OREGON
Thursday, September 2, 2021
East Oregonian
Wyden pushing his agenda as election clock ticking
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
EUGENE — As a former college
basketball player, Ron Wyden
knows all about shot clocks.
In basketball, the clocks hang
above the backboard on each side,
showing players how much of the
24 seconds remain between taking
possession of the ball and trying to
score.
Democrats are facing a shot
clock now — 14 months and tick-
ing. That’s the time of possession
remaining of assured Democratic
control of The White House, The
Senate, and the House before the
next election on Nov. 8, 2022.
During a masked and socially
distanced interview Monday, Aug.
30, on the patio of a bakery in
Eugene, Wyden, the Democratic
U.S. senator from Oregon, argued
against letting clocks rule Congress.
“I am a contrarian on the idea
that you can only do legislation in
odd-numbered years because elec-
tions are in even-numbered years,”
Wyden said. “The best politics is to
do good policy that helps people.”
Wyden is well aware of the tenu-
ous nature of Democrats’ majority,
a status that includes his moving
into the chair of the Senate Finance
Committee, where much federal
spending fl ows.
Democrats came out of the 2020
elections with a fragile trifecta of
government control.
Joe Biden won the presidency
over incumbent Donald Trump. In
the House, Democrats hold a slender
220-212 edge, with three vacancies.
A surprising sweep of both Senate
seats in Georgia propelled the party
to a 50-50 tie with Republicans in
the Senate. Biden’s victory meant
his running made, Vice-President
Kamala Harris, can cast a tie-break-
ing vote in many cases in her role as
President of the Senate.
History shows the party of a
new president loses seats — often
dozens — in the House in the fi rst
midterm election. All 435 seats —
including a new sixth one in Oregon
— will be on the 2022 ballot. Only
twice has the new party held or
added to its majority: Democrats
in 1934 amid the Depression and
Republicans in 2002 after the 9/11
terrorist attacks. The Senate, with
its staggered six-year terms, is
harder to predict, but overall history
A9
Adrian School
Board fi res
superintendent
By LILIANA FRANKEL
Malheur Enterprise
Bryce Dole/East Oregonian, File
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, center, meets with local offi cials Saturday, May 29, 2021, from across Umatilla County at
the Umatilla County Courthouse in Pendleton.
favors a turnover to the GOP.
In the 40 years since he arrived in
Washington as a 31-year-old fresh-
man congressman from Portland,
Wyden has learned that over time,
you’ll likely be on legislative off ense
with the majority or defense with
the minority.
When he arrived in Washington
in 1981, Republicans were on the
rise. Ronald Reagan had just been
elected president in a landslide,
while Oregon’s governor and two
senators were both Republicans.
Today, Democrat Biden is in the
White House and Democrats hold
tenuous control of both the U.S.
Senate and House. In Oregon today,
the governor and both Senators —
along with four of fi ve U.S. House
members — are Democrats.
In his 25 years in the Senate,
Wyden has spent most of the time
outside looking in — with 10
years in the majority and 15 in the
minority. In the House, he was in the
majority 14 out of 15 years. But the
basic math remains the same.
Regardless of the partisan break-
down of membership, the most
important number doesn’t change
in the 100-member Senate.
“You need 51 votes,” Wyden
said.
That coalition can be put together
in diff erent ways. He’s co-sponsor-
ing legislation with U.S. Sen. Mike
Crapo, R-Idaho, on mental health
care reform. Crapo was chair of the
Finance Committee when the GOP
held the Senate until early Janu-
ary. He’s worked with Sen. Chuck
Grassley, R-Iowa, over the years.
But he also is ready, when
needed, to push legislation through
the tight partisan squeeze, as he
did early this year when he guided
President Biden’s $1.3 trillion coro-
navirus relief package through the
Finance Committee and onto the
fl oor for passage on a party-line
50-49 vote.
He’s taking his legislative shots
at a rapid-fi re pace. On Aug. 31, he
held a virtual town hall to promote
a bill he co-sponsored, The River
Democracy Act, which would
designate about 4,700 miles of Wild
and Scenic Rivers given additional
federal protection.
He’s been in Central Oregon
to tout the state’s portion of the $1
trillion infrastructure bill passed
by the U.S. Senate Aug. 10. The
bill would pump billions of dollars
into Oregon highways, water, elec-
trical, internet access, and educa-
tional projects, as well as fund more
aggressive action against drought
and wildfire. It’s now awaiting
action in the House.
Wyden has introduced legis-
lation to protect domestic abuse
victims from future intimidation
by gun violence, and fund aff ord-
able housing rent vouchers.
A bill would streamline federal
drug laws so that legal marijuana
businesses could have access to
banking and credit. Other issues
include making court records free
of charge, pushing for insurance
companies to pay for fans and
air-conditioners under a federal
Medicaid program, and allowing
tax credits to sustain local newspa-
pers.
Wyden plans to keep going as
long as there is a window to get laws
passed.
“My big three priorities now are
child care, aff ordable housing, and
prescription drug prices,” Wyden
said.
They are part of what he termed
the “human infrastructure” support
that he says is just as important as
concrete for highways or stronger
wire for electricity.
Republicans were wrong about
the aid package proposed by Presi-
dent Biden because the math facing
Oregon residents is not just about a
paycheck, Wyden said. Part of the
decision of whether to take a job is
the ability to have aff ordable child
care while you are working and to
be able to aff ord to rent or even buy
a home for your family. He believes
too much money is spent on a
dizzying array of prescription drug
programs and prices that always put
the consumer at the disadvantage.
“The top of the one percent have
to pay their fair share,” Wyden said.
“You ask people if the wealthiest
are paying their fair share, they are
going to say no.”
Though it’s been just over seven
months since the new Congress was
convened, the window to fi le to run
for the 2022 election is already
opening — it’s Sept. 9 in Oregon.
Wyden said he will be on the ballot,
seeking a fi fth full term. Prineville
Mayor Jason Beebe is among the
candidates who’ve said they plan to
fi le to run against Wyden.
It’s a seemingly uphill task
to topple Wyden, who has never
received less than 55% of the vote
in his U.S. Senate races. But he also
recalled when he was elected to the
U.S. Senate in a 1996 special elec-
tion, no Democrat had won a Senate
seat in Oregon since 1962.
“Voters get the last word,” he
said.
ADRIAN — Kevin Purnell
was fi red Monday, Aug. 30, as
superintendent of the Adrian
School District just one week
after students returned to school.
The Adrian School Board,
convening in a special meeting,
voted 4-1 to terminate Purnell
after meeting in executive, or
closed door, session for less
than half an hour to consider the
matter.
The board provided no public
explanation for its surprise deci-
sion to oust a superintendent
who has been on the job for
three years and in the district for
14 years.
Board Chair Eddie Kincade
said after the meeting the deci-
sion was because of Purnell’s
failure to follow board direc-
tives. He declined to elaborate.
Kincade and board members
Bobby Davis, Ryan Martin,
and Quinten Shenk voted for
the motion to terminate Purnell
while Eric White opposed it.
They took the vote without
comment.
After the board emerged from
executive session and had its
vote, Purnell gave an emotional
speech to an emotional crowd.
He said he had at times
failed to communicate well,
and board members had at
times failed to communicate
in a civil manner.
“Ultimately, I feel that I
have lost my way, and it began
to consume me,” Purnell said.
“I have become tired. Tired of
disappointing myself, my family,
my friends, my colleagues.”
The conflicts Kincade and
Purnell alluded to emerged amid
rising COVID cases in Malheur
County and continued opposi-
tion to government-mandated
mask-wearing in Adrian. Purnell
has said he is not in favor of Gov.
Kate Brown’s mandates, but he
was described in comments
by Adrian residents as a “rule
follower” who would enforce
them anyway.
No one has yet been named
interim superintendent.
EASTERN OREGON
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EAST OREGONIAN • HERMISTON HERALD • BLUE MOUNTAIN EAGLE • WALLOWA COUNTY CHIEFTAIN
354 Auction Sales
AUCTION!
Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021
80824 Kik Lane, Hermiston
Auction starts at 6:30pm.
The preview begins
at 5:30pm.
Lots of rare coins, brand new
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must see!
If you would like subscribe to
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SAUCTION to (844) 957-
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3153
CLASSIFIEDS
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Check out our
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360 Garage Sales
502 Real Estate
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541-377-6855
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541.377.9470
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541-276-0021
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John J. Howard & Assoc.
(541) 377-9470
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