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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 2021)
Wednesday, April 21, 2021 A4 OPINION VOICE of the CHIEFTAIN Call to investigate Joseph council is correct T he abrupt resignation of Joseph City Administrator Larry Braden late last week comes as a shock- ing blow to the city at a time when the city government needs an administrator on board — budget season. What is more concerning though, is the alleged harassment cited by Braden in his resignation letter, which was read at an emergency City Council meeting Friday, April 16. Given the council will have an inves- tigation done by city attorney Wyatt Baum, we at the Chieftain feel any words written here need to be used cau- tiously so as to not give a view of point- ing fingers or taking sides, nor to in any way impact the investigation. That said, this is a situation that needs commented on. The allegations should be taken seri- ously, and we are sure the investigation into them will be thorough. The call to investigate is absolutely correct. Prior to his resignation letter, Braden cited problems he was having perform- ing his job, as it seemed there was con- fusion over his role as the city admin- istrator. He claimed the city was not in compliance with the charter, and in the April 1 meeting said doing his job in a functional way was “impossible.” Regardless of the legitimacy of this complaint, the Chieftain does rec- ommend every person on the council re-read the city charter and know what not only their own role in the city is, but the roles of everyone in the city govern- ment. Then follow them. Reading and knowing the char- ter leaves those on the council with- out excuse in the future. If this were to happen again, nobody would be able to plead ignorance, and anyone doing so would have to be carefully looked at. But that’s only a suggestion for the future. What about in the present? Mayor Belinda Buswell is right to rec- ommend an all-hands-on-deck approach to getting the budget done, as it will be a much more daunting task to undertake with Braden gone. Councilwoman Lisa Collier is also right to recommend the council mem- bers stay clear of the inner workings of City Hall — even during this budget sea- son. The desire to help is noble, but even a simple allegation that someone on the council is causing problems is enough to warrant a judicious step like this. It would smell very fishy if an individual insisted on helping in this instance. The investigation needs time to play out, as well. And if, as Braden has alleged, his job was being hindered — especially intentionally — and he was being harassed by a member of the coun- cil, at the very least, that council member should follow in Braden’s footsteps — and submit their resignation letter. LETTER to the EDITOR What you can do for your country Nowadays, I hear employers talking about being unable to hire workers for the jobs they have. I am told that some people are not taking responsibility for their bills and rent, because the govern- ment’s stimulus package is providing extended unemployment and because renters believe that their landlords are not able to evict them. I would rather not believe this is true. When the pandemic hit the United States, people lost their jobs, making it difficult to pay rent and buy grocer- ies. The economy of the country was in danger of tanking and something had to be done. The administration with the approval of the majority of vot- ers decided to provide a stimulus for the economy by putting almost $2 trillion in the hands of lower-income families, state and local government agencies and small businesses. The idea is to stimulate the econ- omy by giving dollars to those in the most need to be spent on necessities, and those dollars will “trickle-up” to bene- fit the economy of the country. This is the opposite of past efforts to boost the econ- omy by providing huge tax breaks to cor- porations with the expectation that the tax breaks will “trickle-down” to benefit everyone. Whether the “trickle-up” or “trick- le-down” method is used to stimulate the economy, neither plan can succeed with- out the cooperation of those who receive the boost. If the corporations use their tax cuts to benefit only their sharehold- ers and their top management, the low- er-wage earners and the unemployed are no better off. Similarly, if the stimu- CONTACT your REPRESENTATIVES U.S. PRESIDENT Joe Biden The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Comments: 202-456-1111 U.S. SENATORS Ron Wyden 221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg. Washington, DC 20510 202-224-5244 La Grande office: 541-962-7691 Bobby Levy, District 58 900 Court St. NE, H-376 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1458 Rep.BobbyLevy@state.or.us Member Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association Published every Wednesday by: EO Media Group P.O. Box 338 • Enterprise, OR 97828 Office: 209 NW First St., Enterprise, Ore. Phone: 541-426-4567 • Fax: 541-426-3921 General manager, Jennifer Cooney, jcooney@wallowa.com Editor, Ronald Bond, rbond@wallowa.com Reporter, Bill Bradshaw, bbradshaw@wallowa.com Multimedia Journalist, Alex Wittwer, awittwer@eomediagroup.com Advertising Assistant, Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com Designer, Andy Nicolais, anicolais@eomediagroup.com • • • Contents copyright © 2021. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. To submit news tips and press releases, call 541-426-4567 or email editor@wallowa.com SENATOR Greg Smith, District 57 900 Court St. NE, H-482 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1457 Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us EDITORIALS: Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the Wallowa County Chieftain editorial board. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opin- ions of the authors and not necessarily that of the Wallowa County Chieftain. LETTERS: The Wallowa County Chieftain 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 USPS No. 665-100 Cliff Bentz 1239 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 202-225-6730 Medford office: 541-776-4646 REPRESENTATIVES GOVERNOR Kate Brown 160 State Capitol 900 Court Street Salem, OR 97301-4047 503-378-4582 U.S. REPRESENTATIVE Jeff Merkley 313 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 202-224-3753 Pendleton office: 541-278-1129 Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884 VOLUME 134 lus to benefit low-wage workers and the unemployed is not used to get jobs or to improve an opportunity to get better jobs, pay bills and rent, there will be no benefit to the economy. The United States of America is a free country only as long as all of its citizens accept their responsibilities to make its systems work. This includes responsibil- ity for our capitalistic economy, our sys- tems of education and health care, and voting for and keeping in touch with those who operate our government. Abra- ham Lincoln said that the U.S. is “gov- ernment of the people, by the people, and for the people.” President John F. Ken- nedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Freedom is not free. Let’s do our part. Evelyn Swart Joseph Bill Hansell, District 29 900 Court St. NE, S-423 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1729 Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us 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. 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