VOTE: About those 'discrepancies'

This memorandum is not a jibe at the reporting of your Alecia Warren, nor Cliff Hayes, Kootenai County Clerk, but of the “system” apparently inherited by fellow citizen Cliff Hayes, and innumerable public officials who, up through this age of technical improvements, have not figured out their inherited systems of recording, reporting and accounting, for whatever reason they are in office, or for which they may have been elected or appointed to the job in the first place.

The headline “No Need to worry… etc” is the most significant problem the public citizens of this and other nations are being asked to face, directly or indirectly, by so-called “leaders.”

It’s been only a few days since Sholeh Patrick put together a most interesting column concerning “leadership,” to which I offered her a seemingly quiet low-key response, to which she provided a sensible reply.

However, why is it that the old phrase and practical philosophy of “If you can’t convince them, just confuse them” never wears out? Today’s politicians and side-liners are perfecting that practice as an art form, never before so actively pursued in a free society. In “them olden days” you often heard the expressions “on one hand” or “on the other hand.” Now- a-days, it’s “take it or leave it.”

“Discrepancies” are the “lifeblood” and “fish food” for the legal fraternity. Due to his long tenure and lifetime experiences in law enforcement I’m more than a little surprised at Cliff Hayes’s description of the precinct balloting procedures as “discrepancies.” Tried in a court of law, with lawyers abounding, who knows how many levels of legal jurisdictions would be involved? And at the taxpayers’ expense, yet?

Leadership demands appropriate and prompt decisions and the omission of discrepancies in the decision making processes. How does input from more than one reporting system survive a “free and independent” ballot box for the district?

JOHN S. McCONNELL

Post Falls