East Oregonian
A4
Friday, May 31, 2019
CHRISTOPHER RUSH
Publisher
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Editor
WYATT HAUPT JR.
News Editor
JADE McDOWELL
Hermiston Editor
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
SB 870 should be decided by Oregon voters
T
here is great irony in a legis-
lative proposal to embrace the
National Popular Vote, which
would change how Oregon helps elect
our nation’s president.
Senate Bill 870 would require that
Oregon’s votes in the Electoral College
be cast for whoever wins the national
popular vote for president, regardless
of the election outcome in Oregon.
The bill’s backers say they believe
in “one person, one vote.” However,
they are adamant against letting vot-
ers make that change through a ballot
measure; instead, they insist the Leg-
islature do so.
The bill passed the Senate on 17-12
vote and passed out of the House
Rules Committee on Wednesday on a
party-line vote with no discussion. It
has not yet been scheduled for action
on the Senate floor.
The Oregon House passed similar
bills 2009, 2013 and 2015, only to see
the legislation disappear in the Senate.
Last time, supporters of National Pop-
ular Vote refused to accept a compro-
mise offered by Senate President Peter
Courtney, D-Salem, to send the pro-
posal to voters.
This year, advocates started in the
Senate, where the increased number
of liberal Democratic senators ensured
passage of SB 870.
Our nation’s founders created a pro-
cess in which electors — now referred
to as the Electoral College, a term
that does not appear in the Constitu-
tion — choose the president and vice
president. This arrangement was an
18th century compromise between
Congress’ electing the president and
having the people do so. It also gave
a greater voice to smaller states,
although advocates of National Popu-
lar Vote say that no longer applies.
The Electoral College has proved
pact will become legally binding once
enough more states have joined to
reach an Electoral College majority —
270 votes.
The Electoral College comprises
538 electors. Each state has as many
electors as it does U.S. senators and
members of the U.S. House of Repre-
sentatives, giving Oregon seven elec-
tors. And under the 23rd Amendment
to the Constitution, the District of
Columbia is allocated three electors.
Like most other states, Oregon has
required its electors to cast their Elec-
toral College ballots for whichever
presidential candidate wins the popu-
lar vote in their own state, regardless
of what happened nationally.
AP Photo/Andrew Selsky
Feelings run strong on both sides of
Senate Bill 870, which would require that Oregon’s votes in the Electoral College be cast for the issue. Advocates of National Pop-
whoever wins the national popular vote for president, regardless of the election outcome in
ular Vote consider the Electoral Col-
Oregon, recently passed the Senate on 17-12 vote and passed out of the House Rules Commit-
lege an anachronism from an era in
tee on Wednesday on a party-line vote with no discussion.
which the white male elite made all
controversial, to say the least. Through Trump. In my opinion, he’s the reason the decisions. They contend the cur-
the centuries, more than 700 proposals the National Popular Vote has caught
rent system disenfranchises members
have been introduced in Congress to
on so aggressively of late,” Johnson
of political minorities — for example,
reform or eliminate the Electoral Col- said. “If we’re going to end an historic Republicans in Oregon, Democrats in
lege. The impetus stems in large part
institution, let it be prompted by some- Idaho — because such states are pre-
thing loftier than dislike for one par-
from five presidents — including two
dictably blue or red in presidential
of the past three — losing the popular ticular president.
races.
“Let regular voters make that deci-
vote but winning the presidency via
Opponents warn that Americans
sion, not the Legislature.”
the Electoral College.
should be very wary of tinkering with
Johnson, Courtney and Sen-
That is how Republicans Donald
the U.S. Constitution, even in a round-
ate Majority Leader Ginny Burdick,
Trump and George W. Bush came to
about way. They say the change would
D-Portland, voted against the bill.
occupy the White House instead of
make it even less likely that presiden-
Two Republicans voted for it — Brian tial candidates would personally cam-
Democrats Hillary Clinton in 2016
and Al Gore in 2000. The other three, Boquist of Dallas and Chuck Thomsen paign in Oregon or other small states.
of Hood River.
in case you’re wondering, are pres-
In any case, this is an issue that
idents Benjamin Harrison (1888),
SB 870 would add Oregon to the 14 deserves to be decided by Oregon’s
Rutherford B. Hayes (1876) and John
states, plus the District of Columbia,
2,783,496 registered voters, not 90
Quincy Adams (1824).
that have adopted the “Interstate Com- legislators.
pact for Agreement Among the States
State Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scap-
If lawmakers believe Oregon should
poose, recalled that recent history in
to Elect the President by National Pop- join Washington, California and 13
urging her fellow senators, unsuccess- ular Vote.”
other jurisdictions in the National
fully, to send the issue to voters.
If Oregon joined, participating
Popular Vote movement, then put the
“There are two words not men-
jurisdictions would have a collective
measure on the 2020 statewide pri-
mary election ballot.
tioned in Senate Bill 870: Donald
total of 196 electoral votes. The com-
OTHER VIEWS
Fix PERS now, not in the future
Albany Democrat-Herald
We suppose we should be grateful that
the Oregon Legislature has even acknowl-
edged the slow-motion crisis that is the
Public Employees Retirement System. The
problem is that the action the Legislature is
primed to take this session — in the form
of Senate Bill 1049 — is basically the same
strategy it’s used for decades: kicking the
can down the road.
Even state Sen. Sara Gelser of Corval-
lis, who is gaining a reputation this session
for unusually blunt talk, recognized the
problem: She was one of five Democrats
who voted against the bill, which passed
on a 16-12 vote. (The mid-valley’s other
senator, Republican Fred Girod of Stayton,
was one of three Republicans who voted
for it; he called it “the hardest vote of our
lives.”)
To be fair, there is a hard part of Sen-
ate Bill 1049, and it’s going to be hard
for members of the House of Representa-
tives when they take up the measure: The
bill proposes redirecting a portion of the
retirement contributions employees cur-
rently make to a supplemental 401(k)-like
savings plan. Under the provisions of the
bill, some of those contributions — 2.5%
of pay for employees hired before Aug. 28,
2003, and 0.75% for employees hired after
— would go into an account that would
support pension benefits.
By reducing the amount of money
going into the supplementary retirement
accounts, the plan would reduce employ-
ees’ overall retirement benefits by 1 to 2
percent of pay, according to The Orego-
nian‘s Ted Sickinger, whose reporting on
PERS continues to be essential.
That might not seem like a lot, but as
Sickinger noted, many public employees
say they’re underpaid today, and there’s
some merit to that argument. And pub-
lic employee unions are bitterly opposed
to these provisions in Senate Bill 1049,
so voting for it did require some political
courage on the part of senators.
But here’s the problem with the bill: It
doesn’t put much of a dent in the $27 bil-
lion unfunded liability currently stalking
the state’s pension system. And, in fact,
some 75% of its cost savings (estimated
at about $1.2 billion to $1.8 billion in the
2021-23 budget cycle) come from extend-
ing the minimum payment schedule on the
deficit by eight to 10 years.
Gelser didn’t mince words: “We are
pushing this cost off to future legislatures,
to other Oregonians hoping that at some
point in the future we will come back and
find something that is politically feasible,”
she said during debate on the measure.
“That doesn’t make sense to me because
that is how we got to this place right now.”
If the bill passes the House, and is
signed by Gov. Kate Brown, taxpayers
won’t pay off the PERS deficit until the
2041-43 budget cycle, as opposed to pay-
ing it off by 2035.
But that relies on a pair of question-
able assumptions. First, it assumes that the
system continues to generate its average
rates of return on investments, but that’s
an area in which the system has struggled
in the past. (To be fair, it often has been
saddled with unrealistic rates of returns in
an attempt to make the books look a little
better.)
The second assumption is even more
questionable: A prolonged economic
downturn could play havoc with these
plans. And one thing is for sure: Our
extended economic expansion will not
endure forever. In fact, some economists
(including some who work for the state)
say it could come as early as next year. We
can’t say when the downturn will occur.
But you can be sure it will come.
Part of the reasoning behind Senate
Bill 1049 is to help ensure that the revenue
headed to Oregon’s K-12 school districts
thanks to a new tax on businesses won’t
be swallowed up by increasing PERS pre-
miums. The bill will help prevent that. But
legislators are fooling themselves if they
think this is the last word on PERS reform.
OTHER VIEWS
The welfare state must be fixed
E
lla is a British woman who grew up
the time you got hired by a new one. Now,
in a broken home and was abused
economic insecurity is often a perma-
nent state, as people patch together differ-
by her stepdad. Her eldest son got
ent jobs to make ends meet. Health issues
thrown out of school and ended up sitting
for people in the welfare system are often
around the house drinking. By the time
chronic — obesity, diabetes, many forms
her daughter was 16, she was pregnant and
of mental illness.
had an eating disorder. Ella, in her mid-
Our legacy welfare structures
30s, had never had a real job. Life
are ill suited to today’s poverty.
was a series of endless crises —
Cottam has spent the past
temper tantrums, broken wash-
ing machines, her son banging his
decade or so helping local author-
ities across Britain build new
head against the walls.
welfare programs. Her programs
Every time the family came
start by shifting power to the for-
into contact with the authorities,
mer “recipients” of services and
another caseworker was brought
building social networks around
in. An astonishing 73 profes-
D aviD
sionals spread across 20 differ-
the families to help them achieve
B rooks
ent agencies and departments got
their goals.
COMMENT
involved with this family. Nobody
For example, Ella was asked
had ever sat down with them to
if she would like to lead a “life
devise a comprehensive way forward.
team” that would help her family turn
In her book, “Radical Help,” British
around. She agreed. She was given the
social entrepreneur Hilary Cottam tracks
power to select the people for the team.
Members of the team spent 80% of their
how one of the social workers in Ella’s case
time with the family and 20% on adminis-
spent his days. Roughly 74% of his time
tration. Ella and the team worked to stabi-
was spent on administrative matters. Only
14% of his time was actually spent with the lize her most immediate issue — negotiat-
ing eviction notices. Then the team worked
family he was meant to be serving. The
to improve family dynamics so there
administrative system around Ella and
wasn’t so much violence and screaming.
her family costs roughly 250,000 pounds
After a family is stable, the team and
($317,000) per year.
family work on building skills and telling
Cottam asked the government workers
involved in Ella’s case if they could recall a stories of success. By 18 months, many of
the families involved in the Life Team pro-
time when they’d transformed a family so
it no longer needed government help. They gram no longer need the team. Ella got her
first office job and assumed more responsi-
couldn’t think of one.
bility for her family. Her kids were back in
I met Cottam in London last week and
she made the point that welfare systems are mainstream schooling.
The old welfare programs were designed
often designed to manage needs, but they
for people enmeshed in thick communities
are not designed to build capabilities so
but who had suffered a temporary setback.
that families can stand on their own.
Today many people lack precisely that web
Moreover, most Western systems were
of thick relationship. The welfare state of
not designed to confront the kind of pov-
erty prevalent today. When these systems
the future has to build the social structures
that people need to thrive.
were put in place in the 1950s and ’60s,
———
unemployment was more often a tempo-
rary thing that happened between the time
David Brooks is a columnist for The New
York Times.
you got laid off from a big employer and