When the White House was being planned, back in 1792, they needed an architectural design for the building but wanted to be completely open with their bid process to insure that the architect was chosen solely on the merits of their design, not favoritism. So Thomas Jefferson placed an ad in the newspaper, soliciting architectural designs. The winning plan would be chosen by President George Washington. Jefferson himself submitted a design, under an assumed name, “Mr. AZ”, but did not win. Now that’s a fair, transparent bid process! Perhaps our LCDC should take a lesson from history?
February 24, 2008
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I’m having a problem with the time line on this. Jefferson and Lincoln were in different centuries for a start. If this occurred in 1792, how could Lincoln, whose presidency was in the 1860’s, have been the judge?
Comment by Diogenes — February 26, 2008 @ 6:07 pm
Diogenes–Thank you for finding my error! The source for my information was a book that tells quick stories about past events. When I wrote the post above, I somehow substituted the wrong President. I appreciate your clear grasp of history and am glad you pointed out the error. My post has now been edited to be accurate, but this comment will remain as a record and admission of my mistake. Thanks! –Mary Souza
Comment by mary — February 26, 2008 @ 7:12 pm
One thing we forget about some of our founding fathers is how relatively young they were. Jefferson was 33 when he wrote the Declaration of Independence.
Comment by Dan — February 26, 2008 @ 7:51 pm
This is one of those situations where the page flips over without you knowing, and one blithley continues on. Life is full of “oops”, we all make them. The world continues to revolve. 🙂
Comment by Diogenes — February 27, 2008 @ 8:57 am
Interestingly, someone told me of a different local blog that ran a piece ridiculing me for making the above mistake about the presidents. Wow. Are we still in 7th grade? I will take it as a back-door compliment to our whole web site, because our critics are obviously watching us with great intensity, and the only mistake they have found is this petty little one. Even the name of the president, tho it was admittedly incorrect, had nothing to do with the point of my story, which is this: The comparison of care and transparency when government honestly tries to be open (as our founding fathers did in this event), contrasted with the lip service to proper procedure, such as LCDC used last week to approve a budget of $35,000 tax payer dollars for a PR firm to make them look better to us!
Comment by mary — February 27, 2008 @ 7:35 pm