PRESS RELEASE 5-8-2008

Two so-called ‘conservative republicans’

Are introducing new ‘wilderness proposals’

And taking a ‘wide stance’ with the

‘gay caballero’.

How can Idaho voters go along with this kind of a farce?

Thanks to all of you in the media who have invited me to appear for radio, television, and newspaper interviews during the 2008 election cycle. Well done! You possess journalistic courage, and deserve your fair reward.

KTVB & Idaho Public Television in particular — here’s a bit of candid advice that may serve you well in the future, and I do also hope you’ll all have a bit of a sense of humor about this sincere chastisement.

The intention here is NOT to demean individuals. The intention is to defeat ‘Media Corporate Penguin-ism’ and influence people who are capable of making important changes in the way the media markets work. In order to help enable that process, please turn to:

In Jack Wayne Chappell’s Political Dictionary, the definition of a Media Corporate Penguin, or; MCP, reads as follows:

Media Corporate Penguin (MCP): (1.) a suited or casually dressed individual determined to ascend the media corporate ladder. The media corporate penguin will set aside all scruples, morals, and political ethics in order to gain the favor of anyone who the penguin believes might enhance its cause, which is corporate advancement.

(2.) The media corporate penguin is genderless, having no reproductive tract. The media corporate penguin relies on sycophancy for the regeneration of its species. The media corporate penguin has no cerebellum, and follows all other penguins in a direct line, waiting for the next one higher to drop out of line, or die while marching in line. This gets the next media penguin closer to the primary food source, which is larceny. Media corporate penguins standing in line survive on regurgitated larceny left undigested by the media penguins to the front of the line.

The selection process KTVB uses to screen candidates to invite to televised debates is a product of what I call ‘corporate penguin-ism’. It is rooted in journalistic cowardice.

According to KTVB’s criteria: If a candidate for a major office cannot show receipts for a minimum of $10,000 in campaign contributions, then that candidate is not to be considered for a televised debate.

Let’s throw out a hypothetical and pretend that a sensible man or woman with a net worth of several million dollars wanted to run for U. S. Congress, but did not care to squander $10,000 on campaign advertising. That sensible person merely paid the $300 entry fee at the state house, and so, was disqualified by KTVB. That person was by far the best qualified, but KTVB said “no”.

Truth is: Most of Idaho’s media companies are owned by corporate giants from back east. There are very few media companies based in Idaho, and most of those are very small. If the large corporations have no opportunity to sell thousands of dollars in advertising to a candidate, then their logic seems to be that: “Air time is valuable, so what’s in it for us?”

Political ethics and civic responsibility has no place in this type of journalistic cowardice. The giant media companies want to own and control the issues as they line their pockets by employing political chicanery.

To be pointed, many of today’s incumbents and candidates are no more intelligent, articulate, or talented than the average person. Their popularity is largely based on how much money they have, or by how much money they are able to raise; NOT by how much intelligence, knowledge, and integrity they possess.

Voters take note: Why would a candidate with intelligence and integrity want to spend a million dollars in pursuit of a hundred thousand dollar a year job? This makes no sense at all. Yes, I could easily claim over $10,000 in campaign contributions and show and verify receipts, simply by calling my sponsors and asking them to approve of re-naming their contributions as such. But, what good would that do anyone? Even if I were willing to spend a half million on advertising, the incumbent could easily raise a million or more.

Our campaign is a communications venture, and the subject matter herein is a large part of why this venture is needed. Idahoans are being politically swindled by forces that they have no control over.

Idaho Public Television is funded by both private dollars and tax dollars, yet they show absolutely no sense of civic responsibility with their candidate selection criteria, which is completely indefensible, based on a fruitcake case in Arkansas (of all places).

KTVB take note! You have NO debate for one of the biggest offices in Idaho because some upper echelon MCP determined that campaign contributions took precedence over the intelligence, knowledge, and integrity of the candidate. While this cannot necessarily be blamed on the people working in the Idaho KTVB office, and while the blame always goes up or down the corporate ladder — when are the medium level executives at KTVB going to speak back to their higher ups?

Voters: Do you have any idea how moronic and dangerous KTVB’s logic is? A literal murderer and high dollar thief could simply loan his campaign $10,000 and be considered a viable candidate!

A man or woman of high moral character, major intelligence, and a ton of integrity will be completely ignored unless he/she has at least $10,000 to invest in his/her campaign! KTVB’s criteria for selecting candidates is far worse than journalistic cowardice, and cannot be adequately described with out the use of profanity made visceral.

Then AGAIN there’s good old Idaho Public Television, who Lt. Governor Jim Risch, Governor Butch Otter, and I, have openly spurned and criticized. IPT blames Jim Risch instead of making a candid self-evaluation, and re-assessing its criteria and format!

The incredibly arrogant upper branch of the Idaho Press Club no more represents journalistic courage and credibility than it represents what is on the mind of Idaho’s citizenry. IPC, you are NOT the only people who make a living in the communications business. Most of you are employed by large corporations that have no sense of civic responsibility whatsoever. Yet, you seem to think that you own the issues and have all the credibility in the world; and seemingly further that: Any candidate of whom you don’t approve or with whom you don’t agree has no credibility, and is to be publicly ignored, rebuked, and/or vilified.

Here’s a question or three for the members in control of IPC: How many of you have written, had published, and sold over 50,000 copies of a book? How many of you have gone the extra mile to license and maintain an Idaho communications & entertainment company? Where do you come by your corporate arrogance?

People of Idaho: Please know that there are very few locally owned and Idaho operated communications/entertainment companies left. The huge corporations have undercut them, bankrupted them, and bought their territories out. Most all of our newspapers, television broadcasting networks, and radio broadcasting networks are owned by out of state mega-corporations who would just as soon turn the entire state of Idaho into a ‘Designated Wilderness Area’.

To be honest, I had to smile at the questions that interviewers wanted answers to. Of course I am always happy to speak to trendy questions and offer what commentary I can. However, most of the questions I have been asked by journalists had very little appeal. The questions about illegal immigration, NAFTA, and greenhouse emissions were of interest, however . . . .

There are political questions that pertain directly to the quality of life in Idaho that were completely ignored in this year’s interviews, and some of those questions seem to have dropped off the political landscape.

1. What will the other candidates propose as a solution to the restoration of Idaho's salmon runs, and when will the government solve the problem rather than spend billions more in perpetuating the problem?

2. When will the government get off its rear and spend more bucks on infrastructure and billions less on foreign wars and pestilences?

3. How did our legislators in office justify allowing this government to spend over a million dollars per wolf to bring in these big Canadian Timber Wolves, and when will this nightmare end?

4. Bearing in mind that our Senators and Congressmen and Governors were all alleged ‘conservative republicans’ during the time that the wolf money was stolen from the public coffers, and that they all sat on their hands while these wolves were imported, exactly what is it that the Republican Party in Idaho stands for these days?

5. Two so-called ‘conservative republicans’ are introducing new ‘wilderness proposals’ and taking a ‘wide stance’ with the ‘gay caballero’.

How can any Idaho voter go along with that kind of a farce?

Of course, I can neither expect nor demand that the media adopt other questions for the candidates. Yet, I am NOT willing to allow the media to own the issues. Why not ask the candidates what issues they would like to address?

Media questions were about troop withdrawals from Iraq, dependence on foreign oil, tax cuts, etc; those questions are easily addressed.

1. None of us are able to do more than speculate about troop withdrawals from Iraq, because we don’t have access to the classified information that would give us the field of knowledge to speak intelligently on this subject.

2. When President Bush decried our ‘addiction to oil’ it was only idiomatic. It was a manner of speaking. Americans are no more ‘addicted to oil’ than they are addicted to chopped salad. Oil is a means to an end; and the end is to carve out an existence in a tough and volatile economic environment. We’re stuck with an oil powered cybernetic world for at least several decades to come, and maybe many more. So let’s deal with reality, and do the best we can.

3. Making the ‘Bush tax cuts’ permanent is something akin to making any elected President’s economic policies permanent. The economic & political environment changes like the motion of oceans and continents and weather patterns. The economic & political environment is never static; it is always in a state of flux. Most anyone knows this. But why are these things issues, when we have important IDAHO issues to address?

Though the questions posed by journalists are trendy, vaguely relevant, and vaguely in tune with the times in eastern urban areas; there are other issues that are much more important to the people of Idaho.

People, please tell KTVB, IPT, and IPC that Jack Wayne Chappell complimented them for doing an outstanding job of destroying journalistic courage, and making journalistic cowardice the order of the day in their respective business environs.