Beavers serve up tasty win for Oregon's governor

There's some tasty North Carolina barbecue grub coming out West, thanks to the Oregon State Beavers' repeat drubbing of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels for the NCAA baseball championship.

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley make a friendly wager on the outcome of the championship series late last week.

But, perhaps Kulongoski ought to send the package he wagered anyway. Those folks in Carolina have seen what Oregon has to offer on the baseball diamond in the College World Series for two consecutive years now. Maybe they should also get a taste of the agriculture and food products we have out West too.

Congratulations to my alma mater OSU!

Here's the press release below Gov. Kulongoski's office issued today congratulating Oregon State.

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 25, 2007


Governor Congratulates Beavers on World Series Repeat, Commends UNC and Governor Easley on a Thrilling Weekend
Governors Kulongoski and Easley had agreed to a gentlemen’s wager on the series

Salem – Today Governor Ted Kulongoski offered his hearty congratulations to the Oregon State Beavers baseball team for their repeat championship in the NCAA College World Series this weekend with a pair of impressive 11-4 and 9-3 victories over the University of North Carolina Tar Heels.

“I think I can safely say that for at least one day, all Oregonians – all Beavers, all Ducks, all Vikings, even all Pilots – stand united in saying that we couldn’t be more proud of you,” said Governor Kulongoski. “Pat Casey and every member of the team have done an amazing job, putting the rest of the nation on notice that Beaver baseball is a force to be reckoned with.”

Last week, Kulongoski made a gentleman’s bet with North Carolina Governor Mike Easley on the outcome of the series. Governor Easley wagered one pound of barbecue, one bottle of barbecue sauce and one pint of slaw from both Wilber’s Barbecue of Goldsboro and the Barbecue Center Inc. of Lexington and a case of Cheerwine if the Beavers won. Governor Kulongoski put up a basket of products made in Oregon including a sampling of Pacific seafood, Oregon artisan cheeses, Oregon Brewers Guild craft beer and hazelnuts – perfect snack foods for an afternoon of baseball.

“The beavers showed up too strong in Omaha,” said Governor Easley. “Governor Kulongoski was their strongest supporter and I congratulate him and Oregon State on a great championship. I hope we will get a chance to play again next year. Go Beavers!”

“I appreciate Governor Easley’s kind words and the tasty North Carolina barbecue – a great way to enjoy this victory,” said Governor Kulongoski. “I look forward to next year and, who knows, perhaps another great rematch next season?”

The Beavers defeated the Tar Heels in the championships of the 2006 NCAA World Series. The Beavers are the first back-to-back champions since Louisiana State University in 1996-1997.

Governor will live on $3 per day: challenges others to do same

Consider yourself challenged.

No matter where you live, or what are your circumstances, do you think you could live on $3 per day for a week?

How about longer?

Unfortunately, for people on food stamps, that is the average amount of money they receive, and the challenges of affording food stretch much longer than just a day or a week.

Sometimes people can understand a situation better by walking a mile in someone’s shoes. Or in this case, sitting down at someone’s kitchen table.

One of the people who has decided to do more than just discuss this situation during Hunger Awareness Week, which runs April 23-29, and actually experience this firsthand is Oregon’s Gov. Ted Kulongoski.

He announced that he and his wife, Mary Oberst, will live off $3 per day, $21 for that whole week.

“I challenge all Oregonians to experience first-hand what thousands of Oregon families go through every day,” he said in a press release. “Budgeting just $1 a meal each day for food, and trying to make that food nutritious, is a difficult task that sadly is a reality for too many Oregonians and their families.”

The press release said more than 425,000 Oregonians use food stamps for meals. This helps support $855 million of economic activity, from grocers to farmers’ markets.

(Comparing another place in the West, Idaho had 155,000 people use food stamps last year. One of the challenges Idaho had was a large error rate, more than 11 percent when examined four years ago. Since then, the state has made a lot of changes, and finished 2006 with a less than 5 percent error rate, compared to the national average of 6 percent, and making it the second most improved Food Stamp program in the country.)

Food stamps are currently receiving a lot of debate as changes are being made to the Farm Bill this year. Many people are watching closely or attempting to influence what will be in the final version that is adopted.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, in an earlier speech to America’s Second Harvest Food Research and Action Center National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference Washington D.C., outlined how the government plans to cover food stamps under the proposed Farm Bill being worked on: “We’re recommending spending an additional $500 million over the next 10 years specifically targeted to buy fresh fruits and vegetables for these programs. And we’re recommending spending $2.75 billion over the next 10 years to buy fruits and vegetables for our nutrition assistance programs.”

For the West, any program that is encouraging more fruit and vegetables be purchased is good news for farmers.

Johanns went on to explain how much of the USDA budget goes to food assistance programs.

“I believe that these proposals make effective use of taxpayer dollars while strengthening and improving our food and our nutrition programs… Food assistance is a very large part of the USDA budget; 59 percent of USDA’s budget goes to these programs.

“I often comment that I think people sometimes look at the USDA and say, well that’s where the farmer programs are at, and that’s what they do over there. Well, we do that. And it’s very important to our mission. But far and away the largest piece of our budget would go into our food and nutrition programs.

“The President’s 2008 budget continues to strengthen the nutrition safety net by increasing funding for these programs by $2.5 billion for 4.4 percent,” Johanns said.

It’s fine to promise money for programs in the future, but many people are struggling to survive day-to-day now. They need guarantees, not promises, and their kitchen tables are empty now.

“Many of us will never know what it’s like not to know where our next meal will come from or whether we’ll have enough food in the cupboard to make it through the week,” Governor Kulongoski said.

“My hope is that participating in the food stamp challenge, Oregonians will gain a better understanding of what hundreds of thousands of Oregonians experience each month as they try to afford their families’ basic needs — transportation, housing, child care, health care — and food.”

Prior to his week of modest meals, Kulongoski planned to be in Washington, D.C. lobbying Oregon’s congressional delegates to fight to reauthorize the Food Stamp Program.

Perhaps it’s ironic that he’d visit there — at a place with some of the most expensive restaurants, hotels and other services — before settling down back at home trying to figure out his $3 days in Salem.

Curiously, the press release didn’t mention what the governor’s itinerary will be like the week of April 23-29: how much will he be at home, versus being on the road for work? Or attending business meals to make speeches? Will he plan to do any entertaining, and if so, how does he plan to feed his guests?

Hopefully Kulongoski can later share how he planned his meals, and gives us a glimpse of how they survived.

One big issue being addressed during Hunger Awareness Week is there is a need for food stamps. People are starving. Schools are trying to feed kids at least once a day to help them survive.

But Hunger Awareness Week should also be used to seek more solutions rather than just showing how tough things are and begging for more food stamps.

For people who can do so, teach them how to grow food, preserve food, invest their time and energy into some more sustainable way to provide for themselves and their neighbors.

Community gardens are one of the ways this can be done; perhaps there are other alternatives to help those people in such great need.

For the very young, the elderly and the ill, maybe there are other ways to ensure they do not go hungry but continue to have access to the safe, nutritional and healthy food American farmers and ranchers provide to the nation and the rest of the world.

For now, Kulongoski will help educate people who are more fortunate in life to understand the challenges faced by those who need help.

Now the challenge is for all of us to do more than just sympathize.


Technorati tags: Agriculture
Ted Kulongoski
food
foodstamps
Hunger Awareness Week
Mike Johanns
hunger
Oregon
Farm Bill

A peak behind the curtain

Today, I'm going to offer a look behind the scenes of at what happens when an opinion piece is written for the Capital Press.

One of our editorials in the Northwest editions of Capital Press first came to life here on Blogriculture as a post to our blog by Executive Editor Elaine Shein. Elaine is currently up in Canada, but was monitoring U.S. and Oregon election results from up there. She filed an opinion piece yesterday via e-mail and also and posted it on the Blogriculture site.

Two of the other members of our editorial board, Managing Editor Carl Sampson and I, read the piece and discussed it. We added a few refinements based on our observations of Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and his election win Tuesday night.

We edited the piece a little and used it on the Opinion page that will appear in the Northwest editions of the Capital Press that will hit newsstands, subscribers' homes and our CapitalPress.com website tomorrow.

But since you got a sneak peak at the "rough draft" of the editorial here at Blogriculture, I thought I would let our blog readers also get an advance copy of the final editorial as it will read tomorrow in print and online.

Here it is:

Kulongoski still has work to do to win over rural Oregon

Editorial

While Ted Kulongoski has won a second term as governor of Oregon, voters have sent him a strong message: He has a lot of work still to be done to gain the respect of rural Oregon -- particularly the farm and ranch community.

Unofficially, Kulongoski received just under 51 percent of the votes in this week's election. Republican Ron Saxton received 43 percent. As expected, Saxton did best in the rural areas, including the eastern and southern parts of the state. Kulongoski won Portland, the place Saxton needed to crack if he wished to be a serious contender.

Considering how poorly Republicans did nationally in both the House and Senate, and how well they did in other Oregon races, Kulongoski should note that his margin of victory was rather modest due to rural voters who opposed him in large numbers.

So what should Kulongoski do during a second term if he wants to create a legacy for all of Oregon and earn some respect from farmers and ranchers?

First, keeping Katy Coba in her job as director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture would be an admirable start. She has done an impressive job of representing the interests of agriculture at the state, national and international levels.

Secondly, Kulongoski should immediately arrange to start meeting more with the agricultural organizations and their representatives in this state. Kulongoski must do more to understand and work with the agricultural and rural communities. During his campaign, Kulongoski boasted that he travels extensively in Oregon and knows the state and its issues. However, it is apparent that rural communities don't feel they know the governor or that he has their best interests at heart.

He can, and should, do a much better job of learning the issues important to farm and ranch communities, seek common ground and collaborate on solutions. He has to show respect for those people who toil on the land and spend time talking with farmers and farm leaders on issues vital to farmers and Oregon's economy. The state's economy -- meaning the state's workers and taxpayers -- still heavily depend on natural resource industries such as farms, ranches, forests and fisheries.

Kulongoski needs to be more visible in rural Oregon. He must show he listens and can be influenced by those he meets in farm country, not just the traditional Democratic base of state employees and labor unions.

Thirdly, Kulongoski needs to show leadership. This is especially true now that his party also has control of the Legislature. However, he needs to show he can work with politicians from both parties, as the Republican legislators largely represent the parts of Oregon where Saxton captured the majority of votes. Kulongoski needs to find solutions to streamline confirmation of his appointments to commissions and boards; lead state government leaders to work toward solutions; and make the Oregon of tomorrow a progressive, viable, dynamic place to live and do business.

Kulongoski should meet with the small business association and see what can be done to encourage and support the growth of that sector.

Fourthly, the universities and education system are relying heavily on Kulongoski to deliver on promises he has made in recent months. They will watch the next state budget closely to see whether he truly believes Oregon State University and others should continue to have the resources and support they need.

And finally, Kulongoski and other Democrats elected Tuesday need to work to restore the faith of voters in politics here in the West. During Kulongoski's first term, the agricultural community became very disillusioned with him and the Democratic party. They felt more than just a power vacuum in Salem. They felt ignored, frustrated and forgotten.

If Kulongoski believes the election gave him a mandate to continue doing what he has in the last four years, he is forgetting that his own party was disillusioned with his leadership, which is why he faced such a crowded field of challengers in the spring primary election.

If he uses the election as a wake-up call and lesson on how to do things better and makes an honest attempt to work harder with the agricultural community, then there is hope for the future.

However, this election serves as a sobering reminder for the agriculture community as well. Democrats are even more solidly the party of power in Oregon and now have control of most seats in Congress. Agriculture leaders will need to court Democratic support for the issues important to their industry.

Political power in the West isn't based on acreage, it's based on population.

Oregon
Politics
Election
Ted Kulongoski
Capital Press
Editorial
Agriculture

Oregon election shows governor has work to do

While Ted Kulongoski has won a second term as governor of Oregon, voters have sent him a strong message: he has a lot of work still to be done to gain the respect of rural Oregon and particularly of the farm and ranch community.

Unofficially, Kulongoski received just under 51 percent of the votes in this week's election. Republican Ron Saxton received 43 percent. As expected, Saxton did best in the rural areas, as well as the eastern and southern parts of the state. Kulongoski won Portland, the place Saxton needed to crack if he wished to be a serious contender.

Considering how poorly Republicans did nationally, in both the House and Senate, and how Oregon has been more traditionally a Democrat stronghold, Kulongoski should find it sobering that almost half of the state's voters would rather have someone else lead them.

Nationally, polls before yesterday showed that three out of four voters were leaning towards Democrats because of disgust against corruption and scandals involving politicians, and in particular Republicans. There were also great discontent about the Iraq war.

In that context, Kulongoski's win shows it is even more shaky. Getting just over 50 percent of the votes does not show the state's voters are confident in his leadership. The votes may have emerged because of fear of what might happen if Saxton won, especially with some of the comments he has made about the employment of state workers and how he wanted to continue to attack their retirement plan.

So what should Kulongoski do during a second term if he wants to create a legacy or at the very least earn some respect from farmers and ranchers?

First, keeping director Katy Coba in her job in the agriculture department would be admirable. She has done an impressive job of representing the interests of agriculture at the state, national and international levels.

Secondly, Kulongoski should immediately arrange to start meeting more with the agricultural organizations and their representatives in this state. Instead of waiting for a big issues to hit the wall and be forced to react or veto what he doesn't like, Kulongoski should do more to understand and work with the agricultural and rural communities. Learn more about the issues, seek common ground and resolutions, and more importantly show respect for those people who toil the land.

Kulongoski needs to be more than just more visible to rural areas, but actually show he listens and can be influenced by those he meets.

Thirdly, Kulongoski needs to show leadership. This includes working with other politicians on both sides of politics. Kulongoski needs to find the solution so appointments can be made to commissions and boards; influence the government to work towards solutions; and move the state ahead to where it needs to be in the future, as a progressive, viable, dynamic place to live and do business. Kulongoski should meet with the small business association and see what can be done to encourage and support the growth of that sector.

Fourthly, the universities and education system are relying heavily on Kulongoski to deliver on promises he has made in recent months. They will watch the next state budget closely to see whether he truly believes Oregon State University and others should continue to have the resources and support they need.

And finally, Kulongoski needs to work to restore the faith of voters in politics here in the West. Under Kulongoski, the agricultural community has become very disillusioned with him and the Democrats. They have felt more than just a power vacuum in Salem: they have felt ignored, frustrated, and forgotten.

If Kulongoski feels the election gave him a mandate to continue doing what he has in the last four years, then he didn't deserve to win.

If he uses the election as a wake-up call and lesson on how to do things better, and makes an honest attempt to work harder with the agricultural community, then there is hope for the future.

Agriculture

Not ready for primetime podcast

Well, here goes nothing.

My first attempt at podcasting is, well, as done as I know how to make it. James Earl Jones has no reason to fear I will cut into his voiceover work.

But, if you are dying to hear our first Capital Press podcast you can find the file here. We'll work on getting an RSS feed and registering with iTunes as we do here.

I'm calling the podcast the Farmers' C.A.P. or Farmers Capital Press Agriculture Podcast. Episode 1 features music by Capital Press reporter Mitch Lies. Our theme music is called "Proud" from Mitch's "Escapist" CD.

We also have a few audio clips in there from our editorial board endorsement interviews with
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and his challenger Ron Saxton. More audio from those sessions can also be found online here (and the bonus on those audio files is that I only asked a couple of questions, so you don't have to hear my voice on those!).

Feel free to download Farmers' C.A.P. episode 1 if you like. It's about a 5 megabyte file and is about 5 1/2 minutes long. Download at your own risk.

Agriculture
Podcast
Capital Press
Election

Hear Saxton, Kulongoski speak on agriculture, other issues

Want to hear what Oregon's two leading gubernatorial candidates have to say on issues related to agriculture? Now you can.

The Capital Press editorial board and the editorial boards of our sister papers in the East oregonian Publishing Co. interviewed Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Republican challenger Ron Saxton on issues like the minimum wage, climate change, the estate tax and more.

Now you can hear what the candidates had to say for themselves on these issues and more.

And see who the Capital Press is endorsing in the race on Friday, Oct. 20, in Oregon editions of Capital Press and online at CapitalPress.com.

Agriculture
Oregon
Election
Politics
Ted Kulongoski
Ron Saxton

Interviewing governor candidates

What would you ask if you had a chance to meet a politician face-to-face who wanted to be your governor?

Today several of our staff had a chance to interview current Gov. Ted Kulongoski and his challenger, Ron Saxton, who are competing for the job in Oregon.

Our sister newspapers in the East Oregonian Publishing Company had about an hour to ask questions, and Capital Press journalists had about half an hour to concentrate on agricultural questions.

We were fortunate that even though these two men are extremely busy with their campaign, we were given such a block of time.

Within the next few days, our website will feature the audio of our interviews with the politicians. We will also soon publish our endorsements (Oct. 20) of who we think will make the best governor.

While all of our newspapers had a chance to work together to interview the politicians, we each have the editorial independence to decide who we want to endorse and what we want to say. That is important for the readers we serve: for example, the Daily Astorian, serves readers on the Oregon Coast who may have different concerns and questions then the East Oregonian that covers eastern Oregon.

Capital Press serves an agricultural audience, and we think of the farmers, ranchers and also the people who have small woodlots.

And yes, there have been times in the past when our various newspapers have taken different stands on who should be governor, whether a measure should be approved or not, and even what we think will be the implications of how people vote in an election.
Will everyone agree with our assessments?

No. Part of being a democracy is being able to hold different points of view and being able to freely express them.

That is one of the reasons we hope our readers will share their views with us, by e-mailing us at opinion@capitalpress.com so we can share their viewpoints with others.

We welcome your letters.

Agriculture
Politics
Oregon
Ted Kulongoski
Ron Saxton

Candidates show class despite voter — and media — apathy

By Elaine Shein

At this time it appears the ballots are still being counted, percentages figured out, and the analysis continues, but there is one thing that really came through in this election.

Politicians can spend millions of dollars on a primary election … but they still can’t convince someone to care enough to go drop off a ballot.

Statewide, the last estimate tonight was just over 32 percent voter turnout of those who had registered. In some of the counties with the biggest populations, like Multnomah County, it was just over 30 percent; Clackamas and Washington Counties turned in numbers in the mid-20s.

Pundits suggested there wasn’t an issue that struck enough passion to draw voters. That is difficult to believe in a state that is one of the most passionate in the nation every time someone mentions “raising taxes” or “land use”. Oregon struggles with some of the most serious meth and other drug problems in the country, schools are miserably fighting for funds to stay open, and fuel prices are choking the economy. And don’t not even talk about PERS and the impact that had on people.

Agriculture had a lot of issues to be passionate about, but unfortunately very seldom did politicians talk about agriculture when it came to the urban, mainstream media where it might have caught more attention and focus in an election year.

Actually, by tonight it appeared the mainstream media had lost interest altogether in the election. Checking the television stations, it became clear that the media felt they had given the politicians enough airtime — for now — and there are much more important things to catch attention in this state.

Note to politicians: never hold an election during TV sweeps week, when season finales and final episodes of long-running shows compete for the mighty advertising dollar and consumer. While the TV stations promised to keep voters tuned in to the latest election results, it was pathetic to see how the coverage turned out. Trying to find out the local results for their local county, or issue, or favorite candidate, voters were encouraged to go to websites instead.

Guess what? Not everyone has internet access. Or high speed internet connections. Or the time and patience to try to find the information online, scrolling through the election results. They probably gave up, turned to Larry King to watch the delightful Donny and Marie Osmond reunite on TV for the first time in 5 years, or checked out the season finales of their favorite shows.

The election coverage was such a joke on other stations, CNN had a chance to compete with some real comedians in the Osmonds. Perhaps Larry King’s show was appropriate for election night.

At least King gave the Osmonds enough time to speak. The television networks, every one of them it appeared, didn’t think it was worthwhile to show the complete speeches of the political candidates — especially the victorious ones — tonight.

Viewers got partial speeches. As soon as the candidates began to 1) thank those who supported them 2) launch into anything that sounded like an election speech against opponents this fall, they were cut off and political analysts, pundits, commentators and anyone else was brought on to discuss what was just said (or at least part of what was said). This is an insult to the candidates but especially to all those hardworking, dedicated, passionate volunteers.

The media coverage was shoddy, and did little to create interest, passion and pride in voters. Voters earned the right to see their candidates as well as their opponents do their speeches. This is the time to unite parties, prepare for the bigger fall election battles, and also hopefully create more interest for people to exercise their right to vote.

But this didn’t happen.

The speeches didn’t air, or those messages were cut out.

Why was it so important to hear these last speeches from perhaps candidates we may never see running again for public office?

In this election, there was a lot of mudslinging. The public claims to hate that ugly side of politics, yet the politicians swear they work and influence voters.

Put that ugliness aside for now, and hope that politicians can rise above that in the next few months when this state needs to pull together more than ever to deal with the challenges out there, but also find opportunities to work together towards opportunities.

Forgetting the terrible attack ads, it’s time to focus on some signs of class that came out of the election today:

1) All three top Republican candidates have decided to appear together at a press conference to show unity and also support the person who won. Ron Saxton won, but the decision to do this press conference was made before results even came in tonight.

2) Incumbent Governor Ted Kulongoski thanked the two people who ran against him and felt it taught him a few lessons and prepared him to be stronger for the fall election. One of the highest praises he could give them: Oregon is better for the service they have provided the state.

3) Jason Atkinson deserves special credit for how he vowed not to do an attack campaign, and may have influenced the Republican party to have higher standards in the future.

4) Jim Hill showed modest, sincere appreciation and gratitude to the unions who supported him and said he did what needed to be done, bringing issues that were important to the front of the election.

5) Kevin Mannix was one of the last people to leave his election party tonight in Portland. With a small table of family and supporters being the last to leave the room, Mannix talked about it being like an Irish wake, and took the time to enjoy being with loved ones but also reflect on the election with the people closest to him. For someone who has run so many times unsuccessfully for some of the top jobs in the state, Mannix showed class in how he handled defeat, right to the end.

Tomorrow, some election signs will come down, others will go up, and the fight to collect more volunteers, endorsements, money and ultimately voters will begin even more earnestly for those who continue to battle.

Hopefully in the fall the voters will do their part and show up in larger percentages to take part in this great democracy.

And hopefully the television stations will accept more responsibility to show history as it unfolds rather than concentrate on what entertainment shows will catch the largest audiences and commercial dollars at this time of year.




Agriculture