Newsroom

(First published in the Salem Business Journal)

When it comes to musical chairs, political candidates are masters of the game. Only one can claim the prize, the others are left scratching their heads. Oregon Congressional District 5 has attracted four notable entrants including a Republican incumbent and three Democrats jockeying for position in a race with national implications for party control in the next Congress.

Freshman Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer holds the pole position by virtue of the power of incumbency and the massive war chest she has accumulated. Democrats already have their diastolic blood pressure readings off the scale, hyperventilating for the rematch. They will paint her as another member of the MAGA Republican circus, gleefully grabbing the tail of the elephant in front of her, strolling along with pack leaders wherever they wish to trod. She will counter that her 90% party voting record is no different than that of the leftist lemmings who vote 90% for whatever their leadership instructs them.

Chavez-DeRemer will have a voting record to defend, which is fair game, and encompasses decisions on abortion, election integrity and federal benefits for the poor. These votes will surely find their way to the mailboxes and airways of voters across the district in the general election in November.

On the flip side, she has by all accounts been studious on constituent service and even worked with some labor unions on legislative issues that will find them reticent to abandon her down the stretch run. She has also introduced legislation in Congress to halt tolling existing freeway lanes in Oregon, a current ODOT plan that disproportionally impacts drivers (and voters) in her district. The tolling plan has broad, bipartisan opposition among voters and while Chavez-DeRemer’s legislation is unlikely to pass, she is constructing a line of differentiation between herself and a future Democrat opponent on an issue that has galvanized her constituents.

Those fisticuffs will come in 2024, but for now, the focus is on the three-way race in the Democratic primary.

Jamie McLeod-Skinner is back again. Yup. Third time was not a charm for McLeod-Skinner, narrowly losing to Chavez-DeRemer in the last general election. It was her third consecutive loss, twice for Congress and once for Secretary of State. She is a hard worker with plenty of grit. She also has a strong following in her home base of Deschutes County which represents a major component of the fifth congressional district.

Democratic voters in that part of the district may like her, but they have to wonder what makes her a stronger candidate than the other two contenders, who both have a history of actually winning in the heart of the district, Clackamas County. If her candidacy is viewed as a reincarnation of Harold Stassen, then that support may begin to erode.

Metro President Lynn Petersen is another aspirant and has a history of winning in Clackamas County both as a county commissioner and at Metro. Name recognition may boost her in the primary, but her fundraising efforts will be closely watched in a battle against the fundraising prowess of both Democratic opponents. She already is trailing the field in this category, and without a significant uptick soon, future contributions may become more difficult to pry from donor pockets.

Although more a regional than a federal issue, tolling her would-be constituents’ freeways may put her in a political bind when working to curry favor with angry voters. Metro has been the major force behind ODOT’s congestion relief plan to toll every mile travelled on I-205 through Clackamas County. It will be interesting to see how she walks the political tightrope with her leadership of Metro’s efforts on one end and disgruntled voters on the other.

Rep. Janelle Bynum is the third entrant in this congressional competition and already is digging on the spurs as the race enters the backstretch. She tops both McLeod-Skinner and Peterson in the dash for cash and is building a formidable army of influential supporters; most notably, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek.

Democratic leaders are generally reluctant to take sides in a primary food fight, so Kotek’s endorsement should have significant sway with primary voters. And she is not alone. Both Congresswomen Andrea Salinas and Suzanne Bonamici have also weighed in for Bynum as have House Speaker Dan Rayfield, House Majority Leader Julie Fahey and more than half the Democratic members of the Oregon House of Representatives. And, just for good measure, throw in State Treasurer Tobias Read. Bynum’s chief challenge, unlike her opponents, is that she is not well known to district voters and will need to double down on direct voter and community contact to mitigate that disadvantage.

Bynum was a key driver behind the Oregon Legislature’s passage of the CHIPS Act, that is designed to boost the state’s computer chip manufacturing industry. She is also a small business owner, operating a number of McDonalds franchises in the East-Metro area. In this race she could offer voters the full meal deal. Not only has she demonstrated the ability to raise campaign cash and assemble an impressive cadre of Democratic influencers, but she can also lay claim to something else her competitors can’t touch: Twice in elections for the Oregon House she defeated a Republican named Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

As legendary football coach Vince Lombardi once said: “winning isn’t everything — it’s the only thing.”

Hope. If life could be described in those four letters, the life of Joanne Verger would match like a fingerprint.

The former Oregon State Senator, Representative, Mayor, Strawberry Queen, and standup performer lived a life of hope based on faith, love, grace, and resolve and was generous in sharing it with all she met. Joanne left us today at age 93, leaving Oregon a little emptier yet a whole lot richer.

Joanne grew up in Amite City, Louisiana, a city small in population and large in Louisiana culture. The town was once home to the South’s largest cotton gin producers and remains home to the state’s largest oyster processing center. Schools were segregated in those days, which “never made much sense to me,” Joanne recently reflected.

Growing up, Joanne was often the ‘Belle of the Ball.’ Complete with southern charm and wit, she would dazzle and delight. Many Oregonians would be surprised to know that Louisiana is also renowned for its strawberry industry. Being crowned a ‘Louisiana Strawberry Queen’ was about as good as it gets for a young woman in Amite, Louisiana. Joanne ascended to the throne one summer, assuming surely this would be the highlight of her life. Strawberry queen? Who could possibly ask for anything more?

But there was much more for Joanne. She met her Mr. tall, dark, and handsome in Lawton Verger, and a new adventure began.

Lawton had heard of a car dealership that was for sale on the coast somewhere in Oregon and decided he and his new bride would carve out a life of their own out West. Verger bought the store, and within a few years, the Vergers were owners of the biggest and best-known automobile dealership in Coos Bay.

While Lawton peddled cars, Joanne immersed herself in community events and causes. Her interest in civic issues and her Louisiana wit were just the combo needed to create a platform for engaging in political discourse. She proved her powers of persuasion by advancing new ideas while keeping even dissenters laughing. She developed a standup routine and would take the stage in churches, civic auditoriums, local libraries, and wherever folks would ask her to perform. And ask often they did. In churches, her performance would always be rooted in some biblical episode, which she would then morph into everyday life in Coos Bay. The city’s own Will Rogers with a sprinkling of southern charm.

It was inevitable that one day friends would ask her to seek the job as mayor of Coos Bay. Joanne Verger thought the idea impractical. Coos Bay is knit together from generations of local families and she and Lawton, refugees from the deep South, didn’t have the pedigree to compete at the ballot box.

But, then again, “I thought, why not give it a whirl? The worst thing that could happen is I would be back where I am right now, and that’s a pretty good place,” Verger told me.

Getting endorsements from councilors and former mayors would prove difficult as there was great reluctance to tinker with the long-standing political structure. Verger devised a plan. She invited every political player in the community to join her on the steps of City Hall, where she would share “some important news.” And came they did.

What they didn’t know is that Lawton had arranged for a reporter and photographer from the local newspaper to be there as well, and with specific instructions. There are benefits from being the paper’s top advertiser. Joanne asked everyone to gather around, and then she broke the news she was running for mayor. Cameras clicked; light bulbs flashed. There was Joanne Verger on the steps of City Hall surrounded by the ‘who’s-who’ of Coos Bay, applauding her entry into the mayor’s race. She did not need their endorsements. The picture on the front page was all the endorsement she needed in the eyes of everyone who opened the newspaper the next morning. She was sworn in as mayor, the city’s first female leader, in 1992.

Joanne Verger would go on to serve in the Oregon State Senate, where her grace and charm were only eclipsed by her passion to be a voice for rural communities. When she deemed something important, she had a way of grabbing an opponent’s hand and leading them to her side of the argument. Her focus was on jobs, schools, and community vitality. Soft-spoken but firm, Joanne Verger legislated from the heart and executed with tenacity.

Strong in her faith and love for others, her focus was always on family first, and she saw her community as an extension of that family. Joanne never forgot her roots and the journey that brought her and Lawton to embrace and be embraced by all around her.

“Blessed,” she told me, was how she summarized her life. She once wrote a memoir of her time growing up in rural Louisiana. She titled it ‘Dancing with the Daffodils.’ She said it was a reminder that springtime is a time for renewal and hope. Hope was what brought her to Oregon. Hope is what she has left us as our guide for the renewal of the Oregon she loved.

Anchor, Mike Donahue. Mike Donahue, anchor. The name defines the noun; the noun defines the name. Mike officially signed off to us all on Friday at the age of 77. For nearly half a century, Mike Donahue was the boundary stone on the plat map of Portland television journalism from which all else was measured.

It has been 11 years since Mike retired from KOIN-TV, and in some ways, our evening rendezvous with the local news has never been the same. Mike was Portland’s number-one dinner guest. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of Oregonians invited Mike into their living room to hear him deliver the news of the day as if it were written and delivered just for them.

There were, of course, many big stories, from Mount St. Helens to the Rajneesh invasion, political scandal to 9/11, and so many more. Take the forensic team into the archive of Oregon’s last half-century, brush & dust for evidence, and you will find Mike Donahue’s fingerprints on just about everything. But those stories did not define Mike Donahue. It was how he defined them to us that set him apart. His integrity, compassion, addiction to fairness, and unwavering belief it was better to get it right than to get it first.

His genuine compassion for others and commitment to his friends, colleagues, and family were ever-present. Above all, it was his faith that sustained him. It’s no wonder he and his wife Susan named their two daughters Joy and Noelle.

Shirley Hancock, who shared the anchor desk with Mike Donahue for many years, said this:

“Mike may have been a quiet leader but his integrity and loyalty never wavered. When a former general manager told Mike to stop giving his faith testimony in churches, Mike refused. He pushed management, often unsuccessfully, for maintaining a high standard of journalism quality. Through the highs and lows, he remained true to his impeccable standards and to his friends.” You can read more of Shirley’s own personal reflections here.

As the sports director at KOIN, I had the privilege of sitting at the anchor desk with Michael for almost 16 years. He was a baseball fanatic. Or, more specifically, a Yankees fanatic. A devoted follower since his youth, Mike could cite all the latest batting averages, RBIs, and ERAs. Every year, when the Yankees would come west to play the Mariners, Mike would vacate the anchor chair for a day and head to Seattle to grab his seat in the bleachers.

(Left to Right) Rick Metsger, Mike Donahue, Jim Rauh, 1979

Mike was a quiet mentor to all he worked with. He didn’t tell you how to do things, he showed you by the way he went about his work. His grace and calm were a distinguishing contrast to the chaos that often permeated the newsroom on a busy day of breaking news. When producers would start tossing story scripts like confetti and filling the air with rants of words four letters in length, Mike would remain calmly at his desk, writing, editing, fact-checking, oblivious to the mayhem about him.

To many, he was Walter Cronkite, Mr. Rogers & John Paul ll rolled into one. Kind, comforting, authentic. He was approached several times about entering politics. He always just chuckled. He once told me: “I’d much rather report the news than be the news.”

In 1992, when another change in newsroom management rolled into town, I was among those placed on waivers. After my last broadcast, clearing out my desk and accepting the well-wishes of my colleagues, I noticed a small white envelope and card propped atop my IBM Selectric typewriter. It read in part:

“Don’t think of this day as the end, but rather, as the start of an exciting new beginning.”

– Mike Donahue

Mike never embraced a role as a celebrity in town. He embraced life’s simple pleasures. Every day, he would come to work with the sack lunch his wife Susan would prepare for him. A ham sandwich, maybe a crisp apple, and a half pint of milk. He tended the roses in his garden at home and his craft in the newsroom.

He was never comfortable with the ‘If it bleeds, it leads’ forces that increasingly dominate local news decisions even to this day (a notable exception being KGW’s ‘The Story’ newscast every weekday). He believed in substance and context. Longer, more in-depth stories were valued over a rapid-fire sequence of cop cars and ambulances.

There were many humorous moments over the years. Mike would never realize his dream of being a professional baseball player, but he was a gold glove winner at the news desk. He fielded everything cleanly and delivered it with great precision. So, it was memorable when the teleprompter and anchor combined for an errant toss.

During one evening newscast, a breaking story out of Seattle came in about a collision in Puget Sound between a passenger ferry boat and a foreign-flagged freighter. Reading on the fly, Mike reported the incident something like this: “A near tragedy was avoided today in Seattle where a ferry rammed the rear of a librarian-err, make that a Liberian freighter.”

Back in those days, KOIN had a ‘live’ newsroom, meaning reporters were visible at their desks behind the anchor set. Sound engineers could do little to muffle the laughter that the staff tried hard to conceal. Mike never wavered, never flinched. He moved right along to the next story, his face red as a Washington apple, the only giveaway as to what had just happened.

In the latter days of his career, yet another change in station ownership also brought change to the newsroom. Mike was moved from the starting rotation and relegated to the bullpen, known as the noon news. He accepted the reassignment with grace and poise, giving the same high level of professionalism he exhibited during those many years in prime time.

Upon his retirement in April 2012, his colleagues, past and present, gathered together to honor him the best way they knew how. They bought him an original bleacher seat from Yankee Stadium so he could spend the rest of his years watching his beloved baseball team, charting the hits and recording the outs, all from the comfort of his living room.

Mike died after a courageous bout with pancreatic cancer. He lost his beloved wife, Susan, just a few months before. Mike always gave us his best. He continued right until the end. And then he gave us a bounty of memories.

But for this man of such deep faith, he would tell us all that this is not the end —just the start of an exciting new beginning.

Mike Donahue, 1946-2023

Oregon entered unchartered waters last week with the announcement that Legacy Health System, a private healthcare provider, would ‘merge’ with the state-sponsored Oregon Health and Science University. While the word ‘merger’ has a softer and gentler tone, make no mistake — this is an acquisition. Mergers generally are distinguished as two entities coming together to form a new organization, new name, and new governance structure. In this proposal, OHSU will be the surviving entity and will continue to be governed by its board of directors.

In my previous career, hundreds of mergers and acquisitions crossed my desk. As a financial regulatory agency, our role in approval or disapproval was based solely on the safety and soundness of the transaction as it pertained to any negative impact on the federal insurance fund. In this instance, as a state entity, the insurance backstop for OHSU is ultimately the Oregon taxpayer.

Legacy Health lost a staggering $172 million in the last fiscal year. It has been desperately trying to sell off assets or close facilities to promote consolidation, but the latter has been met with intense political pushback from local and state legislators. This spring, the rating firm Moody’s, downgraded Legacy’s debt outlook from stable to negative.

“An additional factor behind the negative outlook is our expectation that Legacy will fail its quarterly debt service coverage test on several bank agreements for the next couple of quarters.” 

Moody’s, April 2023

OHSU has a strong balance sheet in its investment portfolio, but rating agencies are increasingly cautious even with that. On June 22 of this year, S&P Global maintained OHSU’s rating at AA- but changed its outlook from stable to negative, citing OHSU’s “ambitious capital strategy.”

While OHSU has entered into partnerships with private entities before, a total acquisition of a large private business is an historic action. There is also a jurisdictional question. Legacy Health owns a large hospital, Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center, in Washington state. It is like the state-sponsored workers’ compensation fund, SAIF, buying its private competitor Liberty Northwest Insurance. Or how about the Oregon Lottery buying DraftKings?

The terms of the acquisition are sketchy and deserve scrutiny. Will the 14,000 Legacy employees now become employees of the state? Will they all be eligible for PERS, the state’s pension system, or will they remain in their current pension plan? In either case, OHSU will become responsible for the existing pension funds liabilities. Many pension funds, like PERS, have significant underfunded liabilities. Where does the Legacy pension fund stand?

Then there is the State Tort Claims Act. The Legislature extended special legal protections to OHSU by capping its exposure to costly lawsuits. Will that special treatment now be extended to the large expanse of Legacy’s providers? The extension also could help slow the rising cost of malpractice insurance to more providers. However, that is likely not to be cause for a celebratory cocktail reception by Oregon’s trial lawyers.

Of course, there is also the concern of the contentious golden parachute. Mergers and acquisitions are almost always heralded as reducing redundancies and improving efficiency. Many Legacy executives may no longer find a need for their services. What will be the cost of securing their smiles and kind words at a future ribbon cutting? If OHSU can buy, could they later sell all or parts of its new collection?

And what does this do to the competitive landscape of Oregon healthcare? State and national hospital associations always tout these consolidations as improving the quality of care and reducing costs. But recent studies by Rand and Harvard have concluded that most hospital mergers fail to improve quality and actually increase costs. If completed, this acquisition will create Portland’s largest hospital system and further expand OHSU’s already powerful political influence on state healthcare policy.

As a publicly subsidized entity, OHSU will need to be more specific on WHY this acquisition will be in the larger public interest and HOW it will lower the total cost of care and improve quality in light of mounting evidence that consolidation often does neither. In fact, getting bigger often means more market leverage to demand higher reimbursement from payers.

On the flip side, there may be benefits.

An influx of new PERS members could add immediate liquidity to the pension system to help meet cash flow needs required to meet monthly benefits to existing retirees.

Then there is the Intergovernmental Transfer Agreement which allows OHSU to transfer federal Medicaid dollars to the state to leverage (for a fee) even more federal matching dollars into the state’s healthcare system. Those dollars would likely increase.

A larger question is whether the Oregon Health Authority, which must approve any agreement, can actually conduct an arms-length analysis when the arms of OHA and OHSU are so tightly entwined.

Recent history serves as an illustration. Three years ago, faced with the onset of the COVID pandemic, then Governor Kate Brown secured a “loan” from an OHSU executive to run the state’s vaccine program. This spring, OHSU graciously loaned another of its executives to help run OHA while Governor Tina Kotek sought a new permanent director. Oh, and there’s this: The Board of Directors of OHSU is appointed by the Governor. It is difficult to view OHSU and OHA as anything but two layers of the same cake.

Healthcare providers regularly criticize the Oregon Health Authority for costing them millions of dollars yearly for stacks of redundant reports and data routinely demanded by various OHA divisions that seemingly don’t talk to each other. Excuse the eye-roll from those providers around the state when told to take comfort that OHA will surgically critique the redundancies and efficiencies of the proposed consolidation.

Ultimately, allowing a major healthcare provider to slip into insolvency is not in the public interest. The risk to patient access and care and the potential economic impact on the region demand a proactive solution. Perhaps this is the best outcome. Any acquisition must be transparent and conducted with a keen inventory of the Legacy Fleet’s cargo before this ship of state sails in and the unloading process begins.