Electric City Weblog

A peek behind the curtain.

I have obtained a copy of Ms. Cynthia Schultz’s public missive to her Airport Authority board about her decision to give Benefis free advertising at the Great Falls International Airport.  She was apparently tipped to my piece by a Benefis employee, and here is her response to her board:

From: “Cynthia Schultz”
To: “‘Ed Buttrey’”; “J. C. Kantorowicz”; James.Morin; “Jeff Mangan”; “Owen Robinson”; “‘Ray Wahlert’”; “‘Susan Humble’”
Sent: 4/1/2008 3:25 PM
Subject: FW: blog

Hello Everyone,

Amy Astin emailed me from Benefis. 

She had email traffic from Susan regarding the blog below. 

The blog below is authored by Gregg Smith.  He represented the clinic in the recent lawsuit with Benefis. 

I didn’t read the blog and generally don’t read blogs as I find them to be fact challenged and agenda driven.  I thought I would pass it on. 

The Benefis banners on display at the airport are a result of seeing John and Amy Astin at a community dinner.  The issue of the banners came up and I mentioned that banners of community interest are welcome at the airport.  We made it a point in our advertising to be able to be an ambassador of good news and community events.  We hang banners for any
group that requests it (temporary only) as long as they are in good taste and represent community interest.  We have done this for Centene, the fair, the rodeo, the Russell Auction, events in Fort Benton.

I let Mike Rattray at the City know about the banners and he thought it was a great solution. The City was not crazy about having to remove the banners either as it was an unfortunate byproduct of the sign code that was embarrassing for the City to have to enforce.

Just FYI, C.

Wow.

Let’s start with the easy one. First, I did not represent the Great Falls Clinic in the lawsuit with Benefis. That’s false. I represented its co-Defendant, Essentia Health, in the lawsuit. Further, what does that have to do with anything? Let me be clear: I am not suggesting Benefis did anything wrong here. The Airport offered to hang their banner and they agreed. The problem, to the extent it exists, is the Airport’s.

Clearly, the reference to my involvement in the lawsuit is to suggest that my post about the Airport giving free advertising to one local business is driven by some sort of maniacal hatred for Benefis. (Didn’t you know lawyers always hate the opposing parties? Get real.)  So, step one: attempt to discredit the messenger with a false statement about his motives. Who is “fact challenged and agenda driven?” (As an aside, when we out here in the blogosphere are fact challenged, it’s usually as a result of the government refusing to provide accurate and complete information. You know, confidentiality agreements and such.)

It is interesting, too, that Ms. Schultz used the same tactic Benefis used when originally confronted with their violation of the sign code. “‘Of course the Clinic would want to take the sign down because they’re our competitors,’ [Amy Astin] said Thursday.”

Next, if the placement of the Benefis advertisement at the Airport for free was such a good idea, why was the sign folded and hung so that the name of the hospital did not appear?  Why hide the name if this whole scheme was totally appropriate as merely “an ambassador of good news?”  The conscious decision to hide the name clearly implies that the individual(s) who made the decision knew that s/he or they were treading on thin ice.

Last, but certainly not least, I had to admit that I actually chuckled when I read Ms. Schultz’s comments about Mike Rattray, Director of Community Development. Assuming that it is actually true that the City of Great Falls is “not crazy about having to remove the banners either as it was an unfortunate byproduct of the sign code that was embarrassing for the City to have to enforce,” an assumption I am not sure I am quite willing to make, this is an absolutely laughable statement for Mr. Rattray to make, and it is a damning admission as well.

Interested folks will recall that there was quite a bit of opposition to the sign code. I personally opposed it, and thought it was a joke ramrodded through by a small group of busybodies.

Now we learn that it was apparently passed by the City to be used as a discretionary tool to harm only those businesses the City does not think worthy of their admiration and respect.  Why else would the City be “embarassed” about a “byproduct” of its law?  Is it really true that the City holds certain businesses in such high esteem that it tries to avoid enforcing the sign code against them, but that it gladly does so against disfavored businesses? Or, just perhaps, did Ms. Schultz just bring the City into this to provide some cover for a decision that now seems to have blown up in the Airport’s face?

It’s interesting, is it not, to see just what the Airport Authority sees.

Posted in Cascade County Government, Great Falls City Government | 5 Comments »