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Show HERALD DAILY A6 Thursday, OBIAl 1 EDITORIAL May 8,2008 BOARD & Publisher Editor Executive Randy Wright, Jim Tynen, Editorial Page Editor Gaig IN OUR VIEW Si IOO.00! Dennis, President H ) I'M T5?oNMJG s ASHLEY Mayor Lewis Billings To FuEL PRICES... '.,1 - -- FRANSCELLDaity Herald along with Steve Christensen, CEO of Broadweave, on Tuesday. What to make of iProvo deal court. Pete Ashdown, CEO of XMission, an Internet service provider, contends that the bidding process wasn't really open. "The RFP was for providers on the network," Ashdown said. He said that his own efforts to get XMission onto iProvo had been repeat- e'dbevery W TIIR OffilSnAN happy to praise the proposed $40.6 million saleofiProvo to Broadweave Networks. It sounds promising. But a few loose questions are still edly rebuffed. dangling around. The biggest question is the sale Was the RFP legitimate? Basically the answer runs this way: If process itself; Critics claim that iProvo's "for sale" status was nobody challenges it, then it was kept hidden, and so the deal with legal by definition. But was the secrecy really Broadweave smacks of a backroom bargain. The city counters necessary? We're not convinced. that it followed proper protocol in Secret gambits have a tendency to erode faith in government. That Seeking competitive bids. It purwould be an unfortunate bit of portedly sought the best possible collateral damage if this process buyer while necessarily keeping comes to be seen as sneaky or unthe dickering confidential A key element is an April 2007 derhanded. Openness in governrequest for proposals, which May- ment is essential, even when it's inconvenient. or Lewis Billings says served as Whether anyone will challenge adequate notice that iProvo was for sale. The title of the RFP is as the sale remains to be seen. We follows: "Requests for Proposals urge Billings and Broadweave for Partnership Opportunities to do all they can to clear up the if they can. with Telecommunication Service questions quickly Providers on the iProvo Still more questions Network." The text of : have popped up. For the document defines example, what hapThe sale those "opportunities" pens to current service as ways "to provide of iProvo, providers for telephone, telecommunications TV and Internet if services and business Broadweave's goal is given the to take over all of that? opportunities on the network's iProvo Network." Critics say the BroadThe mayor says that controversial weave deal, in the abthis language was persence of a clearly stated history, fectly understandable request for bids, creates as inviting bids for a a government-anointeshould be purchase. He offers as monopoly. Broadweave officials proof his assertion that as open and purchase offers from at say that the company least a couple of busitransparent will be able to do betness entities came in. city did as possible. ter than the But this, in turn, rais because, unlike the city, es at least three more it will both own and operate the system. That questions: Were the ? purported bidders may be, but the statement could How much did they bid? Was be interpreted as meaning that the Broadweave's bid the best? other providers shouldn't let the Let's not pussyfoot around: at door hit them on their way out as best this RPF was vague. And the monopoly moves in. it's fair to ask whether it was deWe eagerly await Broadweave's promised announcement signed to be vague so as to allow a backroom sale to unfold. Or was on the fate of providers, and for the vague language only more its explanation of how its business recently "discovered" and applied plan will ensure that competition ' as is not throttled. If it is, one result legal cover in a process that requires competitive bids? might be a dramatic rise in the Either scenario would be unforservices. price of fiber-opti- c tunate. The sale of iProvo, given Provo residents and members the network's controversial hisof the Municipal Council should tory, should be as open and transr scrutinize the sale proposal careparent as possible. fully. A public open house from 4 It's true that the city wouldn't to 6 p.m. Monday at the network want to be seen as negotiating operations center, 744 N. 300 from a position of weakness. But West, is one of several opportuniwould an unambiguous notice that ties for people to learn more. the city would entertain offers This deal has a number of posibe weakness? We don't think so. tives. Letting a private company run the network is a good idea After all, the troubles of iProvo have not been kept secret. Everybecause it's not the kind of thing body has known for years that a governments tend to do well. sale was one option the city could Broadweave has some impressive backers and promises to install pursue. Clarity about a possible sale is technological advances with good a strength, not a weakness. Afcustomer service and "competiter all, if you want to sell a car, tive" prices. So it could all end up being a you don't mumble a few hints to win-wifriends. You advertise it in the as backers claim. Billclassifieds, put a sign in the winings and those who have pushed dow, and do all you can to attract iProvo could then say that their vision paid off. They will say that buyers. In this light, the vagueness of the city's RFP becomes for virtually no cost they got the harder to understand and defend. city a strong communications Cities are required by law to put infrastructure, then handed it off, at a good price, to a private comthings like this out for competitive bidding. If statutory corners pany that can move it forward. We shall see if that argument were cut, somebody might have prevails. grounds to challenge the sale in - d MONITOR SOI-NO- . MICHAEL GERSON Liberalism has its own 'war on science' are few things in American more irrationally of society. Levin summarizes the liberal promise this way: "The past was rooted in error and prejudice while the fanatically than the accusation that Republicans future would have at its disposal a new are conducting a "war on science." oracle of genuine truth." For the most part, these accusations But the oracle of science is silent on are a political ploy certain essential topics. "Science, simactually an attempt to shut down political debate. In ply put," says Levin, "cannot account this view, liberal views are "objective" for human equality, and does not offer while traditional moral convictions are reasons to believe we are all equal. "biased." Public scrutiny of scientific Science measures our material and animal qualities, and it finds them to be practices is "politicizing" important decisions. patently unequal." Does anyone really believe, howWithout a firm, morally grounded belief in equality, liberalism has been ever, in a science without moral and legal limits? In harvesting organs from led down some dark paths. The old, prisoners? In systematically getting rid progressive eugenics of the late 19th of the disabled? and early 20th centuries involved This last question, alas, does not widespread sterilization of the mentalanswer itself. In America, the lives of ly disabled as a form of social hygiene. about nine of 10 children with Down Nazism largely discredited the old the eugenics. But a new eugenics syndrome are ended before birth. In Europe, about 40 percent of unborn eugenics of genetic screening and children with major congenital disorabortion, the eugenics of genetic selecders are aborted. tion in the process of in vitro fertilizaAU of which highlights a war within tion is alive and well. Its advocates liberalism between the idea of unrecontend that the new eugenics is sustricted science and the principle that perior because it is voluntary instead all men are created equal. of compulsory, and unrelated to race. In "Science and the Left," in the latBut Levin responds: "Surely the most est issue of New Atlantis, Yuval Levin essential problem with the eugenics movement was not coercion or colargues that a belief in the power of science is central to the development lectivism. ... The deepest and most sigof liberalism nificant contention of the progressive based on the assertion that objective facts and rational ' eugenicists the one that made all the was that science had others possible planning can replace tradition and religious authority in the organization shown the principle of human equal- - There On faith-base- the Web "McCain will be making a historic mistake if he continues caving in to immigration hawks in his party." Columnist Andres Oppenheimer read more, go to "McCain backtracks on immigration" at heraldextra.com. To ity to be unfounded, a view that then ailowed them to use the authority of science to undermine our egalitarian-is- and our regard for the weakest members of our society." The point here is not to catch liberalism in an inconsistency. At its best, the liberal tradition has combined its belief in science with a firm commitment to the equal value of all including the disabled and imperfect. But science can easily become the power of some over the lives of others. And in their talk of a Republican war on science, liberals may be blinding themselves to a very different kind of modern war in which their own ideals are deeply implicated: a war on equal. ity. a columnist for the Washington Post Writers Group. I Michael Gerson is LETTERS hand-picked- Company's move called an end run Based on your story on the front page, EnergySolutions Inc. is desperately trying an end run to try to ram through their Italian waste agenda. Their spokesman is quoted as saying, "A lot of people don't have a good understanding of what's involved here." I would say that for the most part that is true but I also have to ask him, "How stupid do you think we are?" Money and greed are involved here as well as the welfare of the state of Utah! Nuclear waste of any kind has no place in the state of Utah! For EnergySolutions this also means that the many people they have thus far bought off is not going to help them in their quest. To say that they (EnergySolutions) can do whatever they want on their private property is bogus. I own private property, but I am limited in what I can do on that property. Are they telling me and you that they are above the law? Isn't it about time that we gathered enough signatures for a referendum to send EnergySolutions and their dirty, hot garbage packing from the state? I Mac Mathews, Mapleton Delegate denies GOP shenanigans' to mention this, but the banner headline "GOP insiders allege shenanigans," is a tad misleading. The story involves a complaint by I hate D00NESBURY Garry Trudeau omsorvtpeoptBWxurrcMHUM ID IHY M-HAMb.AUMftVKA, ALC-- - AitmivKA saws BUTTHffT yr StfHlSflCAlERHOKtX re SAii oua.. 7V tAV9 lHtrCWMOF WAfc SAMS. I THINK. f u v n ... yj if H y JJL i&i Sn 4& Wgg? YW Jackie de Gaston and James O'Neal, claiming illegitimate handling of ballots in Utah County's Republican convention. Both complainants were running against incumbent Curt Bramble. They may feel better by blaming someone else, but they lost because they didn't have a clue what is required to win a political campaign in Utah. There were no "shenanigans" executed by Marian Monnahan or any of the people who worked the balloting process. Those candidates simply failed to make their cases. I was elected as a county delegate in my caucus. I received all the stuff de Gaston and O'Neal sent out. And the fact of the matter is that they did not MALLARD FILLMORE tarrna ecmr viovs? r MI i'i jtw si s m 1 V PRETTY SURE IRAN IS ) To BLAME ,J impress me. They failed to mention that only one challenger to an incumbent won. And that was over an issue of a conflict of interest in the nuclear energy issue. All other challengers were encouraged by educators to run. There's no evidence of a conspiracy here, but it surely looks like a blatant attempt by the education community to take revenge against anyone who voted for the voucher bill. For now, I encourage Jackie and James to cool it. If you want to serve as an elected official, learn how to deal with the realities of politics. I Jerry M. Young, Provo Bruce Tinsley OTA Mra Uefsrjfcs 1 |