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May 14 , 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels December 9, 2003 Out-of-state conservatism costing Oregon Something smells in Oregon. At first we thought someone had hit a skunk with their rig. But now we can see clearly it's an out-of-state political zealot feeding the fire of confrontation over the Oregon Legislature's mandate to balance the budget. That zealot is Dick Armey of Texas, who serves as co-chairman of Citizens for a Sound Economy. His target is the three-year income tax surcharge, part of the Legislature's tax package aimed at averting a budget cut to our children's education, life-sustaining medicine for poor people and public safety. Soon we will know whether enough valid signatures were collected to get the initiative on the February ballot. But before the ink was dry on those signatures, in marches Armey, former U.S. House majority leader from Texas, telling Oregonians when to jump - and how high. We don't mind visitors here, and we certainly don't mind good advice. But Armey is trying to lead a state he knows very little about down the path of destruction. Oregon depends heavily on the income tax to pay its bills, and a slump in the economy has required the state to request a temporary surcharge so it can provide important services. We are not talking about welfare state excesses here. We are talking about education, law enforcement, health care - important cornerstones of a civilized society. Admittedly, hostility toward government is an Old West tradition. And there are a lot of things government could do better. But we need to use good judgment and not impulsively overreact to what at first glance seems government waste and inefficiency. We need to move beyond anti-government rhetoric and chronic complaining and invest in our communities. We need to realize that with government jobs making up a startling percentage of the Northeast Oregon payroll, a vote to keep government stable is a vote for better lives for all of us. Sure, Armey has done a lot of good over his career for the country. But his latest gambit smells of heartless conservatism. Questions have been raised about where the funding is coming from for his anti-tax group, with some suggesting that East Coast corporations are pulling strings behind the scenes. Yet local organizers of the anti-tax group say the campaign in Oregon is funded by more than 1,000 donors from the state. If those same donors would just pony that money up at tax time, instead of throwing it to the protest winds, Oregon would be a much stronger, more vital place, and their fear of businesses and people leaving the state would be less likely, not more likely. Our tax dollars are not being flushed down the toilet; they are being invested in making us safer, healthier, smarter. We need to leave our children a legacy of hope, not despair, but Armey and his troops want to leave us a legacy of chronic complaining and anti-government rhetoric. We have a clear and simple message for people like Armey. It's not "Don't mess with Texas." It's "Don't mess with Oregon." To have an outsider come here and tell us what do just doesn't pass the sniff test. - The (La Grande) Observer DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams