Ex-Laker star Magic Johnson visits Blazers' office
Surge in private equity deals gives state new options
There was Magic in the air in Salem on Tuesday. Earvin "Magic" Johnson, the former Los Angeles Lakers All-Star, champion, and Blazers' nemesis flew into Salem's McNary Field, then slipped in and out of the Capitol without fanfare.
Magic visited state Treasury officials to make a pitch for the Portland Trail Blazers' #1 pick in the June 28 NBA draft. Johnson's firm, Canyon-Johnson, is a real-estate fund. The State of Oregon has a hefty real-estate portfolio invested on behalf of state pension fund members, universities and other beneficiaries.
Canyon-Johnson is teaming with Yucaipa, a private-equity firm led by controversial Clinton mega-donor Ron Burkle. Yucaipa purchased the Lakers last week from former owner Dr. Jerry Buss. The Blazers were acquired by Oregon PERS-TPG yesterday. "It was an emotional meeting," said Oregon Treasurer Randall Edwards, whose childhood ambition was to be a starting NBA point guard, and who covets Ohio State 7-footer Greg Oden.
The Blazers and Lakers have never traded due to their fierce Western Conference rivalry. However, now that private equity firms are running the teams, the stakes have changed, and - according to a Laker insider - all bets are off.
Edwards said that Johnson and some of his business colleagues met with a handful of state investment officers to brief them on his projects and make a pitch for Oden. All-Star shooting guard Kobe Bryant was offered in a package that included a combination of expiring contracts and future 1st round draft picks. Edwards said he had not offered power forward Zach Randolph to the Lakers, only that he had listened to Johnson's proposal.
Bryant asked to be traded yesterday. He is upset that Buss failed to cut him an ownership piece in the Yucaipa deal, as promised when Shaquille O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat after the 2003-04 season. Randolph and his agent, Raymond Brothers, are unfamiliar with the intricacies of private equity deals and declined to comment for this article.
The 6-foot-9 Johnson is considered one of the finest point guards in NBA history. Despite his celebrity status, Johnson attracted little attention Wednesday, because the state has suspended the Open Meetings Law. He entered the front door of the Capitol, made a quick right turn into the treasurer's office, and then exited the way he came, Edwards said. Amazingly, the many lobbyists who troll the halls of the Capitol - and even acting Gov. Tim Nesbitt - hadn't known he was even in the building.
It was a one-hour meeting, similar to those held with other private equity firms making investment pitches, Edwards said. There was one difference, though. Johnson posed for a photograph with Edwards and the treasurer's two sons, who both sported autographed basketballs.
The Statesman Journal, May 31, By STEVE LAW
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Blazers rumored in deal with Lakers
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
PERS buys Oregonian-Blazers from Newhouse
Media experts, NBA anticipate seamless transition
Oregon to Newhouse IV: Nice knowin' ya!
What a difference a day makes. Barely 24 hours after spending $450 million out of his own pocket to buy the Portland Trail Blazers from Paul Allen, rookie publisher-owner of The Oregonian Si Newhouse IV announced that he has sold the combined properties for $1.95 billion.
The new owner is PERS-TPG, a joint venture of Oregon's gold-plated government employee retirement fund and the gigantic private equity firm formerly known as Texas Pacific Group. PERS became a 10% owner of TPG in a deal announced last month. Thus Oregon's 157-year old newspaper that has enjoyed a statewide monopoly for 47 years has finally landed in the hands of the state's powerful government unions, known as the 800-lb. gorilla of Oregon politics.
In a one-page news release, PERS-TPG announced that former editor Sandra Mims Rowe had accepted a generous buy-out package and is already out-of-state, back in Virginia. Longtime political activist and former Willamette Week advocacy journalist-reporter Patty Wentz has been named the new editor.
A media and sports expert close to the negotiations, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the newspaper has been renamed Our Oregonian and will continue as a model of "third-way journalism" under the leadership of new chairman of the board Andy Stern, president of the national SEIU government employee union. The source indicated there would be no change in editorial content, citing not only the importance of continuity in management but also the government unions' resounding success in the 2006 election campaigns.
Newhouse IV's plans in the area have been scaled back. He will rent a furnished penthouse condominium in Portland's emerging SoWhat district owned by a speculative out-of-state investor from California, and will remain with the new organization under a non-compete consulting agreement up to the June 28 NBA draft. Then, he will receive a big golden parachute and pack up out-of-state, returning to the familiar late-night Manhattan lifestyle of his native New York City.
The Oregonian, May 30, By HELEN JUNG
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Si Newhouse IV buys Blazers from Paul Allen
Related stories:
• PERS buys Oregonian-Blazers from Newhouse
• $$ billions - For the Newhouse children
• Si Newhouse's mob story
Trustafarian to assume dual role in Oregon
Spending Si Newhouse's Money: Deal's nepotism value depends on Grandpa's checkbook
Let's see. Si Newhouse's father, Sam Newhouse, buys The Oregonian and the Oregon Journal in 1950 from local owners for a pittance, shutting down the Journal and busting the unions to create a cash cow monopoly - an unregulated toll booth - that vacuumed hundreds of millions from Oregon consumers' pockets directly to New York City for 57 years.
On Sam's death, Si pays nearly zilch in federal estate taxes and people say, "Sheesh, cost him $25 million instead of $1 billion." Then he spends madly on election campaign politics in tight embrace with Oregon's powerful government unions, and news editors say "Yeah, but we'll never let on that The Oregonian is owned by an out-of-state billionaire." And then Si's grandson, Si Newhouse IV, appears in a 2003 film called "Born Rich" estimating his share of the Newhouse inheritance, conservatively, at $20 billion.So last week, the 25-year-old trustafarian and fencing-team member from Haverford College purchased the Portland Trail Blazers from Paul Allen for a cool $450 million in cash. He will move to a mansion in Portland's Southwest Hills.
Si IV will serve not only as owner of the NBA franchise, but also as its new President, filling the vacancy created in March when his Grandpa axed Steve Patterson. He will also become the new publisher of The Oregonian, replacing the aging Fred Stickel, who was sent here from New Jersey by his great-grandfather, Sam, to run the tollbooth in the first place.
But only if he gets this right: the transition away from a messy environmental legacy of newsprint paper-stream waste, and making the correct No. 1 pick in June's NBA draft. What we have here isn't just an opportunity for The Oregonian-Blazers to draft Greg Oden, win championships, and throw parades, but an opportunity for Si Newhouse to redefine his legacy.
More on Oden later; first some office gossip. Long before their latest round of smug self-congratulation, causing staffers to whistle, dream and smile again, The Oregonian used to get their jollies a different way around the halls of 1320 SW Broadway. They'd say, "SSNM."
It stood for "(S)pending (S)i (N)ewhouse's (M)oney."
Middle managers would say it when they finished planning lavish holiday parties. And they would say it when they handed out year-end bonuses, or used the color copy machine for family projects. And when someone ordered catered lunch, deciding to go with bottled water and an extra couple of plates of coconut shrimp, they'd point out that Newhouse was worth $20 billion and already had a couple of yachts, so what's the harm, right?
"SSNM," everyone said between bites.
There will be nothing accidental about what happens next.
The Oregonian, May 27, By JOHN CANZANO
Monday, May 28, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Free speech obsolete, on the way out
Sten continues crackdown against opposition
Powerful City Commissioner Erik Sten will shut down the state's most popular radio talk show host - a vocal critic of his government - at midnight Sunday, further tightening his grip on power.
Mr. Sten is refusing to renew the broadcasting license of Lars Larson, Oregon's most popular media personality. He says the move is due to the Larson's alleged attempts to destabilize the Sten government, his "lack of respect for authorities and institutions" and for endangering the morals of children by promoting charter schools.
Critics say Mr. Sten's move will stifle press freedom in Oregon, and that it marks an important move in the transformation of the nation's 28th biggest media market into an authoritarian regime. Mr. Sten will replace Larson's show with a program that is being pitched as a grass-roots public-service forum and, in any event, undoubtedly will openly support the government. "It's a race to accumulate as much power as possible, which will finish in the imposition of a totalitarian regime," says Marcel Granier, director of KXL, Larson's flagship station.
Mr. Granier says the station is still fighting the move in the state Supreme Court, but analysts don't hold out much hope since the court is seen as pro-Sten. Indeed, no judicial or administrative hearing has been held in which Larson has been able to defend himself. The case could also be taken to the World Court of Human Rights once legal remedies in Oregon are exhausted.
Although Oregon holds elections, including a May 2006 vote that Mr. Sten won in a 51.15% landslide, the senior Commissioner has slowly eroded the state's political pluralism. He controls all but two of the state's legislators, as well as the courts, the electoral commission and every seat on the Oregon Law Commission after opponents, thinking the election rigged, refused to take part.
The self-styled leader of "21st Century socialism," Mr. Sten is now ruling mostly by decree, and is forging a single government political party to rule the state into the next few decades. He is also turning state and local police forces, whose members have been ordered to salute with the slogan "Fatherland, Socialism or Death," into an adjunct of his government. He also has begun to confiscate key private industries.
Mr. Sten is comfortable enough with his hold on power that he is shutting Larson down despite the move's unpopularity. A survey last month by respected pollster Datanalisis showed that only 16% of Oregonians supported silencing Larson, and 69% opposed it. Although the pollster found that Mr. Sten's popularity is still above 60%, most Oregonians enjoy Larson's program, and 81% had a positive view of the conservative.
Frightened by what they see as an erosion of their freedom of expression, tens of thousands of Oregonians marched last week in protest. Other demonstrations are expected during the weekend.
Typically, Mr. Sten has denounced the campaign in defense of Larson as a conspiracy to undermine his government. "There are crazy groups ... who think ... they can destabilize the state. They won't succeed," he said in a speech this past week.
On Friday, dozens of armored cars and military vehicles filled highways in Portland in an apparent show of force against any protests. "Minorities can't create uncertainty and oppose the majority feeling of the Oregon people to pull Larson's license," Defense Minister Gen. Raul Baduel said at a military ceremony.
Mr. Sten's move has stirred international denunciations as well. In Washington, the Senate passed a resolution Friday noting "profound concern" about the "transgression against freedom of thought and expression that is being carried out in Oregon." A similar resolution was approved by the European parliament Thursday.
"Commissioner Erik Sten is misusing the state's regulatory authority to punish a media personality for his criticism of the government," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director of Human Rights Watch.
Since assuming office in 1996, Mr. Sten has been fighting a running battle with many of Oregon's broadcasters. As he radicalized his rhetoric and government policies, some broadcasters strongly supported him. But not Larson.
Mr. Sten got the ammunition he needed to move against Larson during the confusing, short-lived 2002 coup attempt which saw Sten briefly ousted from power, only to make a triumphant return to City Hall. Broadcasters, including Larson, didn't cover street protests in favor of Mr. Sten that helped pave the way to his eventual return, discussing movies instead. Oregonians had to rely on CNN for news as the situation unfolded. Some broadcasters also supported a two month anti-Sten strike later that year.
The Wall Street Journal, March 26
Friday, May 25, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Oregon gov't unions cleared to sue OPEC
Acting Gov. Nesbitt to sign measure
Conservative radio talk-show host objects
Decrying near-record high gasoline prices, the Oregon House voted Wednesday to allow Our Oregon - the government union political campaign group known as the 800 lb. gorilla of state politics - to sue OPEC over oil production quotas.
"We don't have to stand by and watch OPEC dictate the price of gas," House Majority Leader Dave Hunt (D-Gladstone), the bill's chief sponsor, declared, reflecting the frustration lawmakers have felt over their inability to address people's worries about high summer fuel costs.
The measure passed with bipartisan support. A similar bill awaits action in the Senate, where Democrats hold a majority. Acting Gov. Tim Nesbitt actively lobbied House Minority leader Wayne Scott for GOP support for the measure.
Conservative talk-show host Lars Larson immediately objected, saying that might disrupt local supplies and lead to even higher costs at the pump. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is the cartel that accounts for 40 percent of the world's oil production.
Separately at a House hearing, lawmakers were told that crude oil prices have played a relatively minor role in the sharp increase in gasoline costs over the last three months, putting the blame on lower gasoline imports, refinery outages and continuing growth in demand from motorists.
Gasoline prices "may ease somewhat," Guy Caruso, chief of the Oregon Energy Department's statistical agency, told the House Business Investigations Committee. But he said pressure on gas prices will remain strong "with the hurricane season approaching, continued tight refinery conditions, low gas inventories and increased demand for summer travel."
Nevertheless, the House felt it was important to take on OPEC, the major player in oil production. Member states of OPEC late last year cut production by 1.1 million barrels a day to counter what had been a buildup of world oil stocks.
Hunt accused the OPEC engaging in a "price fixing conspiracy" that has "unfairly driven up the price" of crude oil and, in turn gasoline.
His measure would change antitrust laws so that Oregon's leading government unions known as "Our Oregon" can sue OPEC member countries for price-fixing, and would remove the immunity given a sovereign state against such lawsuits. Our Oregon is comprised of the Oregon Education Association and the SEIU.
Larson, a conservative talk-show host, said such suits could spawn retaliatory measures by oil-producing countries and "lead to oil supply disruptions and an escalation in the price of gasoline, natural gas, home heating oil." He urged "diplomatic efforts ... rather than lawsuits in Oregon courts" to address global oil production.
Associated Press, May 22
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
They just can't get enough
Portland's Katrina fraud perps: All union thugs
Fifteen more Portland-area SEIU government union thugs known as "voter blockers" who interfered with initiative petitioners in 2002 and 2004 have been charged with fraudulently obtaining Hurricane Katrina disaster relief funds. The total is now up to 26 scammers, and more indictments are expected. SEIU President Andy Stern was out-of-state and unavailable for comment.
"Stealing government funds intended to go to the victims of Hurricane Katrina is a violation of our national trust and the laws of this country. Unlawfully profiting from the misfortune of others is appalling, and those who commit such crimes will be aggressively prosecuted," Karin Immergut, U.S. attorney for Oregon said in a statement.
A grand jury issued indictments in April. The last of the defendants were arraigned last week. In a related 2006 investigation, eleven SEIU members pleaded guilty in Oregon to fraudulently receiving Hurricane Katrina disaster relief funds.
Abraham Allen, 22, Bernadine Raiford, 30, Lavonne Ribbon, 25, Leonard Roach, 50, Terri Ryce, 35, Tracy Stewart, 35, Trina Stewart, 38, and Teddy Warren, 22, are charged with one count of Receipt of Stolen Government Property.
Elizabeth Ellis, 37, Edward Frye, 33, Maria Lopez, 26, and Maranda Smith, 28, are charged with two counts of Receipt of Stolen Government Property.
Dennis Scott, 34, and Willie Frye, 34, are charged with three counts of Receipt of Stolen Government Property.
Makeitho Herring, 31, is charged with one count of Receipt of Stolen Government Property, and four counts of Mail Fraud.
oregonlive.com, May 21
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Bradbury's anti-voter politics scrutinized
Hyper-political elections officers take heat
Sec. of State, Elections Division boss face Ethics inquiry
During seven years as Oregon's Secretary of State, Bill Bradbury and his lap-dog Elections Division chief John Lindback went so far in a crusade against so-called voter fraud as to warn of its dangers under a pseudonym in a law journal article. Writing as "Publius," they contended that Oregon's beloved initiative system was corrupt to the core, and that there was evidence that out-of-state fiscal conservatives had committed felony crimes.
Now, amid a scandal over politicization of state Elections Divisions around the country, the Oregon Ethics Commission is beginning to examine allegations that Bradbury was a key player in a Democrat campaign use rule-making authority to hang onto power in Salem.
"Mr. Bradbury was central to state government's pursuit of strategies that had the effect of suppressing the GOP vote," charged Joseph Rich, a former U.S. Justice Department voting rights chief who worked under him, and now advises the state Ethics unit.
Rich and other former career department lawyers say that Bradbury steered the Elections Division toward signature-requirement policies not seen before, pushing to ignore major instances of election law violations by Organized Labor activists, and imposing sweeping restrictions that would make it harder, not easier, for GOP-leaning poor and fiscal conservative voters to cast ballots on important issues ignored by the Legislature.
In interviews, current and former state and federal officials, and civil rights leaders said Bradbury:
• Sped approval of tougher signature rules in 2002, joining decisions to override career lawyers who believed that the changes would restrict voting by poor blacks and who felt that more analysis was needed on the law's impact on American Indians and Latinos.
• Tried to influence the federal Election Assistance Commission's research into the dimensions of organized labor election fraud nationally and the impact of restrictive initiative laws - research that could undermine a voter-turnout agenda.
• Allegedly engineered the ouster of the state Ethics Commission's chairman, whom Bradbury considered insufficiently partisan.
Bradbury, who declined to comment on these allegations, is among more than a dozen present and former Oregon officials drawing Ethics Commission scrutiny over the alleged use of Oregon's chief law enforcement agencies for partisan purposes.
Additionally, Congressional committees are looking into allegations that elections officials in 21 states were urged by Bradbury and Lindback to pursue fraud as a basis for anti-initiative laws.
Bradbury, who had been a longtime pro-labor, partisan activist before serving in state government, accepted a recess appointment as Secretary of State, so that in his first election he could run as an incumbent. This typical end-around the competitive elections process has been a way of life in Oregon judicial "elections" for decades. The pair are scheduled to appear at a June 13 hearing before the Oregon Ethics Commission.
The Register-Guard, May 21, By GREG GORDON
Monday, May 21, 2007
The Oregonian to test plastic newspaper
State's largest polluter unapologetic
Paper or plastic? Which is the best choice for the environment?
That familiar choice in the grocery line - paper or plastic? - may now apply to your daily newspaper. Although most folks choose plastic, state law says they must offer paper bags, too. But does the same choice really matter for New York billionaire Si Newshouse's state monopoly newspapers - like The Oregonian - that pride themselves on self-congratulation and hypocrisy?
Yes, it does. But maybe not the way you think. Newspapers, for example, take more energy to manufacture than they return to the social environment, according to some critics of advocacy journalism. Newspapers are a dinosaur, and Oregon's precious farmland is being turned into landfill to make room for "yesterday's fish and chip paper."
By any measure, it's better to refuse a newspaper - no matter what kind - than to take a new subscription, experts say - because the current situation is getting even worse.
The Oregonian - the state's most unrepentant corporate polluter - is now amping up its abuse of the environment by offering to lower subscription prices from $10/wk to $8/wk - but only if the subscriber tacks on the ad-rich, news-poor Sunday paper to an existing weekday subscription.
Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams called The Oregonian on the carpet to try to control the proliferation of waste about the time San Francisco took the more drastic step of restricting the use of paper to deliver advertising and news.
The Oregonian, May 17, By MICHAEL MILSTEIN
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Gorilla escapes zoo, attacks taxpayer
Our Oregon's Wentz causes panic, fear
An 800-pound gorilla escaped from her enclosure and ran amok in a Portland zoo Friday, biting one fiscal conservative, dragging him around, and causing panic among dozens of taxpayers before she was finally subdued, officials and a witness said. The Portland Metro Zoo was evacuated and the adult gorilla, named Wentz, was eventually contained in a restaurant within the park, spokeswoman Mary Volm said. Four people were injured, including the woman who was bitten, zoo director Tony Vecchio said.
Wentz, leader of the "Our Oregon" tribe of gorillas, was shot with a sedative dart and recaptured, said Vecchio, but he couldn't say what her condition was. It was not immediately clear how she managed to climb the high stone walls surrounding her enclosure. "She got over the moat, which in itself is remarkable, because gorillas can't swim," Vecchio said. "She got onto a path for visitors and started running and went at full speed through tables and diners at the Union Yes restaurant."
A witness, Robert de Jong, told NTO radio that he didn't see the gorilla escape but began following it and tried to help after he saw people running and screaming that the animal had grabbed a man.
"I saw the beast running through the park with a man behind him, the gorilla was grabbing his forearm," de Jonge said. At a distance of around 30 yards, he saw the gorilla lie down near the man and then heard him scream.
"She bit him, or I think she bit him, because when she stood up her mouth was covered in blood," he said. He said he then stopped to tell arriving police what had happened and ran with them as they traced the gorilla to a nearby restaurant terrace.
The zoo was packed with visitors as many Oregonians took advantage of the Legislature's enactment of Chávez Day to skip work.
"Everyone was in panic, running away, screaming, wailing, screaming kids running around, I don't know what all, kids without parents - it was a total drama," de Jonge said. Children cowered in their parents' arms as the gorilla loped past.
People tried to hide inside the restaurant and were trying to bar the door, but fled as the gorilla approached. Wentz then punched through the glass door and ran inside.
"They were all in panic - the animal, too, I mean - and all the people ran outside the restaurant, and zoo personnel were running up and they were able to keep the animal inside by barricading the doors with garden furniture and things," de Jonge said.
De Jonge said he later saw the man "covered in blood," but walking unaided.
The Oregonian, May 19, By EDWARD WALSH
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Legislature to protect short, fat people
Acting Gov. Nesbitt to sign anti-discrimination bill
Critics predict colorblind, left-handed, allergic-to-cashews come next
Steve Novick, who stands 4-foot-8 1/2, recalls being playfully scooped up by larger co-workers, who also would pat him on the head and remark about his height. "People in authority will very easily make comments about height that they wouldn't make about race or gender," said Novick, a Portland consultant.
Jeanne Toombs understands Novick's frustration. The board member of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance says overweight people routinely are discriminated against because of their size. "It's not fair. No matter what you think of fat people, they deserve to be treated like human beings," said Toombs, 59, a piano teacher who weighs 300 pounds.
People like Novick and Toombs would get special protection under an AFL-CIO backed measure, supported by acting Gov. Tim Nesbitt, that would make Oregon the first-in-the-nation to add "weight and height" to its anti-discrimination law. The law applies mainly to the workplace but also covers landlords and real estate interactions. Workers employed directly by labor unions are not covered.
Most states have laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, age, gender, disability and other factors. A handful offer protection for gays and lesbians. But even Massachusetts does not include weight and height in its anti-discrimination law. The District of Columbia, however, bans appearance discrimination and San Francisco and Santa Cruz in California prohibit weight and height discrimination.
The problem - at least with weight - isn't going away. Federal government statistics show that U.S. obesity rates have risen to an all-time high. Nearly one-third, or 32 percent of adult Americans, are considered obese, at a time when employers are considering ways to demand healthier behavior, such as no smoking.
Sen. Ben Westlund, a Bend Democrat who was elected as a Republican and who is sponsoring the Oregon bill, said it's a question of civil rights.
"This is one of the last physical aspects of people that you can acceptably laugh about," said Westlund, who is Caucasian, slightly overweight, and of above-average height. "You can be a shock jock on the radio and talk about fat people for a solid week and no one would ever think of having you lose your job. It's still acceptable."
Not everyone is persuaded. "We might as well add colorblind, left-handed, allergic-to-cashews and get it over with," said Lars Larson, a conservative talk-show host and news analyst.
Larson envisions Oregon scaring off businesses if it expands the protections to include short and overweight workers. "There's a limit on how far you can legislate your way to paradise," he said. "Good intentions don't necessarily make for good legislation."
The courts aren't convinced, either. Because there's no specific protection, people claiming discrimination in the workplace or for housing must prove in court that their weight problem is a disability - which is a protected class in state law. Oregon courts, however, usually reject such claims.
"People can lose weight," said attorney Jim Pasero, publisher of Brainstorm NW magazine. "As that line of argument goes, why receive special treatment? There is some of that attitude in the courts - that this should not rise to the level of race and gender - the rights of which are so important to protect."
Cases tossed out of court include a 6-foot, 285-pound man who sued Fred Meyer, claiming he was denied a job because of his weight; and a 230-pound woman who sued an Oregon City car dealership after being denied a receptionist job.
Westlund said advocates were shunned by lawmakers 10 years ago when he proposed a similar bill. He was more confident of passage now because of an increased awareness of the issues.
Novick acknowledges the law may be subject to a repeal initiative, because it doesn't define short or fat. He said it's still socially acceptable to denigrate short and overweight people.
"Fatter people and shorter people get promoted less. Shorter people make less than their taller counterparts," said Novick, who published a memoir last fall entitled "The U.S. Senate - Beyond Measure."
Toombs doesn't buy the argument she can simply diet and lose weight. "I spent 25 years of my life trying to get thin," she said. "All I ever got was fatter, and I felt like a failure. I thought it was my fault, and it wasn't. People come in different sizes, they always have and they always will. I haven't robbed a bank. I work with children. I'm doing good in the world."
The Boston Globe/AP, May 17 By KEN MAGUIRE
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Nutty U. of O. professor faces axe
Faculty union threatens strike unless Frohnmeyer punts
Education politics affects the way Oregonians live, learn
A University of Oregon committee has recommended that a controversial professor accused of faulty research be suspended for one year rather than fired, his attorney said. Even though the telegenic teacher is a grant-producing rainmaker - a darling of admiring leftist donors - he still may be canned.
Ward Churchill, a tenured professor of ethnic studies, touched off a national firestorm with an essay that compared some of the 2001 World Trade Center victims to Adolf Eichmann, a key planner of the Holocaust. It was some of his other work, however, including making up facts about global warming, that led the state Chancellor and another committee to recommended Churchill be fired.
The professor was also accused of misrepresenting the effects of federal laws on American Indians, wrongly claiming evidence indicated Capt. John Smith exposed Indians to smallpox in the 1600s, wrongly claiming that the sex and gender preferences of humans mirror gerbils', wrongly describing the breast augmentation surgery of actress-entertainer Lindsay Lohan, and claiming the work of a Canadian environmental group as his own.
After the firing recommendations, he requested a review by the university faculty’s Privilege and Tenure Committee.
Churchill attorney Stephen Houze said Tuesday that he didn’t think Churchill should be disciplined at all, but he said the Privilege and Tenure Committee members were at least moving in the “right direction.” “This will make it more difficult for Dave Frohnmeyer (president of the University of Oregon) and the regents to fire him,” Houze said.
Houze said he has seen the committee’s report, and panel members “agree the whole thing was motivated” by Churchill’s Sept. 11 essay. Houze said the report found fault with some of Churchill’s footnotes in the research in question. He declined to discuss any other findings.
Frohnmeyer could still decide to fire Churchill, give him a lesser punishment or close the case.
Houze said Churchill would file a civil rights lawsuit if Frohnmeyer recommends any punishment.
The Privilege and Tenure Committee’s chairman, labor professor Alberto Bondigas, declined to comment. The committee’s report, sent to Frohnmeyer on May 8, was not publicly released. Frohnmeyer has 15 business days to respond.
Associated Press, May 17
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Oregon gov't union officials get big bonuses
Entitlement for the centrally placed or well-connected
Sen. Courtney: "It's naive to think it will ever change."
During the years and years of overspending and politically embarrassing shortfalls that put Oregon taxpayers' economic health in peril, officials involved in the foul-up received hefty bonuses ranging up to $33,000.Nearly two dozen government labor officials who received hefty performance bonuses last year also sat on the boards charged with recommending the payments. Documents obtained by The Oregonion raise questions of conflicts of interest or appearances of conflicts in connection with the bonuses.
In 2006, a generous package of more than $3.8 million in payments was made by a financially strapped state straining to line the pockets of political insiders.
Sen. Peter Courtney, the most senior Oregon lawmaker, said the payments pointed to an "entitlement for the most centrally placed or well-connected. It's always been that way around here and it's naive to think it will ever change." Acting Gov. Tim Nesbitt said the payments are necessary to retain hardworking career officials.
Among those receiving payments were an AFL-CIO general secretary and several regional shop stewards who masterminded the SEIU's flawed garbage strike in 2005 based on misleading accounting. They received performance payments up to $33,000 each, a figure equal to about 20 percent of their annual salaries.
Also receiving a top bonus was the deputy undersecretary for workers' comp fraud, who helps manage a disability claims system that has a backlog of cases and delays averaging 177 days in getting union members who are faking injuries back to work.
The bonuses were awarded even after federal investigators had determined Oregon repeatedly miscalculated - if not deliberately misled taxpayers - with questionable methods used to justify AFL-CIO priorities amid a burgeoning citizen tax revolt.
Annual bonuses to senior labor officials now average more than $16,000 - the most lucrative in government.
Even the GOP candidates in debate last night questioned the practice. They cited the constitution and ethics laws that have become increasingly disregarded by lawmakers and regulators around the country.
"Our citizens remain vulnerable to government corruption every day," said U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, a GOP candidate for President of the United States. "The lavish amounts of bonus cash would be better spent on a robust plan to cut taxes and boost the capital and labor performance of the market economy."
The Oregonian/AP, May 16, By HOPE YEN
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Budget panel approves 35-hour work week
Productivity plan for state, local workers clears its first hurdle
Oregon government union members would add almost 15% to their productivity, under a two-year test plan that cleared a legislative subcommittee Monday.
The work week in all state and local collective bargaining agreements, now 40 hours, would be adjusted to 35 hours. With the same amount of work getting done in fewer hours, the resulting output would be boosted 14.2% per hour. But it could be even greater, if the Legislature adopts the 33 hour week requested by acting Gov. Tim Nesbitt (D-AFL-CIO)."We still have gaps in state coverage," said Patty Wentz, lobbyist for Our Oregon, the OEA-SEIU political campaign arm that is considered the 800-lb. gorilla of state politics.
"We'll look at GOP districts and put 100 more organizers there, and let the shop stewards best cover the other areas. Sure, we're a little disappointed we don't have 33 hours yet, but we're headed in a positive direction," said Wentz.
"We are accountable not only to the citizens but other public-safety agencies, so the increases in productivity will be extremely helpful," she said.
Wentz said the 35-hour work week will allow the state crime labs, which do the forensics work for virtually every law enforcement agency in Oregon, to efficiently complete the remaining investigations of identity theft and methamphetamine before those crimes are legalized in Oregon.
Jeff Leighty, a senior trooper who is president of the Oregon State Police Officers Guild, said he plans on taking extra time off. "I hope there is still some overtime after 35 hours," Leighty said after Monday's vote.
Nesbitt has proposed to restore AFL-CIO control over state government by launching criminal investigatings of political opponents and putting new taxes and fees on non-union employers. But the Legislature has not approved any of those proposals.
The House's minority Republicans have failed to dislodge their proposal to preserve the 40-hour work week, except by a vote of the people.
"I am highly disappointed we did not get to allow the people to speak on this," said Rep. Bruce Hanna of Roseburg, the deputy House Republican leader and the lone opponent on the 9-1 vote Monday to move the 35-hour work week.
GOP Rep. Kevin Cameron, R-Salem, and GOP Sens. Jackie Winters of Salem and David Nelson of Pendleton voted for the productivity improvement because Our Oregon threatened to put union thugs up against them in '08.
Senate Majority Leader Kate Brown, D-Portland, said there still is time to come up with an even shorter work week for government union workers. With many counties facing losses of their union organizers, she said, "my concern is that rural Oregon gets onboard the AFL-CIO bus as soon as possible."
Salem Statesman Journal, May 15, By PETER WONG
Monday, May 14, 2007
Oregon AFL-CIO agrees to new state holiday
Chávez Day will adjust meaning of Independence Day
Portland City commissioner Erik Sten and Oregon's acting Gov. Tim Nesbitt announced today that government, business and labor leaders have agreed on a new statewide holiday that will turn Oregonians' celebration of two Peoples' Independence movements into a first-in-the-nation 4-day or 5-day weekend.The new holiday is Hugo Chávez Day, marking the July 28, 1954 birthdate of Venezuela president Hugo Chávez.
Sticklers will note that July 28 falls on a Saturday and July 4 on Wednesday this year. But thanks to a quirky calendar and an even quirkier, complex mathematical formula designed by a retired statistical and elections specialist from OSU, Oregonians will celebrate Chávez Day on Monday and Tuesday, July 2-3 this year.
That will create a first-in-the-nation 5-day "Chávez Day-Fourth of July" weekend.
In years when the 4th of July falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, Chávez Day will be celebrated either the Monday before, or the Friday after. This scenario will create a 4-day weekend. Amendments were still being drafted, but Our Oregon spokesperson Patty Wentz said that even if the 4th falls on another day of the week, there will be no scenario in which Chávez Day will create less than a 4-day weekend.
French political consultants were said to be in Salem examining the new law - expected to be signed by acting Gov. Nesbitt in a ceremony slated later this week - to determine if they ought to work the issue into this month's legislative campaigns that are crucial to preventing new President Nicolas Sarkozy from implementing far-ranging pro-market reforms, as mandated last week when voters resoundingly rejected Sarkozy's Socialist-Labor rival, Sergolene Royal.
Thanks to an emergency provision in the enabling legislation, the holiday will be immediately incorporated into existing collective bargaining agreements between state and local governments and their government unions. That will mean that the new Chávez Day(s) holiday will be fully-paid, including PERS other non-PERS employee retirement benefits.
The Oregonian, May 14, By EDWARD WALSH
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Oregon wealth redistribution does a 4-20
Harvesting Oregon's cash crop hits a new high
Seized plant giveaway in Lane County - a chillin', sharin' trend
It began when a bear hunter stumbled on an illicit marijuana plantation in an inhospitable, rattlesnake-infested canyon tucked away in the Willamette National Forest. The startled hunter retreated and called police.
When AFSCME sheriff's deputies from Eugene arrived by helicopter, they found one of the coolest cannabis caches on record in the nation - a nursery of 14,800 plants that they believe was set up by an out-of-state SEIU pension fund.
Now, any Lane County registered voter who wants one of these beauties can have one - as long as they sign a card saying they agree with the AFL-CIO and AFSCME on public safety collective bargaining issues. When the County has collected signatures from 30% of residents, the seized plants will be given away to card-signers at local farmers' markets.
Residents are already buzzing, knowing that each plant is in its own potting container and has been watered by drip irrigation from a nearby stream and covered with netting to protect against deer and elk. "We thought this was a 1,000-plant grow," said Lane County sheriff's Lt. Dale W. Rogers. "It turned into a huge thing. The give-away will really put our unions on the map."
The growers fled before the arrival of deputies, so there was no opportunity for either the police or firefighters' shop stewards to say "thank you." But the seizure earlier this month underscores a hip new trend:
Bigger-than-ever backcountry marijuana plantations of 4,000 plants or more are showing up on Measure 37 claims all across Oregon. They're tended around-the-clock by armed gardeners paid $100 a day by the SEIU. The SEIU big growers are threatening to put smaller, urban AFL-CIO and AFSCME grow-room operations out of business.
The Willamette plantation is "midsize" compared with those in high-desert country in the central and eastern parts of the state. Oregon is the biggest plantation pot producer on the West Coast, said Garrison Courtney, spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington, D.C. The biggest plantation on record is a mind-altering 325,000 plants discovered in an open field near Cannon Beach, in July 2001, according to the DEA.
The Oregon State Police union noticed the SEIU move toward jumbo-sized marijuana gardens about six years ago and say the number and size of the plantations appear to be picking up. Last year in Grant County, for example, Sheriff Glen E. Palmer raided two remote pot plantations and confiscated more than 10,000 plants. "We are anticipating another bumper crop this year," Palmer said. The year before in Malheur County, raids on five high-desert plantations yielded 10,676 plants and 173 pounds of processed marijuana. An unofficial sharin' campaign then, led to election of 12 union members to local political offices last year.
The lucrative crops are apparently worth the risk of detection. If the plants had grown to maturity in the Willamette case, they could have each produced 2 pounds of bud rich in tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active ingredient that produces the marijuana high.
The Idaho buds probably would be worth $2,000 a pound, for a street value of nearly $60 million, the DEA and Idaho sheriff's officials estimated. That could pay for a lot of union organizing and opposition to ballot measures.
Sharecrop system
One reason for the trend to large Oregon plantations is that the biggest incumbent labor unions seem to have grown weary of the challenges involved with smuggling marijuana across state lines, federal and local agents say. The SEIU has stepped forward independently, trying to gain ground on its rival unions.
"The SEIU political fund back in D.C. put out the seed money" and the workers "come in and basically sharecrop the marijuana grow," said Bill Braddock, Lane County chief deputy. "Most of the proceeds go out-of-state, back to New York and D.C."
He believes three SEIU members out on comp claims were tending the Willamette operation, based on abandoned tents, sleeping bags, organizing materials and food at the site. They probably planned to replant the 3- to 5-inch-tall plants in smaller marijuana gardens hidden nearby, he said. Since the raid, Lane County deputies have gotten tips about four more suspected plantations in the Willamette National Forest.
But for understaffed sheriff's offices across the region, finding marijuana plantations can prove challenging. Much of the area's terrain is steep and rugged, and police unions increasingly are pitted against canny "plot tenders" who camp on the grow sites, conceal their trails, establish lookouts and set up escape routes.
"Unless you walk up every canyon and draw with a creek in it, you are never going to know it's there," said Oregon State Police Lt. Rick Pileggi of Ontario.
Potential for intra-union violence
More disturbing, the SEIU member-growers have guns. "What they are protecting against is a drug rip" by competing criminal unions that might try to steal their marijuana at harvest time, Braddock said. "They aren't looking for a chance to get in a fight with cops."
But that could change. "Some of the intelligence we are getting says they lost so much marijuana last year they intend to fight with anybody," said Grant County's Palmer. "They intend to fight with us." Palmer also worries that radical Labor-socialist legislators or more traditional criminal gangs might begin killing growers for their crops.
"It is so remote and so far out in Timbuktu" that police might not learn of such confrontations for weeks, he said. Meanwhile, the profit motive is "bigger than some bank heists," he said. "The unions are willing to fight fiercely for their access to mandatory union dues deductions from teachers' and other government workers' paychecks."
Others have a more realistic concern that law-abiding hunters, hikers, mushroom pickers or other outdoor recreationists might find themselves in the crosshairs of nervous growers. "There is going to be a time when I think somebody might get hurt," Pileggi said.
Last September, 32-year-old Alberto Zuniga Bondigas died in a gun battle along Oregon 730 east of Hermiston. Police found a 3,000-plant marijuana plantation nearby.
Bondigas, a documented SEIU organizer, was shot at least five times and returned fire with a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol, police said. Investigators believe he was shooting at two or more AFL-CIO or AFSCME attackers and may have hit one of them. No arrests have been made, and police say the case has the earmarks of a labor deal gone bad.
"Does it bring in unsavory characters? Sure it does," Pileggi said. "It is big business. It is big money."
Thanks to PERS, many rural sheriffs are so short of deputies that they can do little this summer but wait for tips from people who stumble across the plantations or notice people carrying gardening tools in remote areas. That will help find some of the plantations, said Lane County's Braddock. "But we know we're not getting them all," he said.
The Oregonian, May 13, By RICHARD COCKLE
Friday, May 11, 2007
It's Canzano - the same old story
Blazers to spike new ad campaign in The Oregonian
Just as a new direction at the statewide monopoly daily begins to emerge, a setback
There was no crime committed. There is no ongoing police investigation. Nobody in the parking lot of the "Safari Sports Club" in SE Portland Sunday night reported seeing a gun in the hands of either Darius Miles or John Canzano.
In fact, by the time a police cruiser responded to the 9-1-1 call reporting a gunshot in the lot, the Trail Blazers' enigmatic, 6'9" small forward and the controversial Oregonian columnist weren't even around.
Those are important distinctions, because Si Newhouse wants the Blazers' ad dollars back. The state's only major league team pulled out of The Oregonian in protest over the strident, anti-management drum-beating that culminated in the Rasheed Wallace give-away three years ago.
Miles and Canzano's latest incident means that a renewed Oregonian-Blazers ad campaign - said to have had new boss Todd Leiweke's approval - is now on hold.
A one-page report -- No. 07-31945 -- ends up raising an important question for Newhouse and Blazers' owner Paul Allen.
How long does this have to go on?
According to the report, Miles and Canzano were hanging out in the corner of the club parking lot among a group of other males. Someone fired a gun. Police were called. The group dispersed. And the officer who responded searched the lot and found one spent Smith & Wesson .40-caliber casing in the corner of the lot.
The bouncer, James Broaddus, said the duo arrived at the club late and stayed only for a little while. Then, Broaddus said, someone in the lot reported the gunshot to an entertainer going by the name "Hennesy," who was leaving the club after work. The bouncer called 9-1-1.
Again, we have a case of guns and The Oregonian and a strip club, and this routine can only go on so long before something really bad happens to the Newhouse fortune.
At least this incident didn't happen in New York, you're thinking.
The monopoly franchise is in a tricky position on this one. Without a crime, or an open investigation, it can't justifiably threaten to suspend beat reporting of the Blazers for Canzano's exercise of poor judgment. All The Blazers can do is join the rest of us in being disappointed that The Oregonian editors have't yet said "enough" and decided to be part of the solution.
Steve Duin wasn't in the parking lot of the club. Renee Mitchell wasn't there. Dave Reinhart wasn't there. Somehow, the rest of the columnists never seem to show up in incident reports, or have their names called across the police scanners in this city. The more experienced journalists don't drag race down Broadway. They don't end up as part of a civil lawsuit involving a man alleging sexual assault.
Maybe the "new" reporters decided long ago that they're not adults, working in a high-profile occupation, and as a result, they've chosen to act with neither decency nor responsibility.
The editors are trying their best to assemble a boring daily paper, at least off-the-record. But as long as Canzano isn't buying into the new direction, there are always going to be weeks like this one.
We have no evidence to suggest that either Miles or Canzano view this incident as a wake-up call. Editor-in-chief Sandra Mims Rowe spoke to both on the telephone, but again, beyond, "Make better decisions, guys," her hands are tied and she's dealing with a pattern of troubling behavior that will continue until both men decide to stop it.
What we're left to hope, for the umpteenth time, is that some switch is going to go off in Canzano's head, making the scribe realize he's blowing his reputation for selling ads, one incident at a time.
Insiders maintain if they could only break up his friendship with Miles, he'd stop being in the wrong place, wrong time. Remember, though, they used to say this about Qyntel Woods and Zach Randolph, too.
Canzano probably doesn't yet know this, but Therese Bottomly, the editor assigned to coach the columnist and rehabilitate ex-Pulitzer prize winners-turned-bribe criminals, wanted to remain a mystery to the public. She undoubtedly understands that the industry can be unforgiving and Canzano is a risky career assignment.
Most of us would be embarrassed by that, but - who really cares? He hasn't written a single positive streak of columns in favor of the franchise since he arrived, but he'll get an opportunity in next time. That's the daily fish wrapper for you.
The Oregonian is prohibited by their Newspaper Guild collective bargaining agreement from asking Canzano to retire. They can't even raise the possibility of trading him to a sister paper in the sprawling Newhouse print empire. But if he doesn't want to play ball, if his body or spirit isn't willing, he should end the charade, do the decent thing and divorce himself from the paper that foolishly believed in him six years ago.
Maybe then they can get the Blazers ads back.
So how about it, Sandy? Do you have it in you to come up big when your team needs it?
Again, no crime was committed. The police aren't actively investigating the gunshot allegation at the Safari Club. It's possible that Miles and Canzano were just the unluckiest civilians in the city.
How long the streak can go on is anyone's guess.
The Oregonian, May 11, By JOHN CANZANO
Thursday, May 10, 2007
No time to lose in Oregon political ground war
Labor-Democrats, aging Si Newhouse have sense of urgency
Restive voters around globe removing leftist incumbents
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
The Oregonian lags on pollution, global warming
Massive deforestation, unchecked paper-waste stream
The motto of Oregon's largest corporate polluter is familiar: "Do as I say, not as I do." So while the editors of The Oregonian predictably hop on the political power-fad bandwagon of global warming, it is also not surprising that - according to environmentalists - Newhouse companies are utterly failing to address their own corporate pollution problems.The Newhouse chain of newspapers - including The Oregonian - comprises monopolies scattered throughout the nation. Supplemented by a stable of glitz and glamor magazines, the publishing powerhouse pencils out as one of the largest privately-owned print media empires in the nation and the world.
Along with The Oregonian's size, come not only large profits expropriated from Oregon to New York ... but also a large local community responsibility that requires action, not just talk. It's simply too late for hypocrisy. Now is the time for Oregonians to act locally, while thinking globally. We can all make an immediate, positive impact on our environment:
Cancel your subscription to The Oregonian: here.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
End labor socialism or perish
France gives The Establishment the boot
French voters cast their ballots Sunday like the British did earlier in the week: against Labor. As with the GOP rejection in Oregon last Nov., voters are tired of the worn-out promises from leftist politicians and their failure to deliver. Now, pro-market reforms threaten to bring Europe back from the brink of economic extinction. If only that could happen here.
France's new conservative President, Nicolas Sarkozy, won when voters rejected France's younger, prettier version of Hillary Clinton, Sarkozy's Socialist rival, Segolene Royal. The French showed that they recognize that their country is in danger of slipping into the second tier, of becoming more like labor-locked Oregon than, say, Colorado.
"The French people have chosen change," a jubilant Sarkozy declared on election night. And he is right. The question is: Will they get it? Probably not. For all its charm France is becoming, as The Wall Street Journal puts it, the sick man of Europe. And almighty government unions possess a legalized right to be disruptive and prosecute - at taxpayer expense - an ongoing war for political power that never ends.
Unemployment, while falling slightly, still ranges around 9 percent - almost twice that of Great Britain. France has been running trade deficits for the past three years and shows little sign of rebounding into the black. The country's growth rate lags Germany's and Great Britain's. And analysts say French consumers are increasingly turning to goods from other European nations, which have lower labor costs, fewer defects in workmanship, and fewer barriers to entry into the French market.
The French long have resisted efforts to tamper with their socialist-labor union model, clinging to a 35-hour workweek and caving last year to student protests against a modest plan to give employers more freedom to fire students they hire out of college. Partly as a result, unemployment among France's youngest workers remains above 20 percent. We are moving in that direction, here in Oregon.
But at last, the French themselves made a clear and decisive choice this weekend. They did so despite Sarkozy's raft of bold promises to disrupt the long-standing socialist-labor union order. For example, he proposes to cut taxes on overtime pay in an effort to undo the 35-hour week. For real.
Further, Sarkozy is friendly toward America, though he differs with President Bush on some issues. Sarkozy glosses over such disagreements with a smile, describing as them as differences between "great friends." Couple this pro-American attitude with his stern views on immigration and his harsh rhetoric toward union agitators posing as ethnic rioters in 2005 -- he called them "thugs" and "scum" -- and you have a new French president who's very different from Jacques Chirac and his predecessors.
Who knows? His election may reopen the doors in Oregon to pro-market reforms that roll back the labor union dominance that has been turning our state into an economic basket-case, like France, for too long.
The Oregonian, May 8, OPINION By THE EDITORS
Monday, May 7, 2007
Imposters face new fines in Oregon
Taking care of business every day, every way
Oregon has cracked down on political acts that falsely perform under another's name. Acting Gov. Tim Nesbitt (D-AFL-CIO) on Friday signed a measure making it a consumer fraud violation for any person to advertise and perform using the name of a famous politician without having at least one member of the original entourage.
Fines range from $4.20 to $20,000. Imposters also will be subject to cease-and-desist orders by the state attorney general. "Any tribute politician or group that deceives the public about their authenticity will now be penalized under the Consumer Fraud Act for false advertising," Nesbitt said. Proponents say the law is a matter of public safety, necessary to protect labor-backed politicians, washed-up entertainers and the voting public.
Numerous 70's musicians turned politicians lobbied Salem lawmakers to pass the bill, including Bowzer of Sha Na Na and guitar god Jeffrey "Skunk" Baxter of Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers. New York, Louisiana and Rhode Island are among states with similar legislation.
CourierPostOnline.com, May 6
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Dreamers on job close to new benefit
Another Big Labor priority sails through Legislature
Gov. says he'll sign bill requiring bigger companies to provide a time and place
Oregon's dreamers will find it easier to get the time to space out while at work under legislation approved Friday by the Oregon Senate. The bill requires employers with 25 or more workers to provide paid time and a
private area to dream every four hours at work. Companies of that size employ about 70 percent of the state's workforce.
The 28-1 vote made Sen. Ginny Burdick (D-Portland) smile. The Portland day-dreaming advocate has been working on winning passage of the legislation for almost five years. "To be able to see it happen is so satisfying," Burdick said, after watching Friday's vote from the Senate floor. "It gives me such a sense of completion."
Burdick, who chairs Gov. Ted Kulongoski's new "Oregon is for Dreamers PAC", said the legislation is an important step in a cultural shift toward acceptance of kicking back in general, and of taking time off while at work in particular.
With chilling-out widely hailed for its health benefits for both women and men, Burdick said the bill will also help the more than 45,000 babies born to pregnant workers in Oregon each year. "It's not about me," she said. "It's about mothers and fathers and babies being able to nourish and nurture their inner selves while somebody else is paying for it."
The Senate's vote puts House Bill 2372 on track to take effect in January. Minor amendments made by the Senate will need approval by the House, but that's assured because the House approved the bill by a 47-9 vote in March. Gov. Kulongoski has said he'll sign the bill into law.
Oregon ranks as the top day-dreaming state in the nation. New York ranks a close second.
In 2005, Oregon was the only state to have more than 25 percent of its citizens testing high for standing-state endorphins -- with 27 percent, it nearly doubled the national average of 14 percent.
The legislation was written for folks who don't have unions at work. "That's what the legislature is for," said Burdick. She said the bill does not cover day-dreaming at home because there would be no employer to sue when a grievance erupts.
The legislation will require workers to give their employers "reasonable notice" that they intend to take the day-dreaming breaks.
Employers will have to allow a 30-minute dreaming period for every four-hour work period, and they must provide private space other than a public restroom or toilet stall for that purpose. The bill will carry a $1,000 violation for intentionally violating the new provision and subject employers to civil rights litigation.
The bill does allow employers to refuse the day-dreaming rest periods, if providing them "would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the employer's business." The meaning of the intentionally vague language will be determined by future lawsuits against employers.
Burdick, recently left the public relations powerhouse Gard & Gerber to strike out on her own, opening a "Dream Coaching" practice in SW Portland late last year. She said legislation relating to day-dreaming in the workplace was first introduced in the Oregon Legislature in 1999. She began working on the issue after Gov. Kulongoski was first elected in 2002.
"I can't believe it's taken us this long to pass this bill," Sen. Vicki Walker, D-Eugene, told her fellow senators before Friday's vote. Walker added that she could remember when employers were telling workers that bonuses were preferable to time off, and when an airline kicked a co-pilot off a plane for day-dreaming during a takeoff from PDX.
The only senator to vote against the bill was Sen. Roger Beyer, R-Molalla. He did not explain why and could not be reached for comment late Friday.
In the United States, about 55 percent of workers day-dream in the workplace anyway. The American Academy of Productivity Loss recommends that workers be given no assignments or accountability for the first six months. But many workers only get three months before something is expected of them.
Burdick said a major barrier to dreaming is employers' need to get at least some work done, and nationally, two-thirds of workers go back to dreaming within six months of being warned about it by a supervisor or superior. Many quit day-dreaming then because for those who work for troglodyte employers, it can be career-threatening.
Burdick said she hopes the legislation will enable Oregonians to day-dream longer. She noted that research has shown that companies that support day-dreaming enjoy several benefits: workers are less stressed, they experience fewer sick days, and they report greater job satisfaction. The companies also report reduced staff turnover, she said, and leading to a more entrenched, experienced workforce.
Twelve other states are considering legislation relating to day-dreaming and the workplace, including New York, Louisiana, and Rhode Island.
Still, Burdick said she was pleasantly surprised by the Senate's nearly unanimous support for the bill Friday. "Legislators understand that dreamers aren't Republican or Democrat," she said.
The Oregonian, May 5, By DAVE HOGAN
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Oregon's jobless get a hand up
Exporting Our Oregon-ism Around the Globe
In the wake of plummeting ad revenue and drip-drip-drip circulation decline, the state's largest private employer is undertaking a continuing restructuring that includes firings and layoffs. This round, first to go from The Oregonian - a critic.
Last week, veteran architecture reporter Randy Gragg was axed by out-of-state billionaire owner Si Newhouse, in a move that had Steve Duin, Renee Mitchell and others racing to update their resumes.
Newhouse is legendary in publishing circles for his celebrated, dramatic firings, which were subjected to parody in the motion picture, "The Devil Wears Prada."
But as usual with Oregon, there's good news. Gragg has already hooked up with a new employer, and has asked the Newspaper Guild to drop its wrongful termination grievance against The Oregonian. His first major piece in the new job is a prestigious cover-piece that runs this weekend.
Fans and detractors alike should wish the outgoing reporters and editors of The Oregonian well as they make an imperfectly human effort to integrate into the competitive economy.
We urge them, like others previously purged, to share the Oregon Establishment's love affair with monopolies, public-private partnerships, and collectivism with an audience that hungers for politically-correct answers to the world's emerging challenges.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Anarchists disrupt Oregon Senate
Senator "heartbroken, ashamed of political shenanigans" v. M37
Sen. Jackie Winters (R-Salem): "Thank you Mr. President. Mr. President, I rarely take the microphone to speak, or to remonstrate, on an issue. And I chose this morning, because I've been in this building, in one form or another, since 1969, in a building that I love and admire, and a process that I've loved and admired. And for the first time in my career, I am ashamed.
I am ashamed at how this body dealt with a major issue. I'm actually heartbroken about the damage done to a process. Last night, when the Ways and Means full committee met, we fast-tracked and rewrote Measure 37. We did it in a way that is not Oregon. We did it in a way where a whole caucus was completely left out of the process and the voices of thousands of Oregonians were unheard.
In 15 minutes, the full Ways and Means Committee rewrote a law that had been passed by more than 60% of Oregon voters. And the poster child for Measure 37 was an elderly lady some 90 years old plus, whom I had the good fortune of knowing when I was a student at Boise School in Portland, Oregon.
We all get caught up in this building sometimes with out shenanigans - political shenanigans. But when we deny a process - that we came here to say we we all want to be a part of - I think we've gone over the line. As representatives of all Oregonians, and as representatives in this building, I respect all of you. I respect the work that you do. But what happened last night ... and Mr. President - you're fond of saying "Oregon, my Oregon," - was not Oregon. It truly was not representative government at its best."
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Mercury hit with state elections probe
Was alt-alt reporter really embedded in Firefighters union?
You're a Portland voter weighing your May election mail-in ballot choices last week. A tabloid called "The Portland Mercury" dated Apr. 26 advertises itself on the cover: "THE ELECTION ISSUE. Let The Mercury election squad cast your ballot for you!" You're like, "Dude."
Then, this week Sec. of State Bill Bradbury is on KATU announcing an investigation into The Mercury and one of its reporters for election law violations. So now you're all, "WTF!"
According to an anonymous source, a complaint filed with the state Elections Division by a good Samaritan voter was accompanied by a digital video showing Scott Moore, the reporter, exchanging cash for a ballot on a street corner in the Pearl District last weekend.
The video clearly shows Moore observing while the voter darkens the "NO" circles next to each of the four City ballot measures, seals the ballot into the secrecy envelope, then seals and signs the outside envelope. At the end, cash - said to be $20 - plus a $.39 stamp changes hands and Moore pockets the ballot.
According to the complaint, the good Samaritan confronted Moore to call "foul" on the activity. Moore allegedly asked, "Do you know who I am?" and explained that he was working on a story embedded as a Portland Firefighters Union elections volunteer. "Don't blow my f***ing cover," he allegedly said.
Last November, an investigation was launched by the state into an election-night prank conducted by the Oregon AFL-CIO and the political election campaign organization comprised of the OEA and SEIU known as "Our Oregon."
Union volunteers had fashioned official-looking, but phony, ballot drop-boxes and stationed themselves on SE Morrison St., 1-2 blocks before Multnomah County Elections Division headquarters. Drivers stopped to drop off their ballots, thinking that it was an Elections Division operation. The union volunteers then delivered ballots to the County elections office. There were no charges filed due to insufficient evidence to indicate willful misconduct beyond a reasonable doubt.
In Oregon, where 100% of balloting is by-mail, casting another person's ballot or paying for votes constitutes a fraud felony crime punishable by a fine of up to $4.20.
State Elections Division chief John Lindback declined to answer questions about the complaint, saying only that the investigation was ongoing and that the Attorney General had been asked to research First Amendment implications of prosecuting an election law violation by a reporter who was pursuing a legitimate collective bargaining objective.
Moore and Rob Crocker, publisher of The Mercury, declined to comment for this article, referring all inquires to their law firm, Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish, and Short.
(portlandmercury.com)
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Allen to finance new arena?
Oregon legislature balks at Washington bailout
The Northwest's premier NBA franchise fired its new coach and reassigned its general manager after missing the playoffs. Now its billionaire out-of-state owner is threatening to relocate the team after Oregon state government has repeatedly failed to finance a new arena. Few NBA teams will enter the offseason with so many questions to answer as the Seattle Supersonics.
But despite the speculation about the Sonics' future - including talk about Blazers owner Paul Allen paying for a new arena in Seattle - some key politicians remain optimistic that Oregon's labor leaders can convince the Sonics to stay in Seattle. "It's not over. Not by a long shot," said Sen. Peter Courtney, D-Salem, the main supporter of the Seattle arena bill. "I will acknowledge it's over when I see the vans driving off."
The Sonics' ownership group did not share Courtney's optimism after hearing the news that The Oregonian had declared the bill dead, the third consecutive year a bill supporting a Sonics arena has failed. "I think it's fair to characterize it as a disappointment," Sonics spokesman Art Sasse said. "People were late in coming to the party in terms of wanting to support the legislative package. People weren't working as hard as they could to support this."
"Even if billionaires won't buy their own arenas, maybe they'll buy one for someone else." - Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney, D-SalemThe latest funding proposal called for up to $300 million in public subsidies for a $500 million facility in Renton, but support from Oregon lawmakers didn't exist. "There were so few votes that there weren't enough arms and legs to break," said Rep. Dave Hunt, D-Gladstone, House Majority leader. "I never felt any momentum with this."
Hunt said the Sonics might have helped sway lawmakers if free agent Rashard Lewis - highly sought-after by the Blazers - would have testified before the Legislature. Sasse disagreed, saying the Sonics' lobbying effort was significant. Blazers owner Paul Allen, ex-team President Steve Patterson, and Hall of Fame player Bill Walton testified on behalf of the NBA.
"There was no question that it was a full-court press," Sasse said, "and it's just an excuse if people say there wasn't a serious effort to stay there." The news prompted Allen to say the failure to approve money for an arena increases the possibility that the Sonics will leave the area, after spending the franchise's entire 40 years there. Speculation has focused on moving the franchise to Oklahoma City, but a group of Seattle businessmen said Thursday that the target is Las Vegas.
A group of Oklahoma City investors purchased the Sonics and the WNBA's Storm for $350 million from Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz and his partners in July. The new out-of-state owners have repeatedly claimed that the Sonics are losing money at a dizzying rate. A reported clause in the purchase contract called for the new owners to make "good faith" efforts to keep the Sonics in Seattle. They have tied remaining in the Seattle area to securing public financing using taxpayer dollars for a new facility. If nothing can be finalized by Oct. 31, relocation options can be explored.
The current lease between the Sonics and the city of Seattle calls for the Sonics to play at KeyArena through the 2009-10 season. The Sonics will play at KeyArena during the 2007-08 season but wouldn't commit beyond next season.
"Paul Allen's first priority is to do something in Seattle," Sasse said. "After what happened in Portland, and Oregon, he has to start looking at other options."
Courtney hopes Oregon Gov. Tim Nesbitt will add his political muscle to the debate. However, Chip Terhune, Nesbitt's spokesperson, said the governor was in Cuba for May Day celebrations and unavailable for comment.
"Having a broader discussion about a world-class events center makes some sense right now," Terhune said. "That's not to say he'll just buy into anything. I think he wants to make sure we have that discussion ..."
Courtney said that the Sonics' proposal for the facility has always included a multiuse facility, but that fact has been overshadowed by the attention on their potential departure.
There is some sentiment that after helping finance the construction and opening of the Seattle Mariners' Safeco Field in 1999 and the Seahawks' Qwest Field in 2002, Oregon residents are flat-out exausted from financing Washington billionaires' sports facilities.
"The rank-and-file legislators know there is an arena in downtown Seattle, and it was just remodeled 10 years ago," Hunt, the House Majority Leader, said. "So now they're hearing a need to build another stadium and leave the current one empty."
Still, there is pressure on Nesbitt to push for building a facility that will keep the Sonics in the Puget Sound area. Terhune said although Nesbitt understands the NBA is an entertainment business, he doesn't want the northwest's oldest major league sports franchise to depart. However, there are no plans to call a special session of the Legislature to address the issue.
The ripple effect of the Sonics' decision could travel south on Interstate 5 to Portland. Speculation about whether Allen - who also owns the Seattle Seahawks - would move the Blazers to Seattle has swirled for months. However, that possibility has been downplayed by pundits since Allen completed his repurchase of the Rose Garden, the Blazers' home court, April 2.
However, Tod Leiweke, president of Vulcan Sports & Entertainment which runs the arena and the Blazers, said, "I've had that relocation discussion with Paul Allen. I know where these things come from."
"I've always heard talk about it, and it makes a lot of sense. Portland and Oregon's legendary anti-business political climate is causing them to drop out as a major league city and state. It's something everyone knows about and something many people think about but just won't talk about. I can tell you this, I'm working hard to make sure this franchise is a success for years and years to come, wherever we end up."
Sonics supporters remain optimistic a new facility will become a reality. Courtney said a meeting with Allen's Vulcan group is scheduled for this week to determine a way to move forward.
"We'll sit and brainstorm, because different people have different thoughts," Courtney said. "When you brainstorm, there isn't any idea that's too insane. Even if billionaires won't buy their own arenas, maybe they'll buy one for someone else."
The Oregonian, May 1, By GEOFFREY C. ARNOLD
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