THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2021
Baker City, Oregon
A4
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EDITORIAL
When ‘The
Oregon Way’
doesn’t work
Democratic Oregon lawmakers claim they can draw
legislative maps to favor individuals.
That statement seems preposterous. It would be ger-
rymandering at some of its most gerrymanderingist.
And yet, it’s just what lawyers for the Legislature
say.
Their argument, reported thanks to the work of The
Oregonian, comes in response to a lawsuit challenging
the way state House districts were drawn. Two voters
alleged that the districts violated restrictions on not
dividing communities of interest and protecting an
incumbent. Rep. Marty Wilde, D-Eugene, believes his
precinct was put into a district that leans Republican
to hurt his ability to challenge state Democratic Sen.
Floyd Prozanski and because Wilde criticized the way
Democrats drew legislative maps.
Some states embed a detailed prohibition against
gerrymandering in their state constitutions. Oregon
doesn’t. Oregon’s Constitution only says districts must
be equal in population. Other issues such as not divid-
ing communities of interest or playing favorites with
individuals have only been in state statutes.
What the lawyers argue is that Oregon legislators
passed a law to redraw the state’s legislative districts.
And when they passed the new law, it superseded any
old law that may confl ict with it. They aren’t claim-
ing that districts were drawn to favor individuals and
that’s OK. They are claiming it would be OK under the
law.
We are not lawyers. We don’t know if a court will
buy that argument or not. But it is not what state of-
fi cials and legislators have been telling Oregonians.
When Shemia Fagan was running for secretary of
state and talked about gerrymandering, she said Or-
egon law strictly prohibits (partisan gerrymandering)”
by “drawing district lines to benefi t any political party,
incumbent or person…”
Now? Well, Fagan has been silent.
Gov. Kate Brown has defi ned “The Oregon Way” as
coming together at the table to fi nd common ground, to
the mutual benefi t of us all.
We don’t dispute there’s something to that. And
when it happens, it’s something to be proud of.
But there is also a different Oregon Way. It’s the one
where Oregon politicians tell the public one thing and
actually, another thing is true. It happened recently
with the state’s new death penalty law, which made the
death penalty in the state far more restrictive. Legisla-
tors — even authors of the legislation and Gov. Brown
— claimed it would not be retroactive and change
previous convictions. It does.
And now again, Oregonians were told by their lead-
ers that one thing is true about gerrymandering and it
is not true.
Wonder why so many people get disgusted with
politicians? That is why.
There should be little question that it is a confl ict of
interest for lawmakers to draw the boundaries of their
own districts. A ballot initiative would have changed
that and put in place an independent redistricting com-
mission to draw the legislative maps.
Would that fi x all the problems with redistricting?
We doubt it. But it’s getting harder to argue Oregon’s
lawmakers deserve to keep this power for themselves.
Your views
No reason to ask mayor to avoid
voting on council vacancy
Once again the Baker City Council
meetings have become the playground
for petty bickering and squabbles. Calls
have been made for the mayor to recuse
herself from voting on the council
vacancy. But why is that? Is it because
a law has been broken? Is it because
policy has been violated? Is it because
her ethics are suspect? The answer to
all such questions is a resounding no.
Whatever the reason for asking the
mayor to not do her job of weighing in
on the decision for a council position she
and other councilors will have to work
with while guiding our city, I don’t think
the solution to an alleged personal con-
fl ict of interests is to ask the mayor to
act against the public interest. In what
world does that make sense? I believe
everyone on the Baker City Council
wants the best for our community. How-
ever, I must support Mayor McQuisten
and Councilors Dixon and Waggoner in
their position on this matter.
It seems to me that if candidates
for councilors cannot be approved after
numerous rounds of voting, then time
is better served soliciting new appli-
cants rather than trying to shoehorn
perennial candidates into public offi ce
through muckraking and catty accusa-
tions from their friends and proxies.
The Old Guard might want a reunion
tour of the good ol’ days (that budget
records might refl ect were not so good
after all), but the rest of Baker City is
more concerned with our City Council’s
time not being used as a public soap
box for personal gripes, grudges, and
sour grapes.
Nathan Hogdon
Baker City
Lease for Interpretive Center
temporary site benefi cial
The recently announced lease
agreement between the Bureau of
Land Management and Baker County,
enabling the National Historic Oregon
Trail Interpretive Center to be tempo-
rarily housed in the Baker Heritage
Museum while the Interpretive Center
undergoes extensive retrofi tting to the
building and its HVAC systems is good
news. Good news for Baker County and
Baker City, good news for the BLM and
the museum, and good news for tourists
visiting the area.
The Baker County Museum Com-
mission is excited to partner with the
Interpretive Center staff to offer the
visiting public an experience to be
remembered. The BLM is constructing
new exhibits to fi t into the museum’s
Leo Adler Room and in part of the ball-
room upstairs. Although the Center’s
exhibits will necessarily be scaled down
from what we have known for the past
nearly 30 years, this partnership will
ensure that visitors receive a quality
experience.
As the nation recovers economi-
cally from the effects of the COVID-19
pandemic, the tourism industry is
rebounding strongly. Having Interpre-
tive Center staff and exhibits in the
museum will undoubtedly assist in
Baker County’s economic recovery as
visitors are drawn into Baker City. An
added attraction is that the BLM will
offer an array of excellent interpre-
tive programs and performances in
Geiser-Pollman Park on weekends
and holidays, weather permitting. The
museum’s education programs will be
enhanced by the presence of BLM staff,
and visitors to Baker County’s summer
events will have a value-added experi-
ence.
The Baker County Museum Com-
mission appreciates the support of the
Baker County Commissioners, the
BLM, Base Camp Baker, the Oregon
Trail Preservation Trust, and the Baker
County Economic Development Depart-
ment in making this extraordinary
partnership possible.
Cammy Warner, Chair
Diana Brown, Vice-chair
Rebecca Kolbet
Secretary/Treasurer
Chelsea Blatchford
Museum Commissioner
Dave Hunsaker
Museum Commissioner
Teresa McQuisten
Museum Commissioner
Bill Mitchell
Museum Commissioner
OTHER VIEWS
Infrastructure bill: Don’t merely
spend, but build well and wisely
Editorial from The New York Daily
News:
After all the speeches out on the
cold White House South Lawn, at 4:21
Monday afternoon, Nov. 15, President
Biden took but a few seconds to sign
the bipartisan infrastructure bill into
law. That brief moment, built on coop-
eration among senators from both par-
ties, should have happened long ago.
We don’t just mean earlier this year,
but in the last, horrible administration
of the horrible Donald Trump or even
before him.
Real investments in roads and
bridges and ports and transit have
been needed for many years, and it’s
something in which America once led
the world. Now, we’re the laggard with
new competitors like China churning
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.
out high-speed rail and new airports
while we plod along on the aging
systems put in place by our distant
predecessors.
But it’s not only about just printing
money in Washington and dropping
it across the country. It must be used
wisely and economically. Projects, from
expanded broadband to upgraded
water delivery and sewage disposal to
those roads and bridges and rails, must
be worthwhile. And crucially, they
must stay in budget and on schedule.
Jobs are great and good jobs are
greater and good union construction
jobs are the greatest to many, espe-
cially to politicians running for reelec-
tion. But as we said before, there’s a
big difference between spending and
building.
You can spend $1 million or $1 bil-
lion or $1 trillion to hire crews to dig
a hole (a $1 trillion one would be very,
very big), generating a payroll and get-
ting those bulldozers bulldozing. You
could then spend the same amount to
hire the equivalent crews to fi ll it in.
You’ve now produced a huge invest-
ment in construction jobs, but have no
improved infrastructure allowing for
economic growth and greater effi cien-
cies in moving people or goods or ideas.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck
Schumer on Monday touted the biggest
boondoggle in the country, Gateway,
now estimated by Amtrak at $33.7 bil-
lion. It’s a lot of money to spend, even
just the $14 billion zero-capacity Phase
1 being considered, but it fails the
smart investment test.
CONTACT YOUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS
President Joe Biden: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania
Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500; 202-456-1111; to send comments, go
to www.whitehouse.gov.
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. Cliff Bentz (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.
Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read: oregon.treasurer@
ost.state.or.us; 350 Winter St. NE, Suite 100, Salem OR 97301-3896;
503-378-4000.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenblum: Justice
Building, Salem, OR 97301-4096; 503-378-4400.
Oregon Legislature: Legislative documents and information
are available online at www.leg.state.or.us.
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
Baker City Hall: 1655 First Street, P.O. Box 650, Baker City,
OR 97814; 541-523-6541; fax 541-524-2049. City Council meets the
second and fourth Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers. Mayor
Kerry McQuisten, Councilors Jason Spriet, Shane Alderson, Joanna
Dixon, Heather Sells and Johnny Waggoner Sr.
Baker City administration: 541-523-6541. Jonathan Cannon,
city manager; Ty Duby, police chief; Sean Lee, fi re chief; Michelle
Owen, public works director.
Baker County Commission: Baker County Courthouse 1995
3rd St., Baker City, OR 97814; 541-523-8200. Meets the fi rst and
third Wednesdays at 9 a.m.; Bill Harvey (chair), Mark Bennett, Bruce
Nichols.
Baker County departments: 541-523-8200. Travis Ash, sheriff;
Noodle Perkins, roadmaster; Greg Baxter, district attorney; Alice
Durfl inger, county treasurer; Stefanie Kirby, county clerk; Kerry
Savage, county assessor.
Baker School District: 2090 4th Street, Baker City, OR 97814;
541-524-2260; fax 541-524-2564. Superintendent: Mark Witty. Board
meets the third Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. Council Chambers,
Baker City Hall,1655 First St.; Andrew Bryan, Jessica Dougherty,
Chris Hawkins, Travis Cook and Julie Huntington.