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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2016)
A4 Opinion wallowa.com October 19, 2016 Wallowa County Chieftain Richardson should be Secretary of State From the East Oregonian I t is likely that Democrats will continue to dominate Oregon politics after the results of November’s election are tabulated. Governor Kate Brown is likely to win her irst election for the top seat in state government. The Senate and House are favored to remain in Democratic control. If that’s the case — with one party having its Voice of the Chieftain hands on almost all the levers of power — then it is important that voters ind a way to provide some check on that power. Voters can do that by electing Republican Dennis Richardson for Secretary of State. Richardson, you may remember, was defeated by soon-to-be-disgraced Gov. John Kitzhaber in 2014. He has spent a decade in the Oregon legislature, rising to speaker pro tem and a powerful co-chair of the joint Ways and Means Committee. Richardson has a history of straightforward conservative votes, a willingness to engage a Democratic majority and conduct a statewide campaign in opposition to them. As Secretary of State, Richardson would be able to concentrate solely on the iscal impacts of legislative decisions, support reorganization of poor-performing state ofices and increase transparency and accountability. In regards to major state government failures in recent years — Cover Oregon and the Columbia River Crossing come to mind — having a Secretary of State in charge of the audits division that was at some level not in lockstep with the governor’s ofice would have been helpful for taxpayers. Perhaps those debacles may well have debacled, and hundreds of millions of tax dollars would still have been lushed down the toilet. But with a member of an opposite party as Secretary of State, Oregonians would have had a more thorough and transparent accounting of why the mistakes happened and responsible decision-makers held accountable. That would give Oregonians more conidence that similar mistakes wouldn’t happen again. Richardson’s main competitor, Democrat Brad Avakian, is looking to use the position as a stepping stone to higher statewide ofice. He would look to expand the ofice of Secretary of State, and would likely be to the left of the governor’s ofice on many issues. While that may be delightful for some parts of Oregon, it doesn’t sound so good out here on the wide prairies. Two other candidates for the position are Paciic Green Party Candidate Alan Zundel, of Eugene, and Libertarian candidate Sharon Durbin, a former Forest Grove Planning Commissioner. Because he would be in charge of the audits division and be one of the few Republicans within the upper echelon of state government, we support Richardson for Secretary of State. EDITORIAL USPS No. 665-100 P.O. Box 338 • Enterprise, OR 97828 Ofice: 209 NW First St., Enterprise, Ore. Phone: 541-426-4567 • Fax: 541-426-3921 Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884 Enterprise, Oregon M eMber O regOn n ewspaper p ublishers a ssOciatiOn P UBLISHER E DITOR R EPORTER R EPORTER N EWSROOM ASSISTANT A D S ALES CONSULTANT O FFICE MANAGER Marissa Williams, marissa@bmeagle.com Scot Heisel, editor@wallowa.com Stephen Tool, stool@wallowa.com Kathleen Ellyn, kellyn@wallowa.com editor@wallowa.com Jennifer Powell, jpowell@wallowa.com Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com p ublished every w ednesday by : EO Media Group Periodical Postage Paid at Enterprise and additional mailing ofices Subscription rates (includes online access) Wallowa County Out-of-County 1 Year $40.00 $57.00 Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery See the Wallowa County Chieftain on the Internet www.wallowa.com facebook.com/Wallowa | twitter.com/wcchieftain POSTMASTER — Send address changes to Wallowa County Chieftain P.O. Box 338 Enterprise, OR 97828 Contents copyright © 2016. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Volume 134 Seven words that changed everything Within a few weeks of moving to Wal- lowa County in 1971 I knew most of the year-round Forest Service employees by irst name — Roy, Art, Sander, Bob, Bud, Gary. Some had grown up here; others had been here for years and considered the place home. As I met ranchers, farm- ers and others I learned that many of them had put in time on the local forest. They’d built a road or trail, or been hauled out of a car on the highway to ight a ire. I don’t remember one of them complain- ing about those government hours. Many expressed pride in what they’d done, and a few speciically recalled the inancial help that building that trail had meant in their young lives. The Forest Service and the public forests were part of the land- scape we entered. Where has it all gone? The dissension across the country and hatred and distrust of all government is numbing, and the growing talk in the West of giving feder- al lands to local jurisdictions is troubling. These forest lands, mostly rough, dry and/or steep, had not been homesteaded and were brought into the federal land program at the turn of the last centu- ry. Some locals have made their livings MAIN STREET Rich Wandschneider grazing, logging and guiding on them or putting up hunters and outsiders who used them almost from the beginning. The relationships between private and public, Forest Service and local people, have always had ups and downs, but they have worked. Now there are new tensions brought to us from elsewhere. Why and how? Two thoughts, seven words. The irst three made famous by the novelist Ayn Rand: “Selish is good;” the second four: President Reagan’s pronouncement that “government is the problem.” Rand was an immigrant from Rus- sia who was totally disenchanted with collectivism. She wrote about what she called “objectivism” in novels — “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged” — and essays. Her idea was that if we each pursue our own selish ends to the max, we’ll all be happy and the entire society will be the better for it. Rand died think- ing that she’d lost and collectivism had won, but her work lives on in U.S. poli- tics from Barry Goldwater through Allen Greenspan to Paul Ryan, and in the soci- ety we have become. The Ayn Rand seeds of radical indi- vidualistic capitalism, digested and made academically palatable by Milton Fried- man and the Chicago Economic School, rose with Reagan and continued full bore through Clinton. Private is more eficient than public; we will all be richer and hap- pier. The Vietnam War and the Nixon ias- co had turned the left against government as the ascendancy of economic objectiv- ism gripped the right. Increasingly, peo- ple who wanted to work for the common good turned to nonproits. Hospitals be- came for-proit or nonproit; the charter school movement, private and nonproit, grew; ire and trails and maintenance of public lands was contracted out and non- proit environmental groups exploded, etc. Chasms — sometimes enmity — be- tween private and public grew. See WORDS, Page A5 We’d all pay a steep price for Measure 97 I am writing in opposition to Mea- sure 97, the gross receipts tax. The mea- sure, if passed, will tax corporations that have gross revenues over $25 million at a rate of 2.5 percent. The supporters of the measure would have you believe that this will only impact the corporate giants. They are wrong. Basic economic principles, and more importantly basic common sense, tell you that the costs associated with this additional expense will be passed along to the customer. That’s right — to you and I. The supporters also want you to be- lieve that the added revenue this thinly veiled sales tax puts in the state of Or- egon’s coffers will be used to fund ed- ucation, emergency and senior services. Do not be fooled. The measure does not say that it will go to any of these areas. It goes into the general fund and will be discretionary funds for the legislature. Measure 97 proponents claim that GUEST COLUMN Jeff Bailey it will add $6 billion per biennium to the state coffers. This is in addition to the existing $18 billion budget. Does it make sense to increase by one-third the funds available for the legislature to allocate as they see it? I say no. If the state needs a 33.3 percent increase in revenue to remain viable, there isn’t an income issue, there is a spending issue. The measure is yet another exam- ple of solving iscal problems by piling more taxes (expenses) on the citizens and businesses of Oregon. If approved by voters, Measure 97 would have the heaviest impact on those who can least afford it. According to an Oregon Public Broadcasting article, “The Legislative Revenue Ofice has estimated that the measure would eventually cost Oregon households between $372 and $1,282 a year, depending on their income lev- el. Most of that would be in higher prices, although some would represent lost wages.” The average estimated by the LRO is $600 per year per household. Measure 97 will limit economic growth opportunities within Oregon. Why would a company that is looking to expand operations and add jobs to a region come to Oregon when its costs will be at least 2.5 percent higher (more, when you think of the supply chain and the numerous vendors along that chain) than locating in Washington or Idaho? They won’t. More critically, given the choice, what will keep existing corpora- tions from leaving Oregon in favor of a more business friendly state? See MEASURE, Page A5 Who’s more committed to public service? So much attention is given to Donald Trump’s antics, but not enough atten- tion has been given to the abilities and accomplishments of his rival, Hillary Clinton. The little attention that has been given to Hillary is a recount of the false stories that her enemies have gathered for 30 years, even long before she ever thought of running for the presidency. Meanwhile, many have forgotten the beneicial work she has done, especially on behalf of women and children. From her church youth group ac- tivities in her teens to speaking at her Wellesley College graduation to becom- ing a distinguished graduate of Yale Law School, Hillary was interested in serving others. Right after graduation from law school, she went to work for the Chil- dren’s Defense Fund instead of joining a prestigious law irm. Later, as an at- torney, she served as the director of the Arkansas Legal Aid Clinic. As irst lady, Hillary laid the groundwork for the Af- fordable Care Act with her work toward a health care program even though her initial attempts failed. In 1995, she spoke at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. With great courage, she spoke to support the world’s women, even though many feared that the Chinese govern- ment would be angered by her stand. She played a leading role in creating the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides the much-needed state support for children whose parents can- LETTERS to the EDITOR not afford adequate health care coverage. She helped create the Adoption and Safe Families Act and the Foster Care Inde- pendence Act. She successfully fought to increase research funding for prostate cancer and asthma at the National Insti- tute of Health (NIH). As a Senator, Hillary was instrumen- tal in getting investigations into Gulf War Syndrome, helped create the Ofice on Violence Against Women, helped secure over $21 billion in funding for the World Trade Center redevelopment, played a leading role in the investigation of health problems of irst responders and drafted the irst bill to compensate and offer the health services that the 9/11 irst responders deserve. Who doesn’t remember the news re- ports of the tireless secretary of State who constantly traveled from country to country representing the United States and working to put out the many political ires around the world? Did you know that the Clinton Foundation, founded by the Clintons, has improved the living conditions for nearly 400 million people in over 180 countries through its initia- tive program? So no, I do not believe the stories fabricated about Hillary Clinton over the years. She is not responsible for the deaths in Benghazi; she admitted that she should not have used a personal email server for government business. She did not lie and no one was hurt. Nor do I be- lieve she has sold out to the Wall Street crowd. She has given her heart and soul for the people of the United States and she does not deserve being viliied. She deserves my vote and yours. Evelyn Swart Joseph Clinton is the obvious choice for president As the Salt Lake City Tribune wrote: “It is time to get serious ... at this point the only candidate who comes close to being qualiied is Hillary Clinton.” Clinton has worked tirelessly for equal justice and equal pay for the poor, for women and for minorities. She has extensive experience in foreign policy issues and in diplomacy. She under- stands and respects our democracy and how it works. She is dedicated to addressing in- come inequality and her proposed tax reforms will help all Americans, except perhaps the very, very rich. Which brings us to Donald Trump, a self-described billionaire playboy who has repeatedly exploited and insulted workers, women, immigrants and racial minorities. See LETTERS, Page A5