OPINION
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
A5
OTHER
VIEWS
Evan Bryan
Oregon
GOP must
stop saving
Dems from
themselves
O
regon Senate Republicans have
engaged in four legislative walk-
outs in less than two years. Dem-
ocrats and Republicans alike have used
quorum denial as a negotiating chip
when all else has failed, but this nuclear
option should not be used frivolously.
The first Republican walkout in
2019 occurred over a reprisal of the
gross receipts tax, deceptively dubbed
by Democrats as “The Student Success
Act.” The proposal completely disre-
garded the will of Oregonians who killed
a similar ballot measure in 2016 by over
350,000 votes. When Republicans said
the bill should be decided by Oregonians
instead of politicians, Democrats said
“No.” The first walkout of 2019 ensued.
The bill easily passed the Oregon
House, but in the Senate, Democrats
could not afford to lose any support —
needing all 18 of their members to vote
“Yes.” In some cases, common-sense
Democrats were threatened with expul-
sion from committee assignments and
other political “punishments.” To get
Republicans back, Democrats agreed to
kill their own gun safety measures and a
vaccine mandate. Democrats then passed
the tax hike and denied Oregonians a
say.
Republicans had a small “win” by
Democrats dropping some of their
agenda, at the cost of a tax hike. Sen-
ate Democrats did not have the votes to
pass the vaccine mandate, as it was very
controversial in many of their districts.
The gun legislation, including banning
pepper spray in public buildings, would
also have been massively unpopular and
likely challenged in the courts or forced
to the ballot. Had these passed, it would
have encouraged Republican turnout in
the coming election. In talking with a
former Republican leader, who served
in the majority, they remarked, “Repub-
licans just saved the Democrats from
themselves.”
Following the gross receipts tax deba-
cle, Democrats were intent on push-
ing through a phony climate proposal,
known as cap and trade. Many who
have worked at the Oregon Capitol for
years had never seen such opposition
to attempts to refer an impactful pol-
icy change to voters. A little less than a
decade before, Democrats — with some
Republican support — referred tax mea-
sures (66 and 67) to the ballot.
At the time, it was unclear if Dem-
ocrats would fall short of the 16 votes
needed for passage, so Republicans
walked. That walkout generated inter-
national media attention and gave rise
to historic grassroots engagement at the
Capitol. After several days of a standoff,
the Senate president announced that cap
and trade didn’t have the votes to pass
and the session concluded over a mara-
thon weekend at the Capitol. Democrats
and the governor then blamed Republi-
cans for the failure of their own cap and
trade climate proposal — they didn’t
actually have the votes within their own
party to pass it.
Cap and trade then returned in the
2020 Session. Republicans requested to
schedule the proposal toward the end
of the session to consider immediately
pressing legislation. Democrats refused
and would not compromise. Senate
Republicans, joined by House Republi-
cans, walked and the 2020 session never
resumed.
Denying quorum can be a useful,
short-term tactic for a minority party,
but it is not a strategy and the long-term
consequences are dire. It is blunderous.
After working in Washington, D.C., I
was surprised to come home and find the
Legislature more destructively polarized
than Congress. I am alarmed the politics
behind the walkouts are still occurring
during a pandemic. It must end.
As Oregonians, it’s time to elect new
leaders who don’t consider compromise
a dirty word. Having the longest-serving
Senate president and House speaker in
state history might sound impressive, but
the current reality says otherwise.
Democrats run the show in Salem.
It’s time for Republicans in Oregon to
make a strong case to Oregonians with
solutions to improve lives and liveli-
hoods. They need to stop giving Dem-
ocrats cover. It’s time for the party in
charge to be held accountable.
———
Evan Bryan served as a legislative
director at the Oregon State Senate. He
holds a master’s in legislative affairs
from George Washington University.
Hail to the Punter in Chief
OTHER VIEWS
Michael Reagan
H
e may not be the fastest president
on his feet we’ve ever had.
He may bore you to death
compared to the last president.
But I will tell you, if anyone in the
NFL is looking for a punter, Joe Biden is
your man.
The president didn’t blow up or melt
down at his first, much-anticipated and
ultimately embarrassing formal presiden-
tial press conference.
But on Thursday he proved one thing
with a doubt — he’s not America’s quar-
terback in chief.
He’s our punter in chief.
For a little over an hour President
Biden ducked the mostly friendly ques-
tions of 10 cherry-picked journalists and
read large chunks of his answers on for-
eign policy from a briefing book.
He gave vague, garbled or outrageous
answers about immigration, Afghani-
stan, China, voting rights and the filibus-
ter that generated zero tough follow-ups
from the liberal White House press corps.
He punted on how he was going to fix
the immigration crisis he’s caused at the
border.
He punted on what the United States
should do about the economic and mil-
itary threat of China and when he was
going to get America out Afghanistan.
He punted on when his administration
will allow the media and their cameras
to get access to the overcrowded bor-
der facilities in Texas where thousands
of illegal immigrants and unaccompanied
migrant children await processing.
The only thing President Biden didn’t
really punt on was killing the filibuster.
The “relic of the Jim Crow era” as he
and its new enemies now call it, is the
same parliamentary tool he supported for
40 years when he was a senator.
It’s the same weapon his party used
aggressively and often in the Senate
during the Trump years when it was in
the minority.
Chuck Schumer used it to — among
many other things — block construction
of the Wall, change the CARES Act and
halt Sen. Tim Scott’s police reform bill.
But now “Wide-awoke” Joe and
Schumer want to get rid of the filibus-
ter so their party can ram “progressive”
legislation through Congress that will
change the United States forever.
No member of the White House press
cheerleading squad had the courage to
remind Biden about that eulogy he gave
for his beloved colleague, Sen. Robert
Byrd, the former KKK member who was
a star on the Democrat Party’s team of
racist Southern senators who filibustered
the 1964 Civil Rights bill.
Meanwhile, talk about softballs tossed
underhand by little league journalists.
PBS White House reporter Yami-
che Alcindor prefaced her blatant pitch
for ending the filibuster by referring to
Biden as “a moral and decent” man.
There were no questions at all about
the COVID-19 pandemic or vaccines or
gun control.
And though Biden left many open-
ings for follow-up questions by saying
looney-tune things like President Trump
sent migrant families back to Mexico to
starve and a majority of Republicans sup-
port him, they were not asked.
Say whatever bad you want about
Trump, he always called on his nemesis
Jim Acosta of CNN and he wasn’t afraid
to take questions from anyone.
And where Biden seemed to need a
briefing book to answer many of the
questions, none of his predecessors —
Trump, Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush
43 and Obama — never did.
Besides punting whenever he was in
doubt, Biden took half a dozen cheap
shots at President Trump (he was among
friends, so he knew he was safe).
Based on their friendly questions, the
White House press corps showed that
they haven’t exactly been working on
their fastballs while President Biden was
hiding from them for two months.
For instance, it should have made big
headlines and sparked lots of follow-up
questions when Biden went back on his
campaign promise and said he expects to
run again in 2024, but it didn’t.
The bottom line is, with those briefing
books and basic punting skills, everyone
who watched Biden’s press conference
could have done the press conference
too.
———
Michael Reagan is the son of President
Ronald Reagan, a political consultant and
the author of “Lessons My Father Taught
Me: The Strength, Integrity and Faith of
Ronald Reagan.” He is the founder of the
email service reagan.com and president of
The Reagan Legacy Foundation.
Trying to figure out the next best step
FROM THE
EDITOR’S
DESK
Ronald Bond
T
he humbling but correct thing to do
when you are in the wrong is to admit
as much.
It’s even more humbling, though, in my
opinion, to admit when you don’t know what
a correct move is.
That is where I find myself currently in a
situation in this paper.
Without going into too much detail, there
have been some concerns raised from read-
ers about the accuracy of some information
included in a couple recent letters to the edi-
tor and columns, and suggestions made by
readers about how to handle them.
One of the suggestions was brought for-
ward a couple of months ago. To the individ-
ual who made it, know that a delay in con-
sidering them doesn’t mean they have been
said “no” to. When you are wearing many
hats, though, items do sometimes get moved
to the back burner. If too many items get
moved to the back burner, they eventually
get knocked off the stove. That has, unfor-
tunately, been the case here. I’m not saying
that by way of excuse, as I have found mak-
ing excuses never ends well. I’m simply stat-
ing that this is the reality. My intent is to get
this suggestion placed back on the stove.
Improving the accuracy of the newspaper
has been a goal of mine since coming into
the role of editor about six months ago. It
was something I took seriously when I was
at The Observer as the sports editor. I take it
just as seriously here.
We have had times of success in keeping
facts straight, but also times where we have
had some inaccuracies slip through. We’re
human. We’re going to mess up. I mess up
frequently.
That is where the accountability comes
in — not only from those above me in the
chain of command, but also from you, the
reader.
Please understand that I have no desire
in running conspiratorial information in this
paper, as has been suggested.
But what has been stated as facts in a cou-
ple opinion pieces has been called out as
conspiracy by some readers. That puts the
onus back on me to be more diligent to see
to it that what runs on every page — includ-
ing our opinion page — is indeed accurate.
That also means being able to discern
facts in a column from a writer’s opinion.
This is easier said than done, believe it or
not.
I’ve tended toward more leniency in
allowing people to voice what they want in
opinion pieces, and in that is where inaccu-
racies may have come through, and where a
more thorough look is needed.
I try not to be a person who overreacts,
but that is my tendency as a people pleaser. I
want to make everyone happy. That is 100%
impossible, especially in this role. I don’t
want this to be an overreaction. My other
tendency is either to back away from a chal-
lenge and allow myself to be overrun. That
is not the call here, either. Instead, the proper
call here is for me to double down, see what
is being done incorrectly and fix it.
To those who have voiced concerns,
know that I’ve heard and read them. I’ll be
reviewing how each piece that runs in our
paper’s opinion section is looked at, and
maybe how facts are sourced in a column.
It won’t be perfect the first time. Not
everything will be weeded out right away.
I’m honestly not 100% sure yet what this
change will look like, and that is the hum-
bling part for me. I want to be right imme-
diately, the first time, and be able to say, “I
know with certainty how this will look.” I
can’t say that just yet.
But as someone dedicated to the truth, my
goal is to make sure what we run is indeed,
truth. I do ask for a bit of grace as we look at
this and make any necessary fixes so that the
truth can indeed be all that runs here.
———
Ronald Bond is the editor of the Wallowa
County Chieftain.