The INDEPENDENT, March 3, 2011
Where to Find Them
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden
(Dem)
1220 SW 3rd Avenue, Suite 585
Portland OR 97232
Phone: 503-326-7525
223 Dirksen Senate Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510-0001
Phone: 202-224-5244
E-Mail: http://wyden.senate.gov/
contact
Website: http://wyden.senate.
gov
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley
(Dem.)
One World Trade Center
121 SW Salmon St., Suite 1250
Portland, OR 97204
Phone: 503-326-3386
107 Russell Senate Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3753
E-Mail: http://merkley.senate.
gov/contact
WebSite: http://merkley.senate.
gov
U.S. Representative David Wu
(Dem) OR District 1
620 SW Main, Suite 606
Portland, OR 97205
Phone: 503-326-2901
2338 Rayburn House Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-0855
Website: http://house.gov/wu
Senator Betsy Johnson
(Dem) Senate District 16
PO Box R,
Scappoose, OR 97056
Phone: 503-543-4046
900 Court St. NE, S-314
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1716
E-mail: sen.betsyjohnson@
state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/johnson
Representative Brad Witt
(Dem) House District. 31
21740 Lindberg Road,
Clatskanie, OR 97016
Phone: 503-728-4664
900 Court St. NE, H-373
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1431
E-mail: rep.bradwitt@state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/witt
Representative Deborah
Boone
(Dem) House District 32
PO Box 926
Cannon Beach, OR 97110
Phone: 503-717-9182
900 Court St. NE, H-375
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1432
E-mail: rep.deborahboone@
state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/boone
Page 3
Letters
Staff members urge
retaining Bill Haack
To the Editor:
Dear Mayor and Council
Members: We are aware of the
three options before you re-
garding the position of City Ad-
ministrator. We, as staff, would
like to voice our opinion on the
matter. We would encourage
you all to consider what is cur-
rently on the plate of the City
and if bringing in someone new
…who will have to spend
months getting familiar with
everything…is the best choice
for the City and the community.
We feel that expending mon-
ey and time on searching for
someone that may not exist is
not the responsible thing to do.
What guarantee do we have
that someone else would do a
better job? How could this per-
son possibly get acclimated to
the huge job of managing this
City’s current list of projects
without losing a lot of time in
the process?
We have been through too
many administrators over the
past few years and things just
aren’t moving forward. This
needs to stop. Every time a
change is made, we have to
start over.
We currently have a very
competent leader who has
been involved with the projects
either directly or indirectly for
the past three years. He has
many contacts that a new per-
son won’t have. He also has
the respect of the staff and a
good working relationship with
all of us. He also has the re-
spect of many in the communi-
ty.
With his help, things are fi-
nally starting to move in a posi-
tive direction. Staff is asking
that you choose the option to
retain Bill Haack as City Admin-
istrator.
Thank you,
Angie Handegard
Carole Connell
Mike Conner
Shawn Carnahan
Ginger Westlake
Jeff Burch
Marjorie Lowrance
Joann Glass
Wants government
to stop spending
To the Editor:
Over the last two years, our
federal government has lav-
ished borrowed bailout money
on selected parts of the private
sector to a degree not previous-
ly imaginable and enacted two
massive spending bills, called
stimulus packages, which suc-
ceeded only in stimulating the
size and growth of government.
At $14 trillion, our federal gov-
ernment now owes more than
our entire nation produces in
wealth in an entire year.
The United States was once
the freest and strongest engine
of economic growth in the histo-
ry of the world. It is now crip-
pled by an enormous national
debt which, as a percentage of
the economy, is rivaled only by
the size of the debt we took on
to win World War II. Unlike
World War II, however, this debt
appears to have no end in
sight. Yet our elected represen-
tatives are once again planning
to raise the debt ceiling without
a convincing plan to stop the
out-of-control spending.
We stand on the verge of be-
coming the first generation of
Americans not to pay our own
debts, but instead to leave to
our children the most massive
debt in the history of our nation.
They deserve better. We must
do better, now.
I am asking our elected rep-
resentatives to find in their
hearts and minds the integrity
and the discipline to stop this
nonsense. Cut federal spend-
ing and reduce the deficit with-
out raising taxes and stifling our
fragile economic recovery.
Leave our children a future
which they can afford, and a
legacy in which we can all take
pride.
Robert Speirs
Columbia City
Haack should be our
city administrator
To the Editor:
We are writing this letter to
express our concern over deci-
sions being made by the newly
elected city council.
We have attended most of
the city council meetings for the
last six years. The most impor-
tant city business at this time is
the hiring of a permanent City
Administrator (CA).
It appears that our new city
council is set to hire someone
new. We think they should re-
examine their position on this
very important decision. The
council has spent a consider-
able amount of council time on
this, when we already have a
very qualified and very dedicat-
ed City Administrator.
We have worked extensively
with current CA Bill Haack and
think he would be the very best
CA for our city. Bill has good
working knowledge of the city
and has many programs work-
ing right now. If we look else-
where and spend more money
to find someone new, we will
have to begin all over again.
Our city has had seven CAs
in the last seven years and is
fixing to do it again to make it
eight.
There is no reason to believe
that another new CA can do
any better than the last seven
we have had. If it were a guar-
antee, we might be able to go
for it, but unfortunately there
are no guarantees on this.
Working with the Airport
Committee, Bill Haack has
been outstanding and very will-
ing to work for the better of the
city, and the Airport Committee.
We highly recommend that
as our elected representatives
of the City of Vernonia that you
do the right thing on this and
hire current Pro Tem City Ad-
ministrator Bill Haack.
Michael Seager
Georgeanna Seager
Policy on Letters
The INDEPENDENT will
not publish letters with per-
sonal attacks on private citi-
zens. Preference will be giv-
en to brief letters, 300 words
or less.
All letters must be signed
and include a verifiable ad-
dress or phone number.
Salem Scene
By Representative Brad Witt
Oregon District 31
I’d like to take some
time this week to review
a mechanism that is
unique to Oregon and
has grown more contro-
versial since its inception
in 1979. It’s called the
“kicker” and it is a device
that was placed in the
Oregon
Constitution
when the state’s economy was in a growth spurt
in 1979. The increase in tax revenue caused
some to insist that any time actual tax receipts
exceed the state economist’s projections by 2%,
the entire amount should be “kicked back” to the
taxpayers. Some critics say that the kicker con-
tributes to a roller-coaster budget, while others
maintain that it’s our money and we should get it
back if the state collects too much of it. So,
what’s the answer…?
First of all, it’s important to understand how
the kicker works. At the end of each legislative
session, state economists make an educated
guess about how much money the state will re-
ceive from individual and corporate taxpayers
over the following two years. The economists try
to shoot for the mid-point and, over time, their es-
timate of the trend is pretty close. But the econo-
my moves in cycles and when we are above the
trend, the kicker goes off and excess revenue is
returned rather than put aside. When we are be-
low the trend, the Legislature has to eliminate
services due to reduced revenues. With over
90% of our state’s budget dedicated to educa-
tion, social services and public safety, these are
the areas that get hammered. They also tend to
be the areas that Oregonians hold most dear.
The other issue is timing: Kicker checks are
returned at the end of the biennium, which could
be when the cycle is turning down and revenue
is falling. This happened in 2001 and again in
2007. It may happen again this go round. Cur-
rently, corporate income tax revenue is just $6.9
million below the threshold that will trigger re-
funds to businesses. As a result, we may end up
sending money back to businesses at the same
time that we are forced to cut things like the
school year, in-home care for senior citizens and
police patrols.
Please see page 20