Newspaper allows columnist to attack Alderman, but will they allow a response?
There was a newspaper article below written by Bill Bovender, a local attorney in Kingsport, Tennessee, that attacked the views that many citizens of Kingsport have in the way the Kingsport government is run.
I am sure that Bill Bovender’s talking down to and labeling citizens as GDD (gloom, doom, and depression), that do not share his view will not go down easy. In fact, I am sure that many will find his elitism views and name calling insulting.
If one compares Alderman Shull’s ”A New Direction for Kingsport” and Bill Bovender article, they can see he is not only criticizing Shull, but distorting Shull’s positions and is resorting to name calling.
It is easy to notice how the “elites” have rolled out the old attack machine against anybody who dared to present a different view?
It is also easy to see that Bill Bovender is not exactly an innocent bystander when one Googles his name and see his involvement in city/county affairs. If one also does a Google search on Keith Wilson, Publisher of the Kingsport Times-News and Ted Como, Managing Editor of the Kingsport Times-News, one can see they they are also not innocent bystanders because of their involvement with the city and county affairs.
The Letter to the Editor below was submitted to the Kingsport Times-News for publication in response to Bill Bovender article. Kingsport Times-News should print Alderman Shull “A New Direction for Kingsport” and his letter to the editor.
The Kingsport Times-News in my opinion can be very stubborn on many issues. See previous posts from this blog and check out what this blogger had to do to get porn/spam off the Times-News webpages.
Feel free to leave a comment.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
A few days ago I wrote an article entitled “White Paper: A New Direction for Kingsport”. I sent it to several citizens including Mr. Bovender and the editor. Therefore, folks that read my paper will recognize his column as a thinly veiled personal attack on me. Unless the Times-News publishes my paper Mr. Bovender will have it both ways, a forum for his attack and the ability to prevent his readers from understanding the context of my views.
I spoke to Bill at length a few months ago. His views about the “progress” that Kingsport has made are sincere, almost to the point of being emotional. In my view, this emotional aspect is what has caused him to attack me. He has not contacted me personally; instead he prefers to characterize me as “negative”. I’m sure that the soldiers that I led in Iraq, my co-workers, and the Kingsporters who share my political views would disagree with this characterization.
Bill is not an ignorant person. Yet the way that he describes my positions have little relation to the merits, they are simply belittling and unhelpful to any citizen trying to understand the issues. Why is it that some insist on demonizing the opposition rather that engaging in fair debate? The overriding question before the BMA is how much “progress” can we afford and at what pace?
I am open to discuss and explain my positions with any citizen. An examination of my voting record will reveal that I supported several measures that Bill would call “progressive”. Most importantly I “positively” supported a resolution to cut property taxes which was recently defeated 2-5 by the BMA.
Bill, some free advice – stick to the issues, simply attacking my credibility won’t work. Kingsporters are smarter than that.
Below, is the Kingsport Times-News article written by Bill Bovender that appeared in the Sunday December 7, 2008 newspaper.
In my opinion Bill Bovender attack on certain BMA members is not exactly stating their real positions and Bill Bovender appears to be speaking for the elites who can be labeled as TB&S (tax, borrow and spend)
Gloom, Doom and Depression crowd should get with the program
There are a few people around Kingsport with political aspirations who do not view the progressive sea change the Model City has experienced over the past few years as a positive thing. If one were to put a label on their attitude, it would be that they are purveyors of Gloom, Doom and Depression or GDD.
Some of the GDD’s ideas include: Let’s return to the good ole 1950s, because the city’s ruling class has gone too far, too fast. Debt reduction should be the number one spending priority — not education, infrastructure, etc. “Economic development” is deemed by GDD as a bad word. John Adams Elementary School is a waste of tax dollars. The at-large election of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen should be trashed, with a ward system being utilized. I cannot wait for the ward bosses to appear. Well be just like Chicago. GDD claims city leaders are “elitist” and have no “vision.” Want elitism? Go to an “old south” town. Kingsport is about as anti-elite as any place you can find.
The attitude of GDD reminds me of some of Spencer Tracy’s lines in “Inherit the Wind,” the great movie about the Scopes Monkey Trial. Tracy played a fictionalized Clarence Darrow, who actually defended Scopes. At one point during the movie’s version of the trial, he says something like “… with flags flying and banners waving, we’ll march back, backward into time. “I’ll be the first to admit that there is merit in some of what the GD and D’ers are saying.
However, having lived here for 33 years, I find the many things going on — downtown education center, new restaurants, new retail, job creation — make this the most exhilarating and promising time I have experienced.
It is hard to understand negativity. Some just exude it. The glass is half-empty is their mantra. Is the country experiencing tough times? Yes. Must Kingsport prioritize? Yes. I thought that was what the city leaders have been doing.
Most of the BMA, Mayor Phillips, and City Manager Campbell have awakened a sleeping giant Don’t think for a minute surrounding cities have not noticed.
There were plenty of people in John-son City who claimed John Campbell and the majority of the City Commission were without “vision,” even “fools,” for suggesting a new road be built connecting north Johnson City with ETSU. State of Franklin Road appears to have weathered those narrow-minded nihilists.
There is more “going on” in Kingsport than almost at anytime in decades. But, it is the progress and growth which Kingsport is experiencing which seem to bring out the cavedwellers, nay-sayers, and general “agin it” crowd.
There is real danger that, in writing this column and commenting on the ideas of GDD, I will end up aiding rather than hindering the movement GDD covets.
I hope that is not the case. Never in the past 30 years has Kingsport been as exciting—a fun place to live. The investments being made by the city will yield tremendous returns. We may well be able to keep our best and brightest kids around.
I was recently involved in a lawsuit where one issue was the alleged inability of a company to recruit people to come to this area to work.
Supposedly, the potential candidates described Kingsport as “backwards,” “nothing to do,” the “boondocks,” and just a “smelly little town.”
The various projects, expenditures, annexations and activities initiated by Phillips, Campbell, and the BMA fly in the face of those who were not interested in moving here. The Gloom, Doom and Depression coterie needs to get on the team.
Bill Bovender practices law in Kingsport E-mail him at [email protected]
