Tim:
When I was at BFW, we did our best to be non-partisan. As a 501c3 non-profit,
BFW is, in fact, REQUIRED to be non-partisan. Davis was selected because he was
very supportive of the EarthRider business when the owner went to visit him.
He was enthusiastic about promoting bicycle tourism in his district and he
contacted BFW on other issues, which nearly no other members of the state
legislature did. In speaking with him, I'd say he was in the top 5 most
enthusiastic supporters of bicycling that I've talked to in the state
legislature.
I didn't care if he was purple...he was pro-bike.
Oh...I believe it was Ainsworth that was the original sponsor who bailed. He
was selected because one of BFW's lobbyists at the time (we had three including
me) had an "in" at his office and convinced him to do it...though, then he
didn't do it. We just needed someone to introduce it.
You are assuming that I, as an individual, and BFW as an organization, are
supporters of the Democratic Party...or enemies of the Republican Party. As
I've said, BFW can't have partisan politics...it has to focus on issues, not
parties. And my politics was irrelevant in the situation.
And...personal politics sometimes has to step aside when you work for an
organization. I like to think that I never crossed my own personal moral
boundaries at BFW (and, in fact, got in trouble on occasion for refusing to
cross such boundaries...some may even argue that this is at least part of why I
was terminated, but I can't speak to that because I was not given a reason for
my termination). In our political system, you have to work with people from
both parties. If you refuse to work with both parties, you can not accomplish
anything.
You, Tim, are free to feel differently, but I suspect that feeling that way
won't lead you to work for a 501c3 nonprofit any time soon.
-Dar
Tim Wong <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Just out of curiosity, how did you select Brett Davis, a Republican in an
arguably Democratic seat, whom the Dems have been trying to beat ever since he
got elected, as the sponsor?
"It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities
are wrong."--Voltaire (1694-1778)
Direct Cost of U.S. War and Occupation of Iraq
$493,536,029,692
>>> Dar Ward 2/19/2008 2:49 PM >>>
The hand cycle and the right turn signal parts were both part of a bill that
the Department of Transportation developed and drafted in 2005 (I think) and
the Bicycle Federation requested be introduced. The state legislator who was
supposed to introduce it (I've forgotten his name now) put off introducing it
until the session was over...and eventually announced that he was retiring. I
then approached Brett Davis in 2006 and asked him to introduce it...he agreed
and we were planning to do that in Spring 2007, but then I left BFW. I'm not
sure how the legislation finally got altered and introduced (our version had a
component that no longer is in the legislation and there is something new that
wasn't in our version), but that where the legislation originated this time
around.
-Dar
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