Today’s Coeur d’Alene Press editorial titled This ax hurt unnecessarily observed the timing of city council candidate Jim Brannon’s firing by Habitat for Humanity of North Idaho was “atrocious.” In the online comments under the editorial (scroll down in the link to see them), commenter “coyote” asks at 6:54 AM, “..where’s the ‘smoking gun?” Another commenter, “yabetcha,” may have provided the smoking gun in his response to “Darth Vader” at 10:46 AM this way:
“Darth Vader, speaking of throwing a man off prior to a debate, was not Mr. Brannon summoned for an emergency meeting of the H4H board at the hour of his public announcement of his candidacy for city council at McEuen Field where he had to leave immediately?“
If “yabetcha” is correct, then the only remaining questions are, “Whose fingerprints are on the gun?” and “Who hired the gunman?”
I would hazard a pretty good guess that there are multiple fingerprints on that gun. Take your pick! I am still trying to decide if I should laugh or be appalled by Kennedys campaign mgr. Some woman, clearly impressed with herself, named Bryant. Now she is on the board of HH…but hey, no conflict of interest there. She wrote a truly nasty derisive letter in todays paper. She was commenting on a previous letter (which unfortunately I hadn’t read). Her opinion [of the letter] may or may not have been correct. But I do know it was a prime example of the arrogance shown by this bunch. Insulting, superior and nasty, it clearly demonstrated the attitude of supreme self righteousness. I have always found this type of person to be, in actuality, ignorant and ill bred. As my mother would have said, “certainly not the kind of person who will ever sit at my table”.
Comment by Faringdon — October 16, 2009 @ 3:04 pm
My mother would describe people like that as having “more crust that a loaf of french bread!” She was hilarious.
Meredith specializes in writing and administering Federal grant dollars. She’s apparently very experienced in this highly specific field. When the CdA City Council was awarded a Federal HUD grant (Housing and Urban Development) about a year and a half ago, they needed to hire someone to administer it. They played crazy games and didn’t put out RFPs (Request for Proposals) in a fair manner. The city was caught with all kinds of misbehaviors in the process. Meredith was mad because the city bypassed her and gave the contract to PAC (Panhandle Area Council), an organization that had no experience with Federal money. But they have political clout.
The long and short of it is that Meredith may be motivated to become part of the inner circle so she can get the jobs.
Interestingly, and somewhat surprisingly, the city of CdA gave Habitat a chunk of the HUD money this year (they ignored them totally last year). Is it possible that the HUD money, which was just awarded a couple months ago, was in exchange for axing Jim Brannon?
Just another possible angle to consider.
Comment by mary — October 16, 2009 @ 3:44 pm
Faringdon,
Meredith Bryant is not a current member of the Habitat for Humanity of North Idaho Board of Directors.
Comment by Bill — October 16, 2009 @ 3:58 pm
http://www.northidahohabitat.com/pdf/newletters/Habitat-Winter-2007-Newsletter.pdf
Comment by Pariah — October 16, 2009 @ 4:45 pm
From the responses to the arrogant letter.
Comment by Pariah — October 16, 2009 @ 4:56 pm
http://www.cdaid.org/mod/userpage/images/Minutes120407.pdf
Look on pages 2, 6 and 7
Comment by Pariah — October 16, 2009 @ 4:59 pm
http://www.kennedyforcda.com/campaign/?m=200910
Larry does window coverings btw. Another “Inside Connection”?
Comment by Pariah — October 16, 2009 @ 5:19 pm
Okay, I’m confused..(what else is new) I believe the Press stated she was a member of the board. And either her current letter or a comment she made earlier, stated that “no other member of the (HH) board was present” at the gathering at her home for Kennedy. The commentary above would seem to confirm that she is a member of the HH board. Pariahs post, appeared while I was typing this, would indicate that now she is a former member. Appears the dog is chasing his own tail!
Comment by Faringdon — October 16, 2009 @ 5:31 pm
This is really bush league bully politics. Somebody needs to point this out to Minnick who no doubt just supports Kennedy due to party affiliation. But Minnick would not want to be associated with such sloppy political ‘hit’ men. They might as well take out a neon lit billboard on Northwest proclaiming their ruthless power over the the process. “Our way or the highway.”
Comment by Wallypog — October 16, 2009 @ 5:36 pm
Minnick is a donor to Mike Kennedy’s campaign and he was last time too. By his donation he endorses and supports this type of intimidation.
This manipulative power play must be stopped. The citizens of CdA should not fear losing business or their jobs because they want to run for public office. It is the kind of retribution that our Founding Fathers fought against!
Comment by mary — October 17, 2009 @ 8:59 am
Minnick is part of the Pelosi Party, ‘nuf said.
Comment by Pariah — October 17, 2009 @ 7:13 pm