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The INDEPENDENT, October 19, 2011
INDEPENDENT
Published on the first and third Wednesdays of each month
by The Independent, LLC, 725 Bridge St.,
Vernonia, OR 97064. Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410.
Deadline is noon the Friday before each issue.
Publisher Clark McGaugh, clark@the-independent.net
Editor Rebecca McGaugh, rebecca@the-independent.net
Printed on recycled paper with vegetable based dyes
Opinion
What’s a committee to do?
Committees in Vernonia have gone through the
same turmoil as city council members and city staff in
the past few years. New and/or interim city administra-
tors have come and gone, each with their own idea of
what committees should be doing. Similarly, councilors
have come and gone and seemed to have different ex-
pectations regarding the role of committees.
Now that council appears to be ready to get to work
and City Aministrator Bill Haack is onboard and no
longer serving in an interim capacity, it’s a good time to
revisit the role of city committees.
First, the Planning Commission is not the same as
the committees, the commission has a state mandated
quasi-judicial role in city government. The Planning
Commission has some autonomy in certain areas of
planning.
The other committees do not have any autonomy to
change rules and/or regulations or make decisions for
the city. They are designed to act in an advisory capac-
ity only. Also, committees should route their recom-
mendations through Haack first, not only so he knows
what’s coming, but because he’s responsible for the
“big picture” and may have more information council
will need.
We’re not picking on committees when we give this
example: The Public Works Committee has recently
had three meetings with some or all of council on re-
sults from a water rate study. The committee has not
developed a united direction and doesn’t appear to
have reached a consensus on how the study’s infor-
mation should affect water rates. At the end of hours of
work session, the council made a list of additional in-
formation needed in order to make a final decision.
This should have been done for them by the commit-
tee. Even if the committee can’t agree, they can still
provide information to council on two, or more, possi-
ble approaches.
Committees are the specialists, while councilors are
generalists and must rely on the committees to provide
enough information regarding their informed recom-
mendations. Council can then make their own in-
formed decision as to the direction the city should take
in the areas of the committees’ expertise.
Committees should also consider asking for work
sessions with council to find out what council wants
them to work on, and for community town halls to get
more input before making recommendations.
Out of My Mind…
by Noni Andersen
With less than 20 work-
ing days left before Con-
gress takes its year-end
break, the Republican-
controlled House of Rep-
resentatives has present-
ed seven abortion-related
bills, but not one single
jobs bill.
They do have a sort of
reverse jobs bill in committee hearings, unfortu-
nately its goal is to eliminate about 120,000
Postal Service jobs. What a great way to in-
crease joblessness in the U.S.– with brains like
these, we can wave our foam rubber index fin-
gers and shout “We’re number one!” What a
proud moment to be jobless.
Probably incidental is that the House GOP
knew the abortion bills would not pass the Sen-
ate; they were for symbolic reasons.
Also probably incidental, is that eliminating
Postal Service jobs will increase those needing
unemployment benefits – without saving a dime
of taxpayers’ money. The Postal Service gets no
taxes.
Remember: This is the House that has sever-
al times threatened to force a government shut-
down over debt and deficits.
The other half of our legislative branch of gov-
ernment is slightly different, but the outcomes
are similar.
The Senate should be Democrat controlled,
the numbers are there, but a Senate maneuver
called a “filibuster” requires a super-majority of
60 of the 100 Senators to pass a bill. This isn’t in
the Constitution, which requires only a majority
vote, it is a Senate rule. While a filibuster can
prevent a really bad bill from passing, it can also
prevent much needed legislation from even
being considered.
That is exactly what happened to the Democ-
ratic jobs bill the Senate should be considering.
When a “will of the Senate” question was pre-
sented, asking only if the Senate should debate
the jobs bill, the question was filibustered to
death. Yep, 48 Senators (46 GOP, 2 Dem.) said
they didn’t want to talk about jobs.
Millions of Americans are out of work, but 48
Senators don’t want to talk about jobs.
This was so blatantly dismissive of people’s
economic needs that the GOP has come up with
a jobs plan which they say is “different”. Some of
them even say that President Bush’s approach
didn’t work, so this is “different”.
Their new, “different” plan will create jobs by:
· Cutting government spending dramatically;
· cutting taxes on the rich and corporations;
· repealing the health care reform act;
· further deregulating Wall Street;
· eliminating regulations that protect the envi-
ronment, safety, food, etc.;
· eliminating the ability to unionize;
· emphasizing oil and gas for energy policy;
· speeding up more “free” trade agreements.
If this is “different”, why does most of it read
like a rerun of the Bush economic plan, or even
like a history of the United States economy dur-
ing the “Gilded Age” of the 1920s?