A Picture is Worth a Thousand Gulags

Picture of Obama's Houston campaign headquarters office from video taken by FOX 26 in Houston.

HT: Captain's Quarters

"Hawkins's development closed-door dealings under scrutiny; Moscow council members maintain their decision was in city's best interest"

Ah, right out of the ol' liberal playbook. You lose an election, you bitch about the people that won for the next few years and constantly demand they be removed from office.

From today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

Moscow's newest City Council members have spent the last several days defending their decision to sell water to a development firm that wants to build just across the state line in Whitman County.

Some residents are so unhappy they're considering a recall.

Dan Carscallen, Wayne Krauss and Walter Steed voted Monday along with Bill Lambert and John Weber to approve a settlement that offers Boise-based Hawkins Companies 45 acre-feet of potable water and 20 acre-feet of irrigation water on an annual basis for use at its proposed 700,000-square-foot retail development just west of Moscow. The Idaho Department of Water Resources must approve the offer before it is official.

The settlement was drafted after two days of mediation last week in Spokane.

Hawkins has about three months to decide whether to purchase wastewater treatment services from Moscow. The settlement also means the city will drop its appeal of water-rights transfers granted to Hawkins, which in turn will relinquish 45 acre-feet of water rights when it has access to Moscow water.

Confidentiality

Moscow resident Bill French, a member of the Palouse Water Conservation Network, said he and others have considered calling for a recall of the council members who voted for the settlement.

A recall is worth considering because "five of our six council members, at least in my opinion, betrayed the public trust by conducting this closed-door negotiation and settlement," he said.

Moscow's representatives at the mediation - Steed, Krauss, Mayor Nancy Chaney and Public Works Director Les MacDonald - agreed to keep the proceedings confidential, as demanded by the mediator. The council had to vote on the settlement without disclosing its content to the public.

Krauss said the confidentiality was necessary because the information discussed in mediation couldn't have been used in later litigation if no settlement was reached.

French said Moscow's representatives should have walked out rather than sign the confidentiality agreement.

"I think it was very imprudent for the council to enter negotiations and make a decision before the public had any opportunity to weigh in on what they were thinking," he said.

Dennis Baird, owner of the Wine Company of Moscow, agrees.

"They could have said, 'I'm sorry, we're not going to do that,' " Baird said. "If the mediator didn't like that, then they could have gotten another mediator."

French said Moscow should have continued with its water rights appeal.

"I'm not of the opinion that (the appeal) was destined to fail," he said. "At the very least it might have delayed Hawkins long enough to change the whole situation."

Krauss and Steed said they decided it was best to go ahead with the mediation.

"I went up there to reach a settlement to conclude the Hawkins situation," Steed said.

Krauss said city representatives had two other options: They could have proceeded with costly litigation on the appeal, or dropped the appeal altogether, but "that would have allowed a private entity to pump from the same aquifer we do without any public entity to monitor them on a regular basis."

Chaney said she was not surprised that the mediation session was kept confidential. To disclose things in a legal dispute would be counterproductive to Moscow's interests.

However, Chaney said the council could have proceeded differently after mediation concluded.

She said the council could have declined the settlement and opened discussion to the public. They could have discussed the elements in the settlement without disclosing the agreement itself, and returned to mediation later if the other entities were open to it.

Control issues

Carscallen, Krauss and Steed said Whitman County was going to help Hawkins move forward one way or another. Moscow had the opportunity to get as much as it could out of the deal.

"We didn't do this to sell out Moscow or to harm or to help Hawkins," Steed said. "We saw an inevitable development that we felt that we could to some degree control, to some degree reduce the amount of water (it used) that we all draw from and to make some money for the city."

The councilmen said the settlement ultimately reduces the net effect on the Grand Ronde aquifer, compared to the water Hawkins would pull if all its water rights were approved and Moscow was not involved.

Chaney said the settlement means "the Hawkins group will end up with more water than was otherwise authorized."

Hawkins had only secured rights to 45 acre-feet, but the settlement guarantees 65 acre-feet.

Chaney said she also dislikes the portion of the settlement in which Moscow agrees not to protest, directly or indirectly, "any permits or governmental approvals" sought by Hawkins for the project. The city can protest "based on public safety or nuisance."

The project was "too ill-defined" for such an agreement, Chaney said.

She also is concerned that the city does not control utility-related issues at Hawkins it would control within city limits. For example, Moscow can't regulate how much grease a restaurant in the development can release into the wastewater system.

Economic issues

Steed said people who shop at the Hawkins development may continue across the border and spend money in Moscow. Shoppers who don't find what they want at Hawkins could come to a similar store in Moscow.

"It's Marketing 101 - you put in a Burger King across the street from a McDonald's," Steed said.

Baird said Hawkins is more likely to hurt Moscow businesses. Because Hawkins will benefit from city infrastructure, which businesses help pay for, the council is forcing business owners to "pay for their own death."

Rate issues

French said he is concerned the agreement doesn't specify what Hawkins will have to pay for water or wastewater treatment.

"We should be making sure we're getting as high a rate as we can from them for providing that service," he said.

Carscallen said city representatives did not set a specific rate because they do not know what Moscow's water rates will be when the development is built.

The settlement states that Moscow "shall be fair and reasonable and consistent with rates and charges set for similarly situated customers of the city."

Steed said this does not mean that Hawkins will pay the same as a business within Moscow city limits.

Krauss said there are no "similarly situated" businesses, so the city will have to create a new rate for businesses across the state line.

The current rate for businesses outside the city limits is twice that of businesses in town, Krauss said. The rate for Hawkins could be as much as three times the in-town rate.

"We will work out a fair rate for them based on who and what they are," Krauss said.

The councilmen said the city also could save money if Hawkins decides to help pay for upgrades to Moscow's wastewater treatment plant in order to speed the availability of treated wastewater for irrigation.

What's next?

French said people who are unhappy with the settlement should speak out when the Idaho Department of Water Resources evaluates the sale.

"We need to see if there is any way to prevent this agreement from being followed through," he said.

Chaney said the settlement could bring positives.

It could encourage the Washington State Department of Ecology and Idaho Department of Water Resources to manage the Palouse Basin as a common watershed, she said. Any well drilled by Hawkins prior to hooking into Moscow's water could later be used as a test well for the Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee to assess aquifer levels.

"I think we are all coming at this from the perspective of wanting to do what we think will be beneficial to water in the Palouse Basin," she said. "We may not agree on what that is but ... we will make the best out of whatever the outcome is."

The Bullet or The Ballot

Reason #521 to vote the Rats out of Olympia this fall:

HB 3359 Concerning pistol ammunition.

Under this bill, stores that sell handgun ammunition must report the following to DOL:

(a) The date of the transaction;

(b) The name and date of birth of the purchaser or transferee of the pistol ammunition;

(c) The driver's license number or other government-issued identification card number of the purchaser or transferee of the pistol ammunition;

(d) The unique alphanumeric identifier of all pistol ammunition transferred to the purchaser or transferee; and

(e) Other information that the department of licensing determines is necessary.

"Clarkston Wal-Mart plans steaming ahead"

Meanwhile, kookless Clarkston will have a Wal-Mart Supercenter summer after next...

From today's Lewiston Tribune:

Wal-Mart could open across the street from Costco in Clarkston by June 2009.

That's the prediction of Jim Martin, Clarkston public works director, who has been working with the nation's biggest retailer on its plans to open a super center there.

Much is taking place behind the scenes, even though little activity is happening at the proposed 26-acre site on Fifth Street that has yet to be purchased by Wal-Mart, Martin says.

Consultants with the big-box chain continue to follow the schedule that's been developed in communication with city officials and has been happening for about a year, Martin says.

Wal-Mart has completed a traffic study. Comments about the study are due soon from the Washington Department of Transportation and the architecture and engineering firm USKH, Martin said.

The city of Clarkston hired USKH with money from the Lewis-Clark Metropolitan Planning Organization, Martin said.

The city will look at the information provided by all those parties and then negotiate with Wal-Mart about what kinds of changes it will require.

City building officials also will be sending out notices to agencies such as the Department of Ecology and Fish and Wildlife as part of following the State Environmental Policy Act. Those agencies will be invited to comment on any additional pollution Wal-Mart might create, such as more lighting, noise and car exhaust. The city might request additional mitigation based on those remarks, Martin said.

But Martin doesn't expect any of those steps in the process will present major obstacles. The property is located in a zone that allows big-box stores and he's not aware of any significant environmental issues. "The consultants for Wal-Mart do not leave any stone unturned. They've been going over the property with a fine-tooth comb."

Once Wal-Mart gets its building permit, which could be as early as June, Martin expects it will take between 12 and 18 months to complete. "This isn't their first time at the prom. So I don't imagine it will be a slow process."

Opening super centers in other communities has taken longer.

Wal-Mart has discussed seeking a super center site in Lewiston since at least 2001, but any steps the retailer has made toward that goal have never been made public.

In Pullman, Wal-Mart has acquired 28 acres in the 400 block of Bishop Boulevard. Plans for a super center there were first announced in October 2004, said Pete Dickinson, city planning. But plans for the store continue to be stalled in litigation.

Three judges in Washington's Division III Court of Appeals in Spokane heard arguments in the case on Dec. 19. Typically the judges take three to six months to issue their opinions, according to an employee in the office of the court's clerks.

The case involves an appeal by the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development of an initial decision by the city of Pullman to allow the super center.

Wal-Mart also examined opening a super center in Moscow, where it already has a discount store. But that idea was put on the back burner because it found the city's process for a proposed site too cumbersome.

The recent shift in Moscow's city council doesn't seem to have changed Wal-Mart's stance. "We'd still like to serve our customers there with a super center, but at this point, it's kind of on hold," says Karianne Fallow, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart in Boise.

Farther north, in Hayden Lake, the process has been complicated too. City Manager Jay Townsend estimates Wal-Mart has been working on its plans for at least five years.

Initially Wal-Mart wanted to locate on two parcels of land, but only one of them was zoned for the development. The city denied a request to rezone one of the parcels after a packed public hearing, and Wal-Mart went back and redid its design so it could use a single parcel, Townsend says.

Doing so is costing Wal-Mart hundreds of thousands of dollars in mitigation, such as replacing a sewer lift station that has to be moved and creating an additional travel lane on U.S. Highway 95, Townsend says.

The city of Hayden also successfully negotiated with Wal-Mart to make the facade of the store tan and brown with rock veneer instead of the standard gray with red, white and blue. The idea is to blend with the rustic flavor Hayden Lake is trying to develop as part of a revitalization project. "We wanted something that was going to fit within the community itself," Townsend says.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

"Spending without guilt"

Scott Braski of Moscow has a great response to PARDner Don Orlich's recent letter chastizing the Walton Family Foundation (i.e. the family that owns Wal-Mart) for supporting school vouchers.

Braski probably doesn't know Orlich and the PARDners as well as we do. Choice and freedom to them are things that belong in the hands of faceless government bureaucrats, not the individual.

By the way, the Walton Family Foundation's emphasis on providing tuition assistance for low-income families wanting to give their children the best possible education through attendance at a private school came from Sam Walton's son John, who died in an experimental aircraft crash in 2005.

Though he was the son of a millionaire entrepreneur, John Walton dropped out of college, enlisted in the Army, and became a member of the Special Forces. He was wounded in action and won the Silver Star for heroism in Vietnam as part of a top secret, behind the lines MACV-SOG unit, Recon Team Louisiana.

John Walton was a man who knew a thing or two about freedom and fighting for it. How dare some statist educrat question the fact Walton decided to spend some of his birthright on providing opportunity and freedom for others less fortunate.

From today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

There is more to Donald C. Orlich's recent letter to the editor than meets the eye (Opinion, Dec. 14), and I have a few questions. Yes, the wonders of Pullman are due to public education. Yes, most of the students at Washington State University received a public education. No one is debating that. The question is, would it have been possible to have the Pullman public education be any better? If so, would it have been wrong for a set of parents to want a better education for their child?

If I work extra hard so that I can afford to purchase a better-than-public education for my child, should I feel guilty for wanting to invest my money in my own children? I am required to pay taxes that support public schools, even if my kids never set foot in one, so I'm not leaving the poor in the cold. Should someone else have the right to force me to educate my child a certain way?

As for Wal-Mart, Orlich believes the company doesn't have the right to invest its post-tax earnings as it wishes. At what point does one lose that right? When one becomes a certain degree of successful? The harder you work, the more skill you apply, the less control you should have over your own money? One of these omniscient philanthropy committees needs to draw an exact line somewhere, so we all know exactly how successful not to become, and how hard not to work. Is not a good definition of freedom the ability to spend your own after-tax earnings as you wish? Erode that freedom and you'll find you have none left.

Scott Braski, Moscow

My Friend, Nathan Weller

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I don't have that problem, because I have friends like Pullman City Councilman-Elect Nathan Weller. Nathan wrote a letter to the editor published in today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News that calls for an apology for below-the-belt comments made on The Daily News website directed at my family.

I'm a Republican and Nathan is a Democrat. So what? He's going to take plenty of heat from those in his party for standing up for me and no doubt get savaged by the anonymous sock puppets on the Daily News website. Chris Lupke (sure must be boring over in Taiwan) has already posted a comment chiding Nathan for having been "deceived" by me, as if I am the Dark Sith Lord and Nathan is my young apprentice, incapable of any independent thought of his own.

Folks, this is a political blog. If you don't like what I write, for God's sake, QUIT COMING HERE (Raymond). I'm not a member of the Gestapo and I have no power whatsoever to "run anyone out of town" (luckily for some people.) Does it get sarcastic and snarky at times. Sure. Do I tell it like I see it, raw and unvarnished? Absolutely. Do I vigorously advocate for what I believe in and expose what I think are lies and half-truths spouted by PARD? Proudly. I'm not a politician. I'm a blogger. That's my job. And if the PARDners think I'm the only one saying these things about them, they live in a fool's paradise. I'm just the only one doing it publicly. They are the true embarrassments to this city.

You want to see some really wild left-wing blogs, surf on over to HorsesAss.org and Democratic Underground. Palousitics looks like a Salvation Army meeting by comparison. One's degree of offense, it seems, is inversely proportional to how much one agrees with what is being stated.

What I don't do is use profanity, claim people are in need of psychiatric help or have rage issues, advocate violence, accuse people of getting drunk, beating their wives, and cheating on their taxes, or make any comments about people's family members that are not publicly involved in the debate. No nasty personal gossip is allowed here. But, if you are going to make wild, unsubstantiated claims that Wal-Mart is going to disinter dead bodies, destroy the public education system, shrivel deer testicles, bring "lower social classes" into town, kill kids and old ladies or that you prefer Target or Costco over Wal-Mart, then be prepared to deal with comments like "leftist," "moonbat," "elitist" or "snob," just as I am prepared to deal with comments like "far right extremist," "wingnut," or "paid shill for Wal-Mart." There probably are ways to intelligently and rationally argue against Wal-Mart that are not based on emotion, political ideology or snobbery, but I have yet to see anyone around on the Palouse exhibit them. If this were, say, the fifth Supercenter being built in Pullman, I would not be such a strong advocate for Wal-Mart (although I would still feel they have the right to build if they were within the law) and I would be equally as strong in my support for Target or Costco should they decide to build here.

I didn't start this fire. Early on, PARD resorted to hysteria, fear, hyperbole, lies, and arrogantly and presumptuously claimed to speak for the majority of Pullman residents. They called down the thunder, now they have it. Grow a thicker skin or get a sense of humor, people.

It would have been easy enough for Nathan to just sit on his hands during all this fabricated brouhaha. Politicians, both Democrat and Republican, could learn from Nathan's morality, integrity, and guts. Pullman will be well served with him as a councilman, just as I have been well served by having him as a friend.

From today's Daily News:

An apology is owed

I read with dismay the recent Daily News Web site posting attacking Tom Forbes by someone who claims to be associated with my campaign. I have no knowledge of this person. Whether he had any connection with my campaign or not makes no difference. Such comments are hurtful, destructive, and divisive and have no place in our community.

I have known Tom for more than 12 months and consider him a friend. Tom and I disagree on many things but our disagreement has never been disagreeable. We are all part of a family and disagreements within families should be handled in a respectful and tolerant manner. We do not want the ways of Washington, D.C., in our state. This individual owes Tom and his family an apology and I hope that he has the decency and courage to do it.

Nathan Weller, Pullman

What They Said - Unplugged

As an observer, I have watched PARD keep the issues focused and not personalized. No matter the outcome for a Walmart in Pullman, they have used their rights and liberties and a democratic judicial system with grace.

- "Guest" December 11, 2007, 3:49 pm

I applaud Dr. Lupke and other PARD members for their numerous letters and Op Ed pieces that have addressed issues in a manner consistent with the spirit of civil free speech.

- "Proponent of Civility," December 11, 2007, 8:34 pm

Now we'll look at comments posted on the Daily News website by the PARDners and their supporters since November 27 and see if those bold pronouncements above will bear scrutiny. I have made no effort to provide names, as the posters were too cowardly in most cases to give one. After reading these comments, you tell me what you think my response should be to Chris Lupke's demand that "I call on Mr. Forbes to stop his character assassination of long-standing members of the Pullman community, to apologize for his anti-social behavior, and learn to present his views in positive ways, regardless of what those views are, that would serve to restore dignity to the debate over Pullman’s community issues."

It seems as though Tom Forbes hates everyone who is opposed to the inevitability of a walmart in Pullman - for whatever reason - because he can't talk about them without stereotyping them as elitists. His consistent use of that word always negates his arguments to me. In his letters, he comes across like a big baby and his tantrums are tiresome. I enjoy reading about the different opinions on the subject, but these are your neighbors, Tom - whether they agree with you or not - and it's too short a life to be so mean spirited to people who seem to be trying to do what they think is right, just as you are.

I'm particularly amused by the following statement by Tom: "If you don't agree with PARD's far-left political agenda, then they attack you publicly. Any wonder that the "silent majority" chooses to remain silent". Now THAT's the pot calling the kettle black.

Another Walmart is just plain stupid. But if you have read much of what this clown Forbes has to say, you'll see that stupidity is his calling card.

Tom Forbes has to dig pretty far back into history to find a political battle in Pullman that he claims Wal-Mart won -- which is debatable anyway.

The main reason is that while he has tried to avoid becoming the subject of Forbes' vicious slander attacks on long-standing Pullmanites by not coming out vocally against the Wal-Mart invasion, he has presented hiimself as someone who is not right-wing, not simply in favor of selling out Pullman to corporate elites whom Forbes touts on a daily basis.

And the fact that Sorenson has posted onto Forbes' website, with all its vicious attacks on local residents in Pullman, did not sit well with the voters. So, pay for your recount, Al, and when it is done, please say goodbye to the residents of Pullman.

We all know that Tom Forbes has an unnatural pyschological attachment to Wally World. But what I want to know is this -

When Forbes drives over to the gigantic Wal-Mart Supercenter to spend all day every day shopping there, who the hell is going to fill the other 1038 parking spaces in Wal-Mart's gargantuan parking lot?

Tommy One-Note has an arrogant, elitist, and unnatural psychological need to hear himself drone on, and on, and on ……….

I read Lupke's letter from a few days ago and Forbes needs to look up the word "lash out" in the dictionary -- either that or see a psychiatrist. And it sounds like from what others have said that the latter is likely the best idea. Of course, for a flatheat like him, probably being a hippy would warrant a call that I should "pack up and leave" too.

Forbes' nasty habit of libeling anyone who does not want a Wal-Mart in Pullman makes it impossible for most thoughtful people to express themselves on the issue publicly. Isn't it ironic that the concept of free speech has morphed into free mudslinging as far as Tom Forbes and his cronies are concerned.

Yes, I know what you mean. This Forbes guy is about as nasty as it gets. I've never quite seen anything like him in Pullman. In fact, my display name comes from the fact that people have attacked those critical of Walmart as being "hippies." I'm not sure if this is an insult or not, but I did notice from time to time that Forbes uses this moniker on his hatesite, so it very likely was he who made that attack too.

But what I wanted to say in more detail is that I really do believe Forbes needs a pyschiatrist or something to bring him back to reality and probably some medication as well. He uses words like "lash out" and "attack" all the time. That bellicose rhetoric consistently informs what he has to say.

There's a lot of anger and violence pent up in this Forbes character and I just hope he seeks help soon -- for his own good and for ours too!

The big irony is precisely the "free speech" to which you refer. The whole point of Forbes mudslinging is to intimidate people into silence. And if they are not silent, then the next step is to try to have them run out of town.

Forbes even uses the term "comrades" to refer to people in PARD, as if they are communists. He really is psychotic if he's dredging up this kind of McCarthyistic rhetoric.

Boy, based on the comments above, it looks like PARD may speak for a lot more of Pullman than Forbes wants to admit. As one who has been the brunt of his childish name-calling, I can personally attest to the nasty demeanor of his writing. He even accused my business of engaging in unethical practices because I pointed out the errors in Wal-Mart’s original SEPA application to the City of Pullman and Washington State regulatory agencies.

Matthew Root

You really shouldn't be calling anyone "poor ignorant slobs." It's just not right and it sends a chill through our little community. But that's what Tom Forbes has been doing for years -- anyone who disagrees with him is a ... fill in the blank with your favorite disgusting insult.

I'm a PARD "fringe" person, I'll admit. That is, I went to all the meetings in the beginning when I thought we had a chance of beating Walmart. There were HUNDREDS of people at these meetings. The first one was held at a coffee shop downtown. There was not enough room for everyone. Had to be switched to the high school. The next week we met there, in the gym I think. It was packed. Then we started meeting at a church. The basement was full for weeks. It did taper off after awhile, and I confess that I was one of those who tapered off. I also don't write letters to the paper, because I don't want to be attacked by the likes of this fiend Tom Forbes. But I haven't heard any of my many friends from those initial meetings say they feel any better about Walmart now than they did then. They just feel they don't want to spend their time on this anymore and don't want to suffer the calumny of Forbes. My point: what did Walmart do? Talk to us? Interact with the community? Adjust its plans? Try to work with us or effect a compromise? No. They tried to recruit people around Pullman to serve as attack dogs on the PARD people. And that is exactly what happened. That hardened any sense of compromise I might have once had toward Walmart.

I wanted to remind people of the unfair attacks and mischaracterizations of Tom Forbes and urge people not to use those.

Well, now! I usually stay out of Pullman's business, but this week it looks like you guys have got all the fun! And with all this talk about Tom Forbes, I had to take a peek at his website. Actually, I had seen references to it on Dale's hatesite, so I thought I was prepared.

omg! Does he REALLY put Dale to shame or what? Talk about nastiness. Go no further! If it's bile you need, Forbes has got one stop shopping for you. What Forbes has to say will burn your eyebrows off.

I thought we had it bad in Moscow and was sort of envious of Pullman.

Not no more!

I would like to thank those who have posted into this site defending me against Mr. Tom Forbes’ assaults, both present and past. I am writing a letter of response which I hope the Moscow-Pullman Daily News prints promptly. For now, let me just say that Mr. Forbes has been attacking me and others in PARD for years now. He especially despises the fact that college professors and those employed by Washington State University would have the audacity to speak out against a corporate giant like Wal-Mart. For the record, I am proud to be a college teacher at WSU. It is true, as he says, that I am fluent in Chinese. It was not easy to gain this ability, but I did it through hard work, relying solely on my own funds earned in odd jobs, student loans, scholarships, and teaching assistantships over many, many arduous years. But I am not embarrassed to have gone from someone who knew nothing about China to some who is now a national expert on China and Chinese culture. I’m very proud of it and believe what I do makes a contribution to society, to our community and state, and to America. The US government is doing everything it can to encourage young Americans to learn critical languages like Chinese and Arabic, and it is a shame that someone like Mr. Forbes would try to ridicule me for that as somehow being a member of the “elite,” disconnected from reality. I find it to be very unpatriotic. I also feel that others who live in Pullman and work at WSU have a right to voice their opinions too. WSU is a great university, not an elite, exclusive country club. It is a place filled with hard-working teachers, researchers, students, and administrators. And as a result Pullman is a community made up of many of these good people. We who work or attend WSU should not feel we are second class citizens to people like Mr. Forbes, just because he does not teach there. And we should not have to endure being called “elitist” (and worse) just because we earned our degrees, have risen to the top of our respective fields, and with that expertise and those skills are now in a position to give back to our community and our state. I am proud to be associated with WSU. But even so, in Pullman, a town filled with PhDs, I consider myself an ordinary joe just like everyone else. I don’t have any place of privilege, but by virtue of the US Constitution, I also don’t have to cede my own basic right of expression to others who otherwise would wish to shut me up.

As to Wal-Mart, I will make no excuses for my opposition to it. I have been consistent in my opposition to a massive Wal-Mart Supercenter in Pullman since I first heard about it three years ago. Wal-Mart has a reputation for destroying local businesses and then picking up the pieces by hiring the workers of those failed businesses, often at lower wages and few or no benefits. This proposal will severely hurt Pullman’s whole retail environment and ultimately lead to less choice in the marketplace than shoppers currently have. Mr. Forbes insinuates that I am left wing and maybe even a communist, but what he fails to point out is that I have previously advocated encouraging Costco to build in Pullman. This would make a lot more retail sense to me than Wal-Mart. That being said, many people in the community actually stand to the left of me on this issue, opposing any further big box development at all. This illustrates the fact that actually I am in the mainstream not on the radical left, as Mr. Forbes’ so desperately wishes to paint me.

Mr. Forbes’ tactics are very clear. In the face of very poor same-store sales returns over the past several years running, Wal-Mart is encountering a crisis. Ordinary people such as myself have been waking up the past few years to the fact that Wal-Mart is a disreputable business. We don’t speak for business. We speak as part of the market. What the market is telling Wal-Mart is this: change your ways. Start acting like an ethical company. Listen to what the legion of critics are saying. Look at your business model and realize that ruthless, bottom line tactics where you cheat your employees in the United States, outsource solid manufacturing jobs to the third world where you can easily exploit factory workers, and engage in predatory business practices against small businesses should be rethought. When you do so, we will again spend our money at your stores. Until you do so, we will not.

What Mr. Forbes has done has become the local front for a corporate giant. And the tactics are to avoid talking about how wonderful Wal-Mart is, expounding on all the high-quality items that Wal-Mart sells, bragging about the wonderful jobs that Wal-Mart provides to the community or generous philanthropy that it bestows on our public schools like WSU or Pullman HS, and noting the positive impact that Wal-Mart will have on traffic in its vicinity, the environment, other businesses. Mr. Forbes cannot do that because Wal-Mart does not do those things. Instead, taking a page right out of the Wal-Mart propaganda playbook, Mr. Forbes seeks to destroy the reputations of those who have had the courage to voice their opposition to the Wal-Mart Supercenter proposed for Bishop Place. He attacks the messengers. It’s a pathetic tactic and I call on Mr. Forbes to stop his character assassination of long-standing members of the Pullman community, to apologize for his anti-social behavior, and learn to present his views in positive ways, regardless of what those views are, that would serve to restore dignity to the debate over Pullman’s community issues.

Chris Lupke

He doesn't seem to get it that, agree or disagree, the resistance to Walmart is this community is widespread. When he's attacking people who have vocally opposed Walmart, he's actually attacking a big segment of this population -- a lot of people who have not spoken up so much. Too bad he wasn't at those first meetings that I mentioned above. Had he been, he would have seen it for himself. It's not "elitist." It's grassroots.

I always use this same display name so that people know it's me. I don't want to reveal my real name because Tom Forbes not only attacks people on his nasty excuse for a website but he even pastes in pictures of them if he can find them. And the name calling. It's just shameful . . . and shameless for that matter too.

There are so many people in Pullman just dying to see Forbes shrivel up and blow away.

Forbes doesn't take the high road and isn't satisfied just crowing about Wal-Mart's many wonderful attributes for one clear reason -- there is nothing good to say about Wal-Mart. In the absence of good things one can say, turn the attack on people in the community and slander them. Maybe that will get you some headway.

Forbes' tactics are about as high quality as the crap they peddle at Wal-Mart.

More comments from Forbes in the pigsty (you said it, not me) showing how nasty and gratuitous he is. Why not put forth something positive for a change and stop the defamation? Oh, I forgot, he's advocating Wal-Mart. Nothing good to say.

I'm very impressed with the way Lupke has dealt with this. It's clear he's careful with his words. And you can see that he's basically silenced Forbes on the character issue.

I'm not going to use the term "pig" to describe Forbes because that would be to stoop to his level.

His plan is clear and I don't think he's made a secret of it. He has created a big rhetorical pigsty of name calling, defamation, character assassination, half-truths, mischaracterizations, out-of-context quotations, un-confirmed quotations, and outright lies. He has done this to hopefully drag the PARD people like Lupke into the mud with him. The motivation is what he does not admit -- that this is the only way Walmart can gain in the arena of public opinion.

I have to admit, I'm surprised that Lupke put up with this onslaught so long. But when he finally decided to take on Forbes directly, he really delivered a knock out punch . . . right back into the pigslop. That's what I mean when I say I was impressed with the way Lupke dealt with it.

Here's a question everybody will want to see Tom Forbes answer on his flogsite:

Doesn't Schweitzer Engineering, where I've been told Tom Forbes works, have a health plan that pays the majority of drug prescription costs? And wouldn't then these prescription costs be the same (and rather reasonable) at ALL pharmacies in Pullman? And, finally, how does that prescription plan compare to the one that is offered to employees of Walmart? Do Walmart employees get as good of a break as Tom Forbes does?

It's funny. It suddenly occurred to me why Tom Forbes attacks people with his personal insults and lies so much.

When you try to argue the merits of Walmart, you quickly learn your screwed.

Yes, another good Tom Forbes-ism. Now apparently I smoke pot all day. I'll have to remember that one. What crystaline logic you do apply.

This place is peaceful, in spite of the mudslinging from people like Forbes. It will go to hell in a hand basket if it becomes a big sprawl and/or a mini-Spokane. They can keep their crime, drugs and sprawl as far as I'm concerned.

Nobody believes the lame lies about working poor in Pullman. It's just another one of Forbes'/Wal-Mart's ploys. We've seen all these before.

So, spare us your lies about the working poor, Forbes/Wal-Mart, because we know you're here to suck the last drop of blood out of the veins of the working poor.

I don't see why Forbes doesn't drive people around. Doesn't he work for Schweitzer? Doesn't he have an excellent health plan through Schweitzer? What is the health plan at Schweitzer anyway? Forbes can probably afford to drive all these people around. Forbes could drive Walmart workers to the emergency room when they need health care, since most don't get it through Walmart. And he could put their health care bills on his credit card. That would be better than making the tax payer pay for their bills. Are tax burden is already heavy enough as it is.

The pro-Wal-mart crowd sure do raise some compelling arguments. Denial, ad hominem, and a claim that all faculty should apparently work 18 hours a day, leaving no time to get involved in community matters. It is sad that you think that people who work in Liberal Arts departments such as Foreign Languages and Speech and Hearing are so unworthy. Hmmmm, that logic would mean that the TF crowd does not have enough work to keep them busy. I guess everyone should just be quiet and get back to their own jobs. I sure hope the commentors above are not logging on during work -- I guess all you all must work the night shift or are self-employed.

I met Dr. Lupke once and asked him about Walmart. I don't think he opposes the existing Walmart just the new one. Forbes argument doesn't make sense to me. But why is he so wired over this? Is he being paid by Walmart?

Just follow the nasty, offensive posts and you'll find forbes! Again, it is amazing to me that this is the issue that he has decided to waste his time on! I'm sure his children will be proud one day as they look back and say, "If it wasn't for Dad I wouldn't have the opportunity to buy all this cheap crap and to work at this minimum wage job with no benefits!"

At least Mrs. Forbes had the guts to use her real name which Tom Forbes never does. I won't use my name either. Do you know why that is Mrs. Forbes, so proud of your wonderful husband and the community service he provides to Pullman? Because I don't want my face pasted on your husband's disgusting website with all sorts of lies and insults. I think he said himself not long ago that he sees his community service as pulling others into the pigstye with him. Nobody knows whether your husband is paid by Walmart or not but considering the pack of lies he spews on his website I guess with your blessing there is no reason to believe you. Yes, have you no shame is a question that many have for him. Glad to hear you are proud of that and you've programmed your kids to be too.

There are many "innocent" people in this debate, Mrs. Forbes - people who haven't attacked others, who have simply expressed their opinion on a matter that means something to them and will have a big impact on their community. Where is your compassion for those of us who have been attacked by your husband and his vile, name-calling and hypocrital writings? Or does the same law not apply to you because you believe your opinion and your husband's opinion is THE only one worth considering? I don't mind that Tom has a different opinion than mine on this issue - but he does nothing to bring the community together on this issue and therefore, all of his 'efforts' are meaningless, except, perhaps, to stroke his own ego. I would never be so crass and mean to a fellow neighbor just because I felt I had the right answer to something that affects everyone in my community. But your husband seems to revel and wallow in it. If I lived with someone like that, I would be ashamed - not of his position on the matter - but of his tactics towards my neighbors - people I didn't even know. I agree with you on this: no one's children should be brought into this discussion unless they too have participated in the discussion and expressed an opinion on the matter. Everyone knows there's going to be a walmart in Pullman - and Tom Forbes will have had no effect on that fact. Wal mart will do what they're going to do - with or without Tom Forbes - or with or without the residents of Pullman. Tom's just there to stand behind the multi-billion dollar company and stick out his tongue at his neighbors, like a 2-year-old baby.

I have been observing his fakery for quite some time myself. I don't think he would psychologically be able to restrain himself from writing in.

To Susan Forbes:

I have three sets of questions for you that I would like you to answer, not other people, if you and the others in this thread would be gracious enough to indulge.

1. On your husband’s website out there for all the world and God to see he once wrote that he would like to see the members of the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development run out of town. How do you think your children would feel if the father of a friend of theirs had publicly called for her or his parents to be run out of town? Do you think that was right? Do you think someone who said something like that has shame?

2. Your husband and his small coterie have often attacked PARD people as mainly being faculty in the College of Liberal Arts at Washington State University and that therefore they have no real conception of the world and, apparently, no right to assert their opinions in the public arena. I am told you too work in the College of Liberal Arts at Washington State University. How does it make you feel that your husband and his small coterie frequently degrade employees in this division at WSU? Do they not have a right and if not then do you have a right to make such a sanctimonious statement as that presented above? Is that not hypocritical?

3. The issue of Walmart and Pullman has been portrayed by your husband as one of members of the university community against locals. Were you and your husband born in Pullman? Have you lived here your whole lives? Are you a local or a member of the university community, the College of Liberal Arts in particularly, and if so, then why is it legitimate for you to speak up and not others who are no different from you except in the opinions they espouse?

I know what it’s like to be called names. That’s how I got this display name. I guess someone thought they were insulting me by calling me a hippy. I sort of like it. It brings me back to the Berkeley days of my youth. But he or another later accused me of taking bong hits, which I don’t do. That points to the notion that I don’t like people making unfavorable insinuations about my personal life that such people have no way of knowing. That’s call lying and its called character assassination. And that is the pigsty in which your husband resides.

It’s true. I haven’t lived in Pullman all my life, but I think I’ve lived here a lot longer than Tom Forbes if I’m not mistaken. But my kids were born here and they are bona fide locals. I would like to think that their parents could remain here with them to raise them lest Tom Forbes’s command that I be run out of town actually become a reality. As a mother, would you not agree, Mrs. Forbes?

Susan-- so you read these comments. Do you read your husband's blog? I read it for the second time a couple of days ago. The constant ad-hominem attacks against me are probably libelous. There are some ten or so posts just about me, mostly attempting to defame my character. Are you proud of that?

Are you proud of the fact that your husband spends time with Photoshop making collages of me, with my picture? Personally, I find it creepy. I've worked on political issues the whole time I've been here on the Palouse (close to 20 years) and aside from the midst of the roadless hearings, where much more was at stake than a Wal-mart, I've never seen anything like it. I know that it wasn't the way that I was raised, and if it's a model for your kids, I find that pretty sad.

I'm a big boy. But when I read constant, inciteful comments against my person, with little or no substance, I wonder about the consequences. You might think about how you might feel if one of Tom's followers commits an act of violence against myself or my family. Regardless of your intent, that's what that kind of constant ad-hominem attack leads to.

Chuck Pezeshki

Students don't rank in this town and you're partly to blame for that. But if you're actually one of the businesses that Forbes claims to represent, you'll take my money won't you.

You also assume that because I said Forbes' name I was referring to the posts. I already said I wasn't. I seriously doubt none of these are his posts, but it doesn't matter to me. I'm mainly referring to what he's already said in the paper and on his nasty website. You should admit that I clarified that. You don't.

What do I call what happened to Mrs. Forbes? What are you talking about? What happened to Mrs. Forbes? Did something happen while I was away from my computer? What I see is a wife who wants to defend her husband or some mere mention of her kids, not by me. Look at the guy's website. It's the worst piece of nasty crap imaginable. And he maligns good people in Pullman. If you can't admit that, then you have no credibility at all. And we're done talking.

So, yeah, since she posted in all high and mightly, holier than thou, but completely hypocritically, she's got alot of explaining to do. Alot of explaining to do. And because she isn't, it shows she can't. There is no good excuse for Tom Forbes except the one he's already given -- pigstye.

First, your husband is not a nice guy, he is a bit of a beast. In a letter to the editor last year he referred to Dr. Lupke as a communist, making a joke about his job as a Chinese teacher. That is below the belt. So don't cry for him, just ask him to be more civil and maybe civility will follow him.

Second, you note that he is spending a lot of time on this issue and that you are proud of him for standing up for his principles. Fine. Let's rephrase my comment: What principles is your husband standing up for other than the principle that people can buy cheap crap and other people can have minimum wage jobs? I don't see it. This is just a stupid issue to stand behind and not one that justifies the kind of angry rhetoric that your husband and most of the other folks above continue to dish out.

Mr. Forbes' defensiveness is interesting given the extent he has drug others through the mud the past couple of years. He has not hesitated to name individuals, comment on their character, call them scumbags, communists and elitists. His blog is offensive, a poor representation of the Pullman community, and an embarrassment. There are a handful of people who post on his site and they are not the voice of Pullman. If you haven't read through his writing, I'd encourage you to do so. He is not a simple libertarian with a bone against PARD.

When I read Tom Forbes' hateful letters, I feel sorry for him. People who act like he does usually have some hole in their life that they're trying to fill. I'm sure that he acts like he does because it makes him feel important and gives him attention he would otherwise not be given if he were to present his opinions on the Wal-Mart subject without all of the tantrum/name calling/in-your-face tactics of his. I would rather listen to the pro-Wal-Mart side of the story from someone who presented their opinions without having to put down their neighbors, just because they have a different opinion. But, Tom seems to really enjoy putting other people down and in today's culture, some people think that's funny. It's sad.

I'm surprised it took someone from PARD so long to respond to Forbes' unfair, ruthless, uncivil, immature attacks. As an observer, I have watched PARD keep the issues focused and not personalized. No matter the outcome for a Walmart in Pullman, they have used their rights and liberties and a democratic judicial system with grace.

It's funny that anyone would think that WalMart needed support when they push their way into towns. They don't need defending. It's the equivalent of rooting for a team when the outcome of the game is fixed. Why would someone do that, if not for their own attention? If someone wants a WalMart in their town, they should say so, but to fly to Arkansas to armor oneself with corporate propaganda - that's a little self-serving, in my opinion.

I do not use my name in my postings, however, because Tom Forbes has previously attacked me with labels and names, rather than addressing the real issues at hand, and I'm tired of it, so like a lot of others, I choose to be a coward in that I don't post my name. I certainly hope no one claims to speak for the community, as no one has been appointed by "the community" to do so. After all, what would they say..."some people want walmart and others don't?" I like to read actual 'facts' from both sides of the issue and am not afraid of changing my opinion if enough compelling evidence or a well-made, correct argument convinces me otherwise. I don't like watching my community be hammered with name calling, labels, and assumptions based on their opinion of the world's largest retailer. Who would be my real hero be in this matter? Someone who came along to bring the community together - to see what we have in common on this issue - to see what we can do to keep this an affordable community that also offers places that we really want to shop - even when we don't have as much money as others. My friends and I even have differing opinions on this matter, but it doesn't mean that we sit around calling each other names, making assumptions on each other's education or morality levels, or crossing people off our x-mas card lists because of it. Even Tom Forbes could earn my respect if he genuinely made such concessions to the people in his community that he's alienated. Unfortunately, I don't think that he has the skill, nor the respect, to do so. It will have to come from someone more thoughtful than he. Perhaps the pro walmart side needs another "spokesperson?" and everyone who has an opinion on the matter can wipe their hatred clean and try to consider the "other side's" position?

As one who has also been subjected to the vitriolic libel of Mr. Forbes, and chosen not to sink to his level of public discourse, I applaud Dr. Lupke and other PARD members for their numerous letters and Op Ed pieces that have addressed issues in a manner consistent with the spirit of civil free speech. A public rebuke of Forbes is long overdue. With that accomplished (thank you Chris), let's get back to the issues of responsible community and regional development. It's a big job for creative, knowledgeable people who are willing to step forth and debate the solutions we need to find. I sincerely hope it can be done with a reduction in rancour and a committment to positive, productive dialog.

Gee, Ms Torkelson, I'm so sorry your feelings have been hurt. At least no one has libeled your character -- which seems to be the operational mode of the Forbicites. Just think how much more constructive the past three years would have been if the Wal-Mart supporters had forsworn personal attack, stuck to the issues alone, and contributed to the effort to reduce the negative impacts of a supercenter on Bishop Blvd. Maybe by now there would have been solutions that everyone could live with.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

What They Said - In Public

As an observer, I have watched PARD keep the issues focused and not personalized. No matter the outcome for a Walmart in Pullman, they have used their rights and liberties and a democratic judicial system with grace.

- "Guest" December 11, 2007, 3:49 pm

I applaud Dr. Lupke and other PARD members for their numerous letters and Op Ed pieces that have addressed issues in a manner consistent with the spirit of civil free speech.

- "Proponent of Civility," December 11, 2007, 8:34 pm

Let's see if these comments on the Daily News website will bear scrutiny when matched up with the public statements made over the past few years by the PARDners and their supporters, shall we? If you can think of anything else, please post it in the comments, This is just what I found in about 10 minutes of searching:

"In the meantime, however, it is important to know Wal-Mart has contributed not thousands but millions to charter schools and school-voucher causes (USA Today). A community like Pullman, which is filled with state-employed teachers at all levels of the education system, should strongly oppose the building of a Wal-Mart Supercenter here for this reason alone. In our state, Wal-Mart has donated $300,000 to charter-school causes that have been rejected at the polls by Washington voters twice. Sending one's children to a private school is a personal choice, but charter schools and school vouchers weaken the public school system by diverting scarce funds away from it.

It also is revealing to examine Wal-Mart's political donations which mostly went to Republicans in the last election (www.fec.gov). In our state, Wal-Mart donated to the campaigns of Dino Rossi, George Nethercutt and Cathy McMorris, but not to those of Don Barbieri, Patty Murray, or Christine Gregoire.

Nationally, Wal-Mart contributed to Tom DeLay, Katherine Harris (former Florida Secretary of State, remember her?) and George Bush but not to John Kerry. By contrast, 99.11 percent of regionally-based Costco's political contributionswent to Democrats, including Don Barbieri. Just so you know where your consumer dollars are going."

Alicia "Al" Borm, June 4, 2005

"As for the super-size supporters, local business owners and ordinary citizens alike who would prefer to have all of the amenities of Lewiston, Spokane, or Coeur d’Alene, I’d suggest that you might stop trying to morph Pullman into another shopper’s paradise and perhaps consider moving a few miles closer down the road to be next to your favorite outlet shopping mall."

Michael Rutledge Riley, June 11, 2005

"A few weeks ago, I was chatting with a neighbor about how I had learned that trees around the Pullman Cemetery might be torn down for construction for the proposed Wal-Mart (Please refer to the blueprints with the city.)

From this accidental conversation, I have learned of several errors that the city and Wal-Mart have made regarding the assessment of this proposed site. I have learned that cemeteries can indeed be registered as historical places. I have learned that an intentional grove of trees built around a cemetery can be a
historical landscape. I have learned that there is a 400-foot boundary difference between the 190 plat mats and the current maps of Pullman. I have been reminded of the fact that Wal-Mart does not care about the integrity of community, history, and enironmentalism.

I am very concerned about pre-1900 residents who may be buried in that cemetery.

In addition to the rich heritage visible in the cemetery itself. a hidden history may lay there as well. Oftentimes, non-Euro-Americans were not afforded complete, identifiable gravestones, such as Native Americans and Chinese laborers. These early inhaitants of the Palouse nay be resting outside of the known plat boundaries. Wal-Mart has repeatedly dug up and built over existing cemeteries (Colorado, Tennessee, Texas, and Vancouver, British Columbia).

I am now painfully aware of how one of Pullman's most sacred places might be altered, destroyed and otherwise shadowed by a behemoth super cemter that is sure to wreck many visual landscapes. I am wondering how long-time citizens in Pullman feel about this? I am wondering if those folks have been informed.

How can the city not demand a comprehensive analysis of this existing cemetery by way of sonar scanning the entire original plat map boundaries?"

Marcie Gilliland, June 2005

"There is a game where a "rumor" is whispered around a circle to see how the original changes. This appears to have happened with the so-called "merchant's petition.

...I spent several hours in June presenting an impartially worded petition to a variety of business owners. I introduced myself and explained that I represented no one but myself. I had meaningful discussions with most of those who signed the petition and with several who declined. Three people emphasized their support for a Wal-mart Supercenter in Pullman, yet were willing to sign the petition because the wording was impartial, the idea a good one. The cover letter that went to the city with the petition was the idea of a particulalry thoughful signer, and includes that signer's suggestions...

In conclusion, I reiterate that this was my project as a private citizen, and that I approached everyone openly and respectfully. "

Cynthia Hosick, October 1, 2005

"Our business was recently visited by a person representing themselves as pro-business and pro-economic growth who asked me to sign a petition requesting an economic study regarding the proposed Pullman Wal-mart.

In reality this person was a representative of PARD who was gathering signatures from Pullman business people not to facilitate economic study but to use the petition as a tactic to delay or stop the Pullman Wal-Mart. The petition was further "spun" with a cover letter that was not a part of the original petition and sent to the Pullman Director of Public Works.

Looking down the list of others on the petition it appears that others were likewise duped and misrepresented.

I think that it is important to set the record straight in order to minimize confusion and to expose deceptive practices for what they are."

Jerry Griebling, September 15, 2005

"Round One: The Battle for Public Opinion is Over. PARD Has Clearly Won that Battle."

PARD Press Release, May 23, 2005

"We have public opinion on our side."

PARD Press Release, September 9, 2005

"[Sam Dial Jewelers owner Sam] Dial said a new perspective by many Pullman residents may help retain small local businesses and lure new businesses into town.

'The Pullman community really wants to see business growth,” he said. “We have a leak of retail dollars.'”

Moscow-Pullman Daily News, January 20, 2007

"If Wal-Mart has its way, say good-bye to public schools."

Chris Lupke, October 27, 2005

"A local writer by the name of Tom Forbes often mocks Hosick and Reed, as if civic debate is a game; indeed, Forbes seems quite gleeful about, "proudly annoying Pullman's left-wing intelligentsia" (a quote from his blog "Palousitics".) It would show more wisdom and maturity proudly to remember, and cleverly to apply, the splendid old traditions in these United States of the kind of civic debate that - despite differences of opinion - manages to remain both civil and factual."

Birgita Ingemanson, October 28, 2005

"Finally, Forbes seems content to allow consumerism to replace the democratic process. I doubt Forbes would be comfortable repealing child labor laws or would embrace a proposal to open a strip club, kiddie porn outlet or crack house on the logic that consumers can decide."

Richard King, October 31, 2005

"At the same time, news arrives that a store that makes much more sense for Pullman, Target, has plans to build here."

TV Reed, November 2, 2005

"The irresponsible, extremist ranting on Forbes' site gives Republicans a bad name, and makes it impossible to take BREO seriously. Leave pro-business lobbying to the Chamber of Commerce."

Ray Sacchi, November 3, 2005

"I have no special expertise nor have I received any help, training, support or funding from any such national union movement. I am not a member of a union nor is anyone in my family.

At a recent Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development meeting, I asked if anyone was – no one raised their hand."

Chris Lupke, November 16, 2005

"The documentary presented interviews with former store employees who have seen harsh working conditions. Several WSU departments presented the screening of “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price” in Todd hall on Monday.

The documentary gave viewers an inside look at several controversial issues associated with the world’s largest retail company.

WSU departments of comparative ethnic studies, American studies, women’s studies, sociology and Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development (PARD) screened the film...

'It’s slavery,' said Anthony Walters, a representative of UFCW Local 1439, who answered questions after the video presentation. 'When workers are kept in the workplace, forced to pay rent and utility fees that exceed their wages, it is slavery.'”

Daily Evergreen, November 16, 2005

"In a recent letter, local Wal-Mart promoter Tom Forbes attacked respected Moscow businessman Gerard Connelly (owner of Tri-State) for suggesting that the 5,000 lawsuits Wal-Mart faces might indicate some problems with the corporation. Forbes’ weak defense of Wal-Mart is that it is a big company and therefore a big target. In fact, Wal- Mart’s lawsuits are far out of proportion to their size. More important, Forbes seems to imply that these lawsuits must be frivolous. Out of so many, a few surely are. But what Forbes doesn’t tell us is that in a great many of these suits brought by, among others, the U.S. government and several state governments, Wal-Mart has been found guilty as charged.

A few of the huge number of possible examples from this year alone: In February Wal-Mart settled with the federal government for 85 violations of US child labor laws in three states; last week Wal-Mart was fined $115 million for denying lunch breaks to employees in one state (with similar cases pending in 40 others); three weeks ago Wal-Mart generated a new lawsuit when it was caught again using illegal
immigrants in Pennsylvania (this in the wake of a leaked memo making clear such
actions are corporate policy, not isolated acts).

Why aren’t folks like Forbes outraged at this corporate immorality? Why do they defend in corporations what they would never defend in individual behavior? Forbes also attacked Connelly’s motives, suggesting that this merchant who has donated so much time and money to local community projects, was speaking solely out of economic self- interest. I believe he was speaking out of community interest. We as consumers need to send a message to Wal-Mart CEO’s that if they want our business they must treat their workers fairly, that until
they do they are not welcome in our towns."

TV Reed, December 31, 2005

“I understand the council’s concern about big-box stores, but Moscow doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Pullman is welcoming big-box business and that’s a bigger threat to Moscow.”

Gerard Connelly, February 8, 2006

"I also have been asked the question, 'If Target was planning to build in Pullman would there be the same opposition?' The answer is no. I think Pullman would welcome Target with open arms. Wal-Mart cannot be compared to any other company. Because of its size and power, it is in a class of its own."

Leilani Alamillo, January 11, 2006

"I see that April Coggins wants it both ways. She wants on-street parking in front of her business and a Wal-Mart Supercenter larger than all retail space in the downtown area."

Janet Damm, January 12, 2006

"University of Idaho criminologist Deirdre Sommerlad-Rogers testified about studies showing Wal-Mart attracts crime and therefore puts a drain on local police services. She pointed to the example of a Wal-Mart store in Lodi, Calif., that took up four times as much police time as other retail stores because of shoplifting and the high number of car thefts in the parking
lot."

Moscow-Pullman Daily News, January 14, 2006

"Concerns also have been raised about noise and light pollution, including a much-discussed claim by Washington State University Professor James Krueger on Jan. 13 that light pollution could cause Pullman men to become impotent. He based the claim on research involving deer."

Moscow-Pullman Daily News, January 21, 2006

"One side uses moral compassion to emphasize child safety in the streets, employee exploitation, generation of city blight, failed businesses, pollution, and the desecration of cemetery solitude that the proposed Wal-Mart will bring.

The arguments from the opposing side encompass property rights and an apparent new constitutional right to shop in disregard of community and responsibility to one’s fellow man."

James Krueger, January 23, 2006

"I recently went on a group trip with others from Pullman whom I had never met and, in getting to know each other, we chatted about various local issues. Eventually the subject of the Wal-Mart boondoggle came up. Nobody favored it. I mentioned that I was involved with the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development. 'You are heroes,' one person said. As flattering as that may be, I must say fighting Wal-Mart is not a pleasure but a moral imperative.

One of the most important reasons is precisely cost: there is a wasteland of local blight where Wal-Mart has laced the countryside with super centers. Wal-Mart has the bad taste to bulldoze right up to the border of an otherwise tranquil and hallowed cemetery. They could not care less about school kids who play and the elderly who live nearby their retail colossus."

Chris Lupke, April 3, 2006

"Tom Forbes now claims to have found PARD’s 'union label,' but his logic is faulty."

Peggy Jenkins, April 5, 2006

"Tom 'Joe McCarthy' Forbes is at it again. Over the last few months, Forbes has called Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development members 'Stalinists,' 'communists,' terrorists, and fascists, among other things, and stated that we should be “run out of town” (this directed at a group most of whose board members have lived here 10, 20 or 30 years longer than he has).

Now Forbes has come up with what I guess is to him an equally awful term, union-supported. He has “accused” PARD of being funded by the United Food and Commercial Workers, one of many worker organizations fighting Wal-Mart nationally.

Well, once again you are dead wrong, Tom. PARD has not received a single penny of support from the UFCW.

Where have we gotten our funding? That’s none of your business, but you might ask each of the now more than 10,000 folks who live or shop in Pullman who have signed the PARD petition against Wal- Mart. (By the way, those of you signers who haven’t yet – and you know who you are – might want to send some greenbacks our way right now, since the one thing Forbes got right is that fighting Wal-Mart is expensive).

But let’s address the implications of Forbes’ McCarthyite question: Are you now or have you ever been supported by a union? I’d be proud to have union support.

My dad was a union man for 40 years and without his union pension my mom couldn’t survive economically."

T.V Reed, April 14, 2006

"Wal-Mart and its surrogates have tried to pit Pullman and Moscow against each other in a 'divide and conquer strategy' arguing a dollar spent in Pullman would have the 'added benefit' of not going to Moscow. That destructive scheme conceals the ultimate reason why many people come to live here in the first place and, indeed, why these two towns have flourished side by side for a century."

Chris Lupke, June 16,2006

"It looks a lot like the proposed Wal-Mart on Bishop is driving city priorities more than meeting the needs of all residents.

Now, to correct the fuzzy math of Don Pelton (Opinion, July 21) who, in his continued attempt to sell our community on the unwanted Wal-Mart, says that rival Costco (which pays the kind of decent wages Wal-Mart does not) would never come to Pullman because our residents don’t make enough money.

How does Pelton explain, then, that Costco already located in Clarkston, a town with a lower per-capita income than Pullman’s? And anyone who has ever been to the store in Clarkston knows his claim that it appeals mostly to affluent customers is just plain silly."

Janet Damm, June 25, 2006

"Reed didn’t have the figure for PARD’s appeal costs immediately available but denied rumors circulating among Wal-Mart proponents that PARD is being supported by labor unions with an anti-Wal-Mart agenda.

'The people doing the real work here are long-term residents,' Reed said.

Even if the group was taking outside money, Reed doesn’t see anything wrong with that.

'We have a right to use national resources,' Reed said. 'I think the people of Pullman would love to have support from wherever they can get it.'"

Moscow-Pullman Daily News, June 27, 2006

"The serenity of the cemetery was a big part of the effect on her. Doesn’t it bother the Wal-Mart supporters that this will be gone? Isn’t it disrespectful to treat our deceased neighbors and soldiers this way? I can’t imagine grieving over a loved one next to traffic and bright lights.

Destroying the serenity of the cemetery with a Wal-Mart is bad enough. The disrespect it shows our war dead is appalling.

If you have a “support our troops” ribbon on your vehicle, and want the giant Wal-Mart next to the cemetery, please take it off. Better yet, reconsider your support of a Wal-Mart next to the cemetery. Show some respect. We can put it someplace else, like Mars."

Kelly Turk, July 29, 2006

"In the Daily News, however, even this page has become the venue for partisan posturing, at least in its reporting on Pullman affairs. Your beat writer consistently describes anything to do with Wal-Mart or with development in general as positive, as progress (see the huge celebratory Weekend headline “BOOMTOWN” a week ago). In her hands, the Wal-Mart disciple from your “Town Crier” becomes a caped crusader, courageously combatting the powers of darkness and obstruction. Those who resist the coming of this super center, on the other hand, are routinely tarred as nuisances, as obstacles to Pullman’s grand march toward saturated development. I personally know fewer than five people in Pullman who want Wal-Mart to come, and a great many more who do not. The store in Moscow is quite sufficient. Your Wal-Mart surrogate does not speak for me, nor, I dare say, for the overwhelming majority of voters and homeowners in Pullman. Now he’s stumping for Initiative 933, a brazen giveaway to developers and large landowners. Why should he and his fringe positions receive such privileged coverage in your pages?"

Michael Hanly, October 5, 2006

"Wal-Mart is clearly a communist front organization that pays its workers so poorly, gives them such lousy benefits, and tries hard to make sure they quit before they get much advancement, in a transparent attempt to stir up class agitation in America. Pullman must fight to keep this creeping communism out of our town. The true Wal-Mart is the Chinese Wal-Mart with unions and communist party offices. We need to support living-wage laws, moderate unions and other reforms to keep these Wal-Mart communists from succeeding with their dastardly plan to impoverish U.S. workers into revolution!"

TV Reed, October 28, 2006

"Pelton claims that PARD 'supporters have compared Wal-Mart and its customers to slumming.”'In addition to making no grammatical sense, this is wrong. It is based on one much-misquoted comment that Wal-Mart parking lots attract 'undesirable elements' (drug dealers, rapists, etc.) based on Wal-Mart’s research. If Don wants to defend such folks, fine, but don’t confuse them with customers."

Deirdre Rogers, October 27, 2006

"Reed said the city has McAloon on retainer, and appealing at the different court levels does not put a financial strain on the city.

'The issue over attorney fees is just another way to take the focus off the threat Wal-Mart poses,' Reed said...

'We still have lots of support and 10,000 people have signed our petition against Wal-Mart,' Reed said. 'We feel we have a strong case and wouldn’t proceed if we didn’t.'

Reed said PARD has not received any outside money from labor unions or interest groups. He said the community rose up in opposition to Wal-Mart and it is the outside force that is trying to disrupt the community’s economy.

Moscow-Pullman Daily News, November 28, 2006

Throughout the litigation process, PARD has maintained there is not a significant cost to the city as the organization fights the city’s approval of Wal-Mart’s environmental checklist.

Woo and Sherman disagreed, saying there has been a direct cost to Pullman.

Reed said earlier this week that city attorney Laura McAloon is on retainer, which Sherman and Woo confirmed.

The retainer fee — $7,000 a month — covers McAloon’s professional guidance at City Council meetings, and she answers legal questions that arise for elected officials and city staff.

McAloon is paid for 46 hours a month, according to her contract. Any further service, such as litigation, is charged separately.

The city has paid $25,302 toward legal fees related to the proposed super center thus far.

Moscow-Pullman Daily News, December 2, 2006

"Blaming the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development for causing the city attorney fees to soar is like blaming the chickens when the fox enters the hen house."

Joan Harris, December 4, 2006

"His lack of concern for most retail business is interesting. While I agree that the bike shop and Sam Dial should not have major competition from Wal-Mart, this is based on the fact that both establishments sell quality goods, while Wal-Mart sells junk."

Jeffrey P. Joswig-Jones, December 28, 2006

"Bringing other businesses? The Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development has in fact contacted a number of other companies about coming to Pullman. To cite one example, we were privy to talks about the Cordova with a developer who specializes in renovating historic theaters and building shops in the surrounding area, when the city precipitously approved a weaker plan. PARD has no objections to churches downtown, but the empty space around the Cordova attests to the loss of a better business opportunity...

Dictating where to shop? Burma seems to have forgotten there is a Wal-Mart seven miles away. If she has trouble getting there, I’d be happy to do the neighborly thing and take her. She has a right to shop for shoddy sweatshop-made goods if she wishes."

TV Reed, January 1, 2007

"Allowing Wal-Mart to intrude on the cemetery will be gross, shameful and monstrous."

David Flaherty, February 7, 2007

"Forbes’s tactic is smearing opponents while skirting the issues....Similarly, Forbes suggests that organizations supported by labor unions cannot represent grass-roots opinion. But no one opposing Wal-Mart here in Pullman is funded by, or to my knowledge even a member of, a union. We support our local businesses and quality of small-town life by questioning the low wages and lack of benefits that Wal-Mart imposes. This has everything to do with exercising our democratic right to protect our community and nothing to do with personal ego."

Anesa Miller, February 21, 2007

"As usual, with no real arguments to offer, Tom Forbes goes after the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development with name-calling rather than logic: 'Arrogant,' 'elitist academics,' 'self-important know-it-alls' - gee Tom, sounds like you are the one 'throwing a tantrum'...

More than 10,000 folks signed PARD's petition against Wal-Mart, including more than 6,000 Pullman residents and 4,000 others who shop here. That is six times more people than the total of all voters in most Pullman city elections. When Forbes speaks of a 'tiny' group he must be thinking of his own followers, who have yet to gather even 30 signatures on a petition they are circulating on another issue."

TV Reed, July 28, 2007

"The small number of people who repeatedly write in support of Wal-Mart in Pullman are the same minority who support sprawl that stretches the length of the Moscow-Pullman Highway, feel that we should stay the course in the war in Iraq for an interminable number of years, and consider global warming a myth invented by liberal academics."

Shuxin Zhao Lupke, August 2, 2007

"Forbes' contention that the opposition is based on class warfare and elitism is as ridiculous as the argument that development shouldn't occur next to the cemetery."

Mike O'Neil, August 23, 2007

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My Own Private Idaho

Camera shy "WSU Student" states on the Daily News website:

Can I add something to what you wrote? I emailed in about a week ago or so about this second Walmart in the area. It makes no sense. I live in the NE WSU apartments area. It's about 6 miles from there to the Moscow Walmart. A straight shot. It's about 2 miles from my apartment to where the new Walmart is supposed to be. Right through Pullman and all its traffic. That's a difference of only 4 miles. Plus, the thing this Forbes doesn't admit is that sales tax is lower in Idaho. I'm a student. I'm on a budget, as most of us are. There is no way a student like me living up here is going to drive across Pullman to pay more, with taxes, than driving from here to Moscow and not fighting traffic and stop lights. It just doesn't make sense.

The biggest allure of a Supercenter to students is discount GROCERIES. And the thing this Forbes DOES admit is that there is NO SALES TAX ON FOOD in Washington as opposed to Idaho. I think "students on a budget" will appreciate that fact, don't you? I think that is worth driving across Pullman "fighting traffic and stop lights" for. As far as sales tax on retail items go, there is a whopping 1.7% difference between Washington and Idaho. On a $100 purchase, you would save $1.70 at the Moscow Wal-Mart and spend $2.48 in gas to make the 15 mile round trip to Moscow with a vehicle getting the average of 20 MPG. Do the math.

Plus, a Supercenter is not merely "another Wal-Mart" It is a beast of a different color. Clearly these snobs have never been in one. Outside of food, a Supercenter has on average twice as many SKUs as the Wal-Mart in Moscow has. For exampe, the Pullman Supercenter will have an electronics section three times the size of the Moscow store. These offerings will bring in shoppers from a wide radius, much more than the "2 miles to my apartment."

But what would that matter to "WSU Student" anyway? He posted on an older thread:

And I like going to downtown Moscow because it is so much better than the sorry excuse for a downtown that Pullman claims to be.

Nothing like that "Cougar Pride," eh?

Then "WSU Student" writes:

It would be good to TRY to get a Target here. I mean REALLY try, not these mythical references from some time back when Reagan was alive or something that a few pot bellies wrote a letter to Target. I mean really put it together as a community to try to get a Target.

Here's a mindblower to "WSU Student" and all the other left-wing false dilemma crowd who say it's either Wal-Mart or Target. If you really, really want a Target so bad, what if you found out that efforts are underway to get Target in Pullman but that Target will come only AFTER Wal-Mart has been opened? What if your efforts to delay/stop Wal-mart are also delaying/stopping Target as well?

Then Chuck "Mr. Civil Discourse" Pezeshki chimes in:

I still don't get it. We have a Walmart 6 miles away. For some of us in Pullman, it's shorter and easier to get there than across to Safeway.

Why are you being deprived? How is not having a Walmart across from Safeway depriving you of Walmart goods?

Hmmmm. Let's see. What are we being deprived of? I'll let the No SuperWalMart-funded retail study from the CLUE Group answer that:

Pullman is experiencing sales leakages in almost all major retail categories, including a leakage of $4.0 million in groceries, $7.6 million in furniture/home furnishings, $9.6 million in apparel, and $1.3 million in pharmaceuticals/medical supplies (the only major retail category in which Pullman is experiencing a sales surplus is dining out).

While it is impossible to state with certainty without conducting consumer surveys where Pullman's residents currently shop for various things, it is highly likely, given Moscow's high per capita sales performance relative to Pullman's and the region's relatively isolated location, that Pullman residents often shop in Moscow for groceries and other consumer staples.

The 223,000 square foot Wal-Mart Supercenter that has been proposed to be built in Pullman will attract approximately $100 million in sales - roughly the equivalent of all current sales in major retail categories in Pullman - according to Wal-Mart's current national sales averages. This will have an enormous impact on retail activity in the region - in Pullman, in particular, but also in Moscow, as some sales currently being captured by Moscow businesses will almost certainly gravitate to the new Wal-Mart Supercenter. Grocery sales are particularly vulnerable, as the proposed Supercenter will likely capture approximately $35 million in area grocery sales.

Do you get it now? Does that "stir" you? It certainly "stirs" our local merchants. Do you "feel sorry" for them? It's a hell of a lot more than "cheap toothpaste" at stake. And yes, people will not only come from Pullman to shop at Wal-Mart, they will come from Moscow and all over the surrounding area.

Remember, Chuck, how you PhDs butter our bread? How do you expect Pullman to get a slice if you all go over to Moscow to shop? Don't you love the Wal-Mart haters "Buy Local" program? "Buy Moscow" is more like it. And didn't you serve on the Jefferson Elementary PTA? Just having the Wal-Mart building in Pullman means an extra $112,784 a year to the Pullman School District from property taxes. Lastly, Chuck, aren't you an environmentalist? Does your disdain for Wal-Mart extend so far that you recommend more car trips to Moscow versus a Pullman Wal-Mart that would be accessible to shoppers via walking, bike paths and public transportation? By my simple estimate, every less trip to Moscow to shop is 20.9 pounds less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We could conceivably save millions of pounds of carbon emissions a year by having a Wal-Mart in Pullman!

Here's another mindblower that "shifts the paradigm." What if Wal-Mart doesn't keep the store in Moscow open after the Pullman Supercenter opens? That is an extremely likely possibility, as Wal-Mart is attempting to convert all their discount stores to Supercenters. That pretty much blows all the "One Wal-Mart is Enough" arguments right out of the water. And please don't cry for Moscow, They had their fair shot to get a Supercenter and Queen Nancy and her moonbats ran it out of town, with PARD's assistance. By the way, thanks for that PARDners! If you had not helped create the No SuperWalMart group, Moscow may have gotten a Supercenter and Wal-Mart would be less interested in Pullman.

Chuck follows that with:

Pursuing things in the courts is also part of the checks and balances set up by our Founding Fathers. It is legal, and it is part of the process. The courts are a resort that I've used very successfully many times to change public policy, and there have been a few of my efforts that have resulted in change of national policy (don't you love how these guys love to toot their own horns in these comments? Pezeshki is "changing national policy" and Lupke is a "national expert on China and Chinese culture." *LOL* - tf)

That's right, Chuck, there is no such thing as frivilous lawsuit designed to delay and manipulate the legitimate process. That never happens in the land of the free and the home of the brave. A group like Wal-Mart Watch, for example, would never advocate something like this:

Appealing a Pro-Wal-Mart Rezoning

If you can appeal a rezoning, or a special permit decision in your state—do it. It will allow you to gain half a year to a year’s worth of delay—during which time, land deal can fall apart of expire, Wal-Mart can move on, etc. Delay always works to your benefit as a citizen’s group.

Chuck concludes:

My concerns have always been local-- how any community could build a huge, high-traffic retail facility next to their new hospital, to provide essentially replacement services, is beyond me. And so it remains.

Boy, it's a really good thing they didn't decide to put the hospital right by the main entrance to campus where 18,000 students and 6,000 faculty and staff go to school and work each day. Oh, wait a minute......

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Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer

Forbicite: fabricated word to indicate "followers of Forbes".

- Anonymous commenter "Proponent of Civility" (*LOL*) on the Moscow-Pullman Daily News website, December 8, 2007

MEMO

FROM: The Forbicites
TO: WSU College Republicans
SUBJECT: Mutual Enemies

Over the last three years, we Forbicites here at Palousitics have managed to annoy most every far-left professor and student at WSU. You guys have managed to do the same thing over the past year or so. Just as we have issues that we agree on: illegal immigration, English as the official language, Islamofascism, global warming, Wal-Mart, etc., so do our enemies (PARD, Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies, Young Democrats, Progressive Student Union).

So, for example, someone that attacks you on one issue, might attack me on another.

Some people might still carry a grudge against me because I helped provide national exposure to actions against the College Republicans they later had to publicly apologize for; persons who might santicmoniously refer to "lying" and "character assassination" and the "pigsty in which your husband resides" while forgetting they were the ones to attack me first.

That's why we love you guys so much. We have all the same friends and all the same enemies. Keep up the good work, and so will we!

Sincerely,

Tom Forbes and the Forbicites