ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
SATURDAy, FEBRUARy 5, 2022
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
The mystery
of the bills
with no
sponsor
W
e would like our Oregon legisla-
tors to join us in a whodunit. The
mystery is: Help us find out who
are the legislators behind certain bills.
Most bills this session or any session
have a chief sponsor, maybe even a bunch of
regular sponsors. They make it clear which
legislators wanted their fellow legislators to
consider a bill. Their names are right there on
the bills.
But there is a subset of bills without any
such clarity. The residents of Oregon can’t
know by looking at a bill who is behind it.
We went through the bills that were
scheduled for some mention during the
legislative session on Tuesday, Feb. 1, and
found three: Senate Bills 1521 and 1522 and
House Bill 4031.
SB 1521 would prohibit a school district
from firing their superintendent for acting
in compliance with state or federal law.
This bill was introduced, at least in part, to
prevent superintendents from being fired for
complying with pandemic restrictions, such
as masking and distance learning. It was
apparently introduced at the request of the
Senate Interim Committee on Education. All
the members of the committee? One of them?
SB 1522 has so many disparate pieces
it’s hard to sum up. It’s 20 pages long. It also
has to do with education. It covers access to
contact information for graduate students,
requiring school districts to allow students
to apply certain credits toward graduation,
requirements for homeschooled students to
participate in athletics and more. It was also
at the request of the Senate Interim Commit-
tee on Education.
House Bill 4031 establishes a parity goal
for the Department of Education so that the
percentage of diverse employees reflects
the percentage of diverse students in public
schools. This one comes from the House
Interim Committee in Education at the
request of the Department of Education.
Now why would legislators allow bills to
be introduced without putting a legislator’s
name on it? It’s not because legislators are
dissolute, lazy and work-shy or too busy.
It’s, in part, because they can. The rules
of the House and Senate allow it. It’s Rule
12 in the House Rules. But legislators make
those rules for introducing bills. So they
must want it.
We aren’t particularly worried about
any of these three bills. The concern is the
mystery that enables legislators to conceal
what they are doing from their constituents.
Hiding and setting in motion new laws in
secrecy is great power. But such power has
no place in a government that is supposed
to be transparent, and has no place in the
Oregon Legislature.
EDITORIALS
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.
LETTERS
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:
editor@eastoregonian.com,
or via mail to Andrew Cutler,
211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton, OR 97801
YOUR VIEWS
No voting rights
for non-citizens
As I read the East Oregonian on
Saturday, Jan. 29, I came across an
op-ed that made me see red.
To think a so-called civic leader
could call for voting rights for nonciti-
zens. This is not a question that should
be posed. Myself and many other veter-
ans served to protect these rights and to
be sure only citizens, born or natural-
ized, had these privileges.
I feel this self indulgent buffoon owes
an apology to his constituents and all
the citizens of Oregon. This man needs
to resign and move to a desert island.
Larry Platek
Pendleton
Some lawmakers
failed social studies
President Joe Biden’s push for a fair
voting bill is an important issue the
GOP has stalled in Congress. Why can’t
these individuals, who represent we, the
voters, ask us what we want?
What happened to the Freedom to
Vote Act?
Under the Constitution, legal citizens
have the right to vote, regardless of race
or color.
America’s founding creed taught us
that all are created equal, not in abil-
ity, but in value and dignity. A person’s
integrity is inherent. Being better
educated doesn’t make you a better
person, nor does it qualify you to rule
over the less educated; but it does, or
should, enlighten you to fairness and
equal rights.
Developing a fair voting policy
requires some understanding of human
nature, a knowledge of public opinion,
and good judgment.
The right to vote is a concept of
democracy. The Founders believed
some people were better suited for
public trust because they believed in
their integrity. That’s why we have elec-
tions.
Voting is a civil right. We were
taught that in our social studies class in
high school. Apparently some lawmak-
ers failed that course.
Dr. Dorys C. Grover
Pendleton
A different view
on logging practices
I would like to offer a different view-
point than the one presented by George
Wuerther in the Jan. 22-23 edition of the
East Oregonian. Unfortunately, earlier
logging practices have created a nega-
tive perception about this industry. I
prefer to use the term timber harvest, as
a process that has many benefits.
At the end of Wuerther’s column he
stated we should stop logging our public
forests. With decreased harvest levels,
increased litigation, we have all but
stopped harvesting on our public lands.
That doesn’t promote sound timber
management.
So we should import more of our
lumber products from Canada and other
countries, close down more lumber
mills and depend on private timberlands
to become a source of lumber. Watch as
we continue to have devastating wild-
fires and more unhealthy public forests
due to insect mortality, disease and
overstocked stands of timber.
I do not have a degree related to
forestry. I studied forestry at Oregon
State University, I’ve worked for the
U.S. Forest Service planning timber
sales. I’ve also worked for a timber
harvest/wildland firefighting business.
The past two summers, I worked on
some of the largest wildfires in Califor-
nia, Oregon and Colorado. Hands on
experience has provided me with valu-
able knowledge about our public forests.
On controversial topics the East
Oregonian should present both pros and
cons. In this case, seek out a profes-
sional from OSU’s School of Forestry,
or some other person to present the
benefits of timber harvesting. I chal-
lenge your newspaper to do this.
Bill Wilcox
Hermiston
CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
U.S. PRESIDENT
Joe Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
GOVERNOR
Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, OR 97301-4047
503-378-4582
U.S. SENATORS
Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
La Grande office: 541-962-7691
Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753
Pendleton office: 541-278-1129
REPRESENTATIVES
Bobby Levy, District 58
900 Court St. NE, H-376
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1458
Rep.BobbyLevy@state.or.us
Greg Smith, District 57
900 Court St. NE, H-482
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1457
Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Cliff Bentz
2185 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6730
Medford office: 541-776-4646
SENATOR
Bill Hansell, District 29
900 Court St. NE, S-415
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1729
Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us