[Vision2020] LMT 8/25/04 Moscow Chamber Rumors Denied

Wed Aug 25 15:28:52 PDT 2004

Don, Melynda, et al,

Like Melynda, I was disappointed in the lack of depth in the LMT  news story on
Paul Kimmell and the current mess at the Moscow Chamber of Commerce.  Thank you
Dan for posting the story.

However unintended, some of the quotes from the article should cause not only
chamber members grave concerns, but all Latah County citizens:

For the record, said Kimmell and McMillan, the chamber remains solvent. "I can
tell you today, we're in the black," said Kimmell. "Yes, we're in the black,"
confirmed McMillan. The two conceded that some confusion continues to surround
the chamber's finances, but as of Tuesday the nonprofit promotional organization
had between $12,000 and $15,000 in its checking account and the bills were being
paid.

"The chamber is not bankrupt," Swanson agreed. "It's just that the financials
don't balance." She said an audit would help matters. Kimmell and McMillan
agreed

Moscow business people:  Hello!  Do any of you see a problem between the two
above paragraphs?

How do you know your in the black if the books do not balance?

Just because there is cash in the bank does not mean you have sufficient cash to
cover all your short term and long term liabilities.  Many a business has had
severe financial problems because of inept bookkeeping not noticed because there
was always "cash in the checking account."  Some of these firms discovered one
day that when withholding and other tax payments were due, that they simply
didn't not have the resources to cover them.

Further notice:

...the nonprofit promotional organization had between $12,000 and $15,000 in its
checking account...

Between $12,000 and $15,000?  Holy Jesus!  They only know their checking account
balance within a range of 25%?  And this is good fiscal management?  Would you
dare run your personal checking account with and accuracy range of 25%?

If Ms. McMillan, chamber president and FirstBank executive, really believes in
her heart of hearts that this 25% margin of error is no big deal, then anyone
with money in FirstBank should get it out as fast as they can (if the bank
really still has it)!

Also incredible:

"It's just that the financials don't balance."

And whose incompetence has brought about this sad state of affairs?  The
accounting knowledge to perform and to monitor the books of a business
organization with a $180,000 per year budget is not rocket science.  Anyone on
this list could probably do it after a few hours with Bookkeeping for Dummies.
That Kimmell could not and/or did not read the Earnings Report, Cash Flow
Report, and the Balance Sheet on a regular [weekly/monthly] basis and see the
glaring problems does not speak well of the his talents or business sense or
that of someone of someone who an executive director.  Given the size and
profundity of the errors in the chamber bookkeeping, it is unclear why such a
state went undetected for so long except possibly by intention and ignorance.

Why did the chamber board not see the main accounting reports?  Did the
executive director not make it part of his routine to share these reports with
the board and membership monthly/annually?  Again, why did the board not ask to
see the reports?  Is it because Kimmell is so likeable that the board members
suspended their good business judgment?  That's how confidence persons
operate -- gain trust, keep the foils happily in the dark, etc.

Another item:

Kimmell defended his use of Lee in his recent presentation, saying it had
nothing to do with the promotion of slavery. "It was not intended to be about
anything but the leadership skills of a leader," said Kimmell.
Let's see.  The civil war was fought long ago.  Debate still continues about the
quality of General Robert E. Lee's leadership and character.  Once in a seminar
a lady friend of mine persuaded me to attend with her, the speaker, whose name I
don't remember, gave an account of Lee's personal dealings (this account was
consistent with several others I had heard/read).  One paragraph has always
stayed with me, it went something like this:

"Robert E. Lee was the consummate southern gentleman.  He had fine manners, a
truly likeable and commanding way, dressed nicely but manly, and had a moral
code that defined southern gentlemen at that time:  Never get caught lying to,
stealing from, cheating at cards, or diddling the wife or daughter of another
southern gentleman; everyone else is fair game."

Regardless of Lee's character, racial views, slavery views, and lack of success
on the battlefield, he is certainly an extremely poor practical choice to use as
a model of leadership for Moscow business people.

As mentioned by others on this list, Moscow businesses people are not engaged in
a military war being fought in the 19th century.  They are engaged in businesses
trying to survive and to prosper in a rapidly changing business, economic,
political, and social environment.  The rate of change in today's world is
several quantum levels faster than that of civil war times.  Nor will the same
leadership tactics work.

Business people are not likely to succeed today if they treat their employees
like slaves, chattel, mere tools, etc. or if they are not honest with and caring
about them.  Most motivational techniques that may have worked for Lee are
unlikely to be successful in a Moscow, Idaho business today.  Moreover, despite
what Kimmell's mentor, Christ Church Cult Master Douglas Wilson, believes, much
progress through trial and error, careful research, and/or serendipity has been
made in leadership, motivational, and management techniques in the intervening
years.

If the chamber wishes to learn about up-to-date, practical leadership and
management skills, it is very likely that professionals in the UI or WSU
business colleges would point them in the right direction, pro bono.  It is
doubtful that any of the sources that these professionals would recommend are
pro-slavery, racist traitors as Lee was.

>From the article:

He [Kimmell] said he refuses to enter the Internet fray on Vision 2020 but would
be happy to talk face to face with anyone about his work, his affiliation with
the church and the chamber's financial status.

What a wonderful thing for an elected official to say!

Besides being truly anti-democratic by forcing his constituents to communicate
with him only face to face, such an arrangement allows Kimmell to change his
story to suit the person he is interacting with.  In fact, it has been alleged
that this exactly what he has been doing with chamber board members and the rank
and file chamber members!

When the following appears in the minutes of the cult in which Kimmell is a
member, all citizens have a right to ask about it and are entitled to a straight
forward answer.  Each person should not have to personally run Kimmell down to
find out his current version of what's going on:

"The Christ Church minutes state, “Doug Wilson reported that Paul Kimmell, in
his role as County Commissioner, is open to oversight from the elders on certain
issues...”

The above quote raises an important question about the separation of church and
state and raises the question of a gross breach of public trust.  That answer
deserves an open, public answer.

Unfortunately, the LMT  article did not address two germane points:

1.    Gross violation of fair employment practices laws by giving preference in
employment by the chamber to Kimmell's cultie associates.  Kimmell has hired at
least five Christ Church Cult members as chamber employees.  Under the most
generous assumptions the chances of this happening fairly is about
1/312,500,000.  The chance of fairly using only cultie children (8) on one
chamber project alone is 1 in several hundred billion!

2.    The use of our tax dollars, paid as dues and other donations by tax
supported organizations (UI, City of Moscow, Moscow School District, etc.), to
support Kimmell's illegally discriminatory hiring practices and to support the
promulgation of Robert E. Lee's ideas, an offensively fulsome, inept,
impractical, racist, proslavery, and insulting example for Moscow business
people to model.  I am sure that in time these tax supported institutions are
going to be asked to explain their actions in this regard, especially if such
support continues.

Although, the LMT article was intended to reassure us that everything is fine at
the chamber and Kimmel is right on top of things, a careful reading of the
article reveals, quite clearly, the opposite.

Wayne

Art Deco  (Wayne Fox)
deco at moscow.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Melynda Huskey" <mghuskey at msn.com>
To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 12:21 PM
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] LMT 8/25/04 Moscow Chamber Rumors Denied

|
| I think the Tribune did a slightly better job assembling all the facts than
| the Daily News did, but I think there's still some confusion--and some
| unfair generalizations or allegations about us, the members of Vision 2020.
|
| For example, "McMillan blasted Vision 2020 as something that's gone from a
| potentially helpful local forum of ideas to "garbage" spouted by about a
| dozen contributors who give a totally wrong impression of what Moscow is all
| about.  'Vision 2020 was a great idea when it came out,' said McMillan, 'but
| it has just been taken over by a group of, I don't know how to say this ...
| I would call them almost destructive.' "
|
| Is Ms. McMillan a member of Vision 2020? Her name doesn't appear in any
| recognizable form on the list of 516 subscribers maintained by First Step.
| And while she may not like what people have to say on the list (sometimes I
| don't either!), I'd hesitate to qualify it as "garbage."
|
| I'm also disturbed by this statement:
|
| >Kimmell defended his use of Lee in his recent presentation, saying it
| >had nothing to do with the promotion of slavery.  "It was not intended
| >to be about anything but the leadership skills of a leader," said
| >Kimmell.
|
| There was no response from anyone on the Board to the presentation, nor any
| comment from Chamber members not on the Board, which I think was a weakness
| in the article.  And I still think the use of a Confederate general as a
| role model given recent controversies was a peculiar one:  I have yet to
| hear or read an explanation for the choice, which would have been a helpful
| addition to any of the articles.
|
| I was also particularly troubled by this paragraph in Alexis Bachrach's
| article in the Daily News last night:
|
| "Many who have long disagreed with the pastor's views, took their protest
| against Wilson and applied it to the entire church.  Those same community
| members have attacked Kimmell's membership in the church on local Internet
| listservs and other public forums."
|
| This is editorializing unsupported by evidence.  What protest?  How, and by
| whom, was a protest applied to the entire church?  And who are these "many"
| community members?  As someone who *has* commented here on what I see as
| conflict of interest, poor judgement, and preferential treatment of church
| members in Paul Kimmell's work as a commissioner and as the Director of the
| Chamber, I strongly object to the notion that I am protesting an entire
| church, or attacking someone's church membership.  That's just not accurate
| at all.  My concerns are very focused on a particular person's actions in
| his role as a public figure.  His church membership is a part of that
| concern *only* insofar as it appears to be implicated in his public role.
|
| Melynda Huskey
|
|
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