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East Oregonian
Thursday, February 14, 2019
CHRISTOPHER RUSH
Publisher
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
WYATT HAUPT JR.
News Editor
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Oregon, our valentine
t’s fitting that Oregon’s birth-
day is on Valentine’s Day. It’s the
loveliest state we can imagine,
and we’re glad to call her ours.
From the expansive deserts to the
rugged coastline, from the breath-
taking Columbia River Gorge to
jaw-dropping Crater Lake, from the
hidden gem of the Eagle Cap Wilder-
ness to the eclectic neighborhoods
of Portland, from Hell’s Canyon to
Mount Hood; every square mile of the
state is filled with unique beauty.
We don’t take that for granted.
There are entire countries that would
kill for this geographical diversity.
You could set out on a field trip every
weekend to a different corner of the
state and see something new and inter-
esting each time.
Have you been to the caves in the
Siskiyou Mountains, with their twist-
ing marble hallways? Or the lava
fields of central Oregon, where astro-
nauts prepared for space travel in
the 1960s? How about the Pendle-
ton Underground Tours, telling the
frank and wild history of this western
town, or the Astoria Column, tow-
ering above the mouth of the mighty
Columbia River?
It’s no wonder Oregon has become
one of the most popular states for relo-
cation. United Van Lines, which runs
an annual survey on which states peo-
ple are moving to and from, had Ore-
gon as the second most popular des-
tination in both 2017 and 2018 behind
Vermont.
Young and old alike come looking
for the high quality of life. It’s some-
thing you can’t manufacture. It goes
way back, to the days of the Oregon
Trail, when people from the east set
their eyes and their wagons on this
place.
The urge to come here has been
called “Oregon Fever,” as recounted
by Stephen Dow Beckham, a profes-
sor of history at Lewis & Clark Col-
lege in the Oregon Blue Book.
“It caused dreams, persuaded men
and women to give up all that was
familiar, risk their lives and fortunes,
and set out for the far shores of the
Pacific. The overland emigrations of
the mid-nineteenth century were one
of the epochal events of human his-
tory. Seldom had so many people
I
EO file photo
The Lower Oneonta Falls are at the end
of Oneonta Gorge off the Columbia River
Gorge.
EO file photo
Perfectly still Tombstone Lake reflects the granite cliffs that surround it in the Eagle
Cap Mountains.
EO file photo
EO Media Group file photo
Sand dunes run toward the horizon north of Lake Abert off High-
way 395 in Harney County.
Haystack Rock is a perennial draw for visitors to the Oregon
Coast.
traveled so far by land to seek a new
beginning.”
Oregon bears a resemblance to
Eden, providing a cornucopia of
nature’s bounty.
We’re famous for our fish and for-
ests, pears and potatoes, wheat and
watermelon, hazelnuts and berries of
all kinds.
A certain spirit has shaped the
state in the last century and a half, as
we’ve come to understand the land we
inhabit.
We’ve passed bills to protect our
beaches and keep them accessible to
the public, making our coast a won-
derful place to visit.
We’ve gone out of our way to pro-
tect the environment (admittedly,
sometimes to a fault), because we
want to be able to hand this state to
the next generation the way we found
it.
So we wish Oregon a happy 160th
birthday, and a happy Valentine’s Day,
too.
OTHER VIEWS
Democrats ready to go fishing for Trump’s tax returns
es, Democrats
first 50 years of its exis-
tence, no one tried to get
want to start
a president’s returns and
a new investi-
gation into already-un-
in the years since Gerald
der-investigation
Ford took office, presi-
dents have voluntarily
Trump-Russia allega-
tions. And yes, they want
made their returns pub-
lic. Until Donald Trump.
to investigate Trump
B yron
associates like Michael
So now, Democrats
y ork
Cohen, Roger Stone and
propose that the entity
COMMENT
others. But the biggest
they fully control — the
thing Democrats want is
Ways and Means Com-
mittee — force Treasury,
to get their hands on the
parent agency of the Internal Rev-
president’s tax returns.
enue Service, to turn over the
House Democrats want to use
a 1924 law that allows any one of
president’s returns. What do they
three entities — the House Ways
hope to find? What is remarkable
and Means Committee, the Sen-
is that even the most aggressive
ate Finance Committee or the
Democrats don’t seem to have
Joint Committee on Taxation
a clear idea what they will find
— to demand that the Treasury
in the returns. They’re just sure
Department turn over the returns there must be something bad in
of any individual. The law has
there.
almost never been used. For the
The former prosecutor
Y
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.
Andrew McCarthy has written
of Trump-Russia special coun-
sel Robert Mueller that “Mueller
does not have a crime he is inves-
tigating. He is investigating in
hopes of finding a crime.” That
is what Democrats are planning
with the president’s tax returns.
“President Trump’s refusal to
release his tax returns makes it
clear he has something to hide,”
said Democratic Sen. Tammy
Baldwin, who is a sponsor of the
Presidential Tax Transparency
Act, which would require presi-
dents and presidential candidates
to release their returns.
Of course, Democrats do have
some broad ideas about what
might be in the returns.
“We want to see if the pres-
ident of the United States has a
conflict of interest that he brought
with him or that he created since
he got here,” Rep. Bill Pascrell, a
member of Ways and Means, said
recently. “The only way to do that
is to get his tax returns.”
Others think — no surprise —
that there’s a Russia connection.
Rep. Jackie Speier, a member of
the Intelligence Committee, said
it is important “for the American
people to know to what extent
Russia was engaged with then-en-
trepreneur Donald Trump. ... Was
there money laundering going
on? ... That’s why having his tax
returns becomes so important.”
Trump broke a 40-year tra-
dition by not releasing his tax
returns during the campaign or
since.
Now, there are bills in both
the House and Senate that would
require presidents, and party
nominees for the presidency, to
release their returns. But they’re
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.
not law yet, and might never be.
Whatever happens, there will
likely be serious consequences
if the Ways and Means Commit-
tee chooses to force the release
of the president’s returns. For
one, it will set a precedent for the
House majority to go after the
tax returns of individuals. It is
not hard to imagine that coming
around to bite Democrats in the
future.
At a recent Ways and Means
hearing into the issue of acquir-
ing individual returns, Rep. John
Lewis summed up the situation,
and in the process said perhaps
more than he intended: “This is
not the end,” Lewis said. “This is
just the beginning.”
———
Byron York is chief political
correspondent for The Washing-
ton Examiner.
Send letters to managing
editor Daniel Wattenburger,
211 S.E. Byers Ave.
Pendleton, OR 9780, or email
editor@eastoregonian.com.