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THE US WEST CONNECTION
Salem's latest appointments melodrama masks a battle of great importance to all Oregonians. We're perfectly willing to cut state Sen. Randy Miller (R-Lake Oswego) a little slack. Recently, the Associated Press ran a story stating that Miller, current chairman of the Senate Interim Rules and Executive Appointments Committee, had refused to schedule a confirmation hearing on Ron Eachus' proposed reappointment to the Oregon Public Utility Commission because of a trip Eachus took to Hanoi in December 1970, when he was student body president at the University of Oregon. Miller says the news account, which ran in The Oregonian and a number of other papers around the state, arose out of questions posed by an Associated Press reporter in Salem--not as a result of any effort he made to cast doubt on Eachus over his antiwar efforts more than a quarter of a century ago. "The Vietnam stuff," Miller told us last week, "it's not of concern to me." That's certainly a reasonable position to take. "We really ought to focus," continues the man who controls the scheduling of hearings for Gov. John Kitzhaber's executive appointments, "on [Eachus'] record as a commissioner." Eachus has served on Oregon's Public Utility Commission since it was reformulated as a three-person regulatory agency in 1987. During that time Eachus has carved out an admirable record--and can withstand any relevant inquiry. So why all the fuss over this appointment to another four-year term? Miller is harder to pin down on this question than on the matter of Eachus' Hanoi visit. When pressed, however, he says there is at least one aspect of Eachus' record that particularly interests him. "It's fair for us," Miller told WW, "to take the time to find out about...[Eachus'] history with US West. It seems like he's got it in for US West." Got it in for US West? Let's see now. The primary responsibility of the PUC, says the Oregon Blue Book, "is to ensure that customers of the state's utility industries receive safe, reliable service at reasonable rates." For years, Eachus and his fellow commissioners have been the only organized force in the state to keep after the phone company for its appalling service record, its diversion of substantial sums of money from rate payers into the Yellow Pages and its steadfast resistance to competition. As Eachus himself said in a Dec. 18 letter to Kitzhaber, in which he formally requested the pending reappointment, "I believe the Commission must take strong action to spur US West to improve service. The public deserves better service. Our economy suffers without it." Criticizing Eachus for consorting with the enemy decades ago would be laughable. Going after Eachus for his thoroughly legitimate efforts to regulate US West is far more serious. It suggests a callous disregard for the interests of everyone in this state who uses a telephone. Customers of US West know full well that, if anything, the PUC has let their phone company get away with too much, not too little. |
