Summitless in the Mountains

August's Appalachian Summit in the twin cities of Huntington, WV, and Ashland, Ky., would have been better named the Clinton Administration Appalachian Dog and Pony Show, according to a recent column by Tom Lewis of Ashland's newspaper, the Daily Independent.

"God forbid I be accused of trying to undermine any initiative that has real potential to pull Eastern Kentucky out of its economic quagmire" Lewis wrote. "But several things about last week's Appalachian Summit in Ashland and Huntington left a sour taste in my mouth."

Lewis began by complaining that the meeting didn't meet the definition of a summit. Originally, the meeting was slated to include four U.S. cabinet secretaries and the leaders of the Appalachian Regional Commission. While WV Governor Cecil Underwood and Kentucky's Governor Paul Patton both attended the portions of the summit which took place in their states, only two of the cabinet secretaries so much as made an appearance.

Part of the summit's problem appears to have been poor planning: invitations were sent out only 2 weeks ahead of time and there was still no firm agenda the day before the summit began.

Lewis was also rightfully perturbed by the order of events leading up to the summit. Clinton made his New Market tour through Kentucky in July, supposedly to announces his new agenda from dealing with the region's economic problems. But after traveling through the mountains, kissing a few babies, and waving at the cameras a lot, the truth appear to be that Clinton had not New Market plan - and that he was having a summit to help him find one.

Lewis sums it up well: "Let me get this straight: The President unveils his plan to address Appalachia's economic problems, and as a follow-up, his administration has a conference to figure out how it should address Appalachia's economic problems. Isn't that like starting your vacation and then calling the travel agent?"

Lewis's complaints continue. The most lucid, most relevant in my view was that the summit almost completely ignored the common man. "Town Hall" meetings were closed to public comment. Much of the summit seems to have been an exercise session for politicians, to ensure that they could remember how to pat each other on the back - which calls in to question the need for a summit, if they have reason to pat each other on the back.

But it was that lack of common-man input which seems to have irritated Lewis the most: the conference promised to listen to the average hillbilly, billed that effort as "historic", and then failed to live up to the promise.

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