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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2016)
A10 News Blue Mountain Eagle SPENDING Continued from Page A1 Next was the business sector, which spent $30.8 million, followed by fi nance, insur- ance and real estate interests that reported spending a total of $27.3 million on lobbying during the same period. Unlike several other states including Idaho, Oregon does not require lobbyists to dis- close the specifi c bills or exec- utive branch actions they seek to infl uence. Oregon lobbyists are only required to disclose food, drinks and entertain- ment purchased for a specifi c lawmaker or other state offi - cial if the cost exceeds $50 on a single occasion, and lobby- ists do not have to report in- dividual expenses reimbursed by their clients . Until this year, the only way to know how much lob- byists and their clients were spending to entertain Oregon state offi cials was to request a copy of the paper reports fi led with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission. The agency launched a new electronic fi ling system for lobbyists late last year, but that system is not displaying certain spending details due to technical glitches. Even if the system were working correctly, however, it would likely provide only a small Lobbying cash spent in Oregon, 2007-15 A wide range of entities, from hospitals and nursing homes to utilities and the governor’s office, reported spending more than $251 million on lobbying Oregon lawmakers and other state officials from 2007 through 2015. $35.9 (All sectors, millions of dollars) million 33.9 31.1 29.8 27.2 26.8 25.6 21.2 19.9 Up 31.7% from 2007 NOTE: Totals not adjusted for inflation. 2007 ’09 ’11 ’13 2015 Source: Oregon Government Ethics Commission Hillary Borrud and Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group sample of lobbyists’ activi- ties. Of the $35.9 million in reported spending last year, only $93,189 was explained in detailed reports. These minimal reporting requirements contributed to Oregon receiving one of the lowest rankings in the nation for transparency in lobbying activity. Last summer, the Sunlight Foundation evaluated how all 50 states track spending on lobbying and created a score- card ranking the states. The foundation awarded Oregon an F grade, meaning lobbyists and their clients face fewer disclosure requirements than in most other states. Most of Oregon’s neigh- bors received higher grades, from an A in California to a C in Idaho. Emily Shaw, a senior an- alyst at the Sunlight Founda- tion who was involved in the project, said the goal was to evaluate how much informa- tion states collected about lobbyists’ specifi c activities and the costs of those actions. “People should be able to fi nd out who has come to infl uence their laws,” Shaw said. “That’s not to say there needs to be any particular re- striction on lobbying in a par- ticular situation. But for good Continued from Page A1 and how they can fold, and I’m excited to see our results.” Weaver said the group learned how proteins can mis- fold and cause diseases. Their research could point to ways to help with diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, cystic fi brosis and many other disorders. If their fi ndings result in clues to unlock those myster- ies, Smith said it’s possible a research scientist could take the experiment further. “I hope to help in some way Grant County HEALTH Department 528 E. Main, St. E, John Day Monday - Friday 8am - 5pm Karen Triplett, FNP Services Provided: vocate for the bill. Rae wrote that she did not spend enough time working on the issue — the threshold is 24 hours in a quarter — to trigger the state’s requirement to register as a lobbyist for the group. Bill Cross, the Legislative Committee chair for the Cap- itol Club, said the group still wants a permanent reporting exemption for lobbying other lobbyists, partly because it is burdensome for lobbyists to track the information. “I’m sure we’ll be pursu- ing some sort of way to adjust that because the value of that information just doesn’t seem apparent to us,” Cross said. Cross said it would also create a lot of work for lobby- ists — with minimal benefi t to the public — if lobbyists were required to report all the bills or executive actions they work to infl uence, because he sometimes tracks hundreds of bills during a legislative ses- sion. At the moment, no one is advocating for expanded lob- bying disclosures in Oregon, Cross said. “I’m not aware of any issues, I guess, that have evolved in the last four or fi ve years where other organiza- tions have said, ‘Wait a min- ute, we really need to reform our lobbying disclosure laws because of problems with cor- ruption or something,’” Cross said. The Eagle/Angel Carpenter Grant Union sophomores, working on a space experiment, check out the results under a black light. From left, Dante Valentine, Duane Stokes and Elijah Humbird. Your Rural Fa mily Health Clinic • Primary Care • Acute Care • Women’s Health Exams • Men and Children Exams • Immunizations • Family Planning • Contraception is a major reason the public cannot fi nd out how lobbyists use much of the money their clients report spending. Still, Meek said he remains more concerned that Oregon has no campaign contribution limits because political donations do not have to be reported as gifts, even if they are connect- ed to lobbying efforts. “Lobbying regulation in Oregon is really of secondary importance because it can be so easily evaded,” Meek said. The extension of the lob- bying reporting exemption last year provided another ex- ample of how lobbyists avoid revealing their impact on Ore- gon’s laws. Lobbyist Marla Rae, who previously served on the Or- egon Fish and Wildlife Com- mission and worked for the Oregon Department of Justice and former Gov. Ted Kulon- goski, advocated for the bill during legislative hearings on behalf of the Capitol Club of Oregon, a professional orga- nizations for lobbyists. How- ever, the Capitol Club did not report spending any money on lobbying last year and Rae does not appear to have reg- istered to lobby on behalf of the group. In an email, Rae explained the Capitol Club did not have to report spending any mon- ey on lobbying because she volunteered her time to ad- Memorial Day SCIENCE She said they’re hopeful ini- tial tests they work on this week will quantify their results. The students and teach- er gained the unique research opportunity through a Student Spacefl ight Experiments Pro- gram (SSEP) contest, entering and winning their freshman year at Grant Union in the fall of 2014. Aboard the SpaceX CRS-7, their project reached the Inter- national Space Station on April 11 this year. Astronauts there worked on 19 SSEP Mission 7 students’ experiments and sent them back May 9. The Grant Union project was the only experiment from Oregon on the mission. Unfortunately, the local stu- dents’ experiment was opened earlier than planned in space, but they and Smith believe the outcome will still produce valu- able results. “I’m happy that it made it to space and back,” said Val- entine. “There may be a happy accident.” The fi rst two launches of the space-bound projects exploded shortly after take off, and this is why the results have taken a year and half to reach a conclusion. “I was pretty happy that it didn’t explode,” said Hum- bird. “It’s been a lot of fun. We’ve learned about proteins public awareness of what’s happening in these process- es, we need good information about what lobbyists are do- ing, and when.” Pete Quist, research direc- tor at the National Institute on Money in State Politics in Montana, agreed that it is important for states to require lobbyists to disclose more about how they infl uence lawmaking. The institute is collecting information about state-level spending on lobby- ing across the nation. “The lobbying piece isn’t analyzed as much in the me- dia as it should be,” Quist said. “What we see a lot of public discussion about is the campaign contributions.” Oregon lobbyists have resisted efforts to require them to disclose more de- tails of their work, most recently in 2015 when they won passage of a bill that allows them to avoid re- porting spending to lobby other lobbyists, for example to build a coalition for or against an issue. The 2015 bill — which easily passed both chambers of the Leg- islature and was signed into law by Gov. Kate Brown — extended the disclosure ex- emption through mid-2017. Dan Meek, a public in- terest attorney and co-chair of the Independent Party of Oregon, said this exemption Wednesday, June 1, 2016 • Pregnancy Testing & Referrals • HIV Testing & Referrals • Cacoon • WIC • High Risk Infants • Maternity Case Management Grant County Health Department does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, or age in admission, treatment, or participation in its programs, services and activitie s, or in employment. fi gure out if this is a problem with astronauts or not,” Stokes said. “It was a fun learning experi- ence,” Deiter added. “I’m happy it’s back to be able to fi nish it.” The students will continue testing the protein this week and said the next test will show if the proteins fold better in mi- cro-gravity. Testing could con- tinue after the school year ends. The boys may have grown a foot since the experimenting fi rst began. They’ve also gained knowledge, Smith said. “You can’t get more real than this,” she said. “The de- lays — these are the type of things that happen in research. It’s kept these fi ve gentleman really interested in science.” The Eagle/Cheryl Hoefler A wreath of paper poppies rests at the base of the veterans memorial in Prairie City Cemetery, honoring those who died in battles on land. Small flags mark veterans’ gravesites at Prairie City Cemetery. A TTENTION G RANT C OUNTY V ETERANS : Appointments available Did you know a service-connected disabled veteran is entitled to FREE use of Oregon State Parks? Call and schedule your appointment today! See your Grant County Veteran Services Officer today for more information, located at Grant County Courthouse. TOLL FREE 888-443-9104 or 541-575-0429 John Day Fire Station O PEN H OUSE Saturday, June 4, 2016 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. 316 S Canyon Blvd., John Day Tours - Free Food - Beverages In addition to large American flags encircling Canyon City Cemetery, hundreds of smaller ones wave at the gravesites of military personnel who died in wars from the Civil War to the present day. The flags are placed each year by Ellis Tracy American Legion and Auxiliary No. 77 of John Day. Open Mon, Wed, & Fri, 10 am - 4 pm, by appointment. Call 541-575-1631 A MAN WAKES UP in the morning after sleeping on... an advertised bed, in advertised pajamas. He will bathe in an ADVERTISED TUB, shave with an ADVERTISED RAZOR, have a breakfast of ADVERTISED JUICE, cereal and toast, toasted in an ADVERTISED TOASTER, put on ADVERTISED CLOTHES and glance at his ADVERTISED WATCH. He’ll ride to work in his ADVERTISED CAR, sit at an ADVERTISED DESK and write with an ADVERTISED PEN. Yet this person hesitates to advertise, saying that advertising doesn’t pay. Finally, when his non-advertised business is going under, HE’LL ADVERTISE IT FOR SALE. Then it’s too late. AND THEY SAY ADVERTISING DOESN’T WORK? DON’T MAKE THIS SAME MISTAKE Advertising is an investment, not an expense. Think about it! Blue Mountain Eagle MyEagleNews.com Don’t get left behind, call today! Kim Kell 541-575-0710 Contributed photo Nick Green was selected by John Day City Council as the first choice for city manager. His wife, Morgan, is from John Day. The couple has two children, Kaden, 10, and Penelope, 2. GREEN Continued from Page A1 degree in microbiology from Brigham Young University in 2003. He specialized in rural economic development and lo- cal government for his master’s. “I will defi nitely be focused in this role on helping to grow the economy and continuing the legacy of responsible city management,” he said. “Peggy has done a good job of man- aging through a turbulent time in our nation’s history, so I’m hoping to build on her founda- tion, and I’m very excited for the opportunity to get engaged and look at where we might have opportunities for new job creation, especially when I look for opportunities in advanced industries — with my technical background, that’s certainly my strength — and then help look for new opportunities, like rec- reational tourism.” Council President Steve Schuette said Green has “great connections with people who can get things done.” “He’s very enthusiastic, en- ergetic, very adept in electronic communication,” Schuette said. “I think he will bring us into the 21st century.” Schuette said the city had many qualifi ed applicants, which made the decision diffi - cult. The city received 20 appli- cations and interviewed fi ve fi - nalists. Gray said, if an employment agreement is reached, Green could start June 20.
