LETTER TO THE EDITOR FROM MATTHEW GREEN

author : Matthew Green topic : Works In Progress

by Matthew Green

Great articles about the Olympia City Council and the isthmus! Especially good was Sandy Mayes’ discussion of how The Olympian and some councilmembers try to con-flate certain political disagreement with hate speech and violence, to shut down legitimate debate that displeases them. I can add another example.

In its editorial about the violence directed at Jeff Kingsbury, The Olympian quoted Rhenda Strub as saying that council members have faced “constant abuse and bully-ing.” This implies that such violence is common.

I asked Rhenda, via email, exactly what she meant. (These emails were on Rhenda’s city account, and I told her in advance that I might publicize them.) Her answer was, in part:

I’m referring mostly to conversations with people who did not give me permission to share their words with others. So I won’t elaborate on content or commenters [sic].

There have also been numerous mean spirited blog postings and some unpleasant cartoons in the Sitting Duck. But, most of it comes in the form of personal commu-nication.

When I ran for this office I really thought I could be a bridge between two different political camps: the people who are more business oriented and those who are more social service oriented. I think I am both. But, I’m finding that rather than being embraced by each side for the issues we agree on I am attacked by each side for not “towing [sic] the line” with them.

…I shouldn’t have to put up with [a rezone opponent] screaming “liar, you’re a liar” at me when I’m speaking in Council. But, that has been the least of the abusive be-havior. The rest has been ugly, personal, and painful.

In other words, Rhenda perceives all political dissent as bullying and abuse -- because it is painful to Rhenda. If you don’t “embrace” her, you are “attacking” her. The sub-stantive concerns of the dissenters don’t seem to register.

But, no matter how strongly worded and no matter how emotionally expressed, personal conversations, blog postings, political cartoons, and even angry complaints are not equivalent to vandalism and anonymous homophobic hate mail. Equating them is wrong and harmful to democracy.

My response to Rhenda was, in part:

The people criticizing you care about Olympia, they disagree with your choices as a councilmember, and they are letting you know. They are upset, because they believe you are hurting this community. And so, that negative emotion comes through in their communications.

That’s good. It should come through. And you, as an elected official, should hear it. This is not “abuse and bullying” (unless they threaten you, other than politically), certainly not violence, and it should not be discounted as if it were.

Admittedly, some criticism crosses the line into insults, which are inappropriate and unproductive. However, even that is not comparable to violence.

…[Also,] have you asked yourself why—assuming she is rational and intelligent—[the rezone opponent] would consider you to be lying? I’m serious. Maybe she doesn’t have the same information you have. Maybe she sees the issue from a completely different perspective, from which your statement would be false. Maybe you were, in fact, fudging just a bit to make your argument seem stronger. I wasn’t there and I don’t know. But in every case, there is a better response than calling her abusive and discounting her concerns.

…I encourage you to think past what you consider uncivil, and explore why someone feels strongly enough to say something. Welcome all communications from con-stituents, even when it is unpleasant to hear. Try to learn from it. You may not agree with it, but you will become a better public servant.

Rhenda has not said whether she accepts my advice. I offer it sincerely.

PS: In a different article, Gerald Reilly noted that he would not have voted for Doug Mah, Rhenda Strub, and Craig Ottavelli if he had known they would support the isthmus rezone. Well, specifically, the rezone wasn’t proposed yet and, generally, candidates will never, of course, announce that they intend to favor developers over large num-bers of citizens.

But there is still a way for voters to figure it out: watch the money. The best predictor of a candidate’s future votes on development and land use issues is how much campaign money they got from developers, builders, and realtors. (Can you guess who were the biggest financial supporters of Doug, Rhenda, and Craig?)

Matthew Green was an Olympia City Councilmember from 2002 to 2006.