Editor’s note: Ilwaco resident Richard Rubio forwarded this letter from Debby Moggio, who passed away July 5. She attended the city of Ilwaco council meetings as well as Port of Ilwaco Commission meetings via Zoom. “Debby Moggio was a civic-minded person and always gave her opinion in a clear and concise manner. Which is why I’m sure she was respected,” Rubio noted.

There seems to be a schism between my understanding of how government works and the understanding expressed at both Ilwaco’s City Council and port meetings.

At each, over the past several months, elected officials and employees stated, or by their silence seemed to agree, that the public meetings were held solely for them.

By accident of birth, during their childhoods, my father and uncle knew the Kennedy boys.

Much later, my father was invited to the White House as part of a large group of men who had held local offices in the various towns in Massachusetts.

The protocol officer spoke to him after he had left the receiving line, offering a piece of advice.

“The proper form of address, Mr. Ferran, is ‘Good morning, Mr. President.'”

The president had greeted my father by name, and my father replied in kind.

My father replied, “There is no greater honor, no higher office, than Citizen, Voter, of the United States.”

A voice coming from someone standing behind him said, “You should listen to this man. You might learn something.”

The accent and voice were unmistakable. John Kennedy.

I agree.

I wonder what the elected and hired people in Ilwaco think the hierarchy is.

In my world, the staff work for and at the direction of the elected. The elected work for and for the benefit of the electorate.

Though it may be a pittance, the electorate pay the bills. How are they to know whether they are getting what they are paying for if their questions are referred to as “a waste of the time of this body…”? Why are both boards unwilling to make information available to the public ahead of the time for a final vote?

For whom do they think they work?

DEBBY MOGGIO

Ocean Park