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Posts published in June 2016

Beware the seniors

June 6, 2016

rainey

Used to be, when people got to a certain age, they were supposed to follow the example of old elephants who - at that certain are - slowly walk out into the forest, lean against a tree and wait for the Grim Reaper. Then came “60 is the new 50,” “70 is the new 60,” and so forth. More exercise and better drugs, I guess.

These aging thoughts were brought to mind recently by a demographic survey done by the National Conference of State Legislatures and an outfit called “Stateline.” Ranked by the age of its members, Idaho’s Legislature is the second “oldest” in the country. Average age: 63. Oldest individual member: 80. Only New Hampshire averaged older: 66.

Our neighboring states came in quite a bit younger. Washington’s legislature averages 58 years with a general population average age of 47. Oregon’s lawmakers average 58 years with a population average of 46. Residents of Idaho average 47. If you’re thinking about average years of a member of Congress, it’s 59. Both parties are about identical. Democrats just seem older.

At the youngest end of the legislative spectrum, Puerto Rico and Michigan tied at 50 - with Florida third at an average of 51 years.

Now, before anyone hits the “reply” key to accuse me of “ageism” - whatever the Hell that is - let it known I am the same age as Idaho’s oldest member: 80. You may be thinking of this discussion of the elderly in terms of older folks. I’m talking about peers. And younger.

While the studies didn’t survey occupations, Idaho’s legislature has always had a high proportion of retirees. Nothing wrong with retirees, I guess, if they don’t hang around too long.

Case in point: Idaho’s late Rep. Don Maynard - a retiree from Sandpoint - who was in his 70's at the time. He spent most of the 1960's in the House. His one distinction: he never debated. Never. Nor did he sponsor any bills. He showed up every day, kept his mouth shut and voted when the bell rang. Until the final day of one particular session.

It had been unusually long that year. Lasted nearly till May. On the final day, the body got into a wrangle over something. Debate got heated. And long. Then, Rep. Maynard stood up and reached for his microphone - a microphone he never once used. The chamber fell silent - waiting to hear Maynard’s wise contribution to the lengthy discussion.

“I ask the members of this body to reach a quick solution to this issue and let the Speaker pronounce we are adjourned,” the ever-silent Maynard pleaded. “My wife is waiting in the ante room and the slot machines at Jackpot are getting colder.”

As members laughed, I was thinking at the press desk, “Four months of silence and this is his first contribution to debate? What the Hell has he been thinking all these years?”

People retire at different times and for different reasons. The way it should be. But there’s clear evidence many in politics hang around too long and become less of a representative of the people and more of a problem. Senators Robert Byrd and Strom Thurmond come to mind. In later years - as they attempted to set some sort of record as “longest serving” - neither man could find his way from his office to the Senate chamber. And neither - despite previous legislative accomplishments - was contributing much but added payroll for on-the-job caregivers.

Commercial pilots are age-limited. In some states, so are other occupations. Cognitive abilities make no difference. Issues of risk and public safety take priority. Well, what about public good?

It’s doubtful there could ever be a qualification for public office because of advanced age. Certainly not for intelligence or common sense. But issues facing legislative and congressional bodies these days are complex, moving at a pace we’ve never seen before. More information faster and in larger amounts. Many our 70's and 80's may think we’re still able to keep up but, often, we really can’t. Just as our other, slower, age-related reflexes affect our athletic efforts or such things as our ability to drive as safely, our intellectual prowess isn’t as reliable, either.

For the last 30 years or so, Idaho’s legislature has suffered from arrogance, ignorance and outright stupidity dealing with some issues. Proof of that is found in the millions and millions of tax dollars paid to attorneys after losing cases involving legislative bone-headed decisions made while ignoring competent legal advice. And other millions awarded to individuals and organizations because of unconstitutional and illegal actions pursued - again, after being warned.

While some of that may be charged to nutcase, right wing political blackout regardless of age, I’d guess some older, not as sharp minds contributed as well. Not understanding the issues, not wanting to appear so to peers and more easily swayed by illegitimate arguments.

Taking stock of one’s physical and mental abilities in later years is not only wise, it’s absolutely essential if you want to enjoy that period you’ve been working and planning for. Endurance as a senior - physical and mental - is highly individualized and differs greatly. And, for some, stepping aside for younger folks not as experienced is hard to do.

But doing so is, more often than not, the right thing. And it should happen long before the overwhelming desire to play shuffleboard. Or go to Jackpot!

The voter-built agency

June 4, 2016

stapiluslogo1

Idaho voters over the years have had a hand in reshaping or founding several important state agencies, from the Department of Water Resources to the reapportionment commission. But the Department of Fish & Game may be the most voter-impacted of all.

The dispute ongoing now, involving two Fish & Game commissioners - Mark Doerr of Kimberly and Will Naillon of Challis – who were not reappointed by Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter, makes for a direct reflection on some of that.

Idaho has had fishing and hunting rules since its early territorial days; the first were set in 1864, banning big game hunting for a period from February to July. But those rules were on the honor system. No one enforced fish or game law until after statehood, when in 1899 the Fish & Game Department was first created and a game warden was hired. (Maybe there’s an indicator here: Idaho is among the states referring to “game” in its agency name, while most other nearby states, such as Washington, Oregon, California, Montana and Utah, refer to “wildlife”.)

That early agency was under direct political control, meaning that governors appointed the executives and oversaw the staff, and legislatures directly set much of the policy. Not many years passed before complaints began to surface. As early as 1911 the state Game Warden, Frank Kendall, advised “placing the fish and game department of Idaho on a scientific basis and in order to do so we must have men who have made this a study and are familiar with the needs and requirement of this line of work, regardless of political affiliations, and to this end I would recommend … we place the men who are directly in the fish and game department under a civil service ruling and retain them as long as they do good work.”

Sportsmen's groups started calling for the same thing, pressing the legislature to upgrade the state fish and game efforts. Lobbying over a span of 25 years by Idaho’s many hunters and fishers got them nowhere.

In 1938 they mobilized to place on the ballot their proposal, placing fish and game under control of a commission and requiring that officers hold and keep their jobs based on merit. At a time when suspicion of government expansion was not so different from now across much of Idaho, the initiative passed with 76 percent of the vote. That measure set the framework for the Department of Fish & Game still in place today.

Nothing in government can ever truly be “taken out of politics,” and in the broad sense shouldn’t be – that would mean the public has no input, no control. And there’s often some tension between what various people in the public, and sometimes their elected officials, want and what the fish and game department and commission do. But the measure of independence usually has been seen as a plus.

In 1995, new Governor Phil Batt asked for letters of resignation of the commissioners; he had wanted the departure of the then-director, Jerry Conley, and a number of policy changes. A statewide eruption ensued, and Batt dropped his request for the resignations.

He later told Idaho Public Television, “I found out that was a mistake, I apologized for it, and since that time I have never tried to influence any decision of the Fish and Game Commission. I don't think that I should. I do think that we all have to work together for the good of the State of Idaho, I've impressed that on them many a time, but I've never tried to tell them what they have to do or what they can't do.”

The tension is always there. Doerr and Naillon could tell you about that.

CWI’s legacy

June 3, 2016

mendiola

Mark Mendiola, a longtime eastern Idaho journalist, recently worked for the Idaho Cleanup Project.

When I first started covering the Idaho Cleanup Project’s many activities at the Idaho National Laboratory site for CH2M-WG Idaho (CWI) as a communications specialist in November 2009, it was especially reassuring for me to witness the high caliber of veteran employees who had racked up many decades of experience working with high levels of radioactivity in a very hazardous environment.

As a “boots-on-the-ground roving reporter” for CWI, I was privileged to experience first hand projects that took Herculean efforts and tremendous resourcefulness to complete, invariably weeks ahead of schedule and substantially under budget.

There was no task too formidable for teams of project managers, radiological control technicians, engineers, demolition workers, laborers, etc., to tackle. A can-do attitude, coupled with a mutual respect and genuine camaraderie among the ranks, combined to work wonders on the Arco Desert.

Stringent safety requirements took top precedence throughout the company and were interwoven throughout CWI’s cultural fabric. Everyone covered each other’s back so all the employees could return safely to their families at the close of business each day. That commendable attitude impressed me from day one. Achieving safety records without lost time injuries for countless employee hours was the norm.

With camera in tow and notebook in hand, I was charged with regularly visiting the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC), the Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC), the Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC), the Idaho CERCLA Disposal Facility (ICDF) and the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) area to chronicle the many successful projects under way at each facility. It was an enviable assignment few have had the opportunity to experience.

Many of the projects undertaken by CWI proved to be groundbreaking and even revolutionary in terms of the technology and procedures developed to address specific challenges. During CWI’s 11 years managing the ICP, it often would take the lead among U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) contractors nationwide and counterparts internationally in introducing standards that have become the norm in the nuclear industry.

It was CWI that proved -- and improved on -- a patented sodium treatment process using spritzing, distilling and immersing techniques at MFC and INTEC now used throughout the DOE complex.

Its intrepid Decontamination and Decommissioning (D&D) workers safely demolished or removed three nuclear reactors, two hot cells, a spent nuclear fuel reprocessing facility and more than 200 other buildings and structures over the course of CWI’s DOE contract.

It was astounding a few months ago to watch the massive jaws of heavy equipment skillfully run by D&D operators rip apart and voraciously devour a large MFC building in only a matter of hours like mechanical tyrannosaurus rexes, leaving a Jurassic Park graveyard of metal beams, siding and insulation strewn about in their wake.

They and their co-workers are now concentrating on dismantling the iconic Experimental Breeder Reactor II dome, using an innovative water jet cutting system to peel it like a giant onion before the year ends.

Waste Management personnel, including Packaging and Transportation employees, completed 364 shipments of Remote-Handled Transuranic (RH-TRU) waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, including the first-ever shipment of such waste there, and completed 60 U-233 shipments to the Nevada National Security Site without incident.

RWMC employees exhumed 4.11 acres of 5.69 acres (72 percent) of buried waste required by a 2008 agreement with 97 percent of the 7,485 cubic meters of targeted waste packaged, completing buried waste exhumation at seven Accelerated Retrieval Project (ARP) areas. Work now continues at the Subsurface Disposal Area’s eighth ARP site. Some 7,300 drums and 60 waste boxes have been successfully treated.

CWI Environmental Restoration workers have remediated 136 waste sites and suspected waste sites. They also have reduced 184,400 acres of potential unexploded ordnance areas to 6,300 acres, which protects crews that work out in the sagebrush.

At INTEC, 3,186 units of spent nuclear fuel were transferred from wet to dry storage, and a tank farm where 900,000 gallons of sodium-bearing liquid waste are stored underground has been successfully closed. And the list continues …

Even the controversial Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) painstakingly developed from the ground up by CWI has achieved significant strides in advance of processing those 900,000 gallons with state-of-the-art technology. Simulant runs have proven feasible at the 53,000-square-foot facility before the liquid waste is converted into a more stable form. The finish line for that grueling marathon is actually within sight.

Last February, DOE awarded a $1.4 billion, five-year contract for managing the ICP to Texas-based Fluor Idaho, which took effect on June 1. Coinciding with that new contract, many long-time CWI employees have decided to hang it up and retire, including many key managers and engineers who have worked on the IWTU project virtually since its inception.

With the departure of so many seasoned CWI employees occurring at once, a legacy of invaluable experience, an unrivaled safety record and institutional knowledge not easily replaced also is exiting. They professionally transformed a work site fraught with danger into one of DOE’s safest locations with minimal damage or injury.

It’s been my privilege and pleasure to have worked with such a diversified group of talented CWI individuals, ranging from project managers and subcontractors to information technologists, accountants and administrative assistants. Cherished friendships have been nurtured within CWI’s tight knit family. The end of the CWI era leaves some mighty big boots for Fluor Idaho to fill.

Veep flytrap

June 2, 2016

carlsonlogo1

Franklin Roosevelt’s first vice president was from Texas, and was the Speaker of the House, John Nance Garner. His claim to fame is he once said the job “wasn’t worth a bucket of warm spit.”

Yet, when offered the post he took it. The thought of being just a heartbeat away proved to be too tempting. Besides presiding over the Senate and casting a vote only when there is a tie, that along with being a “president in waiting,” is the total job description.

While former President Bill Clinton’s vice president, Al Gore, claims to be the one who turned the office into a more powerful and influential institution, this claim, just as his claim to have invented the “internet,” is a bit exaggerated.

Of the modern vice presidents (since 1945) the one who did the most to make the office more influential within government and more powerful within the White House was Walter Mondale, Jimmy Carter’s vice president. The key of course is having both an excellent working relationship and a high degree of personal trust. Without those components the post becomes just a box on an organization chart.

The vice presidents who have succeeded in being an asset all have in common the ability to be genuinely loyal to their president and have not tried to improve their public image at the expense of the Boss they serve. The demands of the modern presidency are such that any president can assign plenty of work to a true partner.

Of the 47 men who have served as vice president, 14 have become president, so it is a bit of a myth that being vice president is the easiest path to the White House. Since 1945, though, five did become president: Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush.

Ironically, a vice presidential prospect sometimes gets more vetted than any presidential candidate. This is due not just to the fact the person might ascend to the office but also because selecting a running mate is now the first crucial decision showing judgment (or lack thereof) that the media holds up as a key criteria for a presumptive president. Arizona Senator John McCain’s disastrous selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008 is one example, as is South Dakota Senator George McGovern’s selection of Missouri Senator Thomas Eagleton (Over Idaho Senator Frank Church), who had to withdraw after being caught withholding information about psychological treatments for depression.

Right now the great parlor game within the Beltway is trying to guess who the presumptive Republican and Democratic nominees will select as their running mates. I’ve been dead wrong on almost all my “crystal ball” predictions so far this year, so I’ve nothing to lose by continuing to guess.

Conventional Wisdom says no Republican has ever won the White House without taking the state of Ohio. So, if presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump believes that to be true he has to be thinking about Ohio Governor John Kasich or Senator Rob Portman, both solid, moderate progressive Republicans who could help deliver Ohio but being on the ticket will not thrill the core conservatives that form the party’s base.

Trump has been everything but conventional this year. So why turn conventional?

The answer is he won’t. Look for the the Trumpster to surprise with the selection of someone who has never been elected to public office but already has some fairly good name recognition and fairly high favorabilities - like Dr. Ben Carson. or movie actor Mel Gibson or conservative radio host Glen Beck.

What about Hillary? Odds are she will go with a conventional pick. It won’t be Bernie, that’s for sure. Even if Bernie wins the June 7th California and Oregon primaries, she still has too much of a lead and unless there is a massive defection by the Super-delegates, suddenly worried that Hillary can’t win, the D’s will stick with Hillary and she will try to stick it to Bernie. In her mind he has stayed in too long to her detriment.

If Mrs. Clinton does the conventional many observers expect her to strengthen her standing within the Hispanic community and underscore Trump’s idiotic immigration plan by choosing one of several outstanding Latino legislators. If wagering go with California congressman Xavier Becerra. He is chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, a member of the powerful Ways and Means committee and was a member of the Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction Commission (along with Idaho Senator Mike Crapo).
Another safe conventional pick would be Ohio’s Democratic senator, Sherrod Brown.

If, however, Mrs. Clinton wants to show she can be bold and go outside the box, she should look at a white male she knows well who could capably step in if called upon, someone who has the brains and ability with whom she previously worked well with; someone, however,who has never run for public office but nonetheless is a masterful political strategist and can give one hell uv a good speech, someone who could capture youth because he is still a “youngster,” someone right under her nose - Idaho’s Bruce Reed.

Refugees without fear

June 1, 2016

A guest reading from David Warnick, who is a minister at Coeur d'Alene and a third-generation Idahoan.

Fear is a funny thing.

No one in my neighborhood would feel any fear if I walk past. I look like what I am – a middle-aged (well, maybe older) conservative white guy. But I’m afraid they might react to my houseguests.

Why?

Because my wife and I decided to take a couple from Syria and their 6-year-old special-needs son into our home while their host agency found them a place to live.

I was afraid of my neighbors’ reactions, so I walked the family to the park with trepidation. I didn’t mention the situation to many people at my workplace.

Yet five minutes with this family would eliminate any possibility of fear. The husband doesn’t speak much English, but even in his first night in our home, he proclaimed with a big smile and an expansive gesture, “I love America.”

His wife taught children English in Syria. But she adds, “I forgot it all during the three years of darkness.”

I’m not sure if she means the first three years of their son’s life as they discovered his diagnosis of autism, or the past three years, which they spent in Cairo after fleeing Syria. They lived in one room on the roof of a six-floor walk-up apartment building – one room without any windows.

When we would hit a communication roadblock, Google Translate was wonderful. There were limitations – the husband was trying to explain they wanted a dimmer lamp. Google Translate said “bulb monastery”!

Early on they offered me some of their coffee. I tried to explain I don’t drink coffee because of my Mormon father’s influence. At first, they thought “Mormon” was a coffee ingredient I was allergic to! Once clarified, they could tell me Mitt Romney was Mormon.

And their son? He speaks only a couple of words of Arabic, when he’s calm. If he gets overstimulated, he makes only noises. I was constantly on guard at the park, where he loves to swing, because I knew he would not understand if someone were to shout at him.

He loves to caress his father’s hair. He started doing the same to me, to show affection, so I went along like a good sport. We were able to arrange a couple of meetings with other immigrants from the area. I haven’t gotten comfortable with the male practice of giving each other a kiss on each cheek. But I could handle kisses from their son.

My Swedish ancestors were persecuted when they arrived because they followed a religion – Mormonism – that was poorly understood. Fortunately, enough people helped them along the way so that part of the family survived cholera and made it to Utah.

I pray there are enough people to welcome our guests so they can find the new life they’re longing to give their boy.

I guess love is a funny thing, too. What else would allow us to overcome fear?