[Vision2020] Hostile takeover?

Joan Opyr auntiestablishment at hotmail.com
Fri Aug 20 16:50:02 PDT 2004


Let me get this straight: Mr. Kimmell chose Robert E. Lee to be the Chamber of Commerce's leadership role model, and he used materials at a Chamber retreat that were embossed with the Confederate flag.  I guess my question is when did Moscow's Chamber of Commerce become the North Idaho chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy?  Who would join or retain Chamber membership under these circumstances?  Or, more to the point, now that the Stars and Bars have hit the fan, what effect might this have on the businesses of Chamber members?  To paraphrase Martha Stewart, who seems to have followed a equally unfortunate leadership model, it is not a good thing.   

I believe that if I were affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce, I'd be mailing my resignation to Mr. Kimmell post haste, perhaps in care of the Appomattox Courthouse.

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment

PS: Aside from the sheer idiocy of this move, let's consider for a moment exactly what sort of role model General Lee might be for a Chamber of Commerce.  What's the message here -- that local businesses should fight a losing battle for a suspect cause and then, when the troops are at long last starved and exhausted, effect a noble surrender?  Hell's bells, you don't suppose Tidyman's followed this plan, do you?




INK: Chamber boss Kimmell ready to lead with Lee
Vera White
The INKster has wanted to believe during the past year or so that Latah County Commissioner/ Moscow Chamber of Commerce Executive Director/Christ Church member Paul Kimmell refused to let his personal beliefs figure into business either at the courthouse or the chamber office.

But she was speechless when she received a call last week from an irate chamber member expressing dismay with Kimmell's choice of leadership materials used at the Aug. 5 annual board retreat in Gritman Medical Center's conference room. For his 1:30 p.m. leadership power point presentation, Kimmell chose to use Confederate General Robert E. Lee as the world's greatest example of a leader among men.

The INKster was forwarded a copy of the 17-page "Robert E. Lee on Leadership." In addition to numerous historic photos, the back page proudly displayed the Confederate flag. Although it came as no surprise since Christ Church leaders seemingly worship Lee along with God, the INKster didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Some chamber members were appalled when they found out about this retreat," noted one of the INKster's sources. "But under a new ruling, only board members were invited."

"Understanding and Applying the Leadership Principles of General Robert E Lee" describes Lee as a leader for all ages who "remade a rag-tag bunch of men into one of the most impressive fighting forces history has ever known." Further, "as a business man, he took a debt-ridden Virginia plantation and streamlined its operations; and as a teacher who turned a backwater college into a prestigious university."

Of course the INKster wasn't there, but she wonders if Lee might have had an edge with local government officials who were able to reduce the taxes on the plantation. No doubt there was cheap labor available. And she's curious as to whether Kimmell used the University of Idaho or New St. Andrews College as an example for the "backwater college."

Under the section marked "Leadership By Example," Kimmell notes that "part of Lee's strength was his supreme confidence, tied to both his religious convictions and that he had unsparingly done his duty to achieve the goals set before him."

Be that as it may, the INKster wonders how the Robert E. Lee Method of Leadership would play out with other chambers in the region. Throw in the Confederate flag and she imagines Moscow will rightfully find itself a laughingstock.

Interestingly, one of the items on the retreat agenda was a roundtable discussion on "Marketing Moscow to Seniors." The INKster imagines she wouldn't be the only old person offended by a group of the town's leading business people paying homage to the Confederacy.
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