KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
THuRSdAY, MARCH 24, 2022
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Should we
have limits
on campaign
finance?
O
regon is one of only a hand-
ful of states that does not have
contribution limits for political
campaigns. And because of an Oregon
Supreme Court decision last week, it’s
pretty clear Oregon voters will not get
a chance to vote this year on a series of
proposals.
The court didn’t block the campaign
finance proposals per se. They can be
reintroduced. The court decided to not
step into a dispute between Oregon
Secretary of State Shemia Fagan and
the people backing three campaign
finance initiative proposals.
Fagan said the proposals did not
comply with the law because they did
not meet requirements. She pointed out
they did not quote the entire section of
the law they sought to change. Initiative
backers argued other petitions for the
ballot had failed to do that in the past.
The Oregon Supreme Court declined to
get involved, saying the backers could
have given themselves adequate time
to make the required changes if they
had started their efforts sooner. But that
ruling essentially means the backers
have run out of time.
Campaign finance proposals will
be back. Legislators surely will bring
forth some proposals during the 2023
session. Supporters of initiative propos-
als will try again if the Legislature
doesn’t act, or even if it does.
The interesting question is what
should the limits be? Is $10 per person
per campaign cycle the limit? What
about $100? Or $1,000? Should unions
get to contribute what they want but
business groups not? That was one idea
that has been proposed in Oregon. And
then there are those independent expen-
ditures not directly tied to a candidate.
How would Oregon corral those?
When you are looking at candidates
for the May primary or in Novem-
ber, you can dive in yourself and look
at where their money is coming from.
Oregon already has strong laws requir-
ing disclosure of contributions and
spending.
Go here: tinyurl.com/ORlookup.
Look up your candidate. It’s not neces-
sarily the most user-friendly database,
but we are sure you can figure it out.
Where a candidate gets the money to
run is another piece of useful informa-
tion when thinking about how to vote.
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
Technology is great, when it works
TAMMY
MALGESINI
INSIDE MY SHOES
echnology baffles me.
It’s not that I really even want to
understand it. I just want it to work
T
right.
In the late fall of 2021, my work
computer began having problems. I
started receiving warnings that random
websites that I often visit for work were
unsafe. Initially thinking the problem
was the website, I contacted several local
agencies to let them know they might
want to investigate.
Hopefully, they didn’t waste too
much time trying to figure out what the
problem was. Because as time went on, I
came to realize it was my computer and
not their website.
I grew up in an analog world —
during a time before everyone had cell
phones. I learned to type on a manual
typewriter. Yeah, yeah, I’m old. My point
is, sure technology makes things easier
but back in the day when my typewriter
didn’t work, I merely had to change the
ribbon.
However, in this day and age, I have to
sufficiently explain what I’m experienc-
ing, so the tech guy can figure out what
the problem is (and hopefully fix it) —
just saying my computer isn’t working
right isn’t enough. I learned that taking/
sending screenshots that show the prob-
lem can be helpful.
Well, after my computer limped along
for a couple of months, I finally got a
new one. Audra Workman, our office
manager, took the time to work with our
tech guy to set things up for me.
And it was working great — the key is
“was.” I think the computer lulled me into
a false sense of security and then decided
to attack — time to mess with Tammy.
Audra seems to know when I’m
having computer problems. I guess it’s
not that hard to figure out. She says I have
a certain “ringtone.”
“%@#$!* I don’t know what to do
#$@%5E& I don’t even know why I try
%$#@&.”
And then magically, Audra is there
with a calm voice of reason asking what’s
going on. I think she figures that I’m one
computer glitch away from going off the
deep end. And either she’s there to rescue
me or take what she wants from my desk
area.
Rather than the computer “messing
with me” Audra believes the problems
started when my second monitor was
attached. Well, that finally got fixed with
a new cord.
All was going well with my work
computer. Next, my personal laptop
decided to develop a glitch. My solution
was to rip the battery out of it (Audra
wasn’t at my house to save the day) and
then reboot. Luckily, that worked. And
then, a couple of hours later, my cell-
phone wouldn’t let me respond to a text
message. Again, I did a reboot and that
solved the problem.
I wish all of life’s problems were that
simple — merely go to sleep and when
you wake up, everything is fine.
———
Tammy Malgesini, the East Oregonian
community writer, enjoys spending time with
her husband and two German shepherds,
as well as entertaining herself with random
musings.
McQuisten, mayor of Baker City;
Brandon Merritt, business develop-
ment manager; Bud Pierce, oncologist
and nominee for governor in 2016; John
Presco, president of Royal Rosamond
Press; Stan Pulliam, mayor of Sandy;
Amber Richardson, chiropractor; Bill
Sizemore, general contractor, tax-re-
duction advocate and nominee for
governor in 1998; Stefan Galen Strek
(Stregoi), painter and graphic design
artist; Marc Thielman, Alsea School
district superintendent.
Kathy Wilson
Pendleton
Highway 200 in Bonner County actu-
ally has cliffs that ice over and the ice
hangs over the westbound lane. Once it
starts to melt, there are huge ice chunks
to dodge and several people have died
by going into the Clark Fork River.
The rallying cry during our lives in
Idaho was “lets break away from Idaho
and form a new state with eastern
Washington and western Montana.”
It was apparent the Legislature in
Boise often forgot there was a northern
Idaho, or central western Idaho or east-
ern Idaho as the new laws pertained to
the Boise-metro area and other south-
ern Idaho counties.
If anyone wishes to become Idaho
citizens by seceding from Oregon, we
suggest they talk to rural Idahoans and
listen to their concerns about being in
Idaho. I doubt if anything would be
different from what is here except you
would have to pay a sales tax on all you
purchase and your roads would disinte-
grate even further.
As for the schools, well, we pulled
our children out and moved to Montana
before finding our way to Oregon.
Ed and Melissa Dunn
Irrigon
YOUR VIEWS
Get to know Oregon’s
Republican candidates
Attention Oregon citizens it’s time
to get involved with Oregon’s Guberna-
torial election May 17, 2022.
The Republican candidates running
for Oregon governor are the follow-
ing declared candidates, and I would
encourage you to meet these candidates
when they visit your county or town.
You can get their information online
and send them an email with your
questions or concerns.
Bridget Barton, political consul-
tant for Third Century Solutions;
Raymond Baldwin; Court Boice; Tim
McCloud; Bob Tiernan; David Burch;
Reed Christensen, former electrical
engineer; Christine drazan, former
minority leader of the Oregon House
of Representatives (2019-21) and
state representative from the 39th
District (2019-22); John L. Fosdick III,
customer service representative, Army
veteran; Jessica Gomez, member of
the Business Oregon Commission and
Oregon Institute of Technology Board
of Trustees; Nick Hess, chief execu-
tive officer and entrepreneur; Kerry
Why we left Idaho
for Oregon
There are several reasons we left
Idaho. Both my husband and I grew up
in north Idaho and as children, it was
idyllic.
Once we became adults and parents,
we realized that Idaho was not for us.
With a sales tax on everything and an
income tax, we were left with budget
issues. The schools were substandard
and the roads were impossible once
you were off the interstate. Part of