To the editor:

The June 11th issue of The Breeze published a letter attacking a prior editorial in another newspaper and City Manager King and indirectly several officials’ wives. It was a classic example of disinformation (dezinformatsiya) which must be exposed as such.

The LTE writer’s claim: City Ordinance 78-05 clearly states that paying for a spouse’s dinner is a violation of law. What the letter writer did not tell you is that this City Code Section 2-43 governs reimbursement for meals while traveling. Nowhere else in the City Code does such a prohibition exist. The cited code pertains only to travel. To state otherwise is untrue. Mr. King’s decision to cover the cost of the event in question as an economic development expense was a proper exercise of his discretion and not contrary to the City Code.

The LTE writer’s claim: The dinner was a celebration of the Army Reserve’s decision to locate a training center in Cape Coral. Again, not true. The event in question was a formal dinner which was the culmination of the 2011 Spring Convention of the Florida State Chapter of the Reserve Officers Association (ROA). Major General Keith Thurgood, Deputy Chief of Army Reserves, was the keynote speaker.

The LTE writer’s claim: Mr. King was invited to attend “the celebration” by Mike Quaintance, President of the Cape Coral Chamber of Commerce. The truth is that Mr. Quaintance sent an email to his membership encouraging attendance “as a means to interface with the senior leadership of our United States Army Reserve”. Mr. King as well as others was lobbied to attend the event by the ROA’s chapter President-elect. Mr. Quaintance, while recognizing the “significant accomplishment” of wooing the Army to locate a center here, did not organize the convention nor did he host the dinner. Mr. King merely received an informational copy of Mr. Quaintance’s email to the chamber membership. A fact ignored by the LTE writer.

The LTE writer’s claim: The dinner was after-the-fact and the Reserve Center is a done deal. Not so. The owner of the site of the proposed center was foreclosed by the bank and the sale to the Army has been legally protested by a lien holder. However, notwithstanding it looks as if the sale will be finalized in August. It is an axiom in the real estate business that it is not a done deal until the check clears. The successful businessman keeps on selling until that happens. The dinner was rightly viewed by Mr. King as an opportunity to keep on selling the Cape and needed to be supported as such. Furthermore, General Thurgood is also a business executive with influence in many areas. He was recognized as such by Mr. King as someone to cultivate on behalf of our City.

I would not expect the author of the LTE to understand the necessity of city leaders representing the Cape as an Army friendly venue with strong family support nor the role of the “Army wife” as I believe the LTE writer has little or no contact with or understanding of the military. Often “social” events are “command performances” the same is true in the business world as well. Attendance at the event was all part of the continuing sales process until the check clears, nuances that the churlish writer did not grasp.

The LTE writer’s claim: It is not the amount of money that is being questioned. This is probably one of the few honest assertions contained in the LTE. The gravamen of the LTE is directed at WHO was at the event -not the cost. The mean-spiritedness of the LTE is evidenced by the charge that Mr. King agreed to cover the cost for only “certain wives”. Well, the truth is only “certain wives” saw fit to attend. Those who did not attend either declined or were not asked to go by their spouses.

The LTE writer’s claim: Only certain Council members and wives with a certain political persuasion were “covered” by Mr. King. Patently false. Mr. King sent an email invitation to all Councilmembers advising them of the opportunity to attend the dinner. All who contacted Mr. King were informed that Economic Development would pay for them and a guest. All had the opportunity to be “covered” by Mr. King. Only half of our elected officials were present at an event styled by the Chamber of Commerce as significant. The LTE mythographer continues in the same arrant mode making such assertions as “wives can’t perform civic duties”; getting comped was ‘an arrogant violation of the law’, and other similar fallacious pronouncements.

Clearly the political season is upon us and the dark side is giving up its denizens. We may look forward to being further entertained by the naysayers, cyber bullies, and others loosely tethered to reality who wish to arrest the progress recently made and take the Cape back to the negative course which they have so clearly charted.

Cape Coral City Councilmember Bill Deile

District 3