As much as I usually enjoy city editor Tracy Gilchrist’s perspective, I think she’s way off the mark on this one (MLA’s Rant Shows He’s Still Human, The Daily News, March 1).
What Kevin Krueger did this time and has done numerous times in the past is bullying, pure and simple.
He has a big voice (literally and figuratively), and he uses it to make others feel small. Rude and intimidating behaviour is intolerable from someone in his position, and it shouldn’t be written off as “refreshing honesty.”
There was no other bully that Krueger was standing up to in this case. Pat Bell’s performance was criticized (also in unflattering terms), and the appropriate response would have been to defend his performance. Even a defence of his colleague’s character might have been in order. By choosing to call people bad names instead of focusing on the specific behaviour that he objected to, Krueger once again demonstrated a complete lack of judgment.
In addition to causing embarrassment on the part of many people he supposedly represents (myself included), Krueger’s blind partisanship and disrespectful outbursts encourage cynicism and contribute to the growing problem of voter disengagement. I am very surprised and disappointed that you would hold him up as any kind of an example.
Would you teach your children to respond in this way? Rather than make excuses for intolerable rudeness, I believe it’s time to hold our politicians to a higher standard.
Kevin Krueger is real, all right. A real bully. Tracy, please rethink your remarks.
GISELA RUCKERT
Kamloops
