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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Emergency services, Oct. 16 ... Since You Asked: Park resurfacing delayed during winter ... SOU training gives tips on what to do if there's an active shooter ... Emergency services, Oct. 16 ... Since You Asked: Park resurfacing delayed during winter ... SOU training gives tips on what to do if there's an active shooter ... OTHER VIEWS Other Views: Brown's list of challenges is lengthy Comment By The Oregonian MailTribune.com By The Oregonian Posted Feb. 28, 2015 at 12:01 AM By The Oregonian Posted Feb. 28, 2015 at 12:01 AM What do you think? --> Have an opinion on this topic? Send a letter to the editor at www.mailtribune.com/sendletter or email ... » Read more X What do you think? Have an opinion on this topic? Send a letter to the editor at www.mailtribune.com/sendletter or email [email protected] .   » Social News Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said little about her legislative and political strategies at her swearing-in ceremony last week. That's understandable inasmuch as she found herself Instant Governor following the resignation only days earlier of embattled John Kitzhaber. Yet Brown, a statehouse veteran, knows the political territory well and showed readiness. In her first week she named her core team — a chief of staff, director of communications and general counsel — and signaled she'd hit the ground running. In the coming week, however, she'll need to sprint. The challenges are first within the Capitol building. Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, told the editorial board that he has high respect for Brown but held to no illusions he knew which policies of Kitzhaber the new governor would continue to support. The way to learn of those things, however, will come not from jockeying for attention in a crowd outside Brown's door but from knowing that state agency heads as well as Brown's policy advisers are, indeed, the right people to talk to. Or, as Bentz put it, "We kind of need to know whom to talk to." The sentiment was echoed by Sen. Alan Bates, D-Medford, noted for his advocacy of Kitzhaber's health care transformation initiatives. Bates, a doctor, told the editorial board: "Just consider the Department of Human Services and the Oregon Health Authority. Who can I talk to about that? Getting the full team in place needs to be done quickly. In a matter of days, not weeks." Nobody is saying the words: Clean house. There likely is no need for such extensive surgery as Brown eyes legislative initiatives that must remain free of taint by Cylvia Hayes, whose influence in Kitzhaber's administration has yet to be fully unpacked. Richard Whitman, for example, Kitzhaber's environmental policy adviser, is esteemed for his mastery of complex natural resource issues and having brokered the near-impossible: a set of water-sharing agreements in the contentious Klamath Basin. But it will be up to Brown to build a buffer against the as-yet-unknown reach of Hayes, who'd collected more than $200,000 from private consulting contracts while working as a Kitzhaber adviser. In that sense, Brown has been dealt a potentially unlucky hand of cards with high stakes on the table. The governor's office will become untroubled when Brown clearly signals to lawmakers who's doing what and why and how. On the day of Brown's swearing in, the Portland newspaper Willamette Week published an account based upon emails in which Hayes claimed substantive authorship of Kitzhaber's Ten Year Energy Plan, and another from Kitzhaber's former chief of staff, Curtis Robinhold, who tried but failed to institute measures that would separate Hayes the first lady from Hayes the private consultant. On Friday, Brown held her first press conference and wisely told Oregonians she'd taken steps to ensure her office would be beyond ethical reproach. But pressing needs outside the building also loomed — needs that require Brown's swift attentions. The Hanjin pullout at the Port of Portland is a case in point. While the scale of the economic blow remains uncalculated, the labor stranglehold on port operations exerts effects on Oregon industries. EP Minerals, situated near Vale in eastern Oregon, finds itself bloated on stock it can no longer unload at the port; Bentz said the company, which employees 110 people in and around Vale, faces layoffs as a result. Consequences such as this add specific challenge to Brown's promise at her swearing in to serve all Oregonians struggling to make ends meet. In a sweeping move to integrate Oregon's educational efforts from birth to college and career, Kitzhaber guided the establishment in 2011 of the Oregon Education Investment Board and then chaired it. But the OEIB must yoke its many efforts to be in line with a state budget potentially clobbered on Thursday as positive revenue projections suggested money might be returned to taxpayers via the kicker. Now Brown chairs the OEIB, and her immediate guidance is needed. Separately, the Legislature struggles to implement a program of legal recreational marijuana sales, per the will of voters in their passage of Measure 91. But more than 70 towns and cities wish, against the terms of Measure 91, to tax retail sales of the drug, and Brown should help them stand down in their requests while at the same time respect Oregon's tradition of home rule — a tricky line to walk. The list of demands upon Brown's attention goes on, including much-needed advocacy for a liquid natural gas export facility at Coos Bay, potentially a boon to a near-collapsed coastal economy; as well as taking measures to ensure the timely release of public documents, an effort she pledged on Friday to support. Brown's leadership as governor starts in the troubled office vacated by Kitzhaber. But the office will become untroubled when Brown clearly signals to lawmakers who's doing what in the sprawling state government — and why and how. Brown surely will be too busy to take all calls and, in the roughly 20 months before the next election, unable single-handedly to ensure Oregon's economic, educational and environmental trajectories are upward and smooth. But if she gets the right team in place quickly and makes known where her legislative priorities lie, Oregon is positioned well to regain momentum in the session and beyond. By The Oregonian MailTribune.com By The Oregonian Posted Feb. 28, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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