---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 07:12:24 -0800
From: Linda Pall <lpall@moscow.com>
To: Susan Palmer <susanp@uidaho.edu>
Cc: lpall@moscow.com
Subject: Re: democracy in the 21st century
Dear Susan and Visionaries:
I have a few minutes this morning and I hope this is a start to respond to
Susan's request.
1. Communication with COnstituents:
Really important...but sometimes difficult to get a good dialogue
started. In my first stint on the COuncil I had regular office hours at City
Hall for people to drop in. Not many did (4:30 p.m. to 5:30 or 6 on a
weekday) but they universally appreciated the effort.
I think it is important to use opportunities with the City COuncil
to create dialogue. For example, I took on the responsibility of organizing
Randall Arendt's workshop in Moscow about a year and a half ago. Another
example is the continuing conversation about City issues with other cities
through the Association of Idaho Cities. We recently had a day long
discussion of city issues, including those important during the next
legislative session (Sept. 27). We took the opportunity to do a little
Moscow "Showing Off" and took city officials around the Farmer's Market and
had a lunch that was catered by the Vox with local produce featured.
I've been involved with various committees seeking information from
the community and have been part of the public information efforts of the
Linear Park Task Force among others.
Maybe open house parties...?
2. Vision 2020, communication links, what have I done, etc.
I am one of the technologically challenged. I have become a
list-serve listener in the last three or four months. It's one way of
listening to what's on people's minds.
I still read the letters to the editor of all three papers (Spokane,
Lewiston, Moscow/Pullman) regularly and tolerate the editorials of each paper.
I write a column each Saturday for the Daily News.
I really wish we had more exposure concerning city issues of all
kinds in the local broadcast media. In the mid 1980s I hosted a call in
program on KWSU...maybe a local issue oriented one needs to be resuscitated.
My voice mail is a great boon. Call 882-1280, leave a message and if
you want a call back, leave your number and I have an informal promise of
getting back to you within 24 hours unless I'm out of town or simply cannot
connect because of other responsibilities. You compete with my students and
clients but I try to keep the 24 hour promise.
3. What will I do to enhance political debate and communication in the 21st
century?
Listen a lot and make sure I leave most of my preconceptions at the
door while I'm doing the listening.
I'd be interested right now in the ideas of others concerning how
one can maximize the communication part of the job while getting the job of
local politics done and all of one's other responsibilities in the process.
The most important thing I have done and will do in the future as a
council member is take advantage of opportunities for community education.
For example: we have money in our budget this year for another planning
workshop a la Arendt. I have identified a great architect/planner from San
Francisco who could give us some new ideas to think about in
town/neighborhood design and integration of that with downtown/commercial
development.
ANother opportunity: community wide discussion of a capital
projects/improvement strategy...what do we want? how will we invest in our
future? how can we bring ALL citizens into the discussion and take real note
of what they have to say, discovering and implementing a community consensus?
A final thought: the most important thing that can improve political
debate is a more generous attitude toward the opinions out there. Maybe we
need to care about each other more, give each other a little space and
appreciate our friends and neighbors more, warts and all, crazy ideas and
genius proposals. In the words of the Beatles, where I learned a great deal
in those bead strung, incense filled days..."all you need is love..."
Thanks for the chance to comment.
Linda Pall
882-1280 voice mail
lpall@moscow.com
At 04:40 PM 10/30/97 -0800, you wrote:
>
>Visionaries,
>
>I hope we can continue to maintain several discussion threads
>simultaneously. The swimming pool thread has been useful for me since I
>am merely a leisure swimmer and previously was ambivalent about pool
>issues. Although I am parting from ambivalence, continued discussion will
>help me reach an informed opinion.
>
>However, the thread I'd like to pick up on here is the discussion of
>uncontested candidates and democracy. I grew up in a household that
>embraced democracy and political debate. We took for granted that no
>singular candidate could possibly represent the entire constituency of
>citizens and array of ideas, and that naturally all seats ought to be
>contested on democratic principle.
>
>If I dare to speak on behalf of my sister, Councilmember Pam Palmer, I
>would suggest that this family philosophy is in large part what led Pam to
>run against Mayor Paul Agidius, who otherwise would have been an
>uncontested candidate. Although (to my knowledge:-) ) Pam is not formally
>affiliated with either of the major political parties, when she campaigned
>for mayor she received occasional admonishments from Democrats and
>Republicans alike for challenging the incumbent, Mayor Agidius.
>
>Likewise, I believe former candidate Bill Rember, a Democrat, was
>motivated, in part, to challenge Republican Maynard Miller to ensure the
>seat did not go unchallenged. (It wasn't that simple, but certainly a
>component.) I believe he received similar admonishments from a few
>Democrats who believed, for some reason, that the incumbent should not be
>challenged.
>
>Now we have four unchallenged seats, and the certainty of a council
>vacancy (future mayor Comstock's midterm council seat) following the
>election. It sets a political climate that feels like a one party
>system--as Michael Parenti coined "Demopublicans." I don't know if the two
>major parties just aren't aggressive enough to identify candidates, or if
>the parties have melded together so much that they are indistinguishable
>and thus there is no need for contested elections.
>
>Whatever the case, Steve Cooke has set the right example by asking even
>uncontested candidates questions. And we should ask them some of the
>hardest questions before us. I will leave those to the list for now.
>
>>From a Moscow Vision 2020 vantage point, one concern is whether a
>candidate has the leadership required to carry us into the 21st century.
>For those on the list, it may seem banal for me to point out that elected
>officials need to keep step with technology and envision how technology
>can be used to enhance the democratic process. While not even the majority
>of citizens are "on-line" we are rapidly heading in that direction. Its
>pace may exceed the acquisition of microwave ovens.
>
>Politicians at the cusp of the century and millenium who are
>computer-phobic are going to be left behind in the dust. The laudatory
>reviews that Tom Trail has received for his exemplary use of
>communicating with his constituents through the Vision 2020 listserver and
>personal e-mail is well deserved.
>
>While I am with the camp who are both perplexed and disturbed about the
>trend toward uncontested elections, I would like those very candidates
>locally to reveal their perspective regarding communication with
>constituents, staying abreast of public discourse such as the Vision 2020
>listserver, and what they will do to enhance the democratic and political
>process for the 21st century. If that is too ambitious, perhaps the
>next decade or few years is within their reach to respond.
>
>Just my two cents, plus a few more.
>
>Best,
>Susan Palmer
>
>*-----------------------------------------------------------------*
> Susan Palmer Phone: 208-885-6616
> Women's Resource Specialist FAX: 208-885-6285
> for Education Outreach, Gender Equity, and Research
> Women's Center e-mail: susanp@uidaho.edu
> [Lecturer, Sociology Dept.]
> University of Idaho
> Moscow, Idaho 83844-1064
> "People convinced against their will,
> hold the same opinion still."
>*-----------------------------------------------------------------*
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