LETTERS

SEN. GEORGE: SELF-MADE ROGUE
Like many fiscal conservatives, Sen. Gary George considers being named "Rogue of the Week" a badge of honor [Feb. 21, 2001]. But like all honest people, Sen. George likes to earn the titles he wins.

While it is true that Sen. George sponsored a record number of bills this session, Willamette Week is wrong in asserting that each bill cost taxpayers $1,000 to draft. This figure, provided by Legislative Council (LC), represents an average computed by dividing LC's attorney costs by the number of bills written.

Despite additional workload, LC was able to handle bill-drafting tasks with attorneys on hand. What's more, LC attorneys are paid a fixed salary, regardless of how many bills they draft. This being the case, WW's assertion that Sen. George's 150 bills cost taxpayers $150,000 to draft is simply wrong. LC labor costs would remain the same if 400 bills were written--or 4,000.

The only true additional expense incurred by the number of bills submitted by Sen. George deals with printing and word processing. These expenses will be offset many times over by tax savings if even one of Sen. George's many cost-cutting bills is enacted. Let's face it: Over the years, the Legislature has passed many laws depriving Oregonians of their money, property and freedom. Though unfortunate, many bills will be necessary to reverse even some of these losses.

Willamette Week also fails to note that many of Sen. George's bills come directly from constituents. In keeping with Oregon's long tradition of citizen activism, Sen. George has done his very best to make the legislative process open to average Oregonians. While this has resulted in the introduction of more bills, which Sen. George may or may not support, upholding the ideal of citizen involvement must take priority.

If drafting a lot of tax-saving bills and upholding the ideal of citizen involvement earns Sen. George a "Rogue of the Week" award, he has truly earned it and hopes to win many more.

Richard P. Burke
Legislative Assistant to
Sen. Gary George, Salem

WW Responds: Because we strive for accuracy, we forwarded Mr. Burke's comments to Gregory Chaimov, the head of legislative counsel, to see if Burke was correct. Mr. Chaimov sent the following reply, edited for space and clarity, to our question, "Is this accurate?"

"Not quite. The $1,000 per bill figure represents the average cost of professional services--attorney and editor--devoted to the drafting of a bill. As often as not, the bulk of the time spent on the preparation of a bill is by editors--non-legal professionals--not lawyers.

Sen. George's office is correct to the extent that we calculate the average figure by dividing the cost of drafting services by the number of drafts requested. Sen. George's office is correct that, if Sen. George had not made so many requests, we would have devoted some of those $150,000 in services to other projects. Sen. George's office is not correct, however, to suggest that our office's total drafting costs are fixed ahead of time and would have remained the same regardless of the number of drafts Sen. George requested. How many session staffers we hire and how long they work depends in part on the number of requests for drafts we receive. (This session, we have hired seven additional attorneys and 15 additional employees, mostly editors, in our Publication Services section.) If we do not use up the funds allocated for session staff, those funds revert to the General Fund for use by other agencies. In past bienniums, we sent several hundred thousand dollars back to the General Fund. Not any more."

THE REGAL GUILLOTINE
Thank you to David Walker for his thoughtful piece on Regal Cinemas' closure of the Eastgate Theater ("Downsize This," Feb. 28, 2001). Mr. Walker nicely captured the uniqueness of the Eastgate, which was really the last great place in Portland to watch a movie. On behalf of my fellow Eastgate-philes, I'd like to say how nice it is that someone out there feels our pain. In addition, Mr. Walker is right that we film fans need to examine our consciences and our viewing choices, and think about what message we're sending to movie makers.

I think Mr. Walker errs, however, in laying all the blame for the Eastgate's closure at the feet of consumers. Make no mistake about it: Regal Cinemas is responsible for the death of the Eastgate. Had the company appreciated what it had in the Eastgate, programmed accordingly, and adequately publicized the theater's features, the Eastgate would still be open--and maybe even thriving.

As Mr. Walker points out, the Eastgate "was the sort of place where the spectacle of film could be viewed in all its grandeur." If Regal's managers had understood or cared about this fact, they would have scheduled films at the Eastgate accordingly. Whenever the studios produced something sweeping or epic, or even just visually interesting, Regal would have taken pains to make sure such a film showed at the Eastgate. The company did not do this.

Let's look at the examples of three of the most visually compelling, "biggest" films that came out in the two years since Regal took over Portland's theaters. When The Matrix was released in March 1999, Regal did not put it at the Eastgate, instead showing EdTV (Ron Howard's dead-on-arrival Truman Show knockoff) in the big theater there. When Gladiator--one of the few true epics to emerge from Hollywood in recent years--came out in May 2000, Regal had 28 Days (Sandra Bullock's recovery "comedy") at the Eastgate. And this January, when Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon went to wide release in Portland, it didn't stop at the Eastgate. Regal instead showed Sean Penn's latest bleak directing effort, The Pledge, there. In fact, Regal's programming at the Eastgate was consistently terrible--seemingly willfully so.

It may be the case that in these straitened times for movie theaters, nothing could have saved the mighty Eastgate. But Regal Cinemas certainly didn't try very hard.

Christopher J. Myers
Southeast Harrison Street

...AND STATISTICS!
I am sorry that Willamette Week is more interested in sensational headlines than facts. Your article on fluoridation ("The F-Word," WW, Feb. 21, 2001) is a disgrace. The article is laced with lies and half-truths. Fluoridation of public water is a safe and effective way to dramatically decrease tooth decay.

Kenneth D. Rosenberg, MD
Northeast Knott Street

WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT
Regarding the recent article about Oregon Dental Director H. Whitney Payne's ridiculous crusade to fluoridate our water ["The F-Word," WW, Feb. 21, 2001]: Public water systems have one purpose--to supply pure, drinkable water to the public. Artificially adding fluoride changes the purpose of our public water systems, and denying voters the right to reject being poisoned in this way is simply wrong. Whether I decide to use fluoride or some other substance to clean my teeth is my business, not H. Whitney Payne's. Dr. Charles Gordon Heyd, past president of the American Medical Association, has warned, "Fluoride is a corrosive poison that will produce serious effects on a long-range basis. Any attempt to use water this way is deplorable." This is just one example of statements made by the top medical authorities in our nation based on the latest medical research. Fluoridation is also objected to by 14 Nobel Prize winners--scientists and researchers who have been recognized for their outstanding work in the fields of medicine and chemistry. Home water filters do not remove fluoride. That means fluoride would be in your rice, pasta, jello, frozen fruit drinks, ice cubes, coffee, tea, hot chocolate--everything that you use tap water for at home and meals that you eat in restaurants. Maybe the $88,000 grant given to the Oregon Health Division by the U.S. government to promote public acceptance of fluoridation should have been earmarked for subsidization of low-income dental care, rather than promoting fluoridation propaganda. Anyone can become educated by visiting the website www.nofluoride.com. I am proud of the fact that Portland is the only large city in the U.S. that has shunned fluoridation, and I want to keep it that way.

Lisa Scarpelli
Southwest Yamhill Street