[Vision2020] MCA-endorsed candidates called "bigots"

[Sunil Ramalingam]

Matt,

I applaud you for your post, and for your consistency on this issue.

Sunil


>From: Matt Decker <mattd2107 at hotmail.com>
>To: Bruce and Jean Livingston <jeanlivingston at turbonet.com>,        
><vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] MCA-endorsed candidates called "bigots"
>Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:02:23 -0700
>
>
>This mans actions are uncalled for. Bigots? What? Again lets clean it up 
>people.
>
>From: jeanlivingston at turbonet.com
>To: vision2020 at moscow.com
>Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:06:48 -0700
>Subject: [Vision2020] MCA-endorsed candidates called "bigots"
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>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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