According to a press release from the United States Attorney for the District of Idaho, former Athol City Clerk Sally R. Hansen  pleaded guilty today to 15 counts of wire fraud.

“According to court documents, during the time of her employment, Hansen used the wires and fraudulently took $417,879 from the City of Athol.  She did this by writing fraudulent checks to herself and her husband and using the wires to transfer money between different city accounts.

The maximum penalty for each count is up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, three years of supervised release and $100 special assessment.”

Our January 10, 2015, post entitled “They Just Didn’t Do It” provided some details about how Hansen committed her crimes.  With city officials paying little attention to what she was doing, it wasn’t difficult.

Officials of local governments as well as school and community college districts have a  duty to act in the best interests of their constituents.  Too many officials are either unintentionally unaware or intentionally disregarding that duty and the penalties that can be imposed if they fail to diligently and honestly perform them.    When those officials fail to diligently and impartially perform their oversight duties, dishonest insiders (usually trusted and long-time employees) exploit those failures for personal gain.

We have seen that in Kootenai County with the convictions of former Kootenai County Chief Deputy Clerk and Auditing Supervisor Sandra Martinson and former Coeur d’Alene City Finance Department Payroll Coordinator Sheryl Carroll.  Recently former Athol City Clerk Sally Hansen has been charged in federal court with wire fraud and stealing approximately $400,000 from the city during her five years of employment.

But Idaho isn’t the only place where lax oversight by supervisors can lead to embezzlement and grand theft.  In Pasadena, California,  the Los Angeles Times is reporting that Pastor Danny Wooten has been accused of embezzling over $5 million during the ten years he was working as a management analyst for the city of Pasadena.  The January 15, 2015, Times article is headlined Pasadena embarrassed by charges that employee embezzled $5 million.

If you carefully read the Times article, you are going to see some of the same things we heard in the Martinson and Carroll cases. (more…)

According to this vacancy announcement posted on the Idaho Judicial Council website, First District Court Judge Benjamin Simpson will retire on April 30, 2015.  A replacement will be appointed to fill out his unexpired term of office.

The deadline for receiving applications was January 5, 2015.  Here is a list of the applicants.

Members of the Idaho Judicial Council will meet in Coeur d’Alene in March 2015 to interview candidates and select nominees.   We don’t know if the interviews will be public.

The public may provide input to the Idaho Judicial Council about who from the list of applicants should be the next First District Court Judge.  Here is the public questionnaire which the public must use to submit comments (positive or negative) about applicants.

What is the key to innovation?  Advanced technology?  Nope!

As this story in the Coeur d’Alene Press shows, advanced technology (in this case SMS – short message service, more commonly called text messaging) would have been ineffective had it not been for the innovative application of the technology by Post Falls Police Department dispatchers.

The key to innovation is people equipped first and foremost with nimble minds, people who are creative and innovative and unafraid to try something differently.  In this case, a life was probably saved by dispatchers who creatively applied a tool provided to be used for a somewhat different purpose.  Good for them, and good for the people who hired, trained, and supervise them!

OpenCdA could not help noticing that at least according to the Sunday Coeur d’Alene Press skewspaper article headlined A matter of public safety, newly-hired Police Chief Lee White wants to equip the Coeur d’Alene Police Department with a mobile command center (mouse click photo at left to enlarge) and a crime scene vehicle.

He estimated the combined cost of the two specialized vehicles would be approximately $300,000.

OpenCdA thinks that would be money well spent, a very wise investment. (more…)

President Obama’s press office has released preliminary information about the administration’s proposed America’s College Promise program.  The stated purpose of the proposal is to encourage graduating high school students to use the community colleges as a stepping-stone to baccalaureate programs.

This morning’s Washington Post article headlined Obama to unveil proposal for tuition-free community college summarizes the administration’s press release and adds a little bit of reader appeal.

OpenCdA is anxious to see Idaho’s evaluation of the President’s proposal.

It seems as if hardly a week goes by that we don’t hear about this Congressional committee or that one planning to hold hearings or undertake some other action to exercise its oversight function.

But how many citizens know what oversight by Congress involves and how it works?  For that matter, how many Congressmen know?

To make understanding Congressional oversight easier, the Congressional Research Service has recently updated its 154-page Congressional Oversight Manual.

The manual explains the purposes of Congressional oversight which include:

• Ensure Executive compliance with Legislative intent
• Improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and economy of governmental operations
• Prevent executive encroachment on legislative prerogatives and powers
• Assess agency or officials’ ability to manage and carry out program objectives
• Ensure that executive policies reflect the public interest
• Protect individual rights and liberties

The manual elaborates on what is involved in accomplishing these and other purposes.

As Woodrow Wilson said in 1885:

Quite as important as legislation is vigilant oversight of administration.

It is the proper duty of a representative body to look diligently into every affair of government and to talk much about what it sees.  It is meant to be the eyes and the voice, and to embody the wisdom and will of its constituents.