Public Periscope

Why we sometimes call guerrillas ‘partisans’

Sen. Slade Gorton proved last week that he was adept at trying to turn anything to his party’s political advantage, even when the Republicans are responsible for something he’s opposing. The GOP senator sent out a press release promising to oppose a plan in the U.S. House to cut the Conservation Reserve Program, a farm program important to the state … “I will pick up the fight where Congressman Nethercutt left off,” he declared, launching into criticism of the Clinton administration. The program “is vitally important to our agriculture community and a positive environmental management tool and can’t be sacrificed at the expense of the Clinton Administration’s invalid policies” … He segued so seamlessly from his praise of Nethercutt to his criticism of Clinton that a careless reader might have assumed the president was behind this nefarious plot to cut 5 million acres from the reserve program. He neglected to mention the cut is the brainchild of House GOP leaders, or that Nethercutt is siding with Clinton in opposing the cut … Gorton’s argument with Clinton over how money from the program is spent may be a legitimate beef. But it’s a completely separate issue.

Enjoy the view, but don’t get too settled

With a classified ad promising “Premier location and view,” the city of Spokane has tried for about two months to lease the old Salty’s building on North Lincoln Street … Although the city can only lease the prime land for 18 months - there’s that pesky bridge project to contend with - Real Estate Director Dennis Beringer said last week he’s had a lot of interest. Would-be tenants ranged from churches to a fraternity seeking a hot party spot … Beringer is negotiating a lease with a catering business.

What would Miss Manners say?

Everybody, it seems, wants to be an ambassador of something. From the accused bombers of the Spokane Valley bank, newspaper and Planned Parenthood offices to the militant separatists in Texas, we seem to be awash in claims of high diplomatic status … This brings up an interesting diplomatic trivia question: When arranging the table for a state dinner, which includes an ambassador of the Kingdom of Yahweh and an ambassador from the Republic of Texas, whom does the hostess seat closer to the head of the table?

What would Mr Zip say?

The newspaper library was looking for a new ZIP Code directory the other day and naturally approached the post office, as that is the agency that came up with the system in the first place. But they don’t keep a stack of them handy for convenient sales … This being a bureaucracy, our librarian wasn’t terribly surprised that it was necessary to fill out a form and pay the money up front before a directory could be mailed out. But she was a little taken aback by the comment from the postal worker, who couldn’t understand why the newspaper would need such a thing. He doesn’t have one, he explained … So how does he look up ZIP Codes for unfamiliar places? “I just call UPS.”

His first mistake was apologizing

Gov. Gary Locke got into trouble last week with the Olympia press corps - and apparently his former television reporter wife Mona - for using the phrase “dumb media” in a pep talk to state managers. He apologized to members of the Fourth Estate after light-heartedly suggesting that “dumb media” was a redundancy … Sorry guv, but any linguist will tell you it’s an oxymoron and something that you could only hope for in your sweetest dreams … On the school playground, dumb may mean intellectually challenged; but in the adult world, dumb means silent. Locke should be so lucky as to have the news media struck dumb, rather than producing stories he dislikes.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Hot Topics Friday: House Speaker Clyde Ballard, gives his take on the late legislative session, at a Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce breakfast. 7:30 a.m., Chamber basement, 1020 Riverside.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Public Periscope, published Mondays, is compiled by Jim Camden from staff reports.