RISE 9.3.12

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Local officials hope the 2013 Oregon Legisla-ture will tackle another round of reforms to thePublic Employees’ Retirement System becausethe payments have started to burden local gov-ernments too much.

The PERS board, which sets employer ratesand also helps draft PERS-related legislation,announced last week that average employerrates will increase about 5 percentage points,fromabout16 percent of payroll to about 21per-cent of payroll.

Those numbers are even higher for schooldistricts, whichwill pay about 26 percent on av-erage in 2013.

“These rate increases are unsustainable. Atwhat point do you say, ‘We can’t do that any-more?’ I don’t know,” Salem-Keizer School Dis-trict Chief Operations Officer MikeWolfe said.

“That’s what we elect people to figure out,”he said. “We hope they tackle PERS reform in ameaningful way.”

ThePERSboardwillannounceindividualem-

Pressurebuilds formore PERSreformsLocal officials say rateincreases unsustainableBy Hannah HoffmanStatesman Journal

See PERS, Page 4A

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Parents with special needs chil-dren are closely watching the con-troversy unfold at Oregon ParentTraining and Information Center —worried theymay lose anothervalu-able resource in an area that’s al-ready lacking in options.

The Salem nonprofit, also knownas Oregon RISE, is barely hangingon after losing funding and its exec-utivedirector,whoisundercriminalinvestigation for aggravated theft.Numerous board members alsohave left, saying they were misledabout the organization’s finances.

Salem police say tens of thou-

sands of federal and state dollarsthat funded Oregon RISE are unac-counted for.

However, the parents who havebenefited from the organizationaren’t interested inpointingfingers.They worry about the gap in ser-vices its potential demise wouldleave.

Oregon RISE is known for thetrainings it offered to parents whohave children in special education.Each child in special education inpublic school has an individualizededucation plan, or IEP, which laysout goals and strategies to help thestudent learn and succeed. Withthese plans come IEPmeetings thattake place at least once a year.

Patie Taylor, a Turner-area momof a girl who has Down syndrome,said the meetings can be intimidat-ing and depressing. Often, Taylor

Patie Taylor sits with her special needs daughter, Kimberly, 12, who has Down Syndrome. KOBBI R. BLAIR / STATESMAN JOURNAL

Parents concernedabout nonprofit’s fateOregon RISE helpsthose with specialneeds childrenBy Saerom YooStatesman Journal

Patie Taylor, plays foosball with daughters Kalyn, 10 (left) and Kimberly, 12, whohas Down Syndrome. KOBBI R. BLAIR / STATESMAN JOURNAL

See RISE, Page 4A

A Salem nonprofit meant toserve families with specialneeds children faces an un-clear future, as funding hasbeen pulled and its formerleader is under criminal inves-tigation.

Janice Roberts, former ex-ecutive director of OregonRISE, left the organization ear-lier this summer amid finan-cial irregularities. Severalboard members followed suit,citing they were misled in theorganization’s financial infor-mation. The issues were firstreported by The Oregonian.

RISE, also known asOregonParent Training and Informa-tion Center, is most known forits services helping parentsnavigate the special educationsystem. The organization wasfunded by federal and statedollars.

Salem Police DepartmentLt. Steve Birr said last weekthat Roberts is under investi-gation for first-degree aggra-vated theft. The local agency is

Salemnonprofit’sfutureuncertainBy Saerom YooStatesman Journal

See FUTURE, Page 4A



Copy Reduced to %d%% from original to fit letter page

4A MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2012 StatesmanJournal.comFrom Page 1 / Nation

496KPA-12/8-12

All plans offered and underwritten by Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest.500 NE Multnomah St., Suite 100, Portland, OR 97232.

©2012 Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest

YOU CARE FOR THEM.WE CARE FOR YOU.Welcome to Oregon’s 5,000 homecareworkers, who now have a new healthplan option. Kaiser PermanenteNorthwest and the Service EmployeesInternational Union Local 503 are proudto announce this collaboration. FromCoos Bay to Corvallis, Pendleton toPrineville, Kaiser Permanente is proudto serve the total health needs of thosewho serve others.

OR-0000306286

ployer rates on Sept. 28, so right now ev-eryone is working with estimates. Everypublic employer pays a different ratethat’s based on several factors.

Theboardsetsabaserate—21percentfor the2013-15biennium—but itvariesbyemployer based onwhen their employeeswerehired.Theypayahigherrateforem-ployeeshiredbefore2003,so ifanemploy-er has a lot of newemployees, they’ll havea lower rate. In addition, some employerspay the 6 percent that workers are sup-posed to contribute to PERS, a concessionthey made decades ago in exchange forworkers giving up some pay increases.

Also,manygovernments passedbondsseveral years ago to pay off their unfund-ed liability to PERS.Marion County ChiefFinancialOfficerJeffWhitesaidthecoun-tyonlypaysabout5percent interest on itsbond payment every year, rather than 8percent, which is what PERS would havecharged.

This is called having a “side account”and it can be a mixed blessing, becauseside accounts respond dramatically tochanges in the bond market. Data fromPERS shows that entities with side ac-counts saw their PERS rates drop signifi-cantly in good times but rise significantlyin bad times, although they do allow forlower individual base rates.

Even so, “we think it’s a good deal,”White said. “Right now our calculationssay,‘Yeah,it’sworkedoutforus.’ ”He’snotalone. Most local governments also haveside accounts for PERS.

All of this — the base rate, 6 percentpick up and bond rates—go into calculat-ing what a local government will pay to-ward its employees’ retirements.

City of Keizer Finance Director SusanGahlsdorf said she expects Keizer to owethe PERS program about $130,000 moreperyearoutof thecity’sgeneral fund, andshe said even more will come from otherdepartments, such as the water bureau,but that hasn’t been calculated yet.

Keizer has cut six positions in the pastthree years, she said, from 96 employeesto 90, a decrease of 6.25 percent. As costslike PERShave risen, revenue fromprop-erty taxes and other sources has dropped,she said, and it can’t continue thisway.

Marion County plans on paying about$1.07millionmoreperyearunder thenewrates,White said. The county already laidoff dozens of employees during the reces-sionandiscurrentlylockedinabattlewithits union over the 2012-14 contract, in nosmall part because the county commis-sioners anticipate growing PERS costs.

“It’salreadyhandicappingourabilitytoprovide services,” Commissioner PattiMilne said.

Theschooldistrict is lookingat$10mil-lionmoreperyear,Wolfesaid. Itwillprob-ably mean less staff or fewer workingdays, he said. This year the district tooksevenfurloughdays tomakeup itsbudgetgap.

Local officials understand why PERSneeds them to pay more. Most of the pro-gram’smoneyisinvestedinthestockmar-ket, and PERS lost about $17 billion whenthe stockmarket crashed in late 2008 andearly 2009. It still hasn’t recovered thatmoney, and as a consequence, employerrates increased about 5 percentage pointsin the current and next bienniums.

“PERS is well-managed. It’s one of thetop-funded plans in the country,” Whitesaid. “Only a couple of bienniums ago, wesaw rates going down.”

Wolfe agrees there are no hard feel-ings.

“There’s nothing evil in this,” he said,“but it’s a problem that needs to be fixed.”

White,WolfeandGahlsdorfarealllook-ingtotheLegislaturefor leadershipontheissue because the solution probably won’tcomefromthestockmarket,whichwouldhave to show vast, prolonged improve-ment tomakeanydifference inhowmuchPERS costs.

Therehasbeen talk about ending someprovisions in the law that cover state in-cometaxliabilityforout-of-statePERSre-cipients,White said, and he thinks that’s agood idea.

No one wants to do away with the pro-gramas awhole; they just want to be ableto afford it.

“Ithinkit’sareallygoodsystemforem-ployeeswhohaveput inyears of service,”White said.

Milnethinksthetrickiscuttingbackonthe level of benefits PERS offers.

“It’sanextremelygenerousretirementpackage, and we can’t afford it,” she said.“It’s got to change.”

Others, however, would like to see re-form come from the Legislature to bringpayments down, but they also want to seerevenuegoup.Gahlsdorfsaidshewantstosee property tax reform, because the fall-ingtaxrevenuesarehurtingcityandcoun-ty governments.White also said droppingtax revenues have made PERS paymentsmuchmore difficult to swallow.

The school district has also seen hugerevenue drops.

EvenmorethanPERSreform,“I’mjusthopeful that for the 2013-15 biennium thatK-12 is adequately funded,”Wolfe said.

Officials agree PERS reform absolute-lyneedstohappen,buttheyalsoagreerev-enue streams need to turn around aswell.

“It’s going to take multiple reforms tobring us back to a sustainable level of ser-vice,”Gahlsdorf said.

[email protected], (503)399-6719, or follow attwitter.com/HannahKHoffman

PERSContinued from Page 1A

said, parentswalk into themeeting and are facedwithmultiple school staff-ers — teachers, instruc-tional assistants, schoolpsychologists and the su-perintendent. They speakin a different language,and often in terms of thechild’s deficiencies thatare difficult for any par-ent to hear.

“Ihadameetingearlierin the school year lastyear, and I was informedthat my child can’t read,can’t write, can’t do math,hasnosocial skills andhasno friends,” Taylor said.“You get the worst-casescenario. You go in therethinking, I see my childprogress in this area, andthey don’t see that. So it’skind of like getting hit upside the head when you’renot expecting it. You getblindsided.”

StaffersatRISEhelped

parents prepare for theIEPprocess, helping themstrategize and lay out thegoals they hope to accom-plish. Parents also had theoption of asking an IEPpartner to tag along to themeetings for more sup-port.

Taylor is well-connect-ed in the developmentallydisabled community andwith parents who havespecial needs children.She’s president of theWil-lamette Valley Down Syn-drome Association, a

boardmember of TheArcofOregonandfounderofaparent support group inthe Cascade School Dis-trict, just to name a few ofher activities.

She’s not aware of an-other organization in Sa-lem that offers the type ofparent training RISE pro-vides.

“There may be some-thing in Portland, but inSalem we seem to be re-source poor,” she said,“which is why this is not agood thing for our area.”

Taylor noted other re-cent losses for the specialneeds community in Sa-lem: Juntos Podemos andSwindells of Salem.

“We lost two really big

ones,” she said, “andRISEnot currently operating atfull capacity is not good.”

Parents often tout theimportanceofnetworkingand information sharingto thrive in a life with aspecial needs child.Learning about the child’sdeficiencies is a toughenoughtask, theysay.Par-ents need each other toshare ideas and support.

Dana Campbell yearsago started a parent sup-port group called SalemOregonAutismResourcesfor that reason. She oftenshared classes offered byOregon RISE and broughtin speakers from the or-ganization for the group.

“My initial group of

parents — they didn’tknow jack,” she said. “Ifyou Google autism online,I mean, you get seven ba-zillion answers.”

Campbell quit the sup-port group several yearsago, but she’s thinkingabout starting it back upbecausesheworriesaboutthe lack of services in Sa-lem.

“Right nowmyson is ina social skills class byLake Oswego becausethere’s nothing in Salem,”she said. “There’s justnothing.”

[email protected], (503) 399-6673or follow atTwitter.com/syoo.

RISEContinued from Page 1A

conducting a parallel federal in-vestigationwith theOffice of In-spector General.

In the wake of the investiga-tions, theOregonDepartment ofEducation suspended a two-yearcontract with RISE worth morethan $500,000.

Birr said the investigation isin the fact-finding stages, wait-ingforsubpoenasfrombankandcredit card accounts.

The case arrived in the crimi-nal investigationunitJuly10,anditcouldtakeweeks longerforde-tectives to account for tens ofthousands of dollars. As of now,Roberts is theonlysuspect in thecase.

AnotherOregonorganization,National Indian Parent Informa-tion Center, also is a potentialvictim of embezzlement con-nected to Roberts’ case, Birrsaid. Oregon RISE agreed to beNIPIC’s fiscal agent, obtainingfederal funds and funneling it toNIPIC for a fee. However,there’s more money missing

thantheagreeduponfee,hesaid.If criminal charges come out

of the investigation, Robertscould be prosecuted eitherthrough Marion County CircuitCourt or U.S. District Court.

NancyLatini, assistant super-intendent for Student Learningand Partnerships at the Depart-ment ofEducation, said the stateagency is waiting for the resultsof the investigation.

“We really can’t do anythingother thanwe can’t spend publicfunds on a potential issue—avi-olation of any sort,” Latini said.

A woman answered the doorofthemainoffice inNorthSalemand confirmed the organizationis still open and providing ser-vices. She referred all otherquestionstothenonprofit’sattor-ney.

John Gear, RISE’s Salem-based attorney, said he could notspecify what kind of servicesparentscanexpectwhenschoolsare back in session next week.

Roberts’ attorney, Tom Rask,said he had not been notified ofany allegations or chargesagainst his client.

“We vehemently deny anywrongdoing,” Rask said.

Oregon RISE, or Oregon Parent Training and Information Center, at2288 Liberty St. NE. KOBBI R. BLAIR / STATESMAN JOURNAL

FutureContinued from Page 1A

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Flinch-ing in the face of economicweakness, President BarackObama’s top aides refused tosay Sunday in the run-up to theDemocratic National Conven-tion whether Americans arebetter off than they were fouryears ago.

Obama campaigned inColo-radoandVicePresidentJoeBi-den in Pennsylvania as theirsenior surrogates sought to de-flect discomforting questionsand turn them into criticism ofRepublican challenger MittRomney.

“TheRomneypathwouldbethe wrong path for the middleclass, the wrong path for thiscountry,” said David Plouffe,one of Obama’s top WhiteHouse aides.

But responding to the ques-tion thathasbecomeastaple ofpresidential campaigns, hesidestepped when asked ifAmericans are better off thanwhen Obama took office.

“We’ve clearly improved …from the depths of the reces-sion,” he said.

Another aide, David Axel-rod, said: “I think the averageAmerican recognizes that ittook years to create the crisisthat erupted in 2008 andpeaked inJanuaryof2009.Andit’s going to take some time towork through it.”

Not only the economy, but

theweatherwas also a concernfor theDemocratswithObamaplanning to deliver his prime-time acceptance speech onThursdaynightbeforeacrowdof tens of thousands at a foot-ball stadium.

An enormous sand sculp-ture made in Obama’s likenessserved as a reminder, as if anywere needed, that the Demo-crats were in town. A drench-ing rain caused damage onSat-urday just as work was finish-ing on the project, but the five-member crew said they hadbeen able to make repairs.

Planeloads of delegatesflew into their convention cityfor two days of receptions be-fore their first meeting in theTime Warner Cable Arena onTuesday. Hundreds of demon-strators marched through thestreets around the hall, pro-testing what they call corpo-rategreedaswell asU.S.dronestrikes overseas said to killchildren as well as terrorists.

No arrestswere reported asdozens of police officerswalked along with the parade,carrying gas masks, woodenbatons and plastic hand ties.

Biden, campaigning inYork, Pa., took a swipe at Rom-ney on foreign policy.

“He said it was a mistake toend the war in Iraq and bringall of our warriors home,” thevice president said. “He said itwas a mistake to set an enddate for our warriors in Af-ghanistan and bring them

home. He implies by thespeech that he’s ready to go towar in Syria and Iran. “

Democrats have been criti-cal of Romney for making nomention of the war in Afghani-stan when he accepted the Re-publican nomination inTampa,Fla., last week.

Obama and Biden will benominated for second termsWednesday night, when for-mer President Bill Clinton hasthe role of star speaker.

Biden and Obama delivertheir nomination acceptancespeeches Thursday, the con-vention’s final night.

Theeconomyhasrecoveredfitfully at best from the worstrecession in decades, and na-tional unemployment is 8.3percent. Joblessness was spik-ing when Obama took officeandpeakedatmorethan10per-cent before it began recedingduring his term.

While Republicanswant theelection to be a simple referen-dum on Obama’s handling oftheeconomy, thepresident andhis party are determined tomakeElectionDayachoicebe-tween him and his rival. Thatstrategy was on display in theSunday interview programs.

Plouffe, askedonABCtoan-swer the better-off questionwith a yes or no, replied: “Ithink everybody understandswe were this close to a GreatDepression.Westavedthatoff.We’rebeginning torecover.Wehave a lot more work to do.”

Are Americans betteroff? Obama aides silentGetting out of this recession will be a long haulBy David EspoAssociated Press



4A MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2012 StatesmanJournal.comFrom Page 1 / Nation

496KPA-12/8-12

All plans offered and underwritten by Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest.500 NE Multnomah St., Suite 100, Portland, OR 97232.

©2012 Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest

YOU CARE FOR THEM.WE CARE FOR YOU.Welcome to Oregon’s 5,000 homecareworkers, who now have a new healthplan option. Kaiser PermanenteNorthwest and the Service EmployeesInternational Union Local 503 are proudto announce this collaboration. FromCoos Bay to Corvallis, Pendleton toPrineville, Kaiser Permanente is proudto serve the total health needs of thosewho serve others.

OR-0000306286

ployer rates on Sept. 28, so right now ev-eryone is working with estimates. Everypublic employer pays a different ratethat’s based on several factors.

Theboardsetsabaserate—21percentfor the2013-15biennium—but itvariesbyemployer based onwhen their employeeswerehired.Theypayahigherrateforem-ployeeshiredbefore2003,so ifanemploy-er has a lot of newemployees, they’ll havea lower rate. In addition, some employerspay the 6 percent that workers are sup-posed to contribute to PERS, a concessionthey made decades ago in exchange forworkers giving up some pay increases.

Also,manygovernments passedbondsseveral years ago to pay off their unfund-ed liability to PERS.Marion County ChiefFinancialOfficerJeffWhitesaidthecoun-tyonlypaysabout5percent interest on itsbond payment every year, rather than 8percent, which is what PERS would havecharged.

This is called having a “side account”and it can be a mixed blessing, becauseside accounts respond dramatically tochanges in the bond market. Data fromPERS shows that entities with side ac-counts saw their PERS rates drop signifi-cantly in good times but rise significantlyin bad times, although they do allow forlower individual base rates.

Even so, “we think it’s a good deal,”White said. “Right now our calculationssay,‘Yeah,it’sworkedoutforus.’ ”He’snotalone. Most local governments also haveside accounts for PERS.

All of this — the base rate, 6 percentpick up and bond rates—go into calculat-ing what a local government will pay to-ward its employees’ retirements.

City of Keizer Finance Director SusanGahlsdorf said she expects Keizer to owethe PERS program about $130,000 moreperyearoutof thecity’sgeneral fund, andshe said even more will come from otherdepartments, such as the water bureau,but that hasn’t been calculated yet.

Keizer has cut six positions in the pastthree years, she said, from 96 employeesto 90, a decrease of 6.25 percent. As costslike PERShave risen, revenue fromprop-erty taxes and other sources has dropped,she said, and it can’t continue thisway.

Marion County plans on paying about$1.07millionmoreperyearunder thenewrates,White said. The county already laidoff dozens of employees during the reces-sionandiscurrentlylockedinabattlewithits union over the 2012-14 contract, in nosmall part because the county commis-sioners anticipate growing PERS costs.

“It’salreadyhandicappingourabilitytoprovide services,” Commissioner PattiMilne said.

Theschooldistrict is lookingat$10mil-lionmoreperyear,Wolfesaid. Itwillprob-ably mean less staff or fewer workingdays, he said. This year the district tooksevenfurloughdays tomakeup itsbudgetgap.

Local officials understand why PERSneeds them to pay more. Most of the pro-gram’smoneyisinvestedinthestockmar-ket, and PERS lost about $17 billion whenthe stockmarket crashed in late 2008 andearly 2009. It still hasn’t recovered thatmoney, and as a consequence, employerrates increased about 5 percentage pointsin the current and next bienniums.

“PERS is well-managed. It’s one of thetop-funded plans in the country,” Whitesaid. “Only a couple of bienniums ago, wesaw rates going down.”

Wolfe agrees there are no hard feel-ings.

“There’s nothing evil in this,” he said,“but it’s a problem that needs to be fixed.”

White,WolfeandGahlsdorfarealllook-ingtotheLegislaturefor leadershipontheissue because the solution probably won’tcomefromthestockmarket,whichwouldhave to show vast, prolonged improve-ment tomakeanydifference inhowmuchPERS costs.

Therehasbeen talk about ending someprovisions in the law that cover state in-cometaxliabilityforout-of-statePERSre-cipients,White said, and he thinks that’s agood idea.

No one wants to do away with the pro-gramas awhole; they just want to be ableto afford it.

“Ithinkit’sareallygoodsystemforem-ployeeswhohaveput inyears of service,”White said.

Milnethinksthetrickiscuttingbackonthe level of benefits PERS offers.

“It’sanextremelygenerousretirementpackage, and we can’t afford it,” she said.“It’s got to change.”

Others, however, would like to see re-form come from the Legislature to bringpayments down, but they also want to seerevenuegoup.Gahlsdorfsaidshewantstosee property tax reform, because the fall-ingtaxrevenuesarehurtingcityandcoun-ty governments.White also said droppingtax revenues have made PERS paymentsmuchmore difficult to swallow.

The school district has also seen hugerevenue drops.

EvenmorethanPERSreform,“I’mjusthopeful that for the 2013-15 biennium thatK-12 is adequately funded,”Wolfe said.

Officials agree PERS reform absolute-lyneedstohappen,buttheyalsoagreerev-enue streams need to turn around aswell.

“It’s going to take multiple reforms tobring us back to a sustainable level of ser-vice,”Gahlsdorf said.

[email protected], (503)399-6719, or follow attwitter.com/HannahKHoffman

PERSContinued from Page 1A

said, parentswalk into themeeting and are facedwithmultiple school staff-ers — teachers, instruc-tional assistants, schoolpsychologists and the su-perintendent. They speakin a different language,and often in terms of thechild’s deficiencies thatare difficult for any par-ent to hear.

“Ihadameetingearlierin the school year lastyear, and I was informedthat my child can’t read,can’t write, can’t do math,hasnosocial skills andhasno friends,” Taylor said.“You get the worst-casescenario. You go in therethinking, I see my childprogress in this area, andthey don’t see that. So it’skind of like getting hit upside the head when you’renot expecting it. You getblindsided.”

StaffersatRISEhelped

parents prepare for theIEPprocess, helping themstrategize and lay out thegoals they hope to accom-plish. Parents also had theoption of asking an IEPpartner to tag along to themeetings for more sup-port.

Taylor is well-connect-ed in the developmentallydisabled community andwith parents who havespecial needs children.She’s president of theWil-lamette Valley Down Syn-drome Association, a

boardmember of TheArcofOregonandfounderofaparent support group inthe Cascade School Dis-trict, just to name a few ofher activities.

She’s not aware of an-other organization in Sa-lem that offers the type ofparent training RISE pro-vides.

“There may be some-thing in Portland, but inSalem we seem to be re-source poor,” she said,“which is why this is not agood thing for our area.”

Taylor noted other re-cent losses for the specialneeds community in Sa-lem: Juntos Podemos andSwindells of Salem.

“We lost two really big

ones,” she said, “andRISEnot currently operating atfull capacity is not good.”

Parents often tout theimportanceofnetworkingand information sharingto thrive in a life with aspecial needs child.Learning about the child’sdeficiencies is a toughenoughtask, theysay.Par-ents need each other toshare ideas and support.

Dana Campbell yearsago started a parent sup-port group called SalemOregonAutismResourcesfor that reason. She oftenshared classes offered byOregon RISE and broughtin speakers from the or-ganization for the group.

“My initial group of

parents — they didn’tknow jack,” she said. “Ifyou Google autism online,I mean, you get seven ba-zillion answers.”

Campbell quit the sup-port group several yearsago, but she’s thinkingabout starting it back upbecausesheworriesaboutthe lack of services in Sa-lem.

“Right nowmyson is ina social skills class byLake Oswego becausethere’s nothing in Salem,”she said. “There’s justnothing.”

[email protected], (503) 399-6673or follow atTwitter.com/syoo.

RISEContinued from Page 1A

conducting a parallel federal in-vestigationwith theOffice of In-spector General.

In the wake of the investiga-tions, theOregonDepartment ofEducation suspended a two-yearcontract with RISE worth morethan $500,000.

Birr said the investigation isin the fact-finding stages, wait-ingforsubpoenasfrombankandcredit card accounts.

The case arrived in the crimi-nal investigationunitJuly10,anditcouldtakeweeks longerforde-tectives to account for tens ofthousands of dollars. As of now,Roberts is theonlysuspect in thecase.

AnotherOregonorganization,National Indian Parent Informa-tion Center, also is a potentialvictim of embezzlement con-nected to Roberts’ case, Birrsaid. Oregon RISE agreed to beNIPIC’s fiscal agent, obtainingfederal funds and funneling it toNIPIC for a fee. However,there’s more money missing

thantheagreeduponfee,hesaid.If criminal charges come out

of the investigation, Robertscould be prosecuted eitherthrough Marion County CircuitCourt or U.S. District Court.

NancyLatini, assistant super-intendent for Student Learningand Partnerships at the Depart-ment ofEducation, said the stateagency is waiting for the resultsof the investigation.

“We really can’t do anythingother thanwe can’t spend publicfunds on a potential issue—avi-olation of any sort,” Latini said.

A woman answered the doorofthemainoffice inNorthSalemand confirmed the organizationis still open and providing ser-vices. She referred all otherquestionstothenonprofit’sattor-ney.

John Gear, RISE’s Salem-based attorney, said he could notspecify what kind of servicesparentscanexpectwhenschoolsare back in session next week.

Roberts’ attorney, Tom Rask,said he had not been notified ofany allegations or chargesagainst his client.

“We vehemently deny anywrongdoing,” Rask said.

Oregon RISE, or Oregon Parent Training and Information Center, at2288 Liberty St. NE. KOBBI R. BLAIR / STATESMAN JOURNAL

FutureContinued from Page 1A

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Flinch-ing in the face of economicweakness, President BarackObama’s top aides refused tosay Sunday in the run-up to theDemocratic National Conven-tion whether Americans arebetter off than they were fouryears ago.

Obama campaigned inColo-radoandVicePresidentJoeBi-den in Pennsylvania as theirsenior surrogates sought to de-flect discomforting questionsand turn them into criticism ofRepublican challenger MittRomney.

“TheRomneypathwouldbethe wrong path for the middleclass, the wrong path for thiscountry,” said David Plouffe,one of Obama’s top WhiteHouse aides.

But responding to the ques-tion thathasbecomeastaple ofpresidential campaigns, hesidestepped when asked ifAmericans are better off thanwhen Obama took office.

“We’ve clearly improved …from the depths of the reces-sion,” he said.

Another aide, David Axel-rod, said: “I think the averageAmerican recognizes that ittook years to create the crisisthat erupted in 2008 andpeaked inJanuaryof2009.Andit’s going to take some time towork through it.”

Not only the economy, but

theweatherwas also a concernfor theDemocratswithObamaplanning to deliver his prime-time acceptance speech onThursdaynightbeforeacrowdof tens of thousands at a foot-ball stadium.

An enormous sand sculp-ture made in Obama’s likenessserved as a reminder, as if anywere needed, that the Demo-crats were in town. A drench-ing rain caused damage onSat-urday just as work was finish-ing on the project, but the five-member crew said they hadbeen able to make repairs.

Planeloads of delegatesflew into their convention cityfor two days of receptions be-fore their first meeting in theTime Warner Cable Arena onTuesday. Hundreds of demon-strators marched through thestreets around the hall, pro-testing what they call corpo-rategreedaswell asU.S.dronestrikes overseas said to killchildren as well as terrorists.

No arrestswere reported asdozens of police officerswalked along with the parade,carrying gas masks, woodenbatons and plastic hand ties.

Biden, campaigning inYork, Pa., took a swipe at Rom-ney on foreign policy.

“He said it was a mistake toend the war in Iraq and bringall of our warriors home,” thevice president said. “He said itwas a mistake to set an enddate for our warriors in Af-ghanistan and bring them

home. He implies by thespeech that he’s ready to go towar in Syria and Iran. “

Democrats have been criti-cal of Romney for making nomention of the war in Afghani-stan when he accepted the Re-publican nomination inTampa,Fla., last week.

Obama and Biden will benominated for second termsWednesday night, when for-mer President Bill Clinton hasthe role of star speaker.

Biden and Obama delivertheir nomination acceptancespeeches Thursday, the con-vention’s final night.

Theeconomyhasrecoveredfitfully at best from the worstrecession in decades, and na-tional unemployment is 8.3percent. Joblessness was spik-ing when Obama took officeandpeakedatmorethan10per-cent before it began recedingduring his term.

While Republicanswant theelection to be a simple referen-dum on Obama’s handling oftheeconomy, thepresident andhis party are determined tomakeElectionDayachoicebe-tween him and his rival. Thatstrategy was on display in theSunday interview programs.

Plouffe, askedonABCtoan-swer the better-off questionwith a yes or no, replied: “Ithink everybody understandswe were this close to a GreatDepression.Westavedthatoff.We’rebeginning torecover.Wehave a lot more work to do.”

Are Americans betteroff? Obama aides silentGetting out of this recession will be a long haulBy David EspoAssociated Press

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