Pueblog USa
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Moral High Ground
Testimony to City Council presented by Dr. Alvin Rivera
Testimony to Pueblo City Council
Moral High Ground
December 8, 2008
Madame President Barbara Vidmar and Distinguished Council Members,
My name is Dr. Alvin Rivera. My topic is “The Moral High Ground.” I rarely talk about issues of this nature because it lends one to preaching, and no one likes to be preached to; but, I will offer the council specific ideas in a “public policy context” for taking the moral high ground.
In the Chieftain’s feature article, “Activist practices own brand of `patriotism’” (Nov. 23, 2008), the reporter wrote of comments by two city council members. I was not provided the opportunity by the reporter to respond on their specific comments, so I will now.
Council President Barbara Vidmar said, “I hope that community activists –any community activist—presents fact, not fictions.” This is a serious allegation toward any civic activist, and I believe your comments were directed specifically to me.
In my personal history of organizing and presenting testimonies, they reveal I have always intentionally presented the truth before both Houses of the U.S. Congress, Colorado and Maryland state legislatures, county and city governments, library boards and school boards in the same states. While working in Washington, D. C. for the Carter Administration, I prepared testimonies as part of a team-effort for the Assistant Secretary of Education and her Deputy in the U. S. Department of Education. Later, serving as a senior staff member for a Presidential White House Commission during the Clinton Administration, among the duties I traveled around the country receiving testimony that we prepared for Presidential staff.