If you haven’t read it already, The World editorial entitled “Novel plan; fatal flaw – Public revenues are meant to be managed transparently, not by self-appointed groups” does a nice job of exposing the chronic hubris that so afflicts the culture of our local officials as well as appropriately chastening them for scheming to wrest control of public funds from the public. The plan’s architects, which include David Koch, Terence O’Connor, Roger Craddock and John Sweet, seek to place $20 million a year in property taxes from the as yet unapproved Jordan Cove LNG into two private corporations headed by a board of their choosing by essentially renaming the taxes “community service fees.”
As 501(c)(3)s, the nonprofit corporations lie outside the realm of public accountability. They won’t be subject to the state’s open meetings or records laws. They won’t be required to divulge their dealings or otherwise place themselves under public scrutiny of any kind… They aren’t required to take into consideration what the public may want.
Koch also rolled out the plan at a Coos County Urban Renewal Agency meeting wherein at the conclusion of his presentation he was overheard saying something to the effect of, “so unless there is any major opposition, this should work.” To which someone else remarked, “why would anyone object?”
For purposes of discussion we can accept that this small cadre or cabal has Coos County’s best interests at heart but the audacity of this scheme and the expectation that no one could possibly take issue with it demonstrates the downside of groupthink.
Groups affected by groupthink ignore alternatives and tend to take irrational actions that dehumanize other groups. A group is especially vulnerable to groupthink when its members are similar in background, when the group is insulated from outside opinions, and when there are no clear rules for decision making.
Reading the line above reminds of how Bay Area Chamber of Commerce president and BS Oregon* promoter Brooke Walton cutely refers to LNG opponents as “antis” and the very fact the public was excluded from this process demonstrates how little value these individuals place on the views of outliers or anyone who has not assimilated to the narrow dogmatic economic development view of the cabal. (John Sweet should be ashamed of himself). If further illustrates the critical need to begin the public dialog recommended within the SDAT report.
The upside of this presentation is that it brings to the forefront, not for the first time, just how outlandish some ideas can be when generated through groupthink. Remember the county owned pipeline, the T-dock, the Crossline Ferry, etc, etc, etc… Heretofore, the masterminds of these failed schemes have never been held publicly accountable but perhaps this will encourage the public to pay much more attention in the future.
*Boost Southwest Oregon shortens conveniently to BS Oregon which some of us feels more accurately defines its primary goal to pass off industry bull—- is a prime example of how things might go wrong with a marketing department influenced by groupthink. Even better the informal definition of “boost” means to – “steal, esp. by shoplifting or pickpocketing” a term which may be a fair assessment of what the cabal is proposing to do with public money.
Lee investor Buffet believes in local papers with local news. But, if Lee is not trying to sell the World paper it should be. Now down to a circulation (deliveries to homes and businesses, racks, give away) of a tad more than 7,000 daily (and daily means five days in a week). The potential market of homes and businesses within the current area of deliveries must be close to 30,000, if not more. And, speaking of local papers with local news, how many retread AP stories can a single paper put between 8 pages. The World holds the Guiness record.
The World paper is a mechanism to sell advertising space at a profit. Any benefit to the general public is at best a byproduct of that endeavor.
They provide no public value and are not in the journalism business.
Group think like the plans for Jordan Cove also entail gaining control of the local press. If you happen to see the story about SCDC getting the 25k payoff from Cribbins and Sweet you will see how theworld has decided to leave out the details of the history of that CORRUPT organization.
As they continue to soft peddle for the entrenched corruption by not educating the public about who and what SCDC is about and the connecting dots to the whole story.
We are lucky to have a blogger and contributors that care about this area and have been a beacon for exposing this very large net of players, who are working tirelessly for the oil/gas industry.
Theworld couldn’t appear less involved in the whole scheme with a soft report like that.
So sorry for this off topic post, but I didn’t want you to miss this M if you did not see it…
Court: Bloggers have First Amendment protections
Jan 17, 8:41 PM (ET)
By JEFF BARNARD
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) – A federal appeals court ruled Friday that bloggers and the public have the same First Amendment protections as journalists when sued for defamation: If the issue is of public concern, plaintiffs have to prove negligence to win damages….
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140118/DABCTNE02.html
Very interesting. I remember reading about her back when this all started blowing up but hadn’t followed it since. Thanks again!
I also Thank You again M for a good piece.
Interesting, it made me go back to look at some history again to answer a question for someone about BS Oregon; and the —– chamber. Bill Billicheck? Probably TS; if it matters?
That could be. I had figured BB for Lil’ Al but you might be right
It is the voters who should be ashamed. We knew who and what these commissioners were before they were elected. SCDC put forth Sweet and Bishop, and Mckelvey became the third choice for that seat. That’s why Sweet won. He appeared smarter than Bishop and he didn’t show all his cards like McKelvey did, so he was a shoe-in. The tribe is happy because their lawyer/lobbyist is representing them and The chamber has a back door in with her, so the world is right for them as well. Since SCDC and the Chamber want the same thing and the tribe has learned to not interfere with those plans, its a perfect board for all these special interests.
Remember when they wanted more board members and fear was raised that it would just be a way for this group to gain more control over the county, well they proved they could do it with just two and a patsy.
If Jordan Cove was to pay taxes into the county coffers at the same rate as the rest of us citizens in the county they would be paying more in the range of $60 million a year. We are getting royally ripped off in this scheme and the non-elected Port of Coos Bay and Jordan Cove’s bought and paid for public officials are right there in the middle of it.
You are right in that Commissioner John Sweet should be ashamed of himself. Here we already have a county system set up for funding public services that is in dire need of funds and Commissioner Sweet is not supporting that system even though he has been elected to represent it and the county
Jordan Cove should stop trying to weasel out of paying taxes and pay them just like the rest of us. Considering the billions these guys would pull out of here should this project proceed, it is nothing short of robbery what these incompetent schemers are up to.
It has been the practice of the Port and other economic development operations to get one project in place and then backfill tax money for the full expenses of the project. This is precisely what is happening with the railroad. If the Jordan Cove project goes in, the airport is in the wrong place and must be moved, Highway 42 is grossly inadequate and needs to be upgraded and Highway 101 through Coos Bay and North Bend will need much work as well. Oregon’s taxpayers will get the bill for all of this and the cabal will control even more money and the Remainder is right Kitzhaber is at the root of all of this.
Don’t forget Kitzhaber, he set this group loose on Coos County by appointing this port staff.
They’re doing something like this in New Jersey. Cristie appoints the staff, they appoint a development board to oversee all the state controlled funds they can lay their hands on. It is a non-profit assigned to dole the money out where “its” needed in the form of “grants”.
This system is widely used to divert tax dollars going in and where it goes out to. This is privatizing control of government revenue, while socializing the risk at every step. The planners know how this is going to work to their benefit. The whole state is going to get screwed out of tax dollars and the elected politicians, the ones who are suppose to be working for us are laying the foundation for this whole disaster to occur. If they can crap on this area, why not steal the money that was suppose to repay the tax payers for investing in all the infrastructure and assuming all the risk of living with a bomb, a bomb far bigger than any local gas station, that proponents like to compare those LNG tanks to.
I think if Jordan Cove ever does arrive they should simply pay property taxes, and such, just like the rest of Coos County. They do not deserve, nor should they get, any kind of a tax break.
This proposal can only be called short sighted, or maybe stupid, since it wants to replace a large wood pile of tax dollars with a toothpick of service funds.
Our County Commissioners are well equipped to spend tax income without the help of a cadre of community service “leaders” help.
Wowsa !!!!
Good piece M, thank you.