[Vision2020] Response to Kimmell: Part I, Discriminatory
Hiring/Contracting Practices
sean
o2design at wsu.edu
Mon Sep 20 13:22:34 PDT 2004
Interesting information. Worth knowing more about.
I wonder, however, why you, Wayne, feel the need
to demean others' religion in the process of
raising concerns about unethical practices. Is
it because you are similarly guilty of
discrimination?
As it is you confuse the issues surrounding the
alleged practices by potentially raising outrage
at not only Kimmell but yourself. Somehow I
doubt you would consider similar venomous
language to be acceptable by others in the
community if it were leveled at groups you
support. Yet it seems being a liberal makes it
OK to insult others. Or is it just that those
liberals who lack self-control give a bad name to
the rest?
If one bad apple doesn't spoil the rest, it
certainly may make the others be avoidedŠdespite
their good character. I guess that goes for
apples and organizations (both liberal and
conservative).
s
>Preface
>
>
>
>On August 27, 2004, a pseudo-folksy column by
>Paul Kimmell appeared in the Daily News
>[appended below]. This column was an apparent
>attempt to respond to some of the many
>criticisms made of Kimmell's actions in his dual
>role as Moscow Chamber of Commerce Executive
>Director and Latah County Commissioner. Because
>Kimmell's column did not address certain
>important issues and dishonestly addressed
>others, a multi-part response is in the works to
>set the record straight.
>
>
>
>This first part deals with discriminatory
>hiring/contracting practices – the favoring of
>Christ Church Cult members/businesses in hiring
>and contracting practices by the chamber and
>county – an issue that Kimmell did not choose to
>address in his Pollyanna column.
>
>
>
>
>
>Discriminatory Hiring/Contracting Practices
>
>
>
>As Executive Director of the Moscow Chamber of
>Commerce, Kimmell hired at least five fellow
>Christ Church Culties as employees. Assessing
>generously in his favor the odds of fairly
>hiring even one cultie from all the possible
>applicants in the area at 1 in 50 (with
>replacement), the odds of fairly hiring five
>culties are about 1 in 315,000,000!
>
>
>
>One of the culties hired was Kimmell's current
>wife, Connie. Can you also say NEPOTISM? [More
>about the Kimmell/Kimmel connection at the
>chamber will be forthcoming in the posts on
>chamber financials.]
>
>
>
>A few more of the allegations that a
>considerable amount of chamber money was spent
>in a discriminatory manner for part-time work
>and contracted services are as follows:
>
>
>
>§ Hiring eight cultie children directly
>without any attempt to find other children to do
>a special project.
>
>
>
>§ A disproportionate amount of catering
>done by Zume, a cult member based business
>housed in the NSA tenement. [Some chamber
>members are also not enamored by the quality of
>the alleged comestibles served.]
>
>
>
>§ A disproportionate number of
>entertainments at chamber functions provided by
>Eric Engerbretson, a cultie and cultie
>apologist. [According to some chamber members,
>a little of Eric goes a long way.]
>
>
>
>§ The contracting of the design,
>programming, and maintenance of the chamber
>website to inexperienced, inept amateurs from
>NSA for over $22,000.
>
>
>
>As county commissioner, Kimmell recently used
>his influence to help install a cultie in a
>clerical position in the Latah County Courthouse.
>
>
>
>
>
>Effects of Discriminatory Hiring/Contracting Practices
>
>
>
>Discrimination based on religious
>preference/practice is contrary to state and
>federal law. This is especially true of public
>institutions and those organizations like the
>chamber that thrive in part because of public
>tax monies received.
>
>
>
>There are many secondary effects that can arise
>from this discriminatory misuse of public money:
>
>
>
>Public agencies who have contributed to the
>chamber either through dues or grants can demand
>that those past contributions be returned for
>the entire period that the discrimination has
>occurred. These agencies can use court action
>to force the return of such monies, if necessary.
>
>
>
>Further, the public agencies themselves can be
>forced to return funds which were given to them
>under laws and contracts prohibiting
>discriminatory practices by vendors and/or other
>service organizations to that public agency.
>
>
>
>Public agencies giving money to organizations
>practicing discrimination (such as the chamber
>has for the last three or four years) face a
>loss of community goodwill. Just losing a
>little goodwill can cause a public agency to
>lose a levy request or lose support for a budget
>increase.
>
>
>
>I have little doubt that unless the chamber
>apologizes for, stops the discriminatory
>practices, and removes the individual (Kimmell)
>responsible for them, that the public agencies
>supporting this past discrimination with public
>funds will themselves be the object of some very
>unpleasant community wrath, protest, and action.
>
>
>
>
>
>As for the pathetic chamber website, chamber
>members have been willfully and arrogantly
>ripped off. Besides its marginal graphical
>design and overall structural inadequacies,
>important parts of the website are
>dysfunctional. There is no search mechanism to
>find member businesses [Google provides such
>programming free]. You can't even use the web
>browser edit function to find a business since
>the business names, etc. occur in graphic files!
>Hence, even if you go through the slow process
>of going page by page to find a member business,
>you can't copy the individual business
>information from the graphic page. Further, it
>does not appear that simple maintenance
>procedures that chamber employees could use have
>been created; therefore the chamber is dependent
>on the NSA students to maintain the website.
>Needless to say, the information on the chamber
>website is out of date.
>
>
>
>A professional could have created for the
>chamber a graphically and functionally well
>designed website. Such a design would have
>provided chamber members with the search ability
>and visibility for their businesses and
>organizations they have a right to expect. The
>website building and cost from a professional?
>Probably under $5,000!
>
>
>
>Instead, under Kimmell's religious
>discriminatory contracting practices,
>inexperienced, inept students from cult business
>NSA have been paid over $22,000 and the product
>is marginal at best. This is con-artistry at
>its small town worst!
>
>
>
>
>
>Kimmell's discriminatory practices also show
>that in addition to getting "oversight" from
>Christ Church Cult Master Douglas Wilson as a
>Latah County Commissioner, Kimmell's obeying
>orders from the Cult Master is aiding the Cult
>Master's A-Religious-Kingdom-for-Myself
>ambitions using our tax money.
>
>
>
>[Question: Do the culties knowingly
>hired/contracted through these discriminatory
>practices, a process of community theft,
>hypocritically continue to call themselves
>"Christians" or have they in their heart of
>hearts (but not publicly) given up such a
>pretense?]
>
>
>
>
>
>Obviously, discrimination based on religious
>preference/practice is in itself grossly unfair.
>It steals from everyone in the community both
>opportunity and possible income. Therefore,
>this kind of discrimination is little more than
>common theft and its perpetrator, Paul Kimmell,
>is little more than a common thief. These
>discriminatory practices in the name of the
>chamber make that organization look like a bunch
>of common thieves also.
>
>
>
>Previous posters have described Kimmell and
>other some chamber board members as very
>"community minded" and "nice." Kimmell may be
>"charming," but to describe him and his
>co-conspirators using the words "nice" and
>"community minded" when they are, in effect,
>common thieves using tax money to finance their
>hateful discriminatory practices is a gross
>misuse of the English language.
>
>
>
>
>
>Silence of the Chamber Board
>
>
>
>Although they have been asked several times and
>by several different persons to comment on the
>above described discriminatory practices,
>members of the board have not yet made any
>public comment on this issue. [At least one
>member, however, has said, "It is none of the
>public's business."]
>
>
>
>Although the chamber board has been silent on
>this issue, one influential past president of
>the chamber has commented. Jon Kimberling in a
>series of exchanges with myself, made these
>remarks, perhaps speaking for the present
>chamber:
>
>
>
>”Wayne - as past president of the Chamber and
>someone who spent a year on City Council working
>with Paul, I can tell you he is a man of great
>integrity. The Chamber board questioned him
>about his hiring's. It is my belief that he
>hired the best people for the job - some
>happened to be associated with the church. I
>don't know about you but I have a tendency to
>associate myself with people who have similar
>values. Is that so wrong? ..."
>
>
>
>"Whatever the math, there is still every
>possibility that the Chamber went through a
>thorough process in each hiring and that the
>best candidate was chosen.
>
>
>
>When I said: "I have a tendency to associate
>myself with people who have similar values," Is
>that so wrong? I should have continued and
>explained that I believe Paul networked with
>local business people, church members and anyone
>else he knows to advertise the jobs. It was
>certainly no secret at the Chamber and we were
>all encouraged to get the word out. I don't
>deny the appearance of favoritism..."
>
>
>
>The sentence comparing Jon Kimberling's
>practices to Paul Kimmell's practices: "I have
>a tendency to associate myself with people who
>have similar values. Is that so wrong?" perhaps
>explains in part why the chamber has ignored not
>only state and federal law but the rights and
>reasonable expectations of everyone in the
>community in their hiring/contracting practices.
>
>
>
>
>
>Solution
>
>
>
>There is a simple solution that any prudent
>business person would pursue when faced with the
>problems described above.
>
>
>
>1. Apologize to the community
>which provides its funding for past missteps,
>and as far as legally and fairly possible,
>correct them.
>
>2. Design, write, and scrupulously
>follow procedures which provide for advertising,
>screening, and hiring/contracting such that all
>of the qualified candidates in our community
>have an equal chance of being considered and
>hired for any chamber position or contracted
>service.
>
>3. Immediately dismiss Paul
>Kimmell as executive director. His open,
>arrogant violation of state and federal law and
>his cause of the community loss of respect for
>and confidence in the chamber by discriminatory
>practices – stealing opportunity and income from
>all of us – and forcing his religion down our
>throats and using our tax money in the process,
>are grounds, in and of themselves, for instant
>dismissal.
>
>
>
>If the chamber board refuses with the
>stubbornness and community insensitivity they
>have so far exhibited to do these three simple
>steps, they will certainly be surprised at the
>outrage and action that will pour forth from
>insulted and concerned members of the community.
>
>
>
>
>
>/s/ Wayne A. Fox
>
>
>
>Wayne A. Fox
>
>1009 Karen Lane
>
>P.O. Box 9421
>
>Moscow, ID 83843
>
>
>
>(208) 882-7975
>
><mailto:waf at moscow.com>waf at moscow.com
>
>
>
>______________________________
>
>
>
>From The Daily News
>
>______________________________
>
>
>
>COLUMN: Trying to live peaceable lives in Moscow
>
>
>
>Paul J. Kimmell
>
>
>
>As a child, I would wander through Philadelphia
>staring at the Liberty Bell and through
>Independence Hall not knowing what that
>"experiment in liberty" was all about or that
>the men who signed the Declaration of
>Independence had risked their lives, fortunes,
>honor, and reputations for a very risky
>proposition.
>
>During my years of public service, I've come to
>realize the great amount of scrutiny that one in
>such a position is under. Much has been written
>of my dual roles of late, both as a Latah County
>commissioner and as executive director of the
>Moscow Chamber of Commerce.
>
>Unlike some in the media and in the community, I
>am accountable to all of you in one form or
>another. For the record, I wish to respond to
>some of these recent attacks on my character and
>the organizations I work for.
>
>First of all, I want to assure those of you
>involved in the chamber of commerce our
>financial situation is not grim but in fact
>fairly healthy. In the 3 1/2 years I have been
>with the organization, our bottom line has
>improved steadily. While some of our numbers
>have been taken out of context, it is difficult
>to explain them without looking at them as a
>whole and in one setting, which is what our
>Executive/Finance Committee does every month.
>They have realized areas that needed to be
>fine-tuned, and have provided great direction to
>our outside bookkeeper, making sure each account
>is properly categorized.
>
>During this process, some items have needed to
>be moved from the Chamber Foundation to the
>Chamber - again, per the Executive/Finance
>Committee. That is what some of these numbers
>that have been discussed reflect. This committee
>is well aware of the Foundation's and the
>Chamber's status - none of these decisions have
>been made without their direction, contrary to
>what some have implied. This same
>volunteer-based committee and Chamber Board
>continue to provide this important oversight
>while making suggestions as to how we provide
>our membership and the community with quality
>services. This is a group of small-business
>owners dedicated to improving and protecting
>Moscow's quality of life and business.
>
>I am also very proud of our chamber staff and
>the tremendous amount of work they produce on
>behalf of Moscow and its businesses. Like many
>of you, they're overworked and underpaid, but I
>appreciate how well they represent this
>community when the phone rings or a visitor
>stops in for travel information.
>
>As the community's "front door," the chamber is
>often the first impression someone has of
>Moscow. We take this responsibility seriously
>and we make sure it is a warm and inviting one.
>We operate on a fairly small budget and we rely
>on the great generosity of our business
>community to help us provide these services.
>
>Can we do better? Absolutely.
>
>I'm often reminded just how fortunate we are to
>live in a place where crime is low, the air is
>clean and the culture is abundant.
>
>I am also very aware of the importance in
>protecting these assets, our farms and
>farmlands, our forests and lumber mills, our
>water and other resources, our businesses and
>institutions and, most importantly, our people
>and our community's rich heritage.
>
>Moscow is a great community full of genuine,
>caring and active citizens. I am thankful that I
>live in a country where I have not needed to
>worry about liberty or freedom, that the past
>and present sacrifices of those in the armed
>forces protect us.
>
>As of late, however, there has been a small but
>loud group of displeased persons who claim
>tolerance, yet they are showing how intolerant
>they are of other religious and/or moral views.
>
>It's important for me, and others, to keep in
>mind the majority of us are trying to live in an
>area that we are convinced is one of the best
>places on Earth to live and raise our families.
>
>I am concerned some have grown suspicious of
>others in our community and harsh words have
>been expressed. Accusations have been made about
>one another and those who have control of the
>"public square."
>
>Moscow is far too good a town for this kind of
>behavior to continue. Our founding fathers would
>have expected more, and so should we.
>
>* Paul J. Kimmell is executive director of the
>Moscow Chamber of Commerce and a Latah County
>commissioner.
>
>
>
>
>_____________________________________________________
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--
Thanks,
s
* * * * * * * *
Sean Michael
.dwg
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