Re: Candidate Endorsements

[Ken Medlin <dev-plan@moscow.com>]

>any topic including political endorsements are fair game.
Councilperson Busch: It's great that you have 'come on board' with this 
exciting, creative and, yes, sometimes provocative group of citizens 
engaged in discussing how to involve more citizens in the public weal.  
True, sometimes the "soap box" format tends to get a little flakey, but 
that's human emotion untamed, I guess. Looking back at the election 
campaign, many of us would have enjoyed more opportunity to visit with 
and question the candidates, as is frequently done in other cities and 
counties. We seem to be a little bit shy around here. Genuine democracy, 
if it ever existed, and real community planning, cannot happen without 
broad participation. With only 21% of the voters at the polls, we have no 
notion what the other 79% are thinking and wanting for their community. 
Maybe the new council will foster more citizen involvement -- it can be 
done. If Dr. Hill's letter in the DN is an indication, he intends to go 
that way. We hope so. G-o-o-o Jack!
     You remark that the Vision 2020 mission is primarily linked to 
economic development. That's not quite accurate, since only 3 of the 11 
items defining what we're about mention that concept. The major focus is 
on involving people in educational activities through communication, so 
as to impact positivley on community planning and decsion-making. I think 
if you were to reread the statement, you would notice that. 
     As for "any topic [being] fair game", I would like to ask you, 
again, about Busch Distributors' position in regard to fuel prices in 
this area. As a govt. official, you must of course be concerned with this 
matter since the city and county vehicles buy a lot of fuel and oil. Last 
Winter, some of us tried in vain to obtain prices from retailers, 
wholesalers-jobbers, and ship agencies (Seattle-Portland). We got a lot 
of "answers", but they were all, "We do not know the price", or "It is 
none of your business to know that." In your company's case, you did not 
return our telephone calls, so we do not know your position. However, 
after all our efforts, and after a Spokane TV station began running 
stories about the "strangely high price of gas in Moscow-Pullman", all 
the stations in our area cut their prices by 20% -- for about six weeks. 
Then, as you know, OPEC hiked arbitrarly the price of crude, and we were 
back up on the sliding board. 
    We know of course that the vitality of the free market is 
competition, but that also businesses can "charge what the traffic will 
bear". We all want fairness, a good return on our dollar, a fair profit 
for business, and a sense of trust between consumer-citizen and 
business-professions.  Captitalism thrives and everybody wins. 
    Councilman/Businessman Busch, where do you stand on the question of 
gas-oil prices at the wholesale level and the retail level? Since last 
winter, two companies have been willing to share this information with 
us, and the facts are very interesting. I would enjoy knowing the facts 
from your corner.  Thanks!  W. Ken Medlin

------------------------
William K. Medlin
Dev-plan associates
930 Kenneth Street
Moscow ID 83843
208/892-0148
dev-plan@moscow.com