THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2020
Baker City, Oregon
4A
Write a letter
news@bakercityherald.com
OUR VIEW
Oregon’s
budget
surprise
Oregon’s September economic forecast was a big
surprise: Instead of a coronavirus-caused $1 billion
shortfall, the state predicts to end the 2019-21 budget
with a leftover pile $1.7 billion high.
A COVID-19 boom? We are not so lucky. The seem-
ingly good numbers conceal two pieces of disturbing
news.
The fi rst is: High-income households were spared
by the pandemic. It hit low-wage sectors of the
economy the worst.
Josh Lehner, Oregon state economist, and others
crunched some Oregon data, and the preliminary
fi ndings were “that low-wage workers in high-wage
industries are the ones being laid off there, while
high-wage workers in low-wage industries have been
spared to a great degree. Regardless of industry,
workers earning lower wages have borne almost the
entire recession.” That would mirror what is happen-
ing nationally.
The second is no less worrisome. Oregon’s state
spending is expected to grow faster than government
revenue. Unless something changes, Oregon is antici-
pated to face a structural defi cit. State spending goes
up every two years by 13% to 15%, and revenue has
only been going up by 8%.
Wildfi res and the pandemic will increase state
spending. But much of the increase in spending
is also related to increasing personnel costs. State
employees are getting raises — some $200 million.
Total pay increases will be 15% on average. Those are
step increases as well as cost of living increases. The
increases were approved before the pandemic began.
Whether you believe they are deserved or not, they
will put more pressure on Oregon’s Public Employ-
ees Retirement System, which already is struggling
to keep up with obligations to pay future benefi ts.
PERS was more than $20 billion behind before the
new raises.
Where might the state’s Democratic leadership go
to get more money? Provide incentives for business to
grow? No. The default Oregon answer is taxes.
One target might be zapping the new state tax cuts
automatically copied from the federal coronavirus
relief bill. Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem,
and House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, had
them on their list. The tax breaks were estimated to
cost the state $225 million. The tax breaks do things
such as eliminating the cap on business losses that
taxpayers can deduct. An argument for getting rid of
them is that they primarily benefi t wealthier tax-
payers. An argument for keeping them is they help
businesses stay afl oat during the pandemic.
A handful of other states that automatically copy
federal tax breaks into state code have stripped the
tax breaks. Will Oregon be next?
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the Baker City Herald.
Columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions
of the authors and not necessarily that of the Baker City Herald.
Your views
Vote yes on Measure 110:
It’s a humane approach
I want your readers to know that
I can hold my 230-pound, 6-foot-2
son in the palm of my hand. Why?
Because what’s left of him fi lls half of
a ziplock bag. On April 13, 2015, my
son, Ryan Culley, was successful in
his suicide attempt. He had run out
of hope. He had no job, no prospects of
fi nding even a minimal employment,
had lost contact with his children, and
lived by the grace of his parents and
friends.
Many parents in Oregon have chil-
dren who have lost hope and chosen
to make such a drastic decision. I still
wonder today if my son would be alive
if Oregon had stopped stigmatizing
people with mental health and addic-
tion issues and instead had provided
better access to services. That’s why I
support Measure 110.
Oregon’s drug laws are antiquated.
Instead of helping people who strug-
gle with addiction, we punish them,
give them criminal records, send them
to jail, stigmatize them. It’s cruel,
ineffective and expensive. Criminal
records and punishments only make
it harder for people with serious men-
tal health and addiction issues.
Measure 110 on the November
ballot is a way to help address the im-
balance of Oregon’s current drug laws.
Measure 110 won’t legalize drugs,
but it will shift us to a health-based
approach, where people are offered
treatment instead of jail. Measure 110
doesn’t create a new tax. The money
to pay for it will come from existing
taxes on marijuana.
Please join me in voting Yes on
Measure 110. It’s a more humane and
effective approach.
Jorja Culley
Baker City
Letters to the editor
We welcome letters on any
issue of public interest. Writers
are limited to one letter every
15 days. Writers must sign their
letter and include an address and
phone number (for verifi cation
only). Email letters to news@
bakercityherald.com.
Voters have a clear choice this
year: Use it wisely
It doesn’t make any difference whether
you are a Democrat, a Republican or an
Independent voter in the upcoming presi-
dential election. It all comes down to two
options. First, do you want the country
to continue to be a capitalist government
and enjoy our many freedoms we enjoy,
our high standard of living and freedom
of worship? Or do you want a socialist
state with the many restrictions placed
on individual freedoms and eventually
end up like another Venzuela, Cuba,
Russia, China, etc.? The choice is yours ...
vote wisely!
Gary McManus
Baker City
Thoughts to consider about
racial injustice in U.S.
The following continues on the same
theme as my last opinion piece (Sept.
8), in which I wrote about slaves who
worked in the households of several ante-
bellum U.S. presidents, and about slaves
who helped build the White House and
the Capitol building, without receiving
any compensation for his/her labor.
One of those presidents was slave-
holder James Madison, our fourth
president. He told a visitor from Britain
that “he could make $257 on every Negro
in a year, and spend only $12 or $13 on
his keep.” (Howard Zinn, “A People’s His-
tory of the United States: 1492-Present.”
Zinn’s book would be enlightened reading
for every person who serves in Congress.)
Another of those presidents was
slave-holder Thomas Jefferson, our third
president, author of the Declaration
of Independence, wherein we fi nd this
statement:
“We hold these truths to be self-evi-
dent, that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness.”
There follows a long list of grievances,
many of which would apply to Black
slaves. Unlike the successful rebellion of
the colonies against Britain, slave rebel-
lions were quickly subdued, frequently
with execution of the leaders.
The whole Winter 2019 edition of
the “Oregon Historical Quarterly” was
devoted to the topic “White Supremacy
& Resistance.” On pages 466-467 are
reproduced two rough-draft passages
from Jefferson’s “Notes on the State of
Virginia” (1781-1785) written in his own
hand. The OHQ editors summarize the
passages thus:
“The excerpts below describe Blacks
as naturally inferior to Whites, which
became the very basis for White su-
premacy policies underlying ‘manifest
destiny’ claims of the pioneer generation.
Jefferson goes on to describe Blacks as
not feeling grief, at least not for long, al-
lowing him to escape the guilt of enslav-
ing humans, even if he considered them
naturally inferior.”
Some things to consider during the
present demonstrations taking place
about racial justice and equality in
America.
Comments welcome at tubingen@eoni.
com.
Gary Dielman
Baker City
CONTACT YOUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS
President Donald Trump: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania
Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500; 202-456-1414; fax 202-456-2461; to
send comments, go to www.whitehouse.gov/contact.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley: D.C. offi ce: 313 Hart Senate Offi ce
Building, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-3753; fax
202-228-3997. Portland offi ce: One World Trade Center, 121 S.W.
Salmon St. Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204; 503-326-3386; fax
503-326-2900. Baker City offi ce, 1705 Main St., Suite 504, 541-278-
1129; merkley.senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: D.C. offi ce: 221 Dirksen Senate Offi ce
Building, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-5244; fax 202-228-2717.
La Grande offi ce: 105 Fir St., No. 210, La Grande, OR 97850; 541-
962-7691; fax, 541-963-0885; wyden.senate.gov.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (2nd District): D.C. offi ce: 2182 Rayburn
Offi ce Building, Washington, D.C., 20515, 202-225-6730; fax 202-
225-5774. La Grande offi ce: 1211 Washington Ave., La Grande, OR
97850; 541-624-2400, fax, 541-624-2402; walden.house.gov.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: 254 State Capitol, Salem, OR
97310; 503-378-3111; www.governor.oregon.gov.
State Sen. Lynn Findley (R-Ontario): Salem offi ce: 900
Court St. N.E., S-403, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-1730. Email: Sen.
LynnFindley@oregonlegislature.gov
State Rep. Mark Owens (R-Crane): Salem offi ce: 900 Court
St. N.E., H-475, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-1460. Email: Rep.
MarkOwens@oregonlegislature.gov
OTHER VIEWS
Best defense against disinformation? Look in the mirror
(Minneapolis) Star Tribune:
Deploying disinformation as well
as other asymmetric tactics, Russia
attacked America’s 2016 election.
“Russia’s goals were to undermine
public faith in the U.S. democratic
process, denigrate Secretary (Hillary)
Clinton, and harm her electability
and potential presidency. We further
assess (Russian President Vladimir)
Putin and the Russian Government
developed a clear preference for
President-elect Trump,” according
to a 2017 report from the director of
national intelligence.
In 2020, Russians have returned.
And they’ve got company: China,
which the National Counterintel-
ligence and Security Center believes
prefers Joe Biden, and Iran are also
trying to degrade our democracy. “For-
eign states will continue to use covert
and overt influence measures in their
attempts to sway U.S. voters’ prefer-
ences and perspectives, shift U.S.
policies, increase discord in the United
States, and undermine the American
people’s confidence in our democratic
process,” according to an NCSC state-
ment. With these three nations “all
seeking greater influence online, the
dynamic somewhat resembles a Cold
War arms race, but with information
rather than missiles as the weapon,”
Sarah Kreps, a Brookings Institution
senior fellow, wrote in an analysis.
“Whether the United States has
learned how to guard against these
weapons, and their evolving use,
remains far from clear.”
Part of the guard is government,
which has mostly focused on prevent-
ing an election hack. But less has
been done to blunt the insidious in-
ternet meddling from foreign forces or
even deliberate disinformation from
homegrown groups. Sure, some social
media companies have mitigated
the impact. Facebook, for instance,
announced Sept. 24 that it was taking
down three disinformation networks
with ties to Russia’s military and
intelligence agencies. But for the most
part, social media sites have reacted
after the damage is done.
Since these institutions can’t do
it alone, individuals are the best
line of disinformation defense. But
unfortunately, it turns out that we’re
not always that good at it. That’s the
conclusion from a study by the Reboot
Foundation that states, “People are
overconfident about their media lit-
eracy skills, and they believe that they
have more skills than they actually
do. For all age groups, determining
the reliability of websites is problem-
atic.” Especially social media. Even
among moderate and light users, “the
more time spent on social media, the
worse the user’s news judgment.”
So sound judgment on media
choice is important in imparting facts.
What works best? According to the
Pew Research Center, which ranked
respondents on correct answers to
29 fact-based questions, the highest
political knowledge is seen by those
who “use a news website or app as
the most common way” to get political
and election news. That figure, at
45% “high political knowledge” and
31% “middle political knowledge,”
is followed by radio (42% high/34%
middle), print (41%/29%), cable TV
(35%/29%), network TV (29%/35%),
social media (17%/27%) and local TV
(10%/21%).
Emphasizing professionally
produced news (even delivered via
social media) isn’t self-serving but
democracy preserving, as Americans
need to be on guard that they don’t
advance adversaries’ attacks on the
2020 election.