[Vision2020] MCA Debates

[Jeff Harkins]

Thank you for your perspectives Bill London.

Righteous indignation and tizzy of false integrity?  That is always the 
problem with personal value systems - they are often difficult to reconcile 
and at times we just have to agree to respect each other's values while we 
maintain our own beliefs. I am comfortable with the position I have taken 
and I respect your position.

And I agree with you, that this is the important question:
Why are you so willing to go to candidate forums all over the county and 
then refuse to go to this one-on-one candidate debate in Moscow?
Concerted efforts were made to breach the concerns about the format, but 
unfortunately, they were not successful.

At 10:01 AM 10/22/2004, you wrote:

>Jeff Harkins:
>     Please control that righteous indignation.  You are aiming it in the 
> wrong direction.
>     Let's go back to the original point in Lois Blackburn's editorial.
>     The local Republican Party has no problem with a candidate forum 
> organized by a Republican candidate (that's you) or a forum organized by 
> a Republican office-holder (that's Paul Kimmell, Republican Commissioner 
> and director of Chamber of Commerce) but believe participating in a forum 
> organized by a local progressive community group (MCA) is signing a pact 
> with the devil.
>     To try and find a legitimate difference, you explain your role in the 
> Moscow Lion's Club forum.  You say that your role was:
>(1) to select two dates for the forum,
>(2) compose an email inviting local candidates to the forum,
>(3) notified club members of the dates,
>(4) send a reminder to candidates of the forum.
>     Well that makes sense.  Yes, that would be the responsibility of 
> someone organizing a candidate forum.  And that is exactly what Bruce 
> Livingston, the MCA representative, did.  Both you and Bruce set up the 
> forum.  You both invited the same candidates.  You both publicized the 
> event.  Neither you nor Bruce expected to serve as moderator (I do not 
> know who will moderate the Lions Club forum, but the MCA moderator was 
> selected from a list offered by Nathan Alford of neutral non-partisan 
> community members.)
>     So why would you wrap yourself in such at tizzy of false integrity 
> and refuse to participate in the MCA debate?
>     What are you Republicans so afraid of?  Why are you so willing to go 
> to candidate forums all over the county and then refuse to go to this 
> one-on-one candidate debate in Moscow?
>     BL
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <mailto:jeffh at moscow.com>Jeff Harkins
>To: <mailto:vision2020 at moscow.com>vision2020 at moscow.com
>Cc: <mailto:mboehneabm at yahoo.com>Mark Boehne President Moscow Lions Club
>Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2004 11:37 PM
>Subject: [Vision2020] MCA Debates
>Many have inquired about the reasons that some candidates are not 
>participating in the MCA debate.  I have decided not to participate in the 
>Monday evening debate.  And I agree that you are entitled to have an 
>explanation of my decision.
>For some time, I have been intrigued by the MCA.  It set a bold agenda for 
>itself and I was impressed by that.  But organizations are defined not 
>only by their missions, goals and objectives, but also by the deeds of 
>their members.
>First, I had hoped that a reasonable compromise would be reached with MCA 
>that would address the concerns raised about the original format, but 
>unfortunately that has not occurred. And then today, Ms. Blackburn, 
>President of MCA in her published editorial (Daily News) made it very 
>clear as to the kind of shenanigans and pressures being applied to force 
>candidates to participate in an event that had questionable protocols 
>which could be unfair to the participating candidates.
>
>Ms. Blackburn noted:
>For an example of possible bias in the organization of a candidate forum, 
>Schroeder need look no farther than a representative of his own party, 
>Jeff Harkins, Republican candidate for Latah County commissioner. Harkins, 
>as the program chairman for the Moscow Lions Club, organized the club's 
>candidate forum this year.
>It is true that I am a member of the Moscow Central Lions Club - and I am 
>proud of the work that we do.  It is also true that I am the Program Chair 
>for the fall, 2004.  But what Ms. Blackburn did not tell you is that 
>before I accepted the Program Chair responsibilities I advised Lion 
>President Mark Boehne that:
>I would be willing to serve, provided that he would agree to serve as 
>moderator for the two (2) sessions I would schedule for the local 
>candidates.  He agreed to those terms.  So, yes indeed, I accepted the 
>program chair assignment for the Moscow Central Lions Club.
>And the services I provided were:
>(1) to select two dates for the forum,
>(2) compose an email inviting local candidates to the forum,
>(3) notified club members of the dates,
>(4) send a reminder to candidates of the forum.
>It is not clear to me why Ms. Blackburn would want to try to discredit the 
>good name of the Moscow Central Lions Club or my service to that 
>organization. But it is a clear example of why I am choosing not to 
>participate in the MCA forum.
>It is important for all of you to note that my specific service to Lions 
>was clearly articulated to Mr. Bill London two weeks ago - and to Ms. 
>Blackburn on Monday, October 18th.
>Here is what I want you folks to try to understand.  I am running for a 
>political office that I believe demands the highest levels of integrity 
>and principled behavior.  My interest in participating in forum events is 
>to make myself known to folks and to answer their questions.  Obviously I 
>am interested in having them cast votes for me.  And here is the tough 
>part - if what you see is a candidate that will knuckle under to this kind 
>of negative pressure in order to obtain votes, how can I possibly expect 
>you to believe that I would not knuckle under to that kind of pressure 
>once I am in office.
>No, I find the statement by Ms. Blackburn to be, at best, insensitive and 
>inadvisable and, at worst, despicable and mean-spirited.  But it remains 
>as a clear example of why I am choosing not to participate in the MCA 
>event.  My participation would simply signal that their behavior here was 
>acceptable to me.  But folks, I won't sacrifice my integrity for votes - 
>no political office is worth that to me.
>As to the concerns that some have expressed that by denying to 
>participate, we are precluding folks from finding out how I stand on the 
>issues.  Well to date, I have not failed to respond to any question 
>directed to me.  If you have a question about how I stand on an issue, 
>write me, email me or call me!
>My greatest regret is that my fellow Lions have to bear this 
>incident.  They are the finest folks - caring and unselfish - and they 
>don't deserve to be tarred with this brush.  And I am very embarrassed 
>that this matter has brought them into this fray.
>
>I trust this clarifies my decision.
>
>
>----------
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