Letter: ‘Misinformation’ is coming from city side

Published 6:15 am Thursday, August 11, 2022

To the Editor:

The July 27 letter to the editor from the mayor of John Day, Ron Lundbom, is just more hollow propaganda message. The simple fact is we have been contacting the city of John Day (CJD) since the inception of their build back better plan.

He states that “over the last couple of years, you have heard and seen a lot of misinformation on display.” To correct the mayor, he should have said the last six years, with the inception of the city manager he had chosen. The manager instilled the propaganda efforts using ideology to his picking as well as picking likeminded people.

The mayor was gossiping to others in the community about how my facts were “just being thrown out there.” Well, I invited the mayor to set down at my house for me to show him the documentation to the facts, and he accepted. I showed him, out of the city’s own papered documentation. He had no clue that they existed. Yes, Mr. Mayor, I did reach out to you personally, and received a blind ear to the problems very early on in this narrative.

Another point to the citizens mentioned in this letter he wrote, “seek us out individually,” referring to the city council. You will get the “feel good” lecture using the same deception that the CJD is using for “leverage,” one of the terms introduced by the then-manager, as well as “creative financing.”

I have documentation of their “misinformation” that was used as propaganda at one time or another by the CJD. This misinformation is “documented” by us who are following the city’s tax and levy spending plans. Do you ever hear the mayor opine on how much it is costing all the taxpayers of the county? What is the CJD’s debt? Nothing about debt is stated in this propaganda opinion article published in the BME.

Yes, $30 million can be bought, but at what price? The ones paying the bills are tired of this façade, and most of us opposing the CJD plan are reporting “documented” facts, with no spin.

Bob Pereira

John Day