Opinion
A4
BAKER CITY
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news@bakercityherald.com
Tuesday, October 11, 2022 • Baker City, Oregon
EDITORIAL
Should Congress
tighten stock
trading rules
for members?
“ B
uying and selling stocks while making
decisions that affect the stock’s value is
inherently a conflict of interest.”
That’s a 2020 quote from U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, the
Oregon Democrat. He’s been a supporter of a bill in
Congress to prevent lawmakers and their staff from
making money off of investment decisions. Congress
has recently renewed discussion about taking action.
There’s already a prohibition in place called the
STOCK Act that makes insider trading illegal for law-
makers and their senior staffers. Other federal laws
also make insider trading illegal. So does Congress
need a law that tightens the prohibition further on
itself?
The problem with the existing laws is that insider
trading is hard to prove.
The New York Times recently looked at trades for
every member of Congress from 2019 to 2021. The
reporting discovered “97 lawmakers or their family
members bought or sold financial assets over a three-
year span in industries that could be affected by their
legislative committee work.”
Do you know who was on that list? Merkley’s Dem-
ocratic colleague and Oregon’s other U.S. Sen. Ron
Wyden.
“Mr. Wyden’s wife bought and sold shares of oil
companies, including Exxon Mobil and Shell, while
he sat on energy-related committees,” the newspaper
reported. “Mr. Wyden also reported trades in com-
panies that testified before the Finance Committee
about the tax code and trade policy while he was the
ranking Democrat on that committee. A spokesper-
son for the senator said Mr. Wyden and his wife keep
separate finances.”
What is the evidence that Wyden or his wife did
anything illegal? None that we are aware of. People
may still argue that those trades represent a conflict of
interest.
A solution that Merkley has backed would be a bill
to compel members of Congress and staffers to sell all
their stocks, non-Treasury bonds, options contracts
and derivatives shortly after the bill passes or after tak-
ing office. They could also transfer their holdings into
a blind trust and invest in retirement accounts. Other
similar bills have been introduced. They all have the
goal of further reducing the opportunity for members
of Congress and their staff to take unfair advantage of
their positions.
What do you think? Should Congress be looking to
further restrict what they and their staff can do? Or
are the current laws requiring disclosure enough?
You can email Wyden here, tinyurl.com/emailWyden
and Merkley here, tinyurl.com/emailMerkley.
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
Bentz, Trump and
the election conundrum
Now that it has been proven that Cliff
Bentz is an election denier plan on every
piece of legislation being about the past.
In fact, don’t plan on anything but obses-
sion with Trump not winning.
The irony is that if Trump won he can-
not be elected again. However do his sup-
porters resolve this conundrum?
Tom Nash
Halfway
Alderson is my choice
for county commission
I am voting for Shane Alderson for
County Commissioner Position 3. I ask
you to look at his policies on his website
and service to the community and do the
same.
Shane is a leader in a new generation of
public servants. He is mindful in devel-
oping his positions on public policy and
straightforward in speaking to the pros
and cons of any course of action. We need
such open-minded and nonpartisan lead-
ership to succeed.
Shane looks at the issues of the day and
the possibilities for our community and
the resources in our community, in or-
der to tackle them head on. I served four
years on City Council a decade ago and
know how important it is to listen to ev-
eryone, without prejudice, because de-
cisions matter. Go to Shane’s website to
understand his profound commitment to
working with fellow commissioners, the
public, the state, our city government, ag-
riculture, mining and local businesses to
make good decisions that provide solu-
tions.
Shane and his brother Mark have a vi-
able Northwest-oriented downtown busi-
ness, serving residents and tourists who
love to spend time in the beautiful natural
wonders of Baker County and neighbor-
ing counties. Owning a business and hav-
ing served on City Council, Shane is well
informed and concerned about issues of
housing, law enforcement, mental health
services, support for business develop-
ment and the natural resource industries
Baker County is known for.
I, for one, want a county leader who
listens to the people, informs himself of
options and solutions for problems and
speaks openly and with knowledge about
his positions. ... one who is invested in
the community. ... an upcoming leader
who honors both the past and the future
to protect our values as we grow and re-
spond to change. I want a leader who will
work with all agencies and the public to
responsibly address the needs of the com-
munity. That is Shane Alderson.
Please vote for Shane Alderson, a new
leader for Baker County.
Aletha Bonebrake
Baker City
Gun control law might have
opposite effect that’s intended
I just joined OFF, Oregon Firearms
Federation. I don’t like parting with
money but it is critical in light of the woke
initiative that will be on the ballot and
most likely will pass given the lack of his-
torical education that the younger genera-
tion was subjected to.
This ballot initiative is standard Dem-
ocratic talking points, the standard back-
ground checks, outlawing high-capacity
clips, reducing gun violence, better de-
scribed as gang violence, and suicides,
which are mostly old white men, mostly
vets, mostly combat vets but the VA will
download you a nice app if you call. As
most gun owners who have purchased a
firearm during the last 20 plus years know
you don’t buy one without a background
check issued by the state police. And nat-
urally you pay a fee to exercise your 2nd
amendment rights.
What makes this initiative especially
egregious is that you have to have live fire
training conducted by either the state po-
lice or the sheriff’s office. They say they
don’t have the time or the money to con-
duct such training. And guess what? As
a slap in the face of all those who actually
had live fire training in combat there are
no exemptions for that. No exemption for
those with military training.
This bill will probably pass and al-
though scary it might be a good thing.
It will be appealed to the state Supreme
Court where the judges have been ap-
pointed by John Kitzaber and seven by
Kate Brown. One will retire Dec. 31 and
Kate picks his replacement. I suspect that
it will be ruled constitutional. After that it
should be on its way to the U.S. Supreme
Court, a Trump court. It should greatly
expand gun rights, given recent decisions.
But lawsuits are expensive, so I made my
contribution.
There is a possibility that the Repub-
licans will start talking about the actual
effects of this bill and it will be defeated.
Let’s hope so. In the meantime, thanks
wokies for helping to unite the country.
Steve Culley
La Grande
Selfish attitude
about economic realities
In an Oct. 4 letter to the Herald, Darin
VanDyken tells readers that he is a self-
made businessman. Then he admonishes
people who aren’t as successful as he is to
quit relying on the government to help
out.
In other words: “Get off your butt and
make something of yourself.” Typical Re-
publican thinking: “I’ve got mine. You get
yours.” Not a word of sympathy for those
who try and just can’t make it. No con-
sideration for the handicap the average
worker must overcome.
I can imagine VanDyken asking,
“Gosh, what handicap are you talking
about?”
How about the fact that between 1978
and 2021 pay of the average worker rose
only 18% over those 43 years. But during
that same period, pay of executives of the
largest corporations in the U.S. rose by
1,500%. Even during the two years of the
pandemic CEOs saw their compensation
leap by 30%.
VanDyken writes that there is no need
“to keep spending public money that we
don’t have.” No mention of the fact that
corporations are not paying their fair
share of taxes, but at the same time are re-
ceiving “corporate welfare” from the gov-
ernment through subsidies as incentive
to create jobs, so-called “top-down-eco-
nomics” That theory was first touted be-
ginning with the Reagan administration.
It’s an economic theory proven false years
ago.
In spite of that fact, the new Prime
Minister of Great Britain, Liz Truss, last
week presented a top-down economic
plan to Parliament to deal with rising in-
flation. The plan was soundly ridiculed,
and PM Truss quickly withdrew the plan.
A little research is warranted before
comparing one’s own success with the
lack thereof by many less fortunate work-
ers in our society.
Gary Dielman
Baker City
COLUMN
Witnessing the end of some print icons
P
rint media is hard. That’s not
news to anyone reading this col-
umn. Each week brings a new
and sobering headline from the print
media world — usually a headline that
includes the word “shuttering” (which,
coincidentally enough, makes me shud-
der). So, when we received an email
from The Arena Group, owners of Pa-
rade magazine as well as Spry Living,
with the subject line in all caps saying
PLEASE READ, I prepared myself for
the worst.
Dear Valued Partner,
Today, we are announcing changes
in the way we deliver our brands to our
readers. We have made the difficult de-
cision to wind down the print distri-
bution of Parade, Relish and Spry Liv-
ing, and I wanted you to hear this news
from me first. Our last print issue of Pa-
rade is November 6 and we will no lon-
ger publish Relish and Spry Living after
their October issues.
Gulp.
The bad news: October will be the
last month the Baker City Herald will
carry Spry Living magazine as the pub-
lication will be entirely discontinued.
Parade magazine will end 80-plus years
of print publication in mid-November
Karrine
Brogoitti
and will no longer be an insert in hun-
dreds of newspapers across the U.S. —
including the East Oregonian, our sister
newspaper in Pendleton.
The good news: Parade will continue
to publish an e-edition, a digital version
of the magazine, that will be carried in
the e-edition of the Baker City Herald
and The Observer every Saturday. The
Arena Group is also offering additional
digital content that we may choose to
use online if it aligns with our publi-
cation goals and is a good fit for our
readers.
As the print industry continues to
evolve, our focus remains solidly on
providing quality content that serves
our community with accurate and cred-
ible local news and information. Our
newsroom delivers that content every
day of the week through the website,
app and newsletters. Three days a week
that content is designed for delivery via
our print product and in our e-edition,
the digital version of our print pages.
The number of people subscribing to
the Baker City Herald is growing, and
it should come as no surprise that those
new readers are predominantly seeking
digital subscriptions, rather than our
printed edition — as our new audience
recognizes that the value of the newspa-
per is in the news, not in the paper.
The Mail Tribune in Medford an-
nounced last month it would no longer
be printing newspapers effective at the
end of September. An email to commer-
cial print customers read, “Due to the
cost to print and deliver our own news-
papers, supply-chain instability and con-
tinuous cost increases, and the inevita-
ble subscriber migration to consuming
more (if not all) digital news content, we
have decided to shut down our printing
press as of September 29, 2022.”
The Mail Tribune follows the Ash-
land Daily Tidings in discontinuing
printing newspapers altogether and de-
livering news completely online. Metro
newspaper the Atlanta Journal-Consti-
tution in Georgia announced they are
considering dropping from daily publi-
cation to weekly, much as the nonprofit
Salt Lake Tribune is now only produc-
ing one print edition a week in favor of
online delivery of their news content.
The Herald’s parent company, EO
Media Group, has made similar deci-
sions in the last couple of years, shut-
tering its printing presses in Pendleton
and Bend and outsourcing printing
of its papers, including all of the com-
pany’s east-side publications, like the
Herald.
EO Media Group plans to continue
to print newspapers. There remains a
clear demand for those tangible print
editions in our rural communities.
As we look to our future, our focus
and mission is to continually serve our
readers with credible, professionally
created local news and information.
Delivery of that content will continue to
evolve and improve as does the variety
of ways to reach our audience.
If you haven’t already, take a moment
to register your subscription for digital
access of the Herald. Call 800-781-3214
to talk to one of our customer service
staff who will be happy to walk you
through the process. It’s easy, takes just
a few moments to get set up and allows
you to take advantage of our e-edition,
app and website delivery along with
your print subscription.
Karrine Brogoitti is the publisher
of the Baker City Herald and The Observer.
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. office:
313 Hart Senate Office Building, U.S.
Senate, Washington, D.C., 20510;
202-224-3753; fax 202-228-3997.
Portland office: One World Trade
Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St. Suite
1250, Portland, OR 97204; 503-326-
3386; fax 503-326-2900. Baker City
office, 1705 Main St., Suite 504, 541-
278-1129; merkley.senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: D.C. office:
221 Dirksen Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-
224-5244; fax 202-228-2717. La
Grande office: 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. office: 1239
Longworth House Office Building,
Washington, D.C., 20515, 202-225-
6730; fax 202-225-5774. Medford
office: 14 N. Central Avenue Suite
112, Medford, OR 97850; Phone:
541-776-4646; fax: 541-779-0204;
Ontario office: 2430 S.W. Fourth
Ave., No. 2, Ontario, OR 97914;
Phone: 541-709-2040. bentz.house.
gov.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: 254
State Capitol, Salem, OR 97310;
503-378-3111; www.governor.
oregon.gov.