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David Wevley:
Maybe I didn't read and reread what you said enough, but the circumstances of your case seem very confused as you relate them. One thing that might help your situation a little is to find a good writer (I'll help if you want and there are some better writers than I on this list) to put forward what happened in the best possible light for you and clearly outline what you want the audience to do or remember. I entirely believe you that there's a lot of corruption and dirty politics, cronyism and favoritism going on in our government. I'm surprised the ACLU wouldn't help you, but on the other hand their charter is actually very narrow: abridgement of constititional rights ONLY. So I would guess that whatever happened to get you in court wasn't an abridgement of constititional rights?
Good luck, and if you want to communicate with me offline about drafting letters or whatever, feel free.
Renee Jenson:
That's pretty funny of you to get onto someone about squelching discussion on issues you don't like. I remember you posting repeatedly that people who were posting about why we shouldn't have a stadium were 1) off the topic you wanted to talk about, 2) not paying attention to your pie-in-the-sky, no-limits discussion of the ideal stadium and 3) just generally negative and bad sports. To me, your message was far more clear than the satire writer - those who oppose the stadium should just SHUT UP. I didn't appreciate it then and I don't appreciate it now.
It's also very odd that you now seem perfectly able to recognize basic tactics and shut-down manuevers, though you acted oblivious to your own use of them on the stadium issue. "Let's talk about only what you want!" "Build your dream stadium!" "Envision the perfect place!" Etc. Anyone who has done any political work or has any communications training knows you were using a basic concept in sales - get a person to envision something they like (that's called the BAIT) and then show them something you want them to buy (that's called the SWITCH). If you've made the bait yummy enough, a lot of people won't notice.
So now that someone has done of a good job of making the bait smell like the rotted fish it is, you're complaining. That's politics for you.
As long as we're talking about this, a friend of mine who reads this list was speculating that you must be a paid lobbyist for the stadium issue or at least have lobbyist experience. In the interest of full disclosure, is any of that true? I think it's possible for someone to be articulate and underhanded about an issue they support without ever having been a professional lobbyist, but this recent spate of attempting to crush opposition by you seems quite the "standard operating procedure" for those in the business.
(and for the record, yes, I've served as a flunkie on a political campaign and have my own share of communications training - even if I don't always put it to good use)
Mary Baker East Side
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