregon, a union-backed
political action committee sup-
porting progressive ballot mea-
sures, is facing the second largest
election penalty in state history for
failing to properly submit 97 bal-
lots its canvassers collected from
Multnomah County voters on
Election Day last fall.
The state Elections Division,
part of Oregon Secretary of State
Dennis Richardson’s office, has
assessed a fine of $94,750 for the
elections violations. The maxi-
mum fine is $1,000 per count, and
each ballot that wasn’t turned in is
considered a separate violation.
“In the secretary’s view, the
harm of not having a ballot counted
is more severe than any other vio-
lation of election law,” said Steve
Trout, state elections director in a
letter Tuesday to Defend Oregon
directors Becca Uherbelau and
Christy Mason.
Trout wrote that neglecting
to turn in the ballots was worse
than purposeful violations, such
as attempting to sabotage an ini-
tiative petition and betting on an
election.
The failure also harms the
“election process and the public’s
confidence in elections,” Trout
said.
Uherbelau said in a statement
that the organization accepts
responsibility for the error.
“Increasing access to the bal-
lot is central to our work at Defend
Oregon, so we take this mistake
very seriously and sincerely apol-
ogize to impacted voters who
entrusted us with their ballots,”
she said.
The Multnomah County Elec-
tions Office filed an elections com-
plaint against Defend Oregon after
Uherbelau on Nov. 7 turned in a
box of 97 ballots that was found
at the SEIU Local 503 Office the
morning after the election.
Defend Oregon was collecting
ballots from voters who hadn’t yet
voted and had obstacles to drop-
ping off or mailing their ballot to
the county elections office. The
practice is legal provided that can-
vassers turn in the ballots within
48 hours or before the ballot
deadline.
Uherbelau said the ballots
weren’t turned in to Multnomah
County by the 8 p.m. Nov. 6 dead-
line because of a “miscommunica-
tion” between two workers.
One worker said he turned in
97 ballots at the SEIU Local 503
Office by 7 p.m. Election Day and
told another worker they were
there.
That worker, tasked with shut-
tling ballots to the elections office,
reported to Defend Oregon lead-
ers not knowing about the ballots,
according to Defend Oregon’s sub-
mission to the state Elections Divi-
sion responding to the complaint.
“From the very beginning,
Defend Oregon has taken respon-
sibility for the mistake during
the November 2018 election that
resulted in some ballots being
turned in late,” Uherbleau said
Tuesday.
“Throughout the entire process,
we have fully cooperated with the
Secretary of State’s investigation
into the matter.”
She said she turned in the bal-
lots to the Multnomah County
Elections Office once the ballots
were discovered. Defend Oregon
staffers also reached out to apol-
ogize to each voter whose ballot
wasn’t turned in on time, she said.
Staffers and volunteers knew the
voters’ names from spreadsheets
the organization keeps on col-
lected ballots.
She said the organization has
changed its ballot-collecting
procedures.
“Ballot collection is a vital tool
to ensure that Oregonians who
might otherwise face obstacles to
turning in their ballots are able
to fully participate in our democ-
racy,” she said.
Defend Oregon has the right to
appeal the penalty to an admin-
istrative law judge, but a spokes-
woman declined to say whether
the organization will appeal.
The fine, if it stands, would be
the second largest in Oregon his-
tory, said Debra Royal, Richard-
son’s chief of staff.
The largest fine was $116,000
levied against former state Rep.
Dan Doyle for falsifying campaign
finance reports in 2002, 2003 and
2004, Royal said.
Doyle, a Salem Republican,
also was sentenced to 10 months
in jail.
———
Paris Achen: pachen@port-
landtribune.com or 503-506-
0067. Achen is a reporter for the
Portland Tribune working for the
Oregon Capital Bureau, a col-
laboration of EO Media Group,
Pamplin Media Group and Salem
Reporter.
Snowpack: Levels affect surface water for irrigation
Continued from Page A1
USDA, said the new snow means the
total snow pack for those three basins
is now 114 percent of normal levels.
“This storm cycle is promising,”
she said.
Already a leader in the February
report, the Umatilla, Walla Walla,
and Willow basins is now tied with
the Lake County and Goose Lake
water basins for the top snowpack in
the state.
But the USDA entitled its press
release announcing the February
report “Oregon snowpack report
leaves much to be desired” for a
reason.
The rest of the state hasn’t fared
as well in building snowpack for its
water sources, with many basins
struggling to reach three quarters of
normal levels.
Although the local basin’s snow-
pack is riding high at the moment,
Koeberle said the region will need
more storms like the one in February
to maintain its current level.
The National Weather Service’s
long-term forecast calls for a warmer
and drier February, March and April
in the Northwest, a trend that Koe-
berle said would be the worst case
scenario.
Warmer and drier weather would
deplete the snowpack, Koeberle said,
although the day-to-day weather can
be difficult to predict this far out.
The region doesn’t have to look far
back to see what a dry winter can do.
Last February snowpack report for
the Umatilla, Walla Walla, and Wil-
low basins was only 67 percent of
normal levels.
Going back even further shows a
fluctuating pattern. February 2017’s
snowpack report showed the three
basins contained 120 percent of nor-
mal levels by the end of January.
And even with all the recent pre-
cipitation, the USDA still consid-
ers most of Umatilla County “abnor-
mally dry,” a step above moderate
drought.
But the important factor for irriga-
tors and other users of surface water
is how much water will be available
once the snowpack melts in the warm
weather months.
If Eastern Oregon’s snowpack lev-
els ends up where it was at the end of
January by the time the precipitation
season ends, the USDA anticipates
stream flows will be 60 percent to
100 percent of normal levels around
the region.
Snow: Some local businesses see profits from storm
Continued from Page A1
and staff had to make extra
supply runs to meet guest
needs, such as for breakfast
fruits. The guests were in
a tough situation, he said,
so the staff sought to make
them as comfortable as
possible.
The hotel has 101 rooms,
but Lynch said one room
had ice forming on the
inside of window, so they
were down to an even 100.
Hotel assistant manager
Kimberly Jones said all the
rooms filled.
“Right before this, we
had 75 rooms,” she said.
“Within two hours we were
booked.”
Tuesday’s break in the
weather had most guests
clear out. But Jones said
the threat of another winter
system coming in had some
guests deciding to wait it
out rather than risk getting
stuck on an icy highway.
The Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation
warned Tuesday that “trou-
blesome” driving condi-
tions would continue for
the next three or four days,
and Interstate 84 through
the Columbia Gorge is a
primary focus for snow and
ice removal efforts.
A patchwork of snow,
ice, rain and wind will
make
travel
difficult,
according to the release,
and snow removal teams
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Chris Golden uses a snow blower to remove snow next to
a vehicle in the parking lot at Horizon Project on Monday
in Pendleton.
are on duty 24-7 to keep the
roadway clear.
Slick roads gave a small
bump to Pendleton Tire &
Auto, 25 Highway 11, Pend-
leton. Owner Scott Sullivan
said most of that was from
unprepared winter travel-
ers and semitruck drivers
needing a fast fix on a flat.
He said in the tire business,
“if you don’t have winter by
Dec. 15, you’re done.”
After that date, he
explained, people focus on
Christmas, then New Years
and usually by Feb. 15 win-
ter is over. His business like
other tire shops by now is
getting rid of winter inven-
tory. He said he tells folks
the span from mid-Decem-
ber to mid-February is a bit
like life as an old preacher
traveling the church circuit:
“If you don’t fast two days a
week, you starve to death.”
Kathy Baker said the
storms hurt her business.
She owns and operates the
Fun Fashions Boutique, 165
W. Coe St., Stanfield, which
she opens Tuesday through
Saturday. But Baker said
she had to lock the doors
as the temperatures and
snow fell. “I’ve been closed
almost a week,” she said.
“It’s horrible.”
Much of that is because
the building where the
shop is housed is more than
100 years old and a bur-
den to heat, she explained,
and most of her custom-
ers come from Pendleton
or the Tri-Cities, so win-
ter weather can make for
treacherous driving.
“I think this kind of
weather is so hard on small
business, especially mom-
and-pop businesses like
mine,” Baker said.
While folks need grocer-
ies even in snowstorms, she
said, they can put off buying
a pair of shoes. She opened
the store Tuesday and said
she hopes to remain open
the rest of the week.
Schools: Weather makes all the difference
Continued from Page A1
of required hours for the
school year.
Hermiston School Dis-
trict has had two snow days
so far this school year, on
Tuesday, Feb. 5, and Tues-
day, Feb. 12. Students will
make up the first day this
Friday, Feb. 15, which was
initially scheduled to be
a teacher workday. That
teacher workday will now
get added on to the end of
the school year for staff
members.
Hermiston Superinten-
dent Tricia Mooney said
many people are involved in
the decision about whether
to keep school open, includ-
ing her, other administra-
tors, and Mid-Columbia
Bus Company employees.
She said students have
to meet a certain num-
ber of instructional hours
each year, but the make-up
process for schools has
changed recently.
“Until two years ago,
the district could count up
to 14 hours of snow days
as instructional hours, and
that’s gone away,” she said.
There is a tiered system,
but she said students have
to have about 990 instruc-
tional hours each year to be
in compliance. There are
some make-up days built
into the calendar, such as
this Friday, but she said if
there are more canceled
days, they may have to
add days to the end of the
school year.
Pendleton School Dis-
trict Superintendent Chris
Fritsch said they look at
several things before mak-
ing a decision on whether to
cancel: current conditions,
12- and 24-hour forecasts,
and whether buses, parents,
and staff can safely trans-
port students.
They look at whether
the campus is safe, includ-
ing parking lots and out-
side areas, and whether
they have enough informa-
tion to make a call the night
before, instead of the morn-
ing of school.
Fritsch said the district
will talk to the bus com-
pany around 4:30 or 5 a.m.,
and drive routes and make
campus visits. They will
gather information about
conditions in different
areas of the city, and then
district administration will
make a decision.
Mooney said they want
students to be safe, and
sometimes that means
being in school even in
snow.
“We keep in mind that
school is a warm place, and
a place where they can get
two meals a day,” she said.
“So we want to get them
there, because often, it’s the
safest place for them to be.”
AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli
California Gov. Gavin Newsom walks up the center aisle of
the Assembly Chambers to deliver his first State of the State
address to a joint session of the legislature at the California
Capitol on Tuesday in Sacramento, Calif.
California governor
scales back plans
for high-speed train
By KATHLEEN
RONAYNE
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif.
— California Gov. Gavin
Newsom declared Tues-
day there “isn’t a path” for
completing the state’s plan
for a high-speed rail line
between San Francisco and
Los Angeles, yet his office
insisted he is fully com-
mitted to building such a
project.
Newsom,
delivering
his first State of the State
address, said he’d shift his
focus to completing just a
171-mile segment of the line
already under construction
in the state’s Central Valley.
The project is key to the eco-
nomic vitality of the state’s
agricultural heartland, he
said.
A high-speed rail line
linking Los Angeles to
San Francisco was the goal
when voters approved a bal-
lot measure in 2008. The
roughly 520-mile line ini-
tially was estimated to cost
$33 billion and was pegged
for completion in 2020.
Officials eventually hoped
to connect the line to San
Diego and Sacramento.
Subsequent
estimates
more than doubled the cost
to $77 billion and pushed the
timeline to 2033.
“Let’s be real,” Newsom
said. “The project, as cur-
rently planned, would cost
too much and take too long
... Right now, there simply
isn’t a path to get from Sac-
ramento to San Diego, let
alone from San Francisco to
L.A. I wish there were.”
Newsom said he’d con-
tinue doing environmen-
tal reviews for the LA-San
Francisco line and seek pri-
vate investment to connect
the Central Valley to the
state’s major hubs.
Newsom’s
spokesman
Nathan Click said the gov-
ernor is committed to com-
pleting the longer line with
additional private and fed-
eral money “as the Central
Valley section demonstrates
the viability of the broader
project.”
The questions about
Newsom’s rail plans clouded
his first State of the State
address in which he out-
lined his vision for lead-
ing the nation’s most pop-
ulous state. California, he
said, faces “hard decisions
that are coming due” on
clean water, housing and
homelessness.
Newsom used the speech
to contrast his administra-
tion with Brown’s as much
as he did to take issue with
President Donald Trump.
He blasted the president’s
views on immigration —
Newsom called the border
emergency “a manufactured
crisis” — but also compli-
mented Trump’s calls for
lowering prescription drug
costs.
Trump has criticized
California’s high-speed rail
plan. Newsom said the state
risked having to return $3.5
billion in federal money if
building stops on the Cen-
tral Valley leg or it doesn’t
complete the environmen-
tal reviews. Rail leaders
have long said they do not
have enough state money
to complete the line. Private
investment has been tied to
getting more government
investment.
Newsom did not provide
any fresh details about how
he planned to leverage or
gather private money in a
way his predecessors could
not.
His speech left lawmak-
ers with different interpre-
tations of how the project
would move forward.
Democratic state Sen.
Anna Caballero, who rep-
resents part of the Central
Valley, called the shift to
a line only from Bakers-
field to Merced “disappoint-
ing.” But she said she hopes
to see that line connected
to other state hubs at some
point.
“People need to see it
move to really feel like it’s
important,” she said.
Republican state Sen.
Jim Nielsen of Fresno said
Newsom’s comments were
an acknowledgement the
full train would never be
completed.
“It cannot be achieved,
and the governor has essen-
tially admitted it,” he said.
“This entire thing has now
changed from whether or
not there’s going to be a
high-speed rail to what’s
going to be left for Central
California.”