[Vision2020] MCA-endorsed candidates called "bigots"

[Bruce and Jean Livingston]

Geoff Crimmins/Daily News 
Tom Ivie, right, talks with Dave Glasebrook, center, and Aly Lamar at the intersection of Third and Main streets in Moscow on Monday.

Protest draws questions, counter arguments
Claim of bigotry brings reaction from candidates, families 

By Tara Roberts Daily News staff writer

Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - Page Updated at 12:00:00 AM

Dave Glasebrook says the sign he carried downtown Monday isn't political or connected to any political group.

"This is a religious protest," said Glasebrook, whose sign read "Vote for the Bigot Party, Ament, Lamar and Pall."

Incumbent Moscow City Council members Aaron Ament and Linda Pall are up for re-election Nov. 6. Tom Lamar, who was appointed to the council in June, is also running for a four-year council seat.

Glasebrook's protest took place Monday morning and evening at the corner of Third and Main streets and drew several question-asking bystanders. In the evening, there was a counter-demonstration by Lamar's wife, Aly, and daughter, Brya.

Glasebrook, a Christ Church member and professional pilot, said Ament, Lamar and Pall are part of a long-running vendetta against Christ Church. He said the City Council's decisions on issues such as the boardinghouse ordinance and zoning restrictions for Christ Church-affiliated New St. Andrews College are examples of bigotry.

He also carried a copy of a flier that was passed around town in August in protest of the church's Trinity Festival. The flier states that Christ Church, NSA and other affiliated organizations are "racist, sexist and homophobic." He said the flier was distributed by people who are allied with Ament, Lamar and Pall.

Glasebrook said his protest was not on behalf of Christ Church as a whole or any other group. He said he chose to use political terms on the sign because people wouldn't understand a strictly religious protest.

Glasebrook said the people listed on his sign are "going to get at (Christ Church Pastor Douglas) Wilson no matter how they can."

"For two years our City Council has focused on fighting Christ Church. Christ Church isn't fighting back," he said.

Glasebrook said he did not include the names of other people who have supported issues he views as anti-Christ Church on the sign because he didn't have room.

He said he does not intend to have any effect on the election, and that only God would be able to affect the results.

Aly Lamar said she spoke with Glasebrook on Monday evening before leaving in tears. She returned later with signs in support of Tom Lamar to "offer the other side."

"It's one thing to be pro-candidates. It's another thing to be against and name calling. ... It's not good politics," she said. "My feelings are hurt. I don't think it's a good way to go about getting his message across."

Aly Lamar said she was not concerned with how Glasebrook's sign would affect the election.

"If anything it will support those candidates (on the sign)," she said.

Brya Lamar, a senior at Moscow High School, later joined the counter-protest. Aly Lamar also added signs in support of Ament.

Brya Lamar said she does not believe her father deserved the accusations on the sign.

"I don't think he's prejudiced about any of that," she said.

Ament stopped by the demonstrations briefly on his way to another appointment.

"(Glasebrook) has the right to express his opinion," Ament said. "He's absolutely incorrect. I think his definition of a bigot as anyone who doesn't agree with him is pretty wrong, but he's entitled to that opinion."

Linda Pall said she drove by the protest and felt "profoundly disappointed."

"I would have to say that the last person to be called a bigot in this town should be me," Pall said. "I was the author of Moscow's most recent diversity resolution. I was the original mover and shaker to create a Human Rights Commission. I've been on the Latah County Human Rights Task Force since we've had one." 

When New St. Andrew's and Bucer's coffee shop were "under attack" for their connection to Christ Church, she supported them against boycotts, Pall said.

Evan Holmes, who is running for a two-year City Council seat, said Pall was one of the least bigoted people in the history of Moscow. He does not believe the protests will effect the elections.

"We're a pretty tolerant town," Holmes said. "We're even tolerant of protestors."

Holmes' opponent for the two-year seat, Walter Steed, and the other four-year candidates, Dan Carscallen and Wayne Krauss, said they recognize Glasebrook's right to protest but are not affiliated with his efforts.

"I don't condone it, but I guess I don't condemn it either," Carscallen said.

He said those who don't agree with Glasebrook should leave his protest alone and it likely will go away.

"We've been civil amongst ourselves through all of this," Steed said. "I'd like to continue that way."

Krauss said he thinks the protest "will add to the divisive climate that we now have."

"All of the candidates for City Council have run an honorable race, and I hope the voters will see this is a one-man protest," he said.

Tara Roberts can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 234, or by e-mail at troberts at dnews.com.




Dave Glasebrook, holding the yellow sign, staged a campaign protest and triggered a 

counter-protest at the corner of Main and Third streets in downtown Moscow on Monday evening.

Moscow city politics take a turn for the personal

Sign-wielding protester takes aim at three incumbents and draws response from wife of one candidate and councilor

By David Johnson 

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

MOSCOW - The campaign for city council here took what some were calling a tawdry turn Monday evening when a Moscow man displayed a sign alleging bigotry against three incumbents.

"This is a Christian protest, not a vote protest," Dave Glasebrook said. "My big problem is that here in Moscow there's been 20 years' worth of strife with Doug Wilson and Christ Church."

Standing on the sidewalk at the intersection of Main and Third streets, Glasebrook carried a yellow sign that read: "Vote the Bigot Party - Ament, Lamar, Pall." He said the slogan was a sarcastic way to raise public awareness.

Aaron Ament, Tom Lamar and Linda Pall are incumbents running for re-election. Glasebrook claimed the three are part of a continued campaign by city government to harass Wilson, his church and New Saint Andrews College located in downtown Moscow.

"If I stand up and say Christian men in America need to get on their knees and pray in order to change how America is, in order to change what's going on in Moscow, Lewiston and Idaho, people won't understand that," Glasebrook said.

So he decided to take to the street with his sign, attracting the attention of motorists and pedestrians including Lamar's wife, Aly Lamar, who stopped to mount a counter-demonstration.

"I'm here because I was riding my bicycle home on Main Street and I saw Dave holding this sign and it really took me by surprise that he was calling my husband, as well as other candidates, a bigot," Lamar said, explaining she returned with one of her husband's campaign signs to stand next to Glasebrook.

Aly Lamar said Glasebrook told her a number of reasons for his protest that boiled down to claiming her husband voted with Ament and Pall on various issues against Wilson, Christ Church and NSA. "So I discussed that with him a little bit, and got worked up and started crying and frustrated and wanted to do something." After realizing she and Glasebrook couldn't agree, Lamar said she decided to go on the offensive.

"So I thought if he's going to have signs and visit with passers-by saying Tom is a bigot I wanted to be here to let them know, in fact, that Tom is not a bigot," Lamar said.

Glasebrook claimed Ament, in particular, overtly tried to force NSA out of the downtown area. He said he was staging the protest on his own, not for or at the behest of Wilson, or anyone associated with Christ Church or NSA. "This is to open people's eyes, saying look at the bigotry in Moscow. Look at what's going on." He said the city council is "not getting after the Muslims" or any other faith, and that amounts to religious bigotry.

"I just hope God will use this sign and do something," Glasebrook said. "I can't change Aaron's heart. I can't make him do something. I can't convince Tom to do something. But I can get on my knees and I can pray that God will lead them to make right decisions, not just decisions that are working against one group of Christians in town."

Ament showed up and offered a terse take on Glasebrook's protest. "I think of the two of us, the one that's guilty (of bigotry) is the one holding the sign," Ament said. "My major crime is that I don't tolerate intolerance and that's what I've been hung with. And I will never tolerate intolerance."

Pall could not be reached for comment.

---

Johnson may be contacted at deveryone at potlatch.com or (208) 883-0564.
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