My 2 Cents: Constituents? C’mon

Seems Coeur d’Alene Press reporter Tom Hasslinger cornered Councilman Mike Kennedy after the council hearing last night re: the commercial rezone request from North Idaho College and challenged (paraphrase): “When are you going to quit bickering with constituents?” Hasslinger was referring to Kennedy’s exchange with Dan Gookin, a so-called community “watchdog” — Hasslinger’s term not mine. Seems Hasslinger has a loose interpretation of the word constituents . Gookin’s a nag with a political agenda to get elected to the City Council and try to gum up the progress that’s breaking out all over town. Gookin, sidekick Mary Souza & Co. have repeatedly attacked Mayor Sandi Bloem, Kennedy and council, and North Idaho College via their Web site and the Coeur d’Alene Press, their media bedfellow. They’re hardly your ordinary constituency. Kennedy deserves points for being civil at all to this crowd. Furthermore, Hasslinger gave the impression that “many residents” expressed concern re: the rezoning, when only about a half dozen did Tuesday night — and three of those were: Gookin, Souza and another sidekick, Susie Snedaker. But I can’t blame Hasslinger for the shallow reporting. A good editor would have broken him of the lapdogism by now. Oh wait.