SH "Sound Off" - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Aug 22, 2004

SH "Sound Off"

Date: Aug 22, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Reporter(quoting somebody else)--
"I don't see a thing wrong with the college board meeting in Alabama. It is more peaceful than the Mississippi Coast, away from the stinking casinos, and the members are probably less tempted to go out and party. What's the problem? Funny - when Mississippi conventions meet out of state, people complain, but when conventions from other states meet here, no problemo, right? Think about it!"

Ok, I'll think about it. That didn't take long.

What sloppy thinking yours is. As if the "Mississippi Coast" was the only other option available. As if the members of the IHL board are so intemperate as to be "tempted to go out and party" if they are in Mississippi? As if there are no potential distractions at the Grand?

Most important to me is your (the original writer's) failure to recognize the distinction between conventions and governmental or quasi-governmental entities. It is one thing for a convention of privately funded business people to select a venue of their own choosing, in state or out. Often facilities that can handle a gathering of 500 plus are in short supply. (Oddly enough, some of the Mississippi casino-based hotels have been less than solicitous for such, because the conventioneers spend too much time in meetings and not enough time in the casinos.)

But the most important and obvious distinction is that the IHL board is not spending private or personal money for their meeting place. They are spending public money. And all of us conservatives know that public money is coming right out of our pockets.

Date: Aug 22, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: ram
"
Ok, I'll think about it. That didn't take long.
What sloppy thinking yours is. As if the "Mississippi Coast" was the only other option available."

Well, "ram" isn't guilty of "sloppy thinking!" IHL is a public entity & shouldn't be meeting out of state regardless of whether the board president likes the location. And yes, there are plenty of places to hold a real retreat besides a casino resort. The question is whether the IHL needs to be spending money for luxury digs for their "retreat" or whether they'd be just as able to perform serious work at some place like Lake Tiak-o-Khata in Louisville or any of our fine state parks. Personally, I find those locations a lot more conducive to reflection & quiet work than a fancy hotel on a golf course on the Redneck Riviera.

What it looks like to me is that IHL gets to treat itself to a much nicer August vacation than most Mississippians can afford. And what do they do to earn this? Manage our universities thoughtfully? Act like semi-educated & cultured representatives of our state? I think the true answer is they earned it by making campaign donations or being an "old pal" to whatever governor appointed them.

Klumb likes to style himself as a "conservative," but what he's really just the latest in a long line of good ole boys & political cronies who've gotten their underqualified backsides appointed to a state commission. And their reward is a nice luxury vacation at state expense.