WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013•THE BULLETIN AS
UPDATE: SUPREME COURT
Relieving elementary school crowding
Justicesweigh limits on campaign contributions
At the beginning of the 2013-14 school year, almost half of the elementary schools in Bend reported having more students than their official capacity. Now
By Adam Liptak
Committee. It is in one way New Yorlz Times News Service modest and in another amW A SHINGTON — T h e bitious. It does not attack Supreme Court on Tuesday the familiar basic limits on seemed prepared to strike contributions from individudown a part of federal cam- als to candidates or party paign finance law left intact committees.The $2,600 cap by its decision in Citizens on contributions to a given United in 2010: overall limits candidate in each election, on direct contributions from for instance, is not at issue in individuals to candidates. the case. The justices seemed to Instead, the challengers divide along familiar ideo- take issue w it h s e parate logical lines, and they aroverall limits of $48,600 evticulated starkly d i f ferent ery two years for individuunderstandings of the role als' contributions to all fedof money and free speech in eral candidates and $74,600 American politics. to political party commit"By having these limits, tees. (Federal law continues you are promoting demo- to ban direct contributions cratic participation," Justice to candidates or p o l itical Ruth Bader Ginsburg said. parties from c o rporations "Then the little people will and unions.) "These limits," said Erin count some and you won't have the super-affluent as Murphy, a lawyer for Mcthe speakers that will con- Cutcheon, "simply seek to trol the elections." p revent i n dividuals f r o m Justice Antonin Scalia re- engaging in too much First sponded, sarcastically, that Amendment activity." he assumed "a law that only Solicitor General Donald prohibits the speech of 2 per- Verrilli responded that the cent of the country is OK." a ggregate limits w ere a n Chief Justice John Rob- important tool t o p r event erts, who p r obably holds circumvention of the base the crucial vote, indicated limits. A l l owing m u l t iple that he was inclined to strike contributions to i n t erlockdown overall limits on con- ing political committees aftributions to several candi- filiated with candidates and dates, but perhaps not sepa- parties could, he said, efrate overall limits on contri- fectively funnel large sums butions to several political from individuals to support committees. given candidates. The case, McCutcheon v. Should the court a gree Federal Election Commis- that overall limits are unsion, No. 12-536, is a sort of constitutional, the decision sequel to the court's 2010 could represent a f u n d adecision in Citizens United, mental reassessment of a which struck down l i m its basic distinction established on independent campaign in Buckley v. Valeo in 1976, spending by c o r porations which said that c ontribuand unions. The new case is tions may be regulated more an attack on the other main strictly than e x penditures pillar of federal campaign because of their potential for finance regulation: limits on corruption. contributions made directly Last year, a three-judge to political candidates and panel of th e U .S. District party committees. Court in Washington upheld The case wa s b r ought the overall limits, saying that by Shaun McCutcheon, an they were justified by the Alabama businessman, and need to prevent the circumthe R epublican N a t ional vention of the basic limits.
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reception at the White House. The president of the Republic of Continued from A1 Ireland got a green carpet welThe gregarious Bill Clin- c o me in 1959. ton hosted 23 state dinners, Giv e n t h e f ederal governGeorge H.W. Bush gave 21 m ent shutdown and the conand Ronald Reagan held 35, f l ict in Syria, the U.S. may have according to State Depart- b e en relieved by Brazil's postment records. ponement, Rubens Barbosa, Some peg the drop-off to B r a zil's f ormer a mbassador the expense of the events, t o the U.S., said at a briefing which is wholly borne by h o s ted by the Inter-American the U.S. government. D ialogue, a research center in "State visits take time, W a shington. "Perhaps the administration they absorb a lot of energy; therefore, presidents don't w a s happy to not worry about do many of them," said Erik a n o ther visit in the middle of G oldstein, a professor of th i s d y sfunctionality i n t h e international relations and s y stem here," Barbosa said. He historyatBostonUniversity s a i d the decision to postpone who's written about the poli- w a s the best course of action tics of state visits. He notes g i ven the rift. "The visit was that th e B r i tish queen, who i mportant, but i t doesn't have the j t jI lri jf the was ceremonial," responsibility he said. "After the I eg/ gjI jflg jS of running govstate visit B razil e rnment, hosts j e<~ j ®><~ would remain in only two state tD COme jri the sameplace." visits ayear. g r id dp tQ e jr The U.S.-BrazilL aw r e n c e ian re l ationship D unham, a n has endured bigger
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Source: Bend-La Pine Schools
Sites Continued from A1 The district has a 90-day due diligence period before purchasing th e e l ementary site during which it will conduct an environmental and geotechnicalassessment. For the middle school site, there is a 180-day period, during which the district will assess the site's infrastructure needs, request from the city an urban growth boundary expansion and conduct both an e nvironmental and geotechnical assessment. The district will have to adjust attendance boundaries. "Because of the i ntended impact ofboth of these schools
Andy Zeigert /The Bulletin
"It's a very aggressive timeline to open by 2015, but I believe it is possible." — Peggy Kinkade, Bend-La Pine Schools board
provide Bend its first campus with an elementary, middle, and high school. "There are a lot of benefits to this a r rangement, some that come to m in d i n clude transportation," Henry said. "If a family has a student in all three schools, it's easier on them, though there are different start t imes. There could also be some sharing on (over-capacity) and (near- of space or mentoring of the capacity) schools, the bound- younger students by the older ary process needs to be com- students." prehensive. You're not j u st The district has already aptweaking the boundaries of a proved architectural contracts few schools," Superintendent for both sites. "We are well into the process Ron Wilkinson said. While the specifics of the of planning for these schools," boundary r e vision p r ocess board member Peggy Kinkade have no t b e e n fi n a l ized, said. "It's a very aggressive W ilkinson emphasized t h e timeline to open by 2015, but I process would be"a very full believe it is possible."
public process."
— Reporter: 541-633-2160, tleeds@bendbulletin.com
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Pond Continued from A1 G ravely said t h e w a t e r level in Mirror Pond will drop sharply during the inspection, but will quickly return to its current level — roughly two feet below normal — after the inspection is complete. He said in its current state, the dam and the pond are functioning like a bathtub with an overflow drain — unless water flowing into the pond is substantially increased, the water level will remain thesame. Gravely said although the leak appearsto be repairable at this point, PacifiCorp won't know what its next move is until the inspection is completed. The future of the 100year-old hydropower dam has been central to the question of what should be done about silt buildup in Mirror Pond, and PacifiCorp has said the time will come when the dam is no longer economical to operate — in 2008 and 2009, the company repaired three separate breaches in the dam, all of which were determined to be age-related. PacifiCorp will share the findings of its inspection and its possible options with the committee studying the siltation question, Gravely said. Since the process began earlier in the year, the public discussion has focused largely around two options, leaving the dam in place and dredging the pond, or removing the dam to create more natural river conditions. "It's not going to be a strictly internal thing," Gravely said. "We will let folks know what we're finding, we'll be in contact with the leaders there in the city that are managing the process." Jim Figurski, a consultant working on the siltation issue for the Bend Park & Recreation District, said the current state of Mirror Pond is similar to what might be expected if the dam were removed. The mudflats that have emerged around Mirror Pond would not have to be a permanent fixture
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A mudfiat is visible Tuesday in therecessed Deschutes River upstream from the Newport Avenue bridge and Pacific Power dam. Formore photos, visit Qwww.bendbuiietin.com/lowpond if the dam were removed, he said — most likely, portions of the now-muddy areas would be planted with aquatic plants, while other portions would be shaped to create a combination of dry land and more natural riverbank. The channel could be moved to a limited extent, Figurski said, but would eventually find its own course. "If this is where the project ends up, in a dam-removal scenario, a complete dam-removal scenario, there's a chance within that scenario to sculpt the edges a bit and also sculpt the plant communities a bit, at least initially," he said. Figurski said he's located photos from 1995, the last record of Mirror Pond being as low as it is now. He said he took a trip around the pond Tuesday morning to compare the 1995 photos with the current view and found them quite similar,
suggesting the last dredging in 1984 was followed by a period of rapid silt accumulation that has since slowed. The committee is t a king advantage of the low waters to approach the family that claims to own the bottom of
the pond about testing the mud for contaminants. The McKay family of Portland acquired the land before construction of the dam, and recently reasserted their claim. Figurski said the family has been hesitant to allow the mud to be tested, as they could be held liable for cleaning up any h azardous materials discovered during testing. The McKay claim is one of several issues that prevent the pond from being dredged now, Figurski said. Even if the family approved of such a plan, permits would need to be issued and the state Division of State Lands would want to re-
view dredging plans, he said. Jeremy Giffin, watermaster for the Deschutes River basin, said water levels in M i r r or Pond should remain relatively stable through the winter even if the dam is not repaired. By adjusting the amount of water let out of Wickiup Reservoir and the amount sent to irrigation districts that pull water from the river upstream, around 550 cubic feet per second are flowing into Mirror Pond today, Giffin said. Flows
will bereduced to around 500 cubic feet per second next week, he said. "What we're seeing in Mirror Pond right now is more a result of the dam leak than it is from the river flow," Giffin said. "This is a typical wintertime flow we're seeing." Later this month, park district Executive Director Don Horton and Bend City Councilor Mark Capell are scheduled to meet with PacifiCorp to learn more about the company's longer-term plans for the Newport Avenue Dam. The meeting had been scheduled prior to the discovery of the new leak. Capell said he doesn't think the committee can make a decision on Mirror Pond until it gets greater clarity from PacifiCorp. "Our goal is to find out what they want to do and how do we move forward together,"Capell said. "And, they've been
really good about saying they want to do what's best for the community, and so do we, so let's get it done." — Reporter: 541-383-0387, shammers@bendbulletirLcom
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a ttributes t h e asia Group, a risk t j1jrigS " d ecline in t h e consultancy based number of such — Lawrence Dunham, in New York. visits to prac- f o r mer assistant chief "Canceling the ticality amon g of pro t ocol at the s t ate visit w asn't world leaders. StateDepartment a bsurd," he said. "I think t he State visits, he addr eal t h in g i s ed, involve a "lot of people want to come in and p o mp, a lot of flags," and for the do their business," Dunham p r esidents "just to point fingers said. "We've become much at each other, who would benmore businesslike in th e e f i t f r omthis'?" way we do things." Outraged Brazilians were Rousseff's postponement c a l ling on Rousseff to go furof the trip may be unprec- t h er, includingpullingtheir amedented, but it's not the first b a ssador to the U.S., said Paulo time that something un S o t ero Marques, the director expected has marked the o f t h e Brazil Institute of the pomp and flourish of a state W o odrow Wilson International visit. Center for Scholars. In 1970, an o therwise He t h i nks Rousseff canceled well-choreographed visit by "more out of sorrow than anFrench President Georges g er," adding that the surveilPompidou w a s ma r r e d l a n ce issue would have overwhen demonstrators pro- s h adowed the event. testing the sale of French The f a l lout, he said,"could warplanes to Libya jostled b e minimal if the two work to Pompidou and his wife on a k eep the lines of communicaside trip to Chicago. tion open and reach some sort "Pompidou was put off of u n d erstanding satisfactory by that," Goldstein said. t o both." But that has yet to hap"He didn't make an official p e n : Rousseff used a United protest, but it's clear after N a t ions address to continue to that that his feelings about c r i ticize the U.S. surveillance, the U.S. were pretty dimin- s a y ing it wasn't acceptable. "Tampering in such a manished, and it affected the rest of his time in office about n e r in the lives and affairs of France's attitude toward the o t her countries is a breach of United States." international law and, as such, That's a step above the i t i s an affront to the principles reception accorded Haitian t h a t should otherwise govern President Louis Borno, who r e lations a m ong c o untries, was told in 1926 — before e specially among friendly nastate visits existed in th e t i o ns," Rousseff said. U.S. government lexicon Oba m a has already filled in — that he could have an of- h i s calendar for Oct. 23, the day ficial visit, "but only at his the state dinner was to have own expense," Goldstein b e en held: The White House sard. has announced that Pakistani The first visit to the Unit- P r i me Minister Nawaz Sharif ed States officially classified w i l l meet with Obama that day. as a state visit in modern The v i s it, the White House times was that of President s a id, "will highlight the imporSyngman Rhee of Korea in t a nce and resilience of the U.S.1954, Goldstein said. The P a k istan relationship." chief executive decides on whom to bestow a state visit, and most are designed to lifting system upgrades showcase a solid relationand $100 mail-in rebates ship between the countries,
mark the end of a period of
Rob Kerr /The Bulletin
Augu s to de Castro
distance between them or symbolize a rising new status for a country. Most state visits involve an elegant dinner, a stay at Blair House — near the White House — and a meeting between the leaders, all preceded by a red carpet
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