The Hot Seat Our Weekly Look At Who’s In Trouble

City Council member gives new meaning to the phrase “public TV”

Those charm-school lessons taken by the Spokane City Council went in Joel Crosby’s ear and out the other. Or maybe he was just watching television. That’s what Crosby did through much of last Monday’s council meeting, tearing himself away long enough to vote and to mention that he’s “one of those people who can do two things at once.” We don’t buy it, Joel, and neither will voters in November when they remember your arrogant preference for basketball over City Hall. Mayor Jack Geraghty also gets a dart for letting the boob watch the tube. Who’s in charge of the remote control over there, anyway?

This week’s Mr. Sensitivity Award goes to …

It’s a tossup, really, since both these swell guys take such pains to be a pain. But, for sheer numbers, we’ll give first place to Howard Stern, who managed to offend American Hispanics as a whole and a grieving family in particular. Days after the shooting death of Tex-Mex singer Selena, shock jock Stern called Hispanics stupid for mourning her and questioned their taste in music - all while playing a Selena song with gun shots ringing in the background. He later said he was sorry. We are, too, that Stern still has enough of a following to stay on the air.

And a very close second goes to …

Sen. Al D’Amato, who almost takes all the fun out of ridiculing him by being such a fool. The New York Republican offended Japanese Americans by mocking O.J. Simpson trial judge Lance Ito with a Japanese accent. Trouble is, the American-born Ito has no accent, and more class than D’Amato will ever hope to.

MEMO: The Hot Seat is a feature of the Sunday Opinion page. If you would like to nominate someone for the Hot Seat, call Scott Sines at 459-5405.