[Vision2020] mayoral race

Sun Nov 1 11:40:45 PST 2009

I loved Roger's take on this.  I was taught that God took a pretty serious stand against propogating falsehoods - it's in The Big Ten: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." (Deut. 5:20.)  

Contrasting your candidate's views and record with that of the opponent IS fair, but if a campaign has to resort to slander and misrepresentation, that tells me they have precious little in the way of accomplishments, positive vision and/or message to offer on their candidate's behalf.  Nonsense like this turns voters off from the political process, and also understandably breeds public distrust of our government.  If a candidate will say or do anything to get elected, a reasonable person should expect them to continue saying or doing anything to hold onto their office.  But in order for our system of government to work and be sustainable, we (the public as a whole) have to be able to expect a baseline of honesty and integrity from our elected officals.

Let's also consider the legal ramifications of the leak.  I've been getting acquainted with local issues since moving up here from Lewiston a year ago, but my understanding is that this water issue IS still very much a live issue, and the City could be dealing with ongoing legal wrangling in coming years.  That confidential memo was addressed by the Mayor and sent to the City Attorney, City Council, and Public Works Director (also an agent of the City).  In other words, it was privileged attorney-client communication and strategy produced in contemplation of possible litigation.  Whoever leaked this memo may have arguably waived the City's attorney-client privilege with respect to these isses, which was wildly irresponsible.  

By leaking this memo, they have betrayed the public trust and have placed us (as the taxpayers) at a strategic disadvantage going forward (as Hawkins indicates they will once the economy starts rebounding).  And they have done this for their own political gain.  But it's also completely weird - they seem to be trying to convince the public that Mayor Chaney's position on the issue was contrary to the position she'd taken publicly (over, and over, and over again).  But a reasonably bright 12 year old could read that memo and understand that the author was talking about how, if worse came to worst, one might possibly make a wholly undersirable outcome less toxic.

We need follow up on this issue.  In my opinion, any public official (or aspiring public official) who was involved in distributing this memo should not be placed or kept in a position of public trust.  Their own political power and aggrandizement is clearly more important to them than the public interest, and it's dangerous to the rest of us for such men to have positions of authority.  

My four or five cents,

Selina

> Date: Sun, 1 Nov 2009 09:05:50 -0800
> From: rhayes at turbonet.com
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: [Vision2020] mayoral race
> 
> This is the mayor's official stance on the Hawkin's development.
> http://www.moscow.id.us/Hawkins/index.asp
> I expect Right Mind to distort things, but for Gary Schroeder to use 
> the mayor's opposition to a very bad idea against her in this manner 
> reeks of the corruption of soul, not to mention political corruption. 
> All is not fair in love, war, or politics.
> Roger Hayes
> Moscow
> 
> On Sunday, November 1, 2009, at 07:19 AM, vision2020-request at moscow.com 
> wrote:
> 
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> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Sun, 1 Nov 2009 07:19:24 -0800
> > From: "g. crabtree" <jampot at roadrunner.com>
> > Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Question
> > To: "Joe Campbell" <philosopher.joe at gmail.com>, "Moscow Vision 2020"
> > <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> > Message-ID: <DDFAB55290D14B2EBEB3B26E4A9BD9AF at gmc>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
> >
> > For your reading pleasure courtesy of Right-Mind:
> >
> > File Attachment: 20091021_NancyChaneyLetter.pdf (119 KB)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Joe Campbell" <philosopher.joe at gmail.com>
> > To: "Moscow Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> > Sent: Sunday, November 01, 2009 7:02 AM
> > Subject: [Vision2020] Question
> >
> >
> > In yesterday's Daily News letters section, there was a letter written
> > by Gary J. Schroeder which contained the following quote by Mayor
> > Chaney from a "memo": ?My preference is to: As a back-up strategy, I
> > propose that we ask IDWR, the Idaho Attorney General and the citizens
> > of our community for permission to offer Hawkins water from our
> > municipal supply, for a price and with conditions.? What memo was
> > this? If it was a private memo, how did Schroeder get a hold of it?
> > Shouldn't there be a full citation here? It looks a little suspicious
> > and I would think that the Daily News would have asked for more
> > detailed information saying exactly when the letter was sent, to whom,
> > and how Gary J. Schroeder got hold of the letter. I'd like to know
> > explicitly, for instance, if any candidates running for election this
> > year sent a copy of that letter to Schroeder.
> >
> > By the way, it seems like a silly letter to me. Changing one's mind,
> > especially if one has more information, is not a fault.
> >
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