Wolfpack's Point...

...or, "Thoughts on Participatory Democracy."

Wolfpack makes a point in a comment below: "You write thoughtfully about city incompetence but the echo back is corruption. In my mind these are two very different charges and substituting one for the other does little to further the debate." I think his is a valid point of view and a good hook upon which to hang some further discussion of the issue.

First, in watching some of the people who have spoken at recent City Commission meetings, I was amazed at what a great job they did of changing my mind and convincing me. The problem, though, is that when they started talking I agreed with them. By the end of their comments, I was actually on the City's side.

These people have no apparent goal other than to confront the City. They are not trying to persuade the City Commission because you obviously persuade no one by insulting them and berating them. Are these speakers grandstanding for the tv audience? If they are, most people aren't getting it. (I do not include Ms. Overfield in this because she was actually trying to shed light on an issue; she was not ranting or raving.)

So what Wolfpack says is correct: The fact that you may disagree with a City Commission decision does not render the decision or the Commissioners corrupt. Adopting that perspective just makes you sound, well, goofy.

Second, though, is I can understand where some of these people are coming from in their comments. In discussing City action with people who follow it, I hear about a tremendous sense of frustration in our fellow citizens. People feel they are being ignored and shut out of the process. I think it is only natural that they grow suspicious.

Last night's meeting offered several examples of this. First, a local citizen asked who was the last customer signed up by Electric City Power (it's Barret Minerals, a talc mine in Dillon. Why we are building a coal plant in Great Falls in order to sell power to a talc mine in Dillon is a question for another day.)

In response, our City Manager launched into a long lecture, delivered in a mocking monologue, about how open the whole Electric City Power process has been from the start. On this, I call B*llshit. (Did I put the asterisk in the wrong place?) I have well documented my efforts, not completely successful, to obtain public records. I still do not have copies of Mr. Open Government, John Lawton's public record correspondence relating to the coal plant.

Yet here is the City Manager, politely scolding a citizen, "Oh you little ninny. We've shouted from the rooftops the names of ECP's customers. How could you be such a silly little boy as to not know who they are?" And the Commission nods along and smiles. Is it any surprise, Wolfpack, that people grow cynical and distrustful?

Likewise, Mary Jolley raised several very cogent points about the giving of 1.4 million dollars in security to SME. So did some other speakers. Yet the Commission quickly and quietly adopted the new agreement. When is the last time you saw the City Commission seriously listen to comments and change their action due to input from the public?

Public input ignored is not input at all.

So, yes, Wolfpack, you raise some legitimate points. I do not think, though, that the people's frustration is beyond understanding, either.