In a recent post on his Blog, John Cox stated:
“…The longer this mess goes on, the more that gets revealed about the political and economic machinations of the Mason County elite. By elite I mean the powerful people who try to run this county like their personal fiefdoms.
This elite wants to continue to run the show like they’ve been doing for years and years, using whatever surrogates that show up on the scene. It’s all about money and influence and corruption, and a complete disregard for the real meaning of democracy….with “real” meaning: of the people and for the people. This also includes concepts like fairness and justice, and the right to be heard and listened to. All of that is anathema to the elite?”
My Take? Well, pardon my French, but it’s as follows:
You would know, right? Oh…excuse me, you’re not elected…so the spirit of 1st Amendment principles escapes you? YOU exercise more censorship than those you criticize! They may not listen (that’s an understatement) but they don’t interfere (perhaps because that’s legally difficult for them) with speech the way you do, given the opportunity. Your remarks are hypocritical.
KMAS Radio takes large sums of advertising dollars from Adage, but they allow posts from both sides of the issue. So does The Journal in its Letters To The Editor column, although they’re not quite as open a forum as KMAS Radio. I never see any side, but one, of the issue on your Blog site (et ux) which, in my view, unfortunately makes opinions expressed there less credible. I say ‘unfortunately’ because I agree with them on these points (toxic pollution, the democratic process, and our environment).
I will continue to extend an invitation to the exquisitely modest ‘elite’ to engage in open debate here (although not personal attacks) on the issues surrounding BioMassacre. I don’t expect any of them (Tim Sheldon, Jay Hupp, Tom Wallitner, Ross Gallagher, Lynda Ring-Erickson, Shelton’s Mayor, Linda Gott, and other key elected officials) to accept because I don’t believe ANY of them have done enough homework to support their biases favoring Adage.
I also plan on e-mailing and faxing F. Reed Wills, President/CEO of Adage, LLC, a similar invitation. I will post a public copy of that invitation here. It will begin by asking Mr. Wills to answer a question he ducked immediately after the Adage public presentation at the Mason County Public Works facility sponsored by KMAS a few months ago. The Question?:
“If Adage were persuaded Mason County residents didn’t want it, would you insist on setting up shop here anyway?”
His response?:
“I’m not going to answer that question. It’s a sand-trap.”