KENNEDY: Clarify McEuen comment

In Wednesday's newspaper The Press quoted me about the vote on McEuen Park being a tough one, and that I could lose support if I voted for the plan.

"It's sad to hear, but I don't care," are the words attributed to me on the topic of people opposing me for this vote. While my comments may have included those spoken words, I want to be clear about my meaning.

There are people who have told me they will oppose me at re-election time, should I seek re-election, if I voted to change McEuen Park. I try to listen carefully to what the people of Coeur d'Alene tell me. My intention in my full statement at the hearing was to convey that the easiest thing to have done, politically, would have been to simply oppose the project and call for a public vote.

But it was clear to me that would have been a fruitless approach, and so I worked hard to represent the majority of my constituents who told me they supported improving McEuen Park while making "equal or better" replacement for the boat launch and baseball fields a reality.

Speaking after four hours of testimony as I did, I certainly didn't mean to imply in any way that I don't care what my constituents think. In fact, the opposite is true. I work to honor the citizens who put me in office by doing my own research, study and fact finding, and if the result of that work is not always politically popular, sometimes leadership demands that you do the unpopular thing. And so I voted my conscience as I always do, and I will let the political chips fall where they may. I care what my constituents think, of course, but I will never vote against my beliefs or my conscience simply for political gain.

If you want to discuss this further, please call me at 661-7337 or email me at: mkennedy@cdaid.org.

MIKE KENNEDY

Coeur d'Alene