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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (July 16, 2020)
THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2020 Baker City, Oregon 4A Write a letter news@bakercityherald.com EDITORIAL Waive filing fee for City Council The Baker City Council is wise to try to make it easier for residents to fi le as candidates for the Nov. 3 general election, during which six of the seven seats on the Council will be open. The issue — as with so many things these days — is the coronavirus pandemic. Under the city’s current rules, residents who want to run for City Council must pick up a petition from the city and then collect valid signatures from at least 46 registered voters. Obviously the pandemic, and the recommendation that people seek to stay at least 6 feet apart, makes the collection of those signatures a signifi cantly more daunting proposition than in the past. Oregon election law, which Baker City follows, al- lows an alternative way for candidates to get on the ballot — pay a fee. But the City Council has to pass an ordinance set- ting that fee. Councilors took the fi rst step Tuesday, approving the fi rst of three required readings of an ordinance. The deadline for candidates to fi le is Aug. 25, whether they choose to gather signatures or pay the fi ling fee. That fee was originally proposed at $50, but the version councilors approved Tuesday sets it at $25. Not an exorbitant amount, to be sure, but neither is it a trifl ing sum for some people. The Council’s goal of making candidacy as acces- sible as possible is a laudable one. To that end, councilors should eliminate the fi ling fee altogether. — Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald editor Letters to the editor • We welcome letters on any issue of public interest. Customer complaints about specifi c businesses will not be printed. • The Baker City Herald will not knowingly print false or misleading claims. However, we cannot verify the accuracy of all statements in letters to the editor. • The writer must sign the letter and include an address and phone number (for verifi cation only). Letters that do not include this information cannot be published. • Letters will be edited for brevity, grammar, taste and legal reasons. Mail: To the Editor, Baker City Herald, P.O. Box 807, Baker City, OR 97814 Email: news@bakercityherald.com Biden needs to focus on one thing with VP pick: Knowledge We are four months away from what is shaping up to be a very strange presidential election — the strangest in many of our lifetimes. Americans will vote in an atmo- sphere of deep and bitter division. We are at each other’s throats in a way we have not been since the 1960s. In some ways it may be worse than the 1960s. We will also hold this election in the context of a pandemic and parallel to a new social movement both idealistic and nihilistic; both positive and destruc- tive. Finally, our choice is between two aging men with, in very different ways and for very different reasons, little ap- parent understanding of the task before them — the importance of the presi- dency at this moment in the nation’s life. Neither seems to have a vision of unifi cation and neither has a positive program for jobs, trade, infrastructure, energy, conservation, debt or expanding personal opportunity. Donald Trump, 74, seems to have less than total control of his emotions, and Joe Biden, 77, seems to have less than total control of his faculties. The best thing the president could do is dial down his rhetoric and run on his record, the record of a traditional Republican with some tweaks and addi- tions — like on trade and prison reform. That probably will not happen and, if it did, the now deranged national media would not give him credit for it anyway. The best thing that Biden could do is to reassure the people about his evident mental and physical fragility. A majority of citizens in the country like and respect Joe Biden. He could be a healer. But we would all be fools to ignore the truth that recent years have been hard on him (no shame in that) and that the calendar exerts its own undeniable force. If elected, Biden will be 82 when his term ends — older than Ike (71), Reagan (77), de Gaulle (79) or Churchill KEITH C. BURRIS (81) when they left power. Konrad Adenauer, in postwar Germany, was 87 when he departed offi ce. What Biden ought to do, for his own political fortunes, as well as the country, is amend his vice presidential promise — that he will choose a woman as his running mate. He ought to say: I will pick the best person I can fi nd; the most qualifi ed; someone who can step into the presidential offi ce if need be with no learning curve. If, in the end, it is a woman, that’s grand. If not, well, I have to do what’s best for the nation. This would reassure the country. For there is a high chance that, if Biden is elected, his vice president will become the president. Daniel Patrick Moynihan was fond of quoting President John F. Kennedy on the needs of democracy. He said that democracy needs patience, public virtue, discipline and determination — many moral traits. But it also needs knowledge. The president must understand how our system works, how the federal bureaucracy functions and how foreign policy is conducted. He or she needs to fully understand recent problems and challenges on all these fronts. Biden does. It is important that his running mate does, too. Biden should do what Barack Obama did: Pick someone with knowledge. He should not do what John McCain did: Pick a walking gimmick. One cannot help but notice that some of the names now on Biden’s short list are people who have been in the Congress, or even public offi ce, only a few years. The best person on his list is Karen Bass — a fi ve-term congresswoman from California deeply involved in prison reform and knowledgeable about foreign policy who is also a former speaker of the California State Assembly. She possesses the two qualities Biden needs — calm and experience. Still, he should broaden the search. • Consider someone like Janet Napolitano, who has been a governor, a Cabinet member and run the largest university system in the nation. • A Senate veteran like Patty Mur- ray would hit the ground running. • One may be permitted to dream of a national unity ticket with Condo- leezza Rice as the running mate. • Both senators from New Hamp- shire, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, are also former governors. • Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wiscon- sin is as exciting as watching paint dry, but she has long experience in local and state government and both houses of the Congress. And, oh yeah, she would break a barrier. But that’s not what is most impor- tant right now. Biden has his base. And he doesn’t need a stunt to wake up his campaign, like McCain did. There is no need to box himself in. He does need to reassure us. The rules for veep selection are simple: First, do no political harm. Second, pick someone qualifi ed. Why not at least consider someone whose competence and civic spirit is so well established that he brings pres- tige to the veep-ship — someone like Robert Gates or James Mattis? Go with knowledge, Joe. This year more than ever. For you, for us. Keith C. Burris is executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and vice president and editorial director of Block Newspapers (kburris@post-gazette.com). OTHER VIEWS Boeing can regain trust by embracing transparency Editorial from The Chicago Tribune: On Oct. 29, 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff, killing all 189 passengers and crew. Less than fi ve months later, Ethiopian Air Flight 302 plummeted shortly after departure, killing 157 people, including eight Americans. The model at the center of both crashes was the 737 Max, built by Chicago- based Boeing Co. Now, after a six-month hiatus, Boeing’s production of the pas- senger jets has resumed. Can the fl ying public, already rattled by the enduring COVID-19 pandemic, feel safe aboard a 737 Max? Government test fl ights have wrapped up for Boeing’s 737 Max. The Federal Aviation Administra- tion still has to analyze data from those fl ights. If everything goes as planned, however, the aircraft- maker could get the FAA-ordered grounding of 737 Max jets lifted as soon as September, and the airlin- ers could take to the skies with passengers aboard by the end of the year, The Wall Street Journal reports. Something else has to happen alongside that 737 Max reboot, however, to restore the American fl ying public’s faith in Boeing: an ironclad, nonnegotiable commit- ment to transparency. The U.S. Transportation Depart- ment’s inspector general’s offi ce recently issued a report laying out how Boeing withheld pivotal information about the 737 Max’s fl ight control software as the model was undergoing certifi cation from the FAA. Problems with that software, known as the Maneuver- ing Characteristics Augmentation System, were at the center of both fatal crashes. Investigators said the glitch put the airliners into a sharp dive that could not be stopped by the pilots. “Early in the process, Boeing included limited information in ini- tial briefi ngs to FAA on the Max’s fl ight control software, MCAS, which subsequently has been cited as a contributing or potentially contributing factor in both acci- dents,” Inspector General Howard Elliott wrote in his report. “As a result, FAA was not well positioned to mitigate any risks related to MCAS.” During one early certifi cation meeting with FAA offi cials, Boeing representatives used 482 slides over a two-day span to explain critical 737 Max fl ight controls, but devoted just two lines of text in those slides to the MCAS, ac- cording to the report. Later, when Boeing made major alterations to the system, it did not mention those changes to FAA engineers involved in the certifi cation process, the report stated. It wasn’t until after Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea that the FAA began a detailed review of the MCAS. That marked the fi rst time the FAA was “pre- sented with a full picture of how MCAS worked,” the report stated. Boeing began a system revamp, but 737 Max aircraft continued fl ying. Less than fi ve months later, Ethiopian Air Flight 302 crashed. The 737 Max fl eet has been grounded ever since. Boeing’s bottom line — and its reputation — have taken a massive hit. Dennis Muilenburg lost his job as CEO. Boeing has made the technical changes to put the 737 Max on track for an eventual return to ser- vice. That won’t be enough, though. Boeing must convince the fl ying public that transparency will be ap- plied to every stage of the develop- ment and making of its aircraft, every meeting and information exchange with the FAA — the regulatory body responsible for making aviation safe. The airplane- maker will have to take a hard look at a company culture that allowed opacity to seep into something as important as the certifi cation pro- cess for a new passenger jet model. A pandemic-weary American populace eagerly awaits the re- sumption of normalcy, and a return to days when fl ying for business or vacation are routine. For that to happen, however, aviation giants like Boeing must ensure they have — and safeguard — the full trust of the American fl ying public.
