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There might be a question of the propriety of applying a law aimed at protecting private 
property to buildings owned by the public, but there is apparently little question Pentico, 42, has been a nuisance, and not just in Otter’s office. Still smoldering over a five-year-old dispute with Boise State University officials, he has also taken his complaint to Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, state school Superintendent Tom Luna, dozens of legislators and staff members of Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch. “He seems to think that if he comes 12 times, the answer will be different than the 11th time,” Otter spokesman Jon Hanian said Monday. Earlier, Otter himself defended his instruction to Idaho State Police officers to prevent Pentico from again entering the governor’s office. It was Pentico’s refusal to stay away that got him arrested April 2/Jim Fisher, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: Should elected officials be required to put up with a bothersome person like Christopher Pentico, who may be respectful but wastes staff time because he can’t take no for an answer?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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Digger on May 15 at 9:33 a.m.
No. They have better things to do than deal with wing-nuts. The problem is who gets defined as a wing-nut.
So the middle ground here is that one meeting is an acceptable way to handle problems and everyone should at least be heard out. However, coming to the office several times to ask the same question expecting a different result is, well, the definition of insanity.
It reminds me of my job when customers expect you to magically produce out of stock items on the spot.
“Do you have any (insert item)?”
“No, I’m sorry, we’re out of stock at the moment. We should have some in with tomorrow’s freight.”
“*sigh* Are you sure?” (Blank stare, wringing hands, another sigh)
“Yes, I ordered that product last week and it will be here tomorrow about 2PM, I can call you when it gets here if you’d like.”
“*HEAVY SIGH* Nothing in the back? Can you go check?”
Grrrrr
Whippersnapper on May 15 at 9:42 a.m.
No. If people don’t like the answer they get from a public official or office, staying in the office for hours as a passive-aggressive trespasser just demonstrates borderline mental illness. He can take his grievances to the picket line, he can write letters and put out petitions. But placing your body in a public place where it is calculated to become an annoyance is not a right.
JamesBond on May 15 at 10:02 a.m.
Digger is right. I’ve been there. I don’t mind talking with anyone, but this kind of thing gets to the point that it needs to end. The public has a right to complain and meet with government officials, and at the same time, the public has a right to have its officials not waste time by meeting with people about things that just cannot be remedied.
P.S. Why doesn’t the media sit down with this guy and figure out what his problem is and what he wants. That is something that has not been fleshed out, and I suspect if it was, everyone would realize that this guy doesn’t really know what he wants.
Sisyphus on May 15 at 10:06 a.m.
Unless he abuses the process, I’m thinking that its the cost of running a democracy to make themselves available to citizens with complaints. I’m very confused by Penticos conviction and the circumstances leading to his arrest. Yes he was being a pest, but I don’t think it arose to the level of abusing the process. Certainly I’m troubled by a citizen charged with trespass in a public building. Particularly since he was specifically invited back to make an appointment.
Dennis on May 15 at 10:26 a.m.
Digger, JB & Whipper have hit the nail on the head. We have the same problem in CDA with the CAVE crew. Enough is never enough with people like that.
The easy answer is to have them arrested for trespassing. The problem with that though is the attention they get when the arrest happens which then complicates matters.
I have had to deal with wing nuts throughout my career. Knowing that going in to the job, I developed selective hearing. It’s easy to smile, nod and sympathize when they sound like “Charlie Browns Mother”.
misc on May 15 at 10:49 a.m.
A BSU instructor allegedly threatened bodily harm to Pentico five years ago (perhaps because Pentico wouldn’t stop bothering him?).
Pentico tried to get the student paper to take up the story, but we passed, as it was a he said/he said situation, and Pentico didn’t strike us as particularly reliable. He was a regular visitor for a couple weeks until he apparently headed for greener pastures.
danofthecommunity on May 15 at 11:07 a.m.
One of my operating principles as an elected official is that a high priority task should always be to meet with people when asked. Sometimes people seem a bit surprised that they get to meet in person with the “boss” often on short or no notice. This is especially so if they are angry about something and have likely already talked to a staff member and/or supervisor. I tell them this is in part what they pay me for! I let them know I can’t always guarantee they will get what they want but I can make sure they feel heard and that someone “in charge” at least acknowledges their point of view. Sometimes I can actually take some practical steps to help them, often with a follow-up contact or two. Often I can’t change a thing but they at least usually go away saying they feel better because they were acknowledged and shown basic respect.
The hard part is when someone keeps coming back time and again with different variations of the same complaint that has been asked and answered to the best of our ability. It’s not an exact formula but at some point I judge that it isn’t fair to the rest of the citizens and taxpayers to keep taking up time to go over the same issues or complaints. Then I suppose they feel they are “being ignored” and I’m being “uncaring and unresponsive” but again I feel part of my responsibility is to be a good steward of public time and resources that you only have so much of.
And while I don’t mean it in a flippant or challenging way but as just a positive statement of fact, on occasion I’ve told someone that one the great things about our country is if you don’t like how the county clerk (or commissioner or city council person or legislator or any other elected official) is doing their job then you too can run for office and get to run things as you see fit.