Recently ACHD had a grand opening of the East Park Center Bridge and a great time was had by all. I wandered down under the bridge to see the plaque that was so extolled by our dear leader Carol McKee only to find out that I don't exist.
The plaque is lovely as you can see with the fine work done by Irene Deeley, Woman of Steel, along with 2 others, Dirk Anderson and Noel Weber. She used metal stains to bring out some color on what is normally just dull finished brass that weathers over time. She reflected the natural surroundings of the Boise River in cameo form. (I apologize that the picture is not that good.)
But, she was given text that changes reality. Apparently, I had so little to do with the bridge that it was better to put the name of my predecessor, Dave Bivens, as the current commissioner, even though his term ended over 9 months ago. This may seem egotistical on my part, and I do pray every day that the Lord grant me the grace of humility, but this is also a complete revision of history, something that Stalin used to do when he didn't like somebody.
There is an unwritten rule of thumb in politics. Anyone who is sitting on a board or a commission or a council or who is governor or senator when a project is complete and dedicated and there is a plaque involved, their name goes on the plaque. If someone who came before did a stellar job, they can also be recognized. Note that it is also and not instead. I would feel the same way if say John Franden's name had been taken off and someone else's substituted for his. It's just good form to do it that way and bad form to do it the way ACHD has done it. After all, they specially recognized the ACHD director and the ACHD lawyer as well as the Dallas Harris family and others and could just have easily put Dave Biven's name there.
It basically tells the people of district 5, who did not all vote for me but certainly none of whom voted for Bivens, that their choice is not accepted and their votes don't count.
I raised this at our meeting today (
video is linked here - click on watch video of entire meeting - don't worry the good part is almost right away) as I never was privy to the details of how the decision was made. I've attended all meetings of ACHD except one in March and one in September and at neither would this have been discussed. I have gone through all the minutes and there is nothing about the decision there. No one on the Commission would tell me how or when the decision was made. You think that if they were proud of what they had done, then it wouldn't have to be done in secret.
Hanlons' Razor says "Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity" (I've also heard incompetence). So far, I choose to follow this adage. We're supposed to discuss it further next week. We'll see.