Adams' admirable legacy

Coeur d’Alene City Councilman Steve Adams went too far in whipping up a stop sign whenever the federal government wanted to bestow upon the Lake City funding for worthy expenses — funding that local citizens helped pay for; funding that would have gone to other communities had Adams not been consistently outvoted.

Adams’ conservative bent was too rigid for many of the people he represents, particularly those allied to fight for equal rights for all Coeur d’Alene citizens. Those who accuse Adams of embracing ideology would not be too far off base.

Because of his staunch conservatism and a strong challenge from Dan English, Adams’ tenure on the council will end next Tuesday after just one term. While we congratulate English on his victory, we believe Coeur d’Alene — the community as a whole — will miss Steve Adams’ service.

One of our ongoing calls for community advancement is to improve civil discourse, with leaders displaying leadership traits that include strong listening skills, serious consideration of other viewpoints and the ongoing demonstration of respect toward those who might disagree with them. Those are signs not just of civic fair play but suggest maturity, integrity and some degree of compassion. They describe Steve Adams.

The consensus even among many people who are not aligned with Adams is that he has been an honest and extremely hard-working public servant. He did not waver from his beliefs to do what might have been politically expedient. While compromise, a key ingredient of governance, wasn’t his strong suit, pledging to always do what he thought was right is a campaign promise Steve Adams steadfastly kept.

Here’s a man who can move on to the next phase in life with his dignity firmly intact. He leaves the community better because of his willingness to thoughtfully question and respectfully disagree, which in turn challenged others to question their positions and conclusions. That, too, is a key ingredient of governance that is often overlooked.