Dave Oliveria's rant against the "dark side of Coeur d'Alene" provided my Sunday laugh. He rails against those in his fine city who choose not to support higher taxes or are not willing to ante up money directly from their pockets to support the Kroc Center. He even gives a brief history of civic projects that have failed because of the efforts of those on the dark side. Hey, the bond passed, but not by a supermajority! Gee, Dave, you are starting to sound like a civic-minded person who believes that we all need to chip in for the greater good of our communities. But this concept is not one that the political majority in your state and in your party would support -- letter writer Richard O'Brien/Spokane.

Full letter here

DFO: Richard's wrong in so many areas that I don't know where to begin. I was a Republican. But I'm not now. The social policies of the national Demo party and the good-old-boy policies of the Idaho Repub party have transformed me into an Independent. Beyond that, I've always supported public school bonds and levies, urban renewal, Indian tribe gaming, public access to North Idaho beaches, the Kroc Center -- and a laundry list of other things that could be consider populist or even Democratic. Then, you wouldn't know that b/c we no longer sign our editorials. Alas.

I just posted this on A Matter of Opinion, the SR's new editorial page blog here.

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