Eugene Weekly : News : 10.14.04

News Briefs: Documenting Bush's Economic Record | Slo-mo Sprint Carries Hot Chick to Victory | Global Trends, Local Choices Examined | Cottage Grove Gets New Action Group | Golden Pens Book on Political Candor |

Slant: Short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes

News:

Buying Lane County

Timber barons and developers fight unions and environmentalists with campaign cash.

News:

Third Vote Monty

Police try to sneak huge new offices past voters.

News:

Redefining Values

Measure 34 sees the forest for the trees.

WAND Party, Bus Project  Thousands of new voters have been registered, but how do we get them to actually vote? Check out the WAND gathering 6:30 to 9 pm Thursday, Oct. 14 at 780 Blair Blvd. CAROLE KING is expected to be there. Jana Rygas and Aria Seligmann will talk about action and strategies. Call 342-2082 or 344-6443 Join the Oregon Bus Project for a literature drop in UO student neighborhoods Sunday, Oct. 17. Bus Project Voter Guides (www.busproject.org)and No on 37 pamphlets will be distributed. Meet at the EMU, University Street entrance at 3 pm. For more info, call Kyla at 729-6667 or e-mail kylacy565@netscape.net

DOCUMENTING BUSH'S ECONOMIC RECORD

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), since George Bush took office in 2000 the economy has lost 1.8 million private sector jobs, which is seven million jobs short of Bush's predictions. The private sector job losses have been offset by some gains in government jobs. Total unemployment in the nation has reached eight million people, according to Bernie Pollack of the AFL-CIO in Oregon. Pollack says 157 companies in Oregon have reported "major layoffs" totaling 27,900 Oregonians losing their jobs since 2000.

Jobs today are shifting to lower-paying industries paying $9,160 per year less on average, according to an Economic Policy Institute report in early 2004.

In Oregon, unemployment has increased 44 percent under Bush. More than 49,000 more Oregonians are unemployed. In total, 40,323 more workers in Oregon have become unemployed under Bush, according to the BLS (http://www.bls.gov).The agency also reports that 25,800 manufacturing jobs have been lost in Oregon.

Family health insurance premiums have increased by more than $2,600 under Bush. In the U.S., the total family premium for health insurance has increased to $9,068, according to a Kaiser/HRET Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Benefits. The U.S. Census says 3.7 million Americans have lost their health insurance, and a total of 43 million are without health insurance, including 511,000 Oregonians. — TJT

SLO-MO SPRINT CARRIES HOT CHICK TO VICTORY

After an early breakaway sprint that set her ahead of the pack, Hot Chick beat out last year's first place finisher Quacker to win the gold in the much anticipated Rubber Ducky Race on the Willamette River in the heart of Eugene Oct. 9 .

After plunging into the cold water from the bridge more than 15 feet above the river, a chaotic rush to break away from the flock ensued. Hot Chick maneuvered to the outside of the pack with Quacker close behind in her wake. The two caught a tail-current giving them an added boost as they bobbed furiously to get out in front.

They were beak and beak until the first rapid, just a few hundred feet down in the course. Hot Chick chose a clean line, running down the green tongue and through a small wave train but Quaker got caught up in some swirling hydraulics, slowing him down a bit.

Daffy, last year's second place finisher who is recovering from webbing surgery following a run in with a snapping turtle last winter, failed to keep up in the initial breakaway but gained significantly on Quacker as he struggled through the rapid. The two teamed up to try to close the gap between them and Hot Chick.

But Hot Chick was bobbing strong, negotiating the current, avoiding dangerous strainers and race-ending eddies. Daffy and Quacker gained a few feet on Hot Chick, forcing her into an incredible slow motion sprint as she raced for the finish line and the waiting drift boat, crossing just seconds before Quacker bobbed across the line.

"Hot Chick really worked for this win," said her coach, Goose Me. "We've been training hard since the spring and after losing by just a few inches last year, she wasn't going to let Quacker take the lead. I'm very proud of her." — Melissa Bearns, sports reporter

GLOBAL TRENDS, LOCAL CHOICES EXAMINED

River Road community activist Jan Spencer's six-session course on "Global Trends — Local Choices" has been rescheduled to begin at 7 pm Oct. 14 at the new meeting room at East Blair Housing Co-op, 940 W. 4th Ave. in the Whiteaker neighborhood. The sessions will run every Thursday evening through Nov. 25 and are free, with donations welcome.

Spencer says participants are encouraged to attend all sessions but are free to come at any time. The first session will look at a "variety of global trends that will have significant impacts on global economics, international relations and the cost of many of the products we depend upon," says Spencer. "Global warming, diminishing resources, population trends, water, degraded ecosystems and worldwide agricultural trends will have accelerating consequences on everyday life, planet-wide."

The second session will focus on what can we do as individuals, neighborhoods, communities and bio-region with these trends in mind. Permaculture, economic conversion, neighborhood organizing, urban redesign and local food security will be covered along with creative economic and cultural innovations.

Other sessions will include film showings and a land use tour to visit a housing co-op, eco village, suburban conversion project and urban agriculture. For more infor-

mation, call 686-6761. or visit http://rrneighbors.net/Global%20Trends.htm

COTTAGE GROVE GETS NEW ACTION GROUP

Cottage Grove area residents have formed a new political action committee dedicated to "defeating bad politics and scary people in East Lane County and beyond and having fun while doing it," says Alice Doyle of the Blackberry Pie Society PAC. The new group is shifting into high gear for the last weeks before the election.

The PAC plans to provide drop-in childcare for busy moms (or dads) that need a break so they can fill out their ballots. The group will also provide drivers for people who would like to drop off their ballots and are disabled or lack transportation.

The office is at 811 Main in the mezzanine of the Cottage Grove Hotel, and more space and literature are available across the street at Kalapuya Bookstore.

Doyle says volunteers have been busy canvassing within the city limits and will spend the last few weeks working in the rural areas around Cottage Grove. One of the PAC's goals is to identify and contact registered voters who have not voted in recent elections.

For more information, call the Cottage Grove Blackberry Pie Society at 942-2859 or drop by 811 Main to pick up a handout of Blackberry Pie Society endorsements.

GOLDEN PENS BOOK ON POLITICAL CANDOR

Jefferson Public Radio's talk show host Jeff Golden of Ashland, who's also heard in the Willamette Valley at 1280 AM, has a new book out calling on politicians to talk with candor and honesty to citizens.

The book, As If We Were Growups, is a collection of speeches Golden invites politicians to use in part or word-for-word to tell people what they need to know, instead of what they want to hear. He seeks to break the cycle of pandering and calculating that drives most political messages, and comes back to haunt our public discourse in the form of voter distrust and cynicism.

"The political class, amplified by news media that doesn't like complexity, talks to us like children so forcefully and repetitively that we become political children," he writes. "Then as undiscerning children with no sense of trade-offs, we gravitate in the largest numbers to aspiring leaders who tell us what we want to hear."

Golden's speeches talk candidly about unpopular but common sense ideas, such as public financing of campaigns, why gasoline should be more expensive, why military spending is too high, the need for a national health care system, etc.

The author says Americans will respond better to arguments that outline sacrifices and compromise — rather than arguments that are simplistic and gloss over consequences.

Golden will be in Eugene talking about his latet book at a public appearance at 7 pm Thursday, Oct. 14 at Tsunami Books on Willamette. — TJT

Buying Lane County

Timber barons and developers fight unions and environmentalists with campaign cash.

BY ALAN PITTMAN

Timber barons and developers are battling unions and environmentalists in a high-cost bid to pocket county government so they can cash in on environmental destruction and urban sprawl.

The prize is the East Lane County Commission seat held by Democrat Don Hampton. Replacing Hampton, a political moderate, with Republican timber heir Faye Stewart would provide a key swing vote for a potential pro-sprawl, anti-environmental majority on the commission. The race is officially non-partisan, but has divided along party lines following the May primary when neither of the top candidates won a majority.

Big timber and developer contributions filled two-thirds of Stewart's campaign war chest, according to a look at reported contributions of $500 or more by Sept. 27.

Don Hampton

Timber barons have pumped $31,300 into Stewart's campaign in 16 contributions of $500 or more. That's 41 percent of the $76,408 total Stewart reported raising.

Stewart, himself a member of a wealthy timber family, personally contributed $18,300 of that money in loans and cash. Other members of his family contributed another $2,500. Bruce, Dorothy and Steven Stewart gave $500 each. Stewart's relative Jennifer Solomon (a conservative Eugene city councilor) and her husband gave $1,000. Altogether, big donations from Stewart and his family made up 27 percent of Stewart's war chest.

Nine other big timber donors kicked in another $10,500 in donations of $500 or more. Siuslaw Forest Properties of Mapleton gave $2,500, Starfire Lumber President Robbie Robinson gave $2,000 and Pleasant Hill logging executive Darrin Kronberger gave $1,500. Rosboro Lumber, Roseburg Forest Products and Seneca Jones Timber gave $1,000 each.

Big donations from 16 development interests have funded 26 percent of Stewart's campaign with $19,500 in contributions of $500 or more. The Giustina family of land and real estate speculators gave $3,250, Wildish (sand, gravel, construction and land) gave $2,800, and Arlie and Company gave $1,700. Arlie is headed by John Musumeci, the land speculator who made $20 million by helping PeaceHealth's efforts to move from downtown to the McKenzie River in far north Springfield.

Land and real estate speculator Donna Woolley gave Stewart $1,500, the Gonyea land speculation family gave $1,500 and Mike Altucker, owner of Eugene Sand And Gravel gave $1,250. For years, farmers and environmentalists have fought Altucker's plans for a huge gravel pit off River Road. Other big development donors who gave $1,000 each include construction and rock company owner Bob Mullins, real estate speculator Hult and Associates, the Oregon Realtors PAC, and Cottage Grove developer Tod Woodward. The Eugene Chamber of Commerce, which lobbies for urban sprawl and developer subsidies, contributed $1,250.

In all, 34 big donors giving $500 or more contributed almost three quarters of Stewart's campaign money. Twenty-one of those big donors gave $1,000 or more each.

Hampton lead Stewart with $100,586 in reported contributions by Sept. 27. Hampton also relied heavily on big donations. The former teacher, city councilor and mayor from Oakridge received a much larger number of small contributions of $50 or $100. But about three-quarters of Hampton's money also came from 34 big donors giving $500 or more. Sixteen gave $1,000 or more.

But Hampton's big contributors were far different than Stewart's — unions and environmentalists vs. timber barons and developers. In four big donations, unions with thousands of members gave Hampton a fifth of his campaign money — $21,620. The Lane County Public Works union gave $10,000, the Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees gave $9,270. Smaller donations came from the local Building Trades union ($1,000), the AFL-CIO ($850) and the Eugene Firefighters union ($500).

Environmentalists and urban sprawl opponents also gave big donations. Tom Bowerman gave $5,000, former County Commissioner Tom Lininger $2,527, Robert Emmons $2,500, Art and Anita Johnson (part-owners of Eugene Weekly) $1,500, Nena Lovinger $1,495, Ronald Norberg $1,495 and Norm Maxwell $1,200. Carrie Petitti, John Jaqua and Roscoe Divine gave $1,000 each.

Like Stewart, Hampton is also self-financing a big chunk of his campaign. Hampton gave or loaned his campaign $20,327. That includes $6,147 in non-cash, in-kind contributions.

Hampton has served a year on the County Commission. Other commissioners appointed him after Tom Lininger resigned to take a job as a UO law professor. Citing his extensive government experience, The Register-Guard and EW editorial boards have endorsed Hampton. Stewart is endorsed by the Eugene Chamber of Commerce.

Candidates must file more campaign contribution reports on Oct. 21, 25 and 29, but by then many people will have already voted by mail.

Third Vote Monty

Police try to sneak huge new offices past voters.

BY ALAN PITTMAN

Eugene voters have twice rejected a big new police station. But this third time, with the police department gripped by officer sex crime and racial profiling scandals, the city is hoping to sneak in a yes vote.

The ballot title and question for Measure 20-88 refer to $6.8 million in bonds for some vague "civic center vision project" that most voters have never heard of. Not until 150 words into the text of the measure does the word "police" appear. Many voters may not realize that they're voting on spending $36 million of taxpayer money for a new police station.

And that may be exactly the idea. The controversial police station has already failed twice at the polls. With the scandals this year, far more citizens are calling for police reform than for an expensive new police station.

Proponents of the police station measure, lead by Republican Mayor Jim Torrey, argue that "Measure 20-88 is NOT a vote for a new police station."

"Of course it's about the police station," responds Councilor Bonny Bettman.

Buried in the ballot measure summary itself is the fact that some of the bond measure will go to "meeting the estimated 10 year Police Department space expansion needs." A city information sheet on the measure shows that at least $2 million of the bond measure will go to help fund a bigger police station.

But more important is the likelihood that cop shop boosters will take a yes vote on the confusing measure as a mandate to push to spend another $29 million in taxpayer money the city has squirreled away internally to complete the police station.

Bettman says a vote against the measure would send the message that voters don't want the city to spend the $29 million on the police station. Councilors could ignore the vote only at their political peril, she says. "The voters in this situation will have a huge impact."

The city accumulated that $29 million fat nest egg by years of diverting tax money while cutting citizen services, raising taxes and increasing swimming pool and other fees. Council conservatives, backed by city staff, support blowing all the taxpayer money they've squirreled away on the new police station.

But while cop boosters think a lavish new police station is the city's top priority, citizens don't. In a recent unscientific EW poll, not a single person said they'd spend the $29 million city surplus on a new police station. Forty percent of respondents favored using the money to support local schools instead. Buying parkland came in second at 31 percent, fixing potholes third at 26 percent followed by paying off police lawsuits (19%), running the library (19%), community policing (17%) and refunding taxpayers (12%).

Many respondents were angry that the city was ignoring two votes against the police station. "What part of 'NO' and 'NO' didn't the City Council understand?" wrote one reader.

While the city has been accumulating the $29 million, it has ignored a host of other pressing needs, such as $90 million in pothole repairs and $40 million in natural areas threatened by development. Other needs include a huge backlog of neighborhood traffic calming work, a homeless shelter, domestic violence enforcement, and planning staff to protect the city's livability and environment.

Councilors Bettman and David Kelly say they want to use the $29 million to build a combined police station and new City Hall a couple years from now.

To help sell the third cop shop measure, the city has promised to spend about 7 percent of the $36 million project's price tag on some space in the police building for domestic violence non-profits who in turn are campaigning for the measure.

But city documents indicate the city plans to charge about $13 a square foot in rent for the space to cover operations and maintenance. That's 20 times more than rents in other nearby commercial offices and it's unclear the non-profits will be able to afford it.

Arguments that the cops need to double their office space have failed to convince voters. Space in the current police station in City Hall is similar to per-officer space in Portland and Salem. With the police forensics and property units and downtown fire station moving out into new buildings, there's even more room now for the cops.

In the future, police may actually need less headquarters space if they move to a precinct model favored by many other cities with community policing.

The earthquake argument is also getting shakier. The police forensics and property units have already moved out of the basement of City Hall. City studies have also shown that City Hall could be remodeled for earthquakes at a cost of $500,000 to $4.3 million, far less than the $405 per square foot the city wants to spend on a new cop shop. By comparison, mansions in Eugene often run less than half that for the same space.

The city shouldn't have tried to slip a police station past voters with a confusing ballot, Councilor Betty Taylor says. Instead, the city should have put the entire $36 million funding package for the police station out in the open for a straight-forward vote, she says. "I don't think we should be hiding things from voters."

Redefining Values

Measure 34 sees the forest for the trees.

BY KERA ABRAHAM

A current Oregon statute requires the Forestry Board to manage state forests for the "greatest permanent value." But proponents of Measure 34, arguing that the board too often interprets this mandate as free reign to log, want better protections for the forest.

"Right now, the primary value on our forest is timber production," says Yes on 34 campaign manager Mari Ann Gest.

The new management plan for the Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests expands logging to more than 85 percent of the lands. The projected timber harvest for 2004, at 250 million board feet, is 61 percent greater than the 2002 harvest.

Measure 34 seeks to curtail the timber industry's influence on the forestry board by redefining the "greatest permanent value" of state forests. The measure would:

Consider conservation to be as beneficial to the state as logging;

Conserve 50 percent of the Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests, leaving the other 50 percent open to timber harvests;

Balance logging with all other forest uses, including conservation of wildlife and fish habitat, protection of drinking water, and expansion of recreational uses;

Establish an Independent Restoration Science Team to make management recommendations to the Board of Forestry;

Finance restoration work with 10 percent of timber revenues;

Give 5 percent of state forest timber receipts to the Oregon Common School Fund, ensuring that local schools continue to receive ample funding; and

Guarantee a family wage for forest workers.

MONEY MATTERS

The No on 34 campaign, spearheaded by the Alliance to Keep our State Forests Working, has raised $2.3 million as of their Sept. 27 finance report. Ninety-eight percent of the contributions are from timber companies. The Yes on 34 campaign has only raised $84,000, most of it from individual donors.

Opponents to Measure 34 argue that public schools in Tillamook, Clatsop and Washington Counties will lose funding if logging is restricted. But the measure's supporters counter that local public schools will continue to receive about $18.5 million annually from the forests, and lost timber revenue can be recovered through recreation fees and tourism.

Opponents also claim that the measure would cost thousands of jobs in the timber industry. "It's particularly devastating in the rural communities," says No on 34 spokesperson Pat McCormick. "These are already communities that suffer from a lack of family-wage jobs."

But timber jobs are already eroding. According to the Oregon Employment Department, jobs in the wood product sector have been declining for half a century — from more than 3,000 Tillamook County jobs in 1952 to about 500 in 1999.

Regions that are heavily dependent on timber jobs are likely to face more unemployment than those with diverse economies. "In general, greater diversification is very beneficial, and there is some doubt about the sustainability of the timber industry," says UO economist Trudy Ann Cameron.

A more sustainable source of jobs, says Gest, is tourism. A 2002 Oregon Tourism Commission report shows that 8,600 jobs — or more than 20 percent of total employment — in Tillamook and Clatsop counties are dependent on tourism. The forests draw an estimated 100,000 visitors annually to engage in recreational activities such as fishing, camping, hiking, hunting, bird-watching, kayaking, biking, and riding off-road vehicles.

More than 100 coastal business owners endorse Measure 34, concerned that Tillamook and Clatsop Counties could face declining tourism revenue and property values under the current forest management plan.

"There are a lot of things that worry me about the current plan," says professional fishing guide Bob Rees, who relies on live fish from the Tillamook. "We've already lost five of our six fisheries, and it's just going to lead to more closures."

SPECIAL INTERESTS

State law specifies that no more than three of the seven members of the state Forestry Board are permitted to have financial conflicts of interest, but Measure 34's authors suspect closer ties.

"By our estimation, it's arguable that all seven have conflicts of interest," says Yes on 34 Outreach Director Lyndon Ruhnke.

Opponents argue that Measure 34 challenges a plan informed by seven years of public process, instead allowing an independent team of scientists to guide forest management. "Without any public input, they are responsible for writing the plan that will establish reserves in the Tillamook and Clatsop Forests," says McCormick.

But in written comments received by the state, the public favored watershed protections and improved recreational opportunities over logging by a ratio of 10-1, says Gest. And the forestry board may have subverted the public process by making side deals with the timber industry (see "Dispute over extra staffing derails plans for cutting in state forests," The Oregonian, 4/10).

Measure 34 is not radical; it is a compromise, says Gest. It allows for logging on half of the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests while conserving water quality, wildlife habitat, and recreational values.

"The timber industries are treating the Tillamook like it's their forest," says Gest. "It's not. It belongs to the citizens of Oregon."