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Show OPINION THURSDAY Ocroser 9, 2003 Sc WWW SLTRIB.COM Our VIEW Primary apathy Tuesday’s primary election, pitting three dy- namic candidates for mayor, inspired only 28 percent of voters to interrupt their day for the little timeit takes to go to a polling place and casta ballot. At the risk of assuming the guise of the village scold, we would point out that the turnout represented fewer than a third of Still, it wasn’t enough. Most Salt Lakers spent this Tuesday like any other. We probably should take some solacethat voter turnout was 2 percentage points higher than in the mayoral primaryof1999, when Anderson emerged atopa field of 11. If Tuesday's poor turnout was due to voters feeling that the outcome was a foregone conclusion, the vote totals should give the indifferent some pause. Anderson, with 11, 214 votes, won 45 percent Voter ennui on Tuesday was of the total. But Pignanelli’s 7,613 votes hardly made him a runaway winneroverHola,the political newcomer, whogot6,097. Salt Lake City wasn’t even the paragon of voter apathy. Ogden, with a controversial incumbent mayorof its own, drew just 21 impervious not only to the strong slate of candidates, but to the im- percentof registered voters. Races in Grantsville managed to portant issues that the three have attract 27 percent, but Tooele drew a paltry 13 percent and West Valley City gasp! —- 5 percent. city folk who actually bothered to register. This tiny minority decided that incumbent Rocky Anderson would face challenger Frank Pignanelli in the Nov. 4 general election, and that Monolai Hola would have to bow out. spent months addressing. Examples? Anderson has been a lightning rod for praise and criticism for his handling of the Main Street plaza dispute. The city remains caught up in a retail drama involving plansto revitalize Main Street malls, Nordstrom’s threat to moveto Gateway or leave town, and the con- tinuing drain of familiar businesses from downtown. Developmentof the city’s west side, divisions along racial, economic andreligious lines, and how to makethecity attractive to residents and businesses alike also generated ideas and debate. bate changed its government’s structure, was ableto attract more than a third of registered voters 34 percent. In sum, we hope everyone who could have voted, and didn’t, feels at least a twinge of remorse and is working up some enthusiasm for Nov. 4. It helps to iook around the world and note the many who have little or no choice in how they are governed. If you do that, you probably will need no scolding from us. flict into another Arabstate. President Bush’s response was half right. He condemned the sui- would be meaningless if it were carved into isolated pieces by Jewish settlements, access roads that link them, and a security fence. The Bush administration has urged Israel to freeze settlements in the occupied territories. That is one of the central elements of the so-called road map to peace. cide bombing, which killed 19 Is- But the United States is not ap- raelis and the bomberon Saturday. He reiterated that Israel has a right to defend itself. He von- plying any real pressure on the Israeli government to comply. The result is that Israel’s settlement policy continues, and so do the terrorist attacks and Is- this time, Israel struck a target in Syria. In the chess game of the Middle East,the Israeli raid risks widening the con- demned the Palestinian Author- ity for failing to arrest anddisarm the militant extremists of Hamas and Islamic Jihad whoat- tack Israel. The presidentis correct aboutall of that. But the president failed to address the underlying issue which fuels the suicide bombings in the first place: the continuingIsraeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and the ongoing expansion of Jewish settlements there. Late last week, the Israeli government addedfuel to the fire by calling for bids to build 600 new homes in three West Bank settlements. Israel’s supporters will argue that there is no moral equivalence between blowing up innocent civilians and expanding Jewish settlements on disputed land. They are right. But it is absurd for U.S. foreign policy to downplay the central dispute that fuels Arab and Palestinian rage. It is desperation over their inability to stop illegal Israeli expansion in the occupied territories that motivates Arab terrorism. The settlements issue also deeply affects the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. Sucha state raeli reprisals. The Israeli bombing run against a terrorist training camp near Damascus over the weekend was thefirst of its kind into Syria since the 1973 Yom Kippurwar. It naturally raises the question of whether the upwardspiral of Israeli-Palestinian violence will now engulf neighboring Arab states. Since President Bush has madeit his policy to attack states that harbor and spor.sorterrorists, he can hardly condemn Israel for the raid. While thereis some question as to whether the Syrian camp was usedrecently by Islamic Jihad, thereislittle doubt that Syria has sponsored terrorism in the past. It probably does today. Given that reality, the president’s response to events over the weekend in the Middle East made sense as far as it went. But if the United States expects to contain the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and reopen the road to peace, it must address grievances on both sides. And that means facing upto the settlementsis- sue. Matheson’s endorsement According to The Tribune (“Matheson backs Clark’s bid, braces for a tight Congress bid,” Oct. 4), Congressman Jim Matheson has got himself into quite a bind. He has endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark, but doesn’t want that endorsement to give anyone the impressionhe is in any way anti-Bush. “For all I know,” Matheson says, “Clark’s campaign will be over in eight weeks.” All I can say is, you’re makinga big mistake backing Clark, Jim. Bynot endorsing Bush right now, you run the risk of giving your constituents the silly impression that you are, heaven forbid, a Democrat! True, you have to pacify all those Republicans in your ruthlessly gerrymandered 2nd Congressional District, but nobody is going to inspect your voting record to see that you've supported Bush right down the line they'll only see that big fat en dorsement of the Democrat Wesley Clark. There’s an old sayingin politics that our congressman should remember:If you butter your bread on both sides,it becomes soslipperythat you dropit on the floor. The bottom sidegets dirty and the top side gets stepped on. Granted, it MicHAEL P. GREER Sandy Poor Molly? I’m uncertainof the intent, but there is something insidious about the “Molly is pure Texas”letter in the Oct. 7 Forum. It guilefully suggests that Good Ol’ Molly Ivins is harmless enough; she’s just on a personal vendetta since Dubya ousted her friend from the Texas governor's mansion. Ann Richards is a wonderfully colorful woman and| don’t doubt that she and Molly are possibly good friends. But to suggest that is the primary rea- son Molly Ivinsdislikes the president's politics is egregious oversimplification. It’s one of many examples of the laughable, yet detestable, logic that permeates conservative radio programming. It works its daily magic on millions of Americans. In this instance, the undertone seems to leave us excusing Molly as someone for whom we should ali feel a twinge of sympathy. Don't feel sorry for Molly Ivins. She has dozens of reasonsfor not liking the current administration’s policies. I’ve been a fan for years and if pressed to proffer her main premise, I would recommend something like: “Government of the corporate wealthy, by the corporate wealthy and for the corporate Che Salt LakeTribune Publisher Editor WuiiaM Dean SINGLETON Nancy Conway Editorial Page Editor Jour W. GALLIVAN (1960-1983) Jenny O'Baien (1983-1994) Dominic Weicn (1994-2002) VERN ANDERSON Executive Editor Tom BapEN Tribune Fax: 801-257-8525 E-mail: letters@sltrib.com (Please send text only, attachments will not be opened) Mail: Public Forum, TheSalt Lake Tribune, P.O. Box 867, Salt Lake City, Utah 84110 regulations. Interior’s plan to go ahead Letter Guidelines: The Tribune welcomes lands to oil and gas interests and off- name, home address and day and evening phone numbers. Only the nameand cityof residence are published. Letters may be edited for length, grammar and accuracy. Due to volume, not all submissions are published. one:the irreplaceable wilderness value So here’s my dream. I get to go to church without people shouting at me and my family and without having to witness the degradation of things I hold sacred. Is that too much to ask? Unsolicited advice to University of Utah football coach Urban Meyer regarding job security: 1) Forget about national ranking polls; 2) forget about the Mountain West tion, and therefore the agency did not violate the 1997 prohibition by Congress,” is misleading andrisible. Maybe Mr. McKeown simply forgot Conference championship, and 3) beat the daylights out of BYU. to mention that once land is developed, it is disqualified from wilderness pro- GERRY LEONARD Salt Lake City tection forever. And permanent dis- qualification of deserving lands from wilderness protection “because of the Hateful protests Although not a memberof the LDS faith, I have very strong opinions about self-proclaimed preachers shouting at those attending and visiting the LDS Temple. While | fail to understand the motivation behind protesting a religion, the First Amendment of the United States Constitution grants the right to peaceful assembly. Often we must look beyond the Constitution and consider what connotes acceptable public behavior. Disruptive shouting and waving an article of clothing considered sacred is deplorable, shameful and indefensible. Protest outside a place of worship is not protest; it is an expression ef hate. Hatred projected toward any segment of the population disguised as protest is unacceptable. Respect for others’ beliefs is crucial to the function of our society as a whole. Tolerance and celebration of our differences makethis nation great. current administration’s hurry to open them up to unnecessary development” is aboutas final as a regulation can be. Tuomas P. Hor Salt Lake City Tribune endorsement Can we ever believe another word that will be printed about Rocky Anderson in The Salt Lake Tribune? The recent endorsement of Rocky for mayorby the editorial board of the paper creates a conflict of interest and a distinct disadvantage to the other candidates. Political endorsements by newspapers, regardless of the circumstances, are free advertisements for the candidate.It is an attempt by the paper to inject unfair influence overits readers to accomplish management's politi+ cal objectives. Credibility is a newspaper's biggest asset and it should not be spent supporting frivolous activities. Good busiBARBARA PRINGLE West Valley City A proud Baptist Managing Editors Tim FrrzpatTrick Teaay Oame of many of the lands the agency manages. The claim by the General Accounting Office’s Matthew McKeown that “the technical amendments needed for the Utah agreement did not legally constitute a final rule or regula- Free advice Mar OWEN Sait Lake City One person’s dream road vehicle users is an affront to the citizens of Utah and all Americans. The new national policy prevents the Bureau of Land Managementfrom inventorying wilderness-quality lands. In fact, the only resource that the new guidelines specifically exempt from future consideration is the most obvious general interest. Letters must include full KeiTH LARSEN Kaysville Sandy with a wholesale giveaway of public letters of up to 250 words on topics of Free speech has made America unique and great, but now it just seems to celebrate intolerance and disrespect. wealthy” de2sn’t work for Molly. And she believes that, no matter how conservatively programmed any American’s upbringing, each of us should inherently understand that, and work assiduously to deterit. With regard to the recent article “Interior defends: roads deal to Congress” (Tribune, Oct. 6) by Christopher Smith: Whether or not Utahns support Sen. Joseph Lieberman's bid for the presidency, they should pay attention to the questions that he has for the Department of the Interior about its new Phone Number: 801-257-8888 | am proudto be a Baptist. But I am ashamed of the Baptist brethren who spew hate and disgust for the Mormon people. They are Mormon bashers. | don’t read anywhere in my Bible that Christ instructs us to reprimand other religions for their beliefs. Why aren’t the street preachers at the Catholic, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or even some Baptist churches? I don't see the Mormon missionaries in frontof other religious properties yelling and screaming quotes from the Book of Mormon, or even the Bible, to try to win them to the Mormonreligion. Why aren’t these street preachers between the malls trying to win the young people that hang out there looking for attention?I can tell you why the street preachers aren't there. It’s because the television cameras aren't there. I think we need to stop giving these street preachers so much attention and they will go away. L. Wayne WILLIAMS Joun FP. Frrzpareick (1924-1960) | Interior motives How to reach us isn’t the most elegant saying ever coined, butit’s true. UtaAn’s INDEPENDENTVOICESINCE1871 Past Publishers 3 OnlyHolladay,in its first election after months offerocious de- Settlements and terrorism nothergrisly suicide bombing, anotherIsraeli retaliation. Only THE PuBLIC FORUM i io) hat does it take to get Salt Lake City residents to vote? nessmen don't place themselves on one side of the fence and risk losing the customers that are on the other. Fairly reporting about each candidate’s background and his or her position on the issues is all that is required. Let the readers make up their own minds about whois the most qualified. WiiuiaM F. McKnicrt Vernal Good news Kudos to JoAnn Wells and Paul Rolly for their “good news” column on Oct. 6 (“Patient bus driver, thoughtful residents and generous firefighters are heroes”). In this day and age when readers are continually pummeled by bad and dismal newsat every level — local, state, national and international — it is, indeed, refreshing to read some good news. I suspect there are many, many more suchstories out there. This good newsalso reinforced my belief in the basic goodness of human nature. Keep up the good work. Dave HauGHEy Murray |
