Salem Political Snark

Vaccinating Oregon teachers before seniors widely criticized

Governor Kate Brown's ill-considered order to give teachers the Covid vaccine before seniors is getting well-deserved media criticism. I'm no fan of this policy, having written my own critical blog post back on January 16, "Outrage: Oregon seniors  to get Covid vaccine after teachers."

Here's news stories that came to my attention, along with an excerpt from each.

Portland Oregonian
"Watchdog: Why Oregon senior citizens have one of longest waits in country for COVID-19 vaccinations," by Aimee Green

Seniors in Oregon will wait longer than almost anywhere else in the country to be eligible fo coronavirus vaccinations, a review by The Oregonian/OregonLive has found, undercutting claims that the federal government is to blame.

And that has shifted focus back to Gov. Kate Brown’s decision to prioritize teachers over the elderly.

...Yet when the prospect of extra vaccines fell apart, Brown said she had no choice but to make elderly Oregonians wait.

“I remain committed to vaccinating our seniors quickly,” Brown proclaimed Jan. 15. “But this failure by the Trump administration will unfortunately cause a two-week delay in beginning vaccinations for seniors.”

Not mentioned as part of Brown’s blame-shifting: 45 states dealing with the same vaccine limitations already have or within days will begin inoculating at least some of their oldest and most vulnerable residents based on age groups.

How? Decisions about who to vaccinate first are decided by governors and state health officials, and, among other things, Oregon is one of only two states to buck federal guidance by allowing teachers to go ahead of the elderly.

Salem Statesman Journal
"Anger, confusion grow over Oregon's COVID-19 vaccine rollout," by Tracy Loew

Oregon’s Vaccine Advisory Committee, charged with deciding who should get scarce COVID-19 vaccines first, is questioning its role after Gov. Kate Brown overrode its priorities last week.

The committee has received hundreds of comments from the public, much of which center on Brown’s recent decision to prioritize educators over older residents.

That decision came the day after the committee made its own recommendation, which focused on the state’s most vulnerable residents.

...Brown’s decision to prioritize educators, announced Jan. 15, is contrary to federal recommendations and differs from what most other states are doing.

It’s prompted a huge outcry from the public.

“You are effectively giving many of us our death sentence,” Charles Eggerstedt, an 81-year-old doctor in Clackamas, wrote the committee.

“The vaccine should be given to the most susceptible and in danger of dying from an infection,” wrote William Snow, of Dundee.  

Oregon Public Broadcasting 
"With limited doses, many question Oregon's plans to send teachers to the  fromt of the vaccine line," by Erin Ross

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown wants as many schools as possible to resume in-person learning by Feb. 15 while the COVID-19 pandemic continues. To make that happen, she plans to vaccinate all of Oregon’s 100,000 or so school employees in the next few weeks — in the process putting them at the front of the line ahead of the elderly, people with pre-existing health conditions and other groups of non-medical frontline workers.

That decision has sparked controversy in Oregon. After other states seeking to prioritize teacher vaccinations reversed or altered those plans following public backlash, Oregon remains the sole holdout.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends vaccinating older people, people with pre-existing health conditions, and people at a very high risk of exposure first. Brown’s decision directly contradicts those guidelines. Some critics argue that vaccinating teachers ahead of more vulnerable groups violates principles of medical ethics. Others — including teachers — say that vaccinating teachers is not enough by itself to open schools safely.

Willamette Week
"Gov. Kate Brown Reversed Herself Twice Last Week on the Date Elderly Oregonians Could Get the Coronavirus Vaccine," by Rachel Monahan

On Jan. 15, Gov. Kate Brown took a parting shot at the outgoing Trump administration: She blamed a decision to move up COVID-19 vaccines for elderly Oregonians and then move them back again on the federal government's failure to deliver promised vaccine reserves.

Three days earlier, the governor had moved seniors to the front of the line for vaccines. When she learned more vaccines weren't coming, she changed the plan again: Older Oregonians would have to wait another three weeks.

...The reversal comes with high stakes attached, even as other states have already begun vaccinating seniors. People over 80 account for more than half of Oregon's deaths from COVID-19, and people over 60 account for 90% of the deaths.

As of now, Oregonians over 80 will be eligible for vaccines beginning Feb. 8—after medical workers, firefighters and school teachers get the shots. The state will then lower the age bracket each week until everyone over 65 is eligible.

It's Brown's last chance to blame Trump—and keep the public's faith in Oregon's choppy vaccine rollout.

Brown's double reversal shows the immense pressure the governor faces to return life to normal from COVID-19 as soon as possible. But it also exposes the holes in Brown's plan to get vaccines into the arms of Oregonians.

Her decisions on which groups get priority for vaccines are last minute, placing sudden demand on hospitals and threatening to undermine public patience in seemingly arbitrary choices.

Most notably, Brown is pressing to return students to school classrooms by Feb. 15—and assuaging the concerns of teachers unions about that plan by giving them early priority for vaccines.

That's an approach that few other states have tried.

"Oregon is in a fairly unique standing throughout the nation in saying that teachers would be part of the Phase 1 rollout," says Courtney Campbell, director of Oregon State University's Program for Ethics, Science, and the Environment.

Campbell said "health equity" has been a primary consideration for vaccine rollout both in Oregon and nationally—but teachers didn't seem to fit that standard. Instead, Brown and Oregon's vaccine advisory committee could include additional considerations, such as saving "the most lives" and "giving primacy to fairness and transparency" to justify the choice.

"If you're going to work only with health equity, then it seems to me it's hard to justify prioritizing K-12 personnel," says Campbell.

Today Gov. Brown held a press conference where she tried to defend her decision to vaccinate teachers before seniors, then took only three questions even though the Oregonian says that thirteen reporters had their hands virtually raised during what I assume was a Zoom call.

Here's some Twiter tweets about this.

Gov. Brown and Salem Reporter shine in climate bill saga

After being deeply upset with how Democrats and Republicans behaved in the walkout of GOP members of the state Senate over HB 2020, a cap and trade climate bill, it's great to find some bright spots in this saga -- Governor Kate Brown and Aubrey Wieber, a Salem Reporter journalist.

Governor Kate Brown has earned back my admiration after she responded to the first May walkout of Republican senators by agreeing to kill two bills that were opposed by the GOP, being Democratic priorities  (a pro-vaccine bill and a gun control bill).

I thought this bad move would encourage Republicans to test Democratic resolve later in the legislative session. But I figured such would happen in the House, not the Senate, since GOP members of the Senate had agreed not to walk out again for the rest of the session.

They lied.

Pleasingly, it appears that Brown didn't give up anything of importance in the second walkout. After ordering the Oregon State Police to find the Republican senators who had deserted their posts, they came back on their own and played nice, mostly, during a rush to vote on over a hundred backed-up bills last weekend. 

Brown inspired the crowd at a pro-climate bill rally last Tuesday in her brief but passionate remarks, even though Senate President Courtney had declared HB 2020 dead earlier in the day given lackluster support among Senate Democrats. 

So there's a good chance the walkout of Senate Republicans had no effect on the passage of HB 2020, given that at least three Senate Democrats were either strong No's or leaning that way prior to the walkout.

Today Governor Brown made a strong statement in favor of pursuing the carbon pollution reduction goals of HB 2020, either through executive action or reintroduction of the climate bill. Here's the first part of a Salem Reporter story by Aubrey Wieber, "Governor threatens to do by rule what she couldn't by legislation."

Less than 24 hours after the 2019 Legislature closed, Gov. Kate Brown renewed the fight for a cap and trade program, saying Monday she might act with her executive authority to drive ahead with the hotly contested environmental policy.

“Let me be very, very clear,” Brown said. “I am not backing down.”

She spoke on the heels of a major political collapse last week, when Senate Republicans doomed a vote on House Bill 2020. The legislation, setting up a market-based credit system to force polluting industries to reform, had passed the House and was one vote away in the Democratically controlled Senate from becoming state law.

Brown wasn’t taking her most significant legislative loss lightly.

Brown said she wants to see action sooner than later, and is open to calling a special session to again advance the legislation.

“I believe the bill needs some fine-tuning, but I don’t think it needs to be entirely rebuilt,” she said.

Brown said she campaigned on cap and trade, as did many Democratic legislators elected in November. Recent polling shows climate legislation is popular among Oregonians, though more so in urban areas. Her plan was backed by most Oregon voters, she said.

Excellent. Very heartening. Makes me hopeful that Oregon will be a leader in fighting global warming.

It's great that Brown and Democratic leaders in the state legislature, with the notable exception of increasingly useless Senate President Courtney, are standing firm against Republican efforts to declare HB 2020 dead and gone forever, which, clearly, it isn't.

I followed news about the walkout of Republican senators, and what happened after they returned, with rapt attention.

Journalists with the Oregonian, Statesman Journal, and Willamette Week all did very good reporting. But I consider that Aubrey Wieber and his colleagues at the online-only Salem Reporter stood out from the journalistic pack.

Political junkie that I am, Wieber's frequent tweets on Twitter were highly appreciated, especially during the drama in the Senate last Saturday and Sunday. On Twitter I also follow reporters from the newspapers I just mentioned.

Wieber blew them away with his cogent, informative, and grammatically correct tweets. (Yeah, I'm old fashioned. I like complete sentences and accurate spelling in tweets.) I had the feeling that I was looking over the shoulder of a skilled reporter as he observed the machinations in the state Senate, telling his Twitter followers what was going on.

I realize that many people consider Twitter to be an annoying echo chamber of little value. However, it also can be the best means of conveying breaking news, which Wieber masterfully did. As far as I could tell, he was on duty at the legislature for very long hours over the weekend. 

Hopefully Wieber will get a vacation soon, because he deserves one. For not only did he excel on Twitter, his "long form" stories in Salem Reporter were marvelously written as well.

Gov. Brown makes Oregon an anti-vaxx paradise

A few days ago I wrote "Oregon Dems surrender to Republicans like scared little mice."

Now I'm even more irritated at what Governor Kate Brown and her spineless cronies in the state legislature (notably Sen. Peter Courtney and Rep. Tina Kotek) did -- needlessly killing much-needed bills to enhance vaccination rates and control guns in a misguided effort to entice Senate Republicans to end their short walkout, which denied a quorum in the Senate.

I'll let excerpts from some newspaper stories do the explaining for why this was such a bad idea. I've boldfaced parts for emphasis.

(1) Nigel Jaquiss' Willamette Week story, "Oregon Lawmakers Abandoned  Vaccination Requirements in Order to Raise Taxes. That Could Make Oregon an Anti-Vaxx Haven." 

An attempt to compel Oregonians to vaccinate their children morphed into perhaps the most emotional and polarizing debate of the 2019 legislative session. Then, on May 13, it blew up in a way nobody expected.

After a brutal process, the bill passed the Oregon House on May 1. As proponents and critics prepared to relitigate their differences in the Senate, Democrats agreed in a backroom deal May 13 to kill the bill—in exchange for Senate Republicans' agreement to return from a self-imposed exile and allow passage of a $2 billion tax measure to fund schools.

...Although the bill passed the House 37-21, five Democrats voted no and at least two Democratic senators opposed it. One of them, Sen. Lee Beyer (D-Springfield), told Oregon Public Broadcasting he didn't think the votes were there. Rep. Mitch Greenlick (D-Portland), a chief sponsor of the bill, disagrees. He thinks the votes were available in the Senate—but the courage wasn't. "The Senate is a hospice where good bills go to die," Greenlick says.

...Greenlick says he wasn't consulted about senators' capitulation on his bill and only learned about the deal Monday morning. He says he hasn't decided whether to try again next year or leave that task to future Legislatures. "I'm not very happy," Greenlick says. "This really is an important issue. And when you get blackmailed, you shouldn't fold."

(2) AP reporter Sara Zimmerman's "Oregon vaccine bill dead as US  measles count soars."

Critics blasted a decision by Oregon lawmakers that killed a bill aimed at getting more children vaccinated for measles and other preventable diseases in order pass a tax on large businesses, saying it jeopardized public health.

Despite passing the House and having the necessary votes in the Senate, the measure to make it harder for families to opt out of required vaccinations was nixed as part of a deal announced Monday to end a week-long Republican walkout over a multibillion school funding tax.

Under the vaccination measure, sponsored by state Rep. Cheri Helt, R-Bend, children would only have been be able to forgo vaccine requirements with a doctor's note, otherwise they'd be unable to attend public school.

...Oregon has the highest rate of unvaccinated kindergartners in the country, with at least 7.5% of toddlers claiming an exemption. In some schools, more than 40% of children are unvaccinated through the state's lax exemption process. That makes Oregon uniquely susceptible to an outbreak, according to Diane Peterson, associate director for Immunization Action Coalition, which receives funding from the CDC.

"Oregon in particular is a hotbed for a measles outbreak," Peterson said. "All you need is to introduce one person with the disease into the community and it will spread like wildfire."

(3)  AP reporter Andrew Selsky's "Enough GOP senators return to end Oregon tax bill standoff." 

The sergeant-at-arms of the Oregon Senate had a new regular duty in recent days: Searching the state Capitol for Republican senators who had been staying away and brought the legislative body’s business to a halt.

...To get the Republicans to return, Democrats, who hold a supermajority, agreed to not advance a measure requiring vaccinations for children to attend public schools, unless they have a doctor’s note. Democrats also agreed to drop gun-control legislation. Senate President Peter Courtney told reporters it was a painful but necessary move.

“We had a crisis of government shutdown on us. It could have gone on and on and on,” Courtney said. “It could have involved the state police. It would have been a nightmare.”

Rep. Cheri Helt, a Republican and co-sponsor of the vaccination bill, was incensed that it was sacrificed. Few Republicans were for the measure that vaccination opponents had flocked to the Capitol to protest.

Helt tweeted on Monday that “the loudest/most extreme voices in our politics prevailed.”

...Senate Republican leader Herman Baertschiger, Jr., had negotiated with Courtney to end the stalemate, officials said.

The November 2018 election gave Democrats a three-fifths supermajority in Oregon’s Senate and House of Representatives, enabling them to pass tax-raising measures without getting Republicans on board. But they didn’t have enough seats for a quorum.

“The tactic of denying a quorum doesn’t mean we shut them down forever,” Baertschiger said on the Lars Larson Show, a conservative talk radio program. “We all know that we’re gonna have to return. But what it does do is shine a light on what the Democrats are trying to do to us.”

Baertschiger attended the Senate on Monday afternoon, allowing the body to reach its minimum 20 senators for a quorum.

So the Senate Republican leader admitted that the R's weren't going to walk out forever, just long enough to draw attention to the tax bill that they didn't like.

But in an amazing display of political idiocy, Governor Kate Brown gave Republicans way more than they deserved, and expected to get. 

Grover Norquist was ecstatic. Which is why I'm not, being a Democrat who believes that hardball tactics by Republicans that amount to political ransom should be fought, not rewarded.

Gov. Kate Brown rocks the room at Marion Dems fundraiser

It was a premonition, I guess, a message from the Progressive Cosmos that the positive vibes Governor Brown provided Sunday at Salem's Red Lion Inn were a warmup for Hillary Clinton's masterful debate performance on Monday. 

So, yeah, it's been a couple of good days for my liberal-leaning wife and myself. 

Brown was the keynote speaker at the Marion County Democrats Monroe Sweetland Annual Auction & Dinner. Laurel and I have gone regularly, so I can attest that this event felt like it had way more energy and enthusiasm than in previous years.

This is partly due to 2016 being a presidential election year -- one of the most consequential ever. If Clinton isn't elected this November, our country is screwed, big time. That's a plain fact, made evident by Trump's incompetent, clumsy, lie-filled performance at Monday's first presidential debate. 

But mostly it was due to Governor Brown's appealing personality and charisma. Yes, charisma. 

I was surprised by how Brown worked the room before, during, and after her talk. Beforehand, she went to every table and seemingly had an interchange with each person at the fundraiser. I don't recall ever seeing her in person before. At least, not up close and personal.

I've just seen her acting Governor'ish on television, where Brown has struck me as being quite reserved, controlled, and careful with her words. 

But that wasn't the Kate Brown on display Sunday evening. She was wonderfully outgoing and expressive as she made her way around the room. 

Brown shook hands with me as I said, "Hi, I'm Brian Hines."

At which point I hoped that Brown didn't have a photographic memory and was able to remember the names of all the people who send messages to her, because what I said in this year's Open letter to Kate Brown from a pissed-off wolf advocate was just as snarky as that blog post title indicates.

I sure had a much more positive attitude toward Governor Brown at the fundraiser, though. Her talk was heartfelt and energizing. 

Brown started off by saying that she was a registered Marion County voter. Yay, a Governor who officially lives in Salem! (I'm pretty sure not all of them do.) 

She said that after graduating from law school, she encountered some real-life lessons. Like being paid less than men. And being worried about losing her job, since she was in a relationship with a woman at that time. (Brown is the first openly bisexual governor in U.S. history.)

After being appointed to the state House of Representatives, Brown told us that she won a contested election to hold her seat by seven votes. "Everyone who voted for me believed they were the reason I won," she said.

Which is absolutely true.

Every vote counts, and it is impossible to tell ahead of time how much it will count. So damn it, even if Clinton or Brown aren't your dream candidates, vote for these women anyway -- because Donald Trump and Bud Pierce would be nightmares for the United States and Oregon.

I liked how Governor Brown spoke of roads, bridges, and mass transit as being a top priority in the 2017 legislative session. She emphasized mass transit, observing "I know you need more of this in Salem."

For sure.

The Salem Chamber of Commerce and other special interests killed a 2015 ballot measure that would have funded a small payroll tax to bring evening and weekend bus service to Oregon's capital. So any transportation package in the next session that doesn't emphasize mass transit and alternative transportation should be DOA (dead on arrival).

After Brown finished speaking, she left the podium and did another round of working the room. Here she is (kneeling) talking with newly elected Salem City Councilor Sally Cook, who is at a table with other progressive councilors taking office in 2017. Matt Ausec is on the left, and Cara Kaser is between him and Cook. Current councilor Tom Andersen was sitting off to the right.

A live auction followed Brown's talk. People held up pieces of paper with their bidding number.

Laurel, my wife, had her eye on auction item #12: "Dinner for 4 with House Speaker Tina Kotek." The value was shown as $200. She made a few bids, but then dropped her bid number. So I grabbed it, and kept our bidding going.

Laurel ended up with the winning bid -- $300. 

Our certificate says that we get "dinner for 3" with House Speaker Tina Kotek, and Laurel already has invited a progressive friend to join us. But if anyone has ideas for things we should talk about with Kotek, feel free to lobby me.

I've got some ideas of my own -- notably, "Please don't include any money for an unneeded Salem Third Bridge in a transportation package, because this Billion Dollar Boondoggle needs to die a well-deserved death, being a terrible idea for this town. But money to seismically upgrade the two current bridges and improve their approaches -- yes, Salem needs this."

Lastly, here's a photo of Governor Brown getting some sisterly love at the Dem fundraiser from Cindy Kimball and Kathleen Moynihan that I copped from Kathleen's Facebook feed. Charming!

Oregon legislature wolf bill confirmed as howling lie

I plan to focus on being snarky about local politicians here in Salem, but when state officials do outrageous stuff, like confirm a howling lie, hey, I'm happy to cast a Snark in their direction.


Today the AP is reporting what was obvious to wildlife lovers and environmentalists who opposed HB 4040, the bill recently passed by the Oregon legislature and signed by supposedly progressive Governor Kate Brown. 

"AG Rosenblum: Wolf delisting bill likely moots case" says:
Download Oregon AG: Wolf delisting bill likely moots case - Washington Times

Two weeks after the signing of new legislation that upholds in state law the delisting of the gray wolf as endangered, Oregon’s top attorney has now launched an effort to end wolf advocates’ lawsuit once and for all.

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum filed a notice with the state appellate court on Monday, using an attached copy of the new law, House Bill 4040, as justification for why wolf advocates’ complaint against the state is likely no longer relevant.

This is what conservative lawmakers hoped to accomplish with HB 4040 - among the most contentious bills of the year - and what environmentalists had feared. In December environmentalists sued state wildlife officials over their decision to remove the gray wolf from the state’s Endangered Species Act list, saying the decision was premature.

...That’s where HB 4040 - backed by the Oregon Cattleman’s Association and others concerned with wolves’ attacks on livestock - comes into play.

HB 4040 essentially says the commission did everything it was supposed to do by law in reaching its final decision to delist. That’s the very thing wolf advocates want re-examined, but with the Legislature’s seal of approval now established in state law, their “challenge is likely moot,” Rosenblum wrote in Monday’s court filing.

Rosenblum’s filing - submitted about a week after the wildlife commission began revising its wolf management plan - stands in contrast to the way HB 4040 was initially portrayed at the Legislature in early February.

In hearings, GOP lawmakers in the Oregon House repeatedly denied claims that the intent was to end the lawsuit.

“Does this basically prevent litigation? … and the answer that I have come up with, or the answer that I could find was, no it doesn’t,” Rep. Greg Baretto, a Republican who helped sponsor HB 4040, said during a Feb. 12 House floor session when the bill was up for vote.

“They can still have their day in court. But what this does is it’ll allow the Legislature to affirm or agree with this commission, this Fish and Wildlife Commission, that has basically approved delisting, and that is what this bill does.”

Rep. Chris Gorsek, a Democrat, was among the first vocal critics, who followed Baretto’s comments during that February floor session by saying, “I’m concerned that the Legislature is being asked to step in a process that could involve any endangered species … it’s not about the wolf, it’s about due process.”

So legislators lied about the intent of HB 4040 and what it would do. Namely, allow the Oregon legislature to cut off judicial review of the scientific facts backing up a decision to delist wolves as an endangered species. 

This is the kind of crap right-wing anti-environment politicians in Congress like to do.

So it was deeply disturbing to a progressive like me to see Democratic Governor Kate Brown and Dem state legislators going along with the Oregon Cattlemen's Association dream to make every wolf in this state a dead wolf.

I took Brown to task about this in "Open letter to Oregon's Governor from a pissed-off wolf advocate." Now I'm even more pissed.

So now the Oregon Cattlemen's Association, which considers that the only good wolf is a dead wolf (I know this, because my wife has testified at numerous legislative hearings where ignorant ranchers in cowboy hats have said as much), is thrilled with your signing HB 4040, while environmentalists like me are outraged.

Well, Ms. Brown, I hope your campaign for another four years as a Democratic governor of this state gets lots of money from the Oregon Cattlemen's Association and their Republican friends, because I don't feel like giving you a dime.

When you signed HB 4040, this was an insult to sound science, transparency in public policy-making, your progressive supporters, and this state's environmental community.

You chose political expediency over doing the right thing. Sure, I understand this is the way governing works, but I don't have to like it, or approve of it.