Politics from the Palouse to Puget Sound

Friday, February 15, 2008

Picking and Choosing

I agree with quite a few of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News editorials. They seem quite reasonable, anyway, compared with what comes from Tribune columnists Tom Henderson and Jim Fisher.

However, when Daily News editor Doug Bauer wrote this in an editorial last Saturday, it caught my eye:
We've already voiced our support for Hawkins' plans to build in the corridor that runs between Pullman and Moscow, and that hasn't wavered.

However, the decision to sell city services should not have been made until the public had a chance to voice its thoughts and concerns.

Understandably, some people are upset they were left out of the process, so much that some have uttered the word no elected official likes to hear - recall.
Uh, excuse me, Doug, but where was the similar editorial regarding Queen Nancy's decisions, after secret executive sessions, to first file a SEPA appeal and then water rights transfer appeals against Hawkins? Did the public not have a right to voice its thoughts and concerns on decisions that cost Moscow taxpayers tens of thousands in legal fees?

And what about the voice of Whitman County citizens, who cannot vote for or against Chaney or the Moscow City Council? Yet Chaney & Company's decisions to oppose Hawkins to the bitter end could have cost Whitman County millions and millions of dollars in tax revenue. Talk about disenfranchisement.

Sorry, this editorial was just pandering to a few loud-mouth Moscow malcontents. You can do better.

1 comment:

April E. Coggins said...

Hawkins and Whitman County were not going to stand around and wait for Moscow to have a drawn out public debate before deciding whether or not to extend services. It was a now or never offer to include Moscow in the plans.