(NOTE: This was originally posted on October 15, 2013, at 06:55 AM. Because the Friday, October 18, 2013, online edition of the Coeur d’Alene Press linked to the OpenCdA website but not to this specific post, I am moving this post up.)
Coeur d’Alene businessman Steve Widmyer wants to be elected Mayor of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, at the City election on November 5, 2013.
OpenCdA believes that Widmyer is not a suitable candidate. He is not a good fit to be Mayor of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
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OpenCdA commenter “up river” appended a comment to the OpenCdA post titled “Steve Widmyer: Not Suitable for Mayor” on October 15. “Up river” commented in part, “In fairness I have to question whether or not a person’s one comment, perhaps ‘Freudian’ in nature, sixteen years ago necessarily characterizes who a person is today.”
It is a very fair question that deserves an answer. (more…)
OpenCdA was begun in 2008 by Dan Gookin, Mary Souza, and me. If you follow the link, you’ll see that except for Dan’s name on the original entry on February 1, 2008, both Dan’s name and Mary’s name are gone.
When Dan decided to run for Coeur d’Alene City Council, he properly withdrew as a member of OpenCdA. He no longer originates posts here, however he does occasionally comment. And thankfully, he still takes care of the frequent software updates needed.
When Mary decided to become a candidate for Mayor of Coeur d’Alene, she also properly withdrew as a member of OpenCdA. I put up a post on June 1, 2013, on OpenCdA explaining that both of them had officially withdrawn from OpenCdA. Mary’s comment on the preceding day’s post provided some additional information about her not making blog comments.
Because OpenCdA is an LLC, it was necessary for Mary to formally notify the Secretary of State’s office of her withdrawal from the LLC. Here is a link to that filing. Effective June 17, 2013, Mary severed her association with OpenCdA LLC.
The North Idaho College Republicans Club is hosting a Coeur d’Alene mayoral candidate forum from noon to 2 p.m. Monday, Oct. 14 in the Lake Coeur d’Alene Room of the Edminster Student Union Building.
According to Richard Tanksley, Political Science Instructor at NIC, there will be opening statements, then about 5 questions from the College Republicans with the remaining time devoted to questions from the audience. Questions will be screened. Finally, there will be a closing statement from each candidate.
There are one-minute time limits for statements and answers, and the order of who responds will change as well. Two students from the College republicans will be doing the moderating. Tanksley said he does not expect there to be any bias toward any of the candidates.
OpenCdA highly recommends this book, Detecting Bull, Second Edition, by John H. McManus, published by The Unvarnished Press. We in the great state of north Idaho have no news media that provide timely, accurate, or complete coverage of local news. If readers request the book through our public library system, be sure to emphasize that you’re requesting the Second Edition, not the First Edition. The Second Edition adds six new features including :
– The SMELL test to help evaluate reliability of information
– Commercial bias, the most common slant in American journalism
– Detecting bias in images – visual literacy
– The misinformation trade – how news is made to fool the public
– Using the web to vet the news
– Evaluating information from bloggers and citizen journalists
For those of you who thought Starr Kelso could only write brilliant law briefs and scholarly law review articles, you’ll want to follow this link to the October/November issue of Backcountry – The Magazine for Hunters, Anglers, and Other Outdoor Enthusiasts in North Idaho. Scroll down to page 20 to read Starr Kelso’s short story entitled “Diversions.”
Careful readers will note that author Kelso has appropriately and with justifiable pride identified himself as a native of the great state of North Idaho.
Move over Dan Gookin; there’s a new author in town!
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In his comment attached to a post concerning Port of Hope, Dan Gookin said there was really no opportunity to comment and elaborate on our OpenCdA poll question concerning the Coeur Group’s handling of the CdA Candidate Forum.. Dan was right (I hate it when that happens, but he was). So this is your opportunity. Take the poll, then come here to comment on the Coeur Group’s forum. Dan’s comments below are a good starting point, but don’t be afraid to deviate from our Poll questions and mention what you liked or didn’t like about the Forum. (more…)
At its regularly-scheduled meeting on Tuesday, October 1, 2013, the Coeur d’Alene City Council voted unanimously on a motion by Councilman Ron Edinger to approve a Special Use Permit for the Port of Hope and to have the City Attorney prepare the Findings and Order. The Council’s unanimous decision reverses the decision of the Coeur d’Alene Planning Commission in August to deny the permit.
OpenCdA urges readers to view the streaming video of the October 1, 2013, City Council meeting. We also urge readers who have not viewed the streaming videos of the July 9 and August 13 Planning Commission meetings to view them. Please pay particular attention to the testimonies of the Port of Hope managers and staff.
The Port of Hope is one of many Federal Bureau of Prisons Residential Reentry Centers (RRC) throughout the United States. They are the heart of the BoP’s program of Residential Reentry Management. To the extent this program succeeds, it is because the BoP sets high standards which its RRCs must consistently meet. But success will not come unless the RRC’s staff and management set a good example for both the federal inmates in transition and for the community which hosts the RRC. As we clearly saw from the testimonies of Port of Hope’s representatives at both the Planning Commission hearings and last night’s City Council meeting, they do set a good example for the inmates in transition and for our community.
The staff and management at Port of Hope have consistently met and exceeded the federal standards intended to ensure the host community’s safety as well as increase the chances of successful reentry when a federal prisoner has termed out and is released. These federal standards are far more stringent than anything required by the Idaho Department of Correction or the City of Coeur d’Alene.
In our community we are fortunate to have an exemplary RRC, the Port of Hope. OpenCdA hopes that the City and State will look and learn, then adopt the best practices from the federal program to improve the safety of our State and City.
At its regularly-scheduled meeting beginning at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, October 1, 2013, the Coeur d’Alene City Council will conduct a quasi-judicial hearing to approve or deny the Port of Hope’s application for a Special Use Permit. This is informally referred to as an appeal from the 3-0 decision of the Coeur d’Alene Planning Commission to deny the application. This will be a new hearing, not an appeal from the record, so all evidence and testimony must be presented as if it had never been received or heard before. OpenCdA hopes that citizens who have fact-based evidence on this issue will appear and testify under oath at the quasi-judicial hearing. (more…)
The Sunday, September 29, 2013, online version of the Idaho Statesman has a very interesting and informative article headlined Are Idaho’s public information officers public servants or spin doctors? The well-written and quite detailed article was written by Sven Berg. The headline is a good indicator of the article’s content.
As expected, the Statesman listed numbers for only local agencies in the Treasure Valley and for statewide agencies.
OpenCdA is not sure that the City of Coeur d’Alene has any professionally trained public information officers for either the City as a whole or for any of its individual agencies. OpenCdA understands that the City’s contract with its most recent Propagandist-in-Chief will not be renewed.
While living in southern California and working very closely with the Los Angeles City Fire Department, we had the privilege of also witnessing the work some of the finest and most professional public information officers in the nation. They included Captain Jim Wells, Captain Steve Ruda, and Firefighter Brian Humphrey. Idaho’s PR flacks/wannabe PIOs could learn from them.
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