Defending fairness in the campaign

Recently, the Coeur d'Alene Press published a series of articles featuring the three candidates for mayor. In the article published on Thursday, Sept. 12, regarding the new, anti-discrimination ordinance, the three candidates offered a variety of thoughts, some about the ordinance itself, and most of them about the importance of the public process, particularly involving controversial projects. I commend all three candidates for their well-reasoned positions.

Steve Widmyer stated that he agreed with the passage of the ordinance, and he added, "I understand those people's emotions that were against it. I understand that they feel passionately against that." He went on to say, "It's not just the people that come to the Council meetings, (who have an opinion on the ordinance) ... You have to take the pulse of a whole community."

In recognition of the fact that most people who gave testimony were opposed to the passage of this ordinance, Joe Kunka said, "For the Council to vote against the overwhelming majority of its people, that wasn't very smart." Mr. Kunka said that he agreed with one of the points of disagreement of many who were opposed to the ordinance, that sometimes such an ordinance can favor one group of people at the expense of another, but nevertheless he advocated for the full functioning of the deliberative process, including perhaps putting the matter to a public vote. Even if a binding public vote is not legally possible, as Scott Reed explained recently, both candidates were acknowledging that it is important for officials to take the pulse of the public as widely and thoroughly as possible.

Ms. Souza stated, because of the large number of people who wanted to give testimony to the City Council, that she would have been in favor of giving the issue more time and a larger venue to be more fully heard. Ms. Souza added, in the event of a tie vote among the Council, that she would vote to represent the majority of the citizens on "highly-charged topics," regardless of her personal views on whatever matter was at hand. Ms. Souza did not offer her opinion on the ordinance itself, and when she was asked how she would have voted to break a hypothetical tie vote by the Council on this ordinance, she said, "I don't want to go there." She was acknowledging that maintaining a neutral position would be both her right and her responsibility as mayor.

Nevertheless, Tony Stewart took issue with both Ms. Souza and Mr. Kunka in his My Turn column printed in the following Wednesday's Press, where he stated he felt that their responses showed that they were "antagonistic toward the democratic principles of freedom and equality for all Americans, including all the residents of Coeur d'Alene." He further suggested that they had both "forsaken their moral compasses." I would suggest instead that all three candidates' responses demonstrated the correct position for municipal officials, which is to seek to understand and represent the collective will of the people, and then to vote in accordance with their findings. The only aspects of their "moral compasses" that were in evidence in this article were the candidates' straightforward answers and their convictions that fairness and a comprehensive decision-making process would be their primary concerns as mayor. As such, I think their moral compasses were functioning quite well.

Likewise, in his letter Sept. 22, Norman Gissel also took issue with both Ms. Souza and Mr. Kunka on similar grounds. He asserted that Ms. Souza's "go with flow" attitude was a "preemptive forfeiture of leadership." I think that Mr. Gissel has also misread and misunderstood the point of her answer, which was an explanation of, and a sense of duty to, the representative process that we call the American way of government. There was nothing in her response to questions about this ordinance which indicated her personal convictions about the matter, one way or the other. Ms. Souza concluded her remarks saying, "I really think that, as an administrator, what the process is, is important. If you have a true and open process that's responsible to all sides of the issue, then you're doing it right. Don't you think that our responsibility is to represent the people of our community?" Her thoughts were clearly stated and very neutral in tone.

Mr. Gissel went on to criticize Mr. Kunka for saying, "You can't protect everyone." I would offer that this was a very general statement, acknowledging that there can be no perfect ordinance that will equally address all possible issues. To me this statement did not indicate that Mr. Kunka thinks that there is a certain class of people who do not deserve legal protection. I would further suggest that Mr. Kunka's additional comment, "The only people now who don't have some sort of protection are white guys between the ages of 18 and 90," was a largely tongue-in-cheek remark lamenting the general overreaching of our various governments - a sentiment with which, sadly, many of us would probably agree.

I know that the civil rights and the human rights movements in America have been long and difficult struggles, and there have been many instances of reprehensible behavior toward minority groups for a long time. I salute the brave souls, including Mr. Stewart and Mr. Gissel, who have stood in the gap in this fight. However, for these two respected and wise members of the community to project that Ms. Souza and Mr. Kunka, based upon their statements in this article, both favor discrimination against LGBT people, or that they favor the repeal of the new, anti-discrimination ordinance, is incorrect and misleading. Because of their prominent positions in the community, Mr. Stewart's and Mr. Gissel's assumptions and comments, if left unchallenged, might well be accepted as accurate by many people. As such, these assumptions and comments would degrade the character and tone of this campaign.

We are fortunate to have three willing and well-qualified candidates for mayor. Legitimate issues may arise with their positions on certain issues, but, in this case, there is no good reason to foster discord based upon misunderstanding and misrepresentation of these candidates' clear and forthright answers.

Jeff Connaway is a Coeur d'Alene resident.