There’s a strong odor emanating from Ada County, and it’s beginning to smell a lot more like public corruption and less like a landfill.
Read these posts by the Boise Guardian to get an idea of what’s going on there in the Dynamis-Ada County trash-to-energy project.
I was particularly impressed with the Guardian’s editor recognizing something we in Kootenai County have known for quite some time. It was in the post titled Group Drops Another Bombshell On Dynamis-Ada Deal, Law Should Allow AG To Investigate:
CHANGE IN IDAHO CODE NEEDED
There has been a deteriorating confidence in local government, due in part to the lack of oversight by a higher authority such as the state government. Under current Idaho law, the local Prosecuting Attorney has the sole authority to investigate and prosecute violations of state law in the county. In essence the locals can do as they please.
A local prosecutor holds more authority than the Attorney General and if the prosecutor is crooked or inept, there is no recourse for decent citizens, short of a federal case which is very difficult to obtain. The AG can act only at the request of the local prosecutor.
The GUARDIAN thinks we need legislation to give the Idaho Attorney General CONCURRENT JURISDICTION with local prosecutors to prosecute violations of Idaho code throughout the state. That way, when the local prosecutor refuses to act or is crooked, the AG can step in on behalf the honest decent citizens. This would be no different than the current law giving Idaho State Police concurrent jurisdiction with county sheriffs. The Sheriff is the top copper of the county, but he can’t keep ISP out.
A-freakin’-men! The reason stated for the law as it’s presently written is supposedly to allow “local control over local officials.” But as Guardian editor David Frazier correctly points out:
A local prosecutor holds more authority than the Attorney General and if the prosecutor is crooked or inept, there is no recourse for decent citizens, short of a federal case which is very difficult to obtain.
If the county prosecutor is himself or herself inept or corrupt, there is nowhere to turn.
BINGO!
However, that does not mean the AG’s office would intervene or prosecute either – if you know what I mean. These guys are from the same school of special opportunity –
This kind of stuff can happen on an individual and cumulative level such as with this garbage mafia case. 🙂
It’t like ‘they’ know you have to pull teeth to get justice, thus they use the legal system to hold an advantage over the citizen who cannot afford to climb the ladder or get an attorney. They can lie, cheat, and steal and be completely confident that they will get away with their nasty deeds if you do not have the money to fight back.
Going pro se almost is a complete loss from the very start if you decide to take in on yourself – very difficult.
Once you know Idaho, and once you know the prosecuter is not going to help you (no matter what county) you might as well bypass GO and just cut to the chase and file in federal court and don’t file in a nearby court, you may have to completely move out of the area and that costs money too.
… and that does not gurantee justice either. Some of this stuff reeks all the way to you know where.
If I knew what I know now – that I wish I had known then … well, let’s just say, things would be a whole lot different.
Comment by Stebbijo — September 22, 2012 @ 11:23 am
Stebbijo,
It appears no one in that area really wanted to conduct the investigation. I’m quickly concluding that while prosecutors and judges in Idaho might be eager and willing to “field grounders,” take on noncontroversial investigations and prosecutions involving drug-dealing, rape, and murder, at the first hint of public corruption they seem to revert to dive-for-cover-and-pass-the-buck mode.
If Meyer Lansky and Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel were somehow reincarnated and given the choice of anywhere in the US to establish a safe-haven where criminals could operate with impunity, this time around they would probably bypass Nevada and come straight to Idaho.
Comment by Bill — September 22, 2012 @ 11:33 am
And they’d be regularly feted for all they’ve brought to the community.
Comment by Dan — September 22, 2012 @ 1:31 pm
Dan,
Feted? Shoot, the LCDC and the Mayor would pay them to come here and resume the National Crime Syndicate and Murder, Inc.! Then the LCDC and the Mayor would claim credit for bringing more jobs to Idaho!
Comment by Bill — September 22, 2012 @ 7:27 pm