Public Periscope

Hello pot? This is kettle

Now that the City Council and the Coalition for Good Roads have reached a meeting of the minds on the outside review of city management, it seems appropriate to mention one peculiar thing … Alert citizens might recall that Tom Agnew and Don Higgins, co-chairmen of the Citizens League of Greater Spokane, at one point sent the council a letter urging it not to go along with that proposal. It was hoping for more public input before plunking down cash for an outside consultant … That prompted coalition leader John Stone to question the motives of the two co-chairmen in a letter of his own: “It’s probably not incidental that the signatories on the letter were supporters of the former mayor.”

Of course, everyone is entitled to support whomever they want in an election. But if that were to become a criterion for casting aspersions, Stone himself might be unhappy. Neither Agnew nor Higgins contributed significant sums to incumbent Jack Geraghty’s campaign, according to Public Disclosure Commission records … Stone, on the other hand, gave $4,000 to successful challenger John Talbott, and an additional $2,000 to an independent campaign critical of incumbents before the primary.

Oh, what the l

We at Periscope are all in favor of human rights, but wonder if the proposed city ordinance needs a little reworking. Promote justice? We’re there. Respect cultural and individual diversity? Absolutely … But the ordinance’s stated purpose also includes an admonition that “discriminatory barriers to equal participation in employment, housing and pubic accommodations be removed” … We’re as participatory as the next person, but we’re too shy to remove barriers to our accommodations.

Maybe the Senate should try something new

Two interesting things about an announcement last week that the U.S. Senate is considering a resolution for a National Day of Concern About Young People and Gun Violence … One is that Democrat Patty Murray of Washington and Republican Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho introduced it - and that may be one of the few items the two nearly polar political opposites have sponsored in their six years in the Senate … The other is that this is the third year in a row Congress and President Clinton will set aside a day to ask students to pledge to never carry a gun to school or use a gun to resolve a dispute. During that time, the nation has experienced horrific school shootings in Springfield, Ore., Jonesboro, Ark., West Paducah, Ky., and Pearl, Miss. … The day of concern is Oct. 8.

Any notice is good notice

The campaign staff for Republican Senate candidate Linda Smith has this nifty idea about a 100-day countdown to the Nov. 3 election. They send out a press release each day … Which means that some days, particularly when Smith is in the other Washington, the pickings are pretty slim. Take last Thursday, for example: They sent out a press release announcing that the Linda Ann and Vern Lee Smith listed in the divorce petitions of the Vancouver Columbian are NOT the candidate and her husband of 30 years. It’s another couple with the same names … The press release went on to assure people that this Linda and Vern Smith are so not divorced that they were planning a romantic sunset cruise on the Potomac over the weekend.