Oregon Political Attack Ads and Dark Money

The outside Koch brothers have targeted Senator Jeff Merkley and are running attack ads in Oregon.  They launched an estimated $3.6 million television campaign of 30 second ads, courtesy of a Koch controlled group called freedompartners which is pouring money into the election.  The Oregonian Politifact page has of course rated the ad as false.

And what about the organization?  On its membership page, it has this to say, not very enlightening.

With more than 200 engaged members, Freedom Partners is a chamber of commerce that advances its members’ interest in promoting the principles of a free market and a free society.

The board of Directors of the organization is tied closely to Koch, as an example.  "Dr. Richard Fink is an executive vice president and member of the board of directors of Koch Industries, Inc.  Additionally, Rich is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC, which provides legal, government, philanthropy, and community relations services to Koch companies.  Rich also serves as the president of the Charles G. Koch Foundation, and a director of the Fred C. and Mary R. Koch Foundation.  Rich earned his PhD from New York University and M.A. from UCLA.  He graduated Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude with a bachelor’s in economics from Rutgers University."

More to come I'm sure

Portland Nuisance Rally

Once again residents in residential neighborhoods will endure the annual 'Alley Sweeper' rally that sends motorcycles down Portland's public back alleys, mostly in quiet neighborhoods.  While there isn't any law against being a pest, the rally shatters the nerves of those living on streets with alleys behind them.

"I've been listening to this noise all morning long, this is crazy and wrong," said Northeast Portland resident Melinda Williams.
Some neighbors don't appreciate seeing adventure riders, who typically ride in small groups in rural areas, whizzing by their back alley garages and yards.
"There are children, they play in the yards,"said Mark Knutson, who lives next door to Williams.  "Having motorcycles flying through here in mass, is not safe or right."

The jerks who perpetrate this nuisance have the predictable justifications.

 "It's to promote motorcycle awareness and all these alleys are here for public access," said organizer Eric Nordquist. "It's a social event for riders and those who enjoy watching."

Portland Cleveland High School Students Set Model of Inclusion

The students at Cleveland High School have selected a Lesbian couple to the Homecoming Court as reported in The Oregonian.  It's going to be a better world when these folks start running the show.

When Cleveland High students helped Sophie Schoenfeld and Laurel Osborne make school history last month, they hardly seemed to notice.
The two seniors have been dating for about a year. In October, their fellow students elected them to the school’s homecoming court, marking the first time the Southeast Portland school -- and likely any Portland-area high school -- has voted in a same-sex couple.
Every year a prince and a princess for each grade are nominated and voted on by their fellow students. But at the Oct. 4 homecoming assembly, students broke tradition and selected the two girls as the senior class representatives for the court.
The vote, first reported by the Cleveland High School Clarion newspaper, was historic. Yet the students treated the pair like any other homecoming couple, according to Schoenfeld, 18. Teachers, she said, spoke more about the vote’s importance than their classmates.
“A lot of teachers went up to us and said it speaks volumes for the school,” Schoenfeld said.
The couple said they have never felt judged for their sexual orientation at Cleveland High.
“Cleveland is such a cool community,” said Osborne, 17. “I’ve never felt discriminated against. We feel really lucky because it’s not always like that. Cleveland is just a progressive, accepting place.”

OHSU and Brian Druker raise $1 Billion, Maybe

It was a huge event in cancer research, Phil Knight offered $500 Million in matching funds good for the next two years, all OHSU needs is to raise a like amount in donations.  This is a big win for Dr. Brian Druker, the director of the Knight Cancer Institute at OHSU.

Just four or five months ago, Druker said Saturday, he approached Knight with a bold request: $1 billion for his institute to help, ultimately, cure cancer when it takes root, but also to detect and strike it before the disease spreads.
This is what I think it will take, Druker remembered telling Knight. He wasn't going to be shy about dreaming big and being honest with the Knights about what he needed.
Flash forward, four or five months later, to Knight's surprise announcement.
"They've challenged us, but they've also challenged the nation in some respects," referring to what amounts to a national fundraising campaign, Druker said.

 If you have a few bucks to spare, OHSU could use the help.

Income Inequality Continues

This doesn't come as a surprise, but it is worrisome.  The income gap between the richest 1 percent and the rest of America widened to a record last year.  If the money game continues at this pace, the mood of the 99% could turn dour.  None of the press is recognizing this as an unsustainable "bubble", but it looks that way to me - notice comparisons to numbers not seen since the 1929 crash and subsequent depression.  95 percent of the income gains reported since 2009 have gone to the top 1 percent.

The headlines in the Oregonian were reflecting recently published results of an analysis of IRS figures dating to 1913 by economists at the University of California, Berkeley, the Paris School of Economics and Oxford University.

The top 1 percent of U.S. earners collected 19.3 percent of household income in 2012, their largest share in Internal Revenue Service figures going back a century.
U.S. income inequality has been growing for almost three decades. But until last year, the top 1 percent's share of pre-tax income had not yet surpassed the 18.7 percent it reached in 1927, according to an analysis of IRS figures dating to 1913 by economists at the University of California, Berkeley, the Paris School of Economics and Oxford University.
One of them, Emmanuel Saez of the University of California, Berkeley, said the incomes of the richest Americans might have surged last year in part because they cashed in stock holdings to avoid higher capital gains taxes that took effect in January.
Last year, the incomes of the top 1 percent rose 19.6 percent compared with a 1 percent increase for the remaining 99 percent.
The richest Americans were hit hard by the financial crisis. Their incomes fell more than 36 percent in the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009 as stock prices plummeted. Incomes for the bottom 99 percent fell just 11.6 percent, according to the analysis.
But since the recession officially ended in June 2009, the top 1 percent have enjoyed the benefits of rising corporate profits and stock prices: 95 percent of the income gains reported since 2009 have gone to the top 1 percent.
That compares with a 45 percent share for the top 1 percent in the economic expansion of the 1990s and a 65 percent share from the expansion that followed the 2001 recession.
The top 10 percent haven't done badly, either. Last year, they captured 48.2 percent of income, another record. Their biggest previous take was 46.3 percent in 1932.
The top 1 percent of American households had income above $394,000 last year. The top 10 percent had income exceeding $114,000.
The income figures include wages, pension payments, dividends and capital gains from the sale of stocks and other assets. They do not include so-called transfer payments from government programs such as unemployment benefits and Social Security.
-- The Associated Press

No-Fly Shot Down in Portland

A Portland Federal Judge ruled that people who end up on the no-fly list have a right to due process, they can't just be denied air travel with no recourse or explanation.  The ACLU represented 13 muslims that are on the list and can't travel internationally as a result, no word if they also represented children and infants that have also found themselves on the list.

U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown's opinion did not declare the no-fly list unconstitutional, but it came close. She noted in her Wednesday ruling that those on the list are not given any reasons for their inclusion and do not get a hearing that might clear their names.
Brown's opinion came in the case of 13 U.S. citizens, including the prayer leader of Oregon's biggest mosque, who have sued the United States for excluding them from flying. They accuse the government of denying their Fifth Amendment guarantees to due process by failing to explain why they have not been permitted to fly in the past or when they might be able to fly again.

"Although there are perhaps viable alternatives to flying for domestic travel within the continental United States, such as traveling by car or train, the court disagrees with (the government's) contention that international air travel is a mere convenience in light of the realities of our modern world," Brown wrote.  
Moreover, she noted, the implications of the no-fly list are potentially far-reaching. For example, she wrote, the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center shares watchlist information with 22 governments, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection also makes recommendations to ship captains, which could interfere with a person's travels.
"Accordingly," she wrote, "the court concludes on this record that plaintiffs have a constitutionally protected liberty interest in traveling internationally by air, which is affected by being placed on the list."

I expect the Department of Justice and the FBI to emit a loud howl of protest, they're not used to this kind of treatment, they've always been the ones making the rules.

Portland takes the Number 1 Spot. In Pollution?

The story hit the front page of the Oregonian on Monday, Aug. 26 2013 that Precision Castparts was designated the number one toxic air polluter in the nation, based on a report issued by the Political Economy Research Institute, an independent research organization affiliated with the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

The ranking combines measures of pounds released with toxicity of pollutants and population exposure to yield a score for each company. One-third of Precision's score comes from three Portland-area factories that emit cobalt and cobalt compounds. Acute exposure to high levels of cobalt, a natural element found throughout the environment, results in respiratory effects, such as a significant decrease in ventilatory function, congestion, edema and hemorrhage of the lung, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Ranked solely on pounds of pollutants released in 2010, Precision drops low in the list of the nation's top 100 air polluters. But an author of the University of Massachusetts study says the company's high score raises questions that members of the public should ask companies and regulators. "I would be concerned if I were downwind from the company that comes up at the top of this list," said Michael Ash, a UMass professor of economics and public policy.

In a follow-up story Precision disputed the number 1 ranking as "Deeply Flawed". based on incorrect assumptions in the underlying EPA data.

Precision ranked No. 1 despite a relatively low volume of emissions because of its plants' proximity to population centers and reportedly higher toxicity. One-third of Precision's pollutant score came from Portland-area plants that emit cobalt and cobalt compound.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality confirmed Thursday that Precision is in compliance with its emissions permits and hasn't been the target of an enforcement action in at least a decade.

Michael Ash, a UMass professor of economics and public policy and one of the researchers behind the rankings, said Thursday their report isn't intended to be a risk assessment tool.
"We think we've used the data in an appropriate way, as a screening tool to engender public understanding and dialogue over potential health risks from industrial toxic emissions," Ash said.

You may come to your own conclusions if you happen to live in Portland near one of their plants.

Oregon DOJ Goes After Doctors Taking Kickbacks

The Oregonian is reporting that doctors who receive money from medical device makers have to divulge that to their patients as a potential conflict of interest.

The case could ripple nationwide, exposing a little-known but common practice of payments to doctors from implant manufacturers. Locally, for instance, the practice is tolerated by the biggest hospitals in the state who do not require patients be informed of such payments. The DOJ case could do for the artificial-implant makers what similar court cases did for drug companies' payments to doctors, says Jerry Avorn,  a Harvard Medical School professor who has written about the ethics of undisclosed physician payments.
"The patient has a right to expect that whatever device is implanted or procedure is recommended is a decision that is based solely on what that patient would most benefit from," he said, calling the case "potentially so important."

Oregon's Unlawful Trade Practices Act requires that professionals disclose this sort of information when providing services. And by failing to, the doctors were leading the patient to believe they were free of any conflict of interest and doing the implants "for the exclusive benefit of the patient ... when this was not the case," according to the DOJ.

I'm glad to see this practice receiving more scrutiny.

Pesticides Cause Massive Bee Kill in Wilsonville

The Oregonian is reporting that the discovery of 50,000 dead bees in Wilsonville was caused by a pesticide called Safari.

The state is investigating any violation of pesticide laws, which could take up to four months, said Dale Mitchell of the Agriculture Department. 

Mitchell said the bee deaths, the largest documented die-off of bumblebees, could prove important in determining the use and regulations of Safari and other insecticides in the United States. 

Safari's main ingredient is dinotefuran, a neonicotinoid. There are two main kinds of neonicotinoids, both of which are general use insecticides. Safari is a member of the nitro-group.  Research published in 2012 shows these are generally more toxic to bees than the other type. The European Union issued a temporary ban on three other kinds of nitro-group neonicotinoids, which will go into effect this December.

A Perfect Fiscal Storm in Southern Oregon

In Southeastern Oregon, a perfect fiscal storm has been brewing for years, and Josephine and Curry counties are facing the prospect of bankruptcy, with unknown consequences.  According to an audit prepared by the Secretary of State, the county has already reduced services to a dangerous level.

Curry has the second lowest property tax rate in Oregon and is heavily reliant on federal timber payments.  The county’s unemployment rate has remained high, and spending on public safety is in the bottom 10 among counties.

 According to an article in the Oregonian, time is about to run out, sooner for Curry county, but Josephine is not far behind.

The spreading sense of crisis is coming to a head this month, with officials at the local, state and federal level all feeling pressure to head off the threat of what some darkly describe as Oregon's "zombie counties."

In Salem, legislators are working on legislation that would allow the state to take over some county functions. More drastically, they are considering a bill that would allow the governor -- with the approval of legislative leaders and local officials -- to impose a temporary local income tax to preserve basic police, court and jail operations.
 In Washington, D.C., legislation aimed at increasing logging on federal timberlands in western Oregon is starting to move through Congress after being stalled for years, and pressure is building on Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., to take charge of the process.
Wyden, the new chairman of the committee with jurisdiction over federal forests, promises to come up with a strategy and timeline this month for putting together a bill he thinks can pass Congress and be signed into law.
He says local approval of levy requests would help him sell lawmakers on the plan, which Wyden has already said would include extending federal timber payments to the counties for another year or two.
If those measures pass, he said, "it takes off the table the issue that these communities aren't stepping up."

Josephine and Curry have the lowest tax rates in Oregon and voters have stubbornly kept it that way.  At some point their wounds may be deemed to be largely self inflicted, and they may get higher taxes forced on them by whoever has to bail them out.  If voters turn down the public safety levy on the ballot this month in both counties, their law enforcement will completely collapse, it's on life support already.  They will close their jails and who knows what's next?

"We can't ignore it," said Rep. Bruce Hanna, R-Roseburg, adding that a governor can't simply tell the public that it's not safe to travel through some counties.

Dems playing with fire on PERS

The "fix" for PERS crafted by the State Democrats will come back to bite everybody, and they know it but are not willing to pay the price to actually fix the underlying unsustainable fiscal issue and alienate their State Employees Unions.  The Senate Bill 822 is going to be forced through without any Republican support and Kitzhaber says he'll sign it.

According to this Oregonian story "The bill amounts to a roll of the dice on investment returns. It still leaves school districts facing layoffs. It doesn't address the heart of the PERS sustainability problem: windfall benefits being generated under the system's money match formula. And it has the Legislature telling the PERS Board, by fiat, to alter its actuarial methods to solve the immediate budget problem -- the kind of move that has gotten states like Illinois in deep pension trouble.".
"Using rates as a supposed savings mechanism is not really savings," said James Dalton, former chair of the PERS Board. "It's pushing obligations into the future and violates some of our actuarial principles."

Actuarial principles are designed to keep us from kidding ourselves into posing a rosy future that likely will never come to pass.  Stay tuned. 

Update, I looked further and saw this excellent post on Blue Oregon.

Oregon guns, we have nuts too

Today Steve Duin of the Oregonian roasted some of our lunatic Oregon sheriffs (Tim Mueller in Linn County and Jim Hensley in Crook County) in the Oregonian for proclaiming that they "aren't allowed to enforce federal laws." and they would "intercept "federal officers" at the county line" rather than endure any changes in gun legislation.

Our guys in Oregon can be just as nuts as anybody else, so take that Texas.