[Vision2020] Citizen Ament versus Councilman Ament

[Carl Westberg]

Joan writes: " If he'd like a complete set of The Auntie Establishment and 
Brother Carl Show, I'd be happy to send him that as well.  Free of charge.  
We play some damned good music on the show, I must say, and anyone with an 
ear for melodious voices should be delighted to have the dulcet tones of 
Brother Carl playing over his or her stereo.  Carl is Moscow's answer to 
Barry White. "  Ah, gosh....with one important exception.  I'm still alive.  
At the moment, anyway.  And if I may take a moment, any of us who dabble in 
radio must take pause to wish happy 74th! birthday today to Kasey Kasem.   
Carl Westberg Jr.


>From: Joan Opyr <joanopyr at moscow.com>
>To: Vision2020 Moscow <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Subject: [Vision2020] Citizen Ament versus Councilman Ament
>Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 15:04:16 -0700
>
>Dear Visionaries:
>
>Greg Dickison has filed a public records request asking for, among other 
>things, recordings of Liberal Island, a radio talk show that Aaron Ament 
>hosted before he was elected to public office.  The key word here is 
>"before."  When Aaron announced his candidacy, he left KRFP and stopped 
>doing his radio show.  Why?  Conflict of interest.  It's bad form to run 
>for office with a megaphone in your hand.  Also, the KRFP board (and the 
>FCC) have rules about these sorts of things; Aaron has cheerfully and 
>correctly followed these rules.
>
>About Gary Crabtree's questions regarding whether or not Aaron's statements 
>on Liberal Island should oblige him to recuse himself from the New St. 
>Andrews zoning vote:  they're good questions, but the answer is no.  Unless 
>Greg Dickison, Doug Farris, or Gary can point to something/anything Aaron 
>has said or done to disqualify himself in this matter since he ceased to be 
>a private citizen and became an elected official, then there are no grounds 
>for recusal.
>
>I'll give you an example: for more than a decade, Jesse Helms was a 
>commentator on WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina.  You complain about 
>Aaron having referred (on his radio show) to NSA as an education free zone? 
>  Jesse Helms spouted off about miscegenation, the joys of segregation, his 
>hatred for gays, lesbians, non-Christians, and Democrats, you name it.  
>When he decided to run for the U. S. Senate, he stepped down from his job 
>at WRAL and became Candidate Helms rather than Talk Show Helms.  Not once 
>during his four terms in the U. S. Senate did he recuse himself from a vote 
>on civil rights, on employment nondiscrimination, on religious issues, gay 
>and lesbian issues, AIDS funding, or anything else about which he'd spoken 
>as a TV commentator.
>
>What grounds do Greg, Doug Farris, et al, have for demanding Aaron recuse 
>himself in the NSA matter?  The personal opinions he expressed as a private 
>citizen?  Not good enough.  You might also, while you're at it, ask Bob 
>Stout to step aside on matters relating to Moscow's police union -- he is 
>strongly in favor of the police union and, in fact, campaigned on this 
>issue.  Let's also Jon Weber to step aside on matters related to appliance 
>sales as he co-owns the Sears store.  John Dickinson could step aside if 
>anything comes up having to do with the Kenworthy, as he's the founder of 
>Sirius Idaho Theatre, and Linda Pall should never, ever speak on legal 
>matters, as she's a practicing attorney.  As for Mayor Chaney, well, God 
>help us if anything to do with nursing should come before the City Council 
>because she's a real live RN.  I'll bet she has strong opinions on the 
>subject of decubitus ulcers.
>
>Finally, about recordings of Liberal Island -- until last fall, when KRFP 
>began podcasting over the Internet, the station did not (as far as I know) 
>record any of its programs.  Not mine; not Aaron's; not even Emily Poor's 
>wonderful Americana show.  If any recordings exist, it's because friends 
>recorded the show off the radio.  I have copies of my show because Tom 
>Hansen very generously records it each and every week and makes it 
>available on the web for download.  This means that my grandmother in 
>Raleigh can listen to me tell scandalous stories about the family and do 
>impersonations of her views in her accent.  (I love my grandmother to 
>pieces, but she's often unintentionally hilarious.)
>
>I am specifically named in Greg's public records request.  He seems to be 
>under the impression that there's a broad conspiracy against NSA involving 
>Aaron and a bunch of unrelated folk -- I only know about half of the people 
>Greg has named in his PR request -- a conspiracy that might have been 
>preserved for time and eternity via recordings of Liberal Island and 
>Aaron's City of Moscow email account.  As fishing trips go, this one 
>wouldn't pull up a tiddler.  It's goofy thinking, and it's paranoid -- it 
>also reveals more about the inner workings of Christ Church than any 
>critique I've ever offered.  But, to show that I don't do conspiracies, 
>that I have nothing to be ashamed of and certainly nothing to hide, I'll 
>make Greg an unconditional offer -- I have two personal recordings of 
>Liberal Island.  One is Aaron's interview with Bill London, dated April 
>5th, 2005.  The other is Aaron's interview with me.  I went on Liberal 
>Island in December of 2004 to talk about Moscow's 49% Rally, a protest that 
>took place on George W. Bush's second inauguration day.  (If you want to 
>know more about the 49% Rally, either visit my website and go to the links 
>page, or Google your way through Dale Courtney's blog.  He was at the 
>rally, typing notes and taking pictures.)  I will send Greg copies of both 
>of these shows, and he can do with them what he will.
>
>If he'd like a complete set of The Auntie Establishment and Brother Carl 
>Show, I'd be happy to send him that as well.  Free of charge.  We play some 
>damned good music on the show, I must say, and anyone with an ear for 
>melodious voices should be delighted to have the dulcet tones of Brother 
>Carl playing over his or her stereo.  Carl is Moscow's answer to Barry 
>White.
>
>Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
>www.joanopyr.com
>
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>                              mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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