Mary Souza’s Newsletter 

You’ll want to read the interesting follow-up on the City Attorney’s insubordination, but I’ll save that for the end of this newsletter because I’d like to start with the blatant disregard from some of our area’s State lawmakers. 

Over and over again, at public meetings and private gatherings, citizens of North Idaho have been telling our legislators we do NOT support the creation of a State Healthcare Exchange, which is the first step in implementing Obamacare.  (You can see the rationale behind this viewpoint by reading here.)

Many highly expert, well-informed people have advised against the exchange at this time.  Idaho could have joined the more than 24 states that are waiting.  The Feds are still writing the rules, for goodness sakes, and no one knows what we are in for yet. There’s no penalty for waiting, but if you are a health insurance company or hospital or pharmaceutical company or an insurance agent, you have a vested interest in getting the exchange started.

Many of our legislators are insurance agents and / or are closely connected to one of the industries promoting Obamacare and, just days ago, they passed the House Bill accepting the exchange.  It will now go back to the Senate, which already passed an earlier version, and then on to our  Governor who has been pushing for the exchange from the start.

I’m upset that Sen. John Goedde, Rep. Luke Malek, Rep. Ed Morse and Rep. Frank Henderson all voted in favor of the exchange, even though so many people of our area are vehemently against the action.  But what bugs me the most is that they did not explain, in detail, to the community WHY they were voting in favor of something their constituents oppose.  Are they not listening?  Luke and Ed are brand new, they just started in January.  No one seems to know why they abandoned the will of their districts.  (Though I’ve got to clarify that John Goedde, who is the insurance biz, has been in favor of the state exchanges from the start.  The other three have been unsure; constantly vacillating back and forth, but eventually they all fell in line with the power players, not their own people.)

I attended the Reagan Republican’s regular noon meeting yesterday at Fedora’s to hear this topic discussed.  The gentleman leading the conversation is the head of this area’s association of insurance agents.  He started by saying he’s in favor of the exchange but, when asked question after question by the audience, he admitted to knowing almost nothing about it. “I don’t sell much health insurance”, he said.

He did reveal, however, when pressed for a reason, that insurance agents hope to maybe, perhaps, possibly have a greater chance of keeping their jobs through a state exchange than if they waited for the Feds to set one up.  But they are unsure of what the rules will ultimately allow.

Why did four of our elected officials vote for something that no one can know about yet? Pass it first before you can read it?

Luckily there were two very well informed insurance agents in the audience, Mark Fisher and Todd Banducci.  They both strongly oppose the state exchange and were able to answer many questions.  Idaho has only two major insurance companies, which are Blue Cross and Blue Shield.  Other companies have been approved to do business here but haven’t come into the state because of the overwhelming strength of “the Blues”.  (my interpretation of the info)  The Obamacare exchanges, whether by state or the Feds, will not improve this situation, so we won’t get increased competition.

Mark and Todd told us that Idaho’s health premiums are set to increase 55% next year and up to a total average of 75% the year after.  It’s going to get ugly.

Please note, though, that many of our area legislators voted AGAINST the state exchanges; they voted with the people’s wishes to stop and wait.  Our thanks should go to Sen. Steve Vick, Rep. Kathy Sims, Rep. Ron Mendive, Rep. Vito Barbieri, and especially to Rep. Bob Nonini, who is in insurance but has pushed to do what is best for the citizens, including extensive work with a group of experts to create a free market solution to this government take over of Idaho’s health care.  (The free market option has been presented in Boise but has gone nowhere because of Obamacare.)

So now that we’ve been punched in the gut with the reality of skyrocketing premiums, let’s turn back to our incredibly unprofessional City Attorney.

Last week, I told you about how City Attorney Mike Gridley called Councilman Steve Adams an “ignorant shit”. It was during a 5 min. recess at the council meeting while the two were still in their places in the council chamber. The offensive comment was repeated, confirmed and made part of the record during the regular portion of the meeting.  Mayor Bloem was quoted the next day in the Press, saying she couldn’t control what employees do in their private time.  Private time?  Attorney Gridley was on duty!  He was on the clock; on the taxpayer’s dime.  And he was speaking to a duly elected council member, also present in an official capacity.  These guys didn’t just run into each other at Safeway and get into a fight.  Mayor Bloem is allowing this unseemly behavior to make a mockery of our city proceedings.

Councilman Adams wrote to Attorney Gridley the next day, asking for answers to 4 questions pertaining to the attorney’s and council’s decision to keep Mr. Adams away from any information regarding the Wastewater judicial approval process.  Steve Adams was not asking for legal advice, he was asking Gridley to cite the laws that allow the attorney and council to keep Steve, an elected official, out of the loop.

Mr. Gridley responded that he will not answer the questions.  Steve then sent a letter to Gridley’s supervisor, Assist. City Administrator Jon Ingalls, asking Jon to compel Gridley to answer.  In a nutshell:  Not going to happen.  Why is Mike Gridley still employed at City Hall?

The theme of today’s newsletter seems to be that some in government have forgotten for whom they work. They have forgotten they are all paid by the taxpayers and they work for us, not the other way around. As Thomas Jefferson wrote, “When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.”

Let’s continue our fight for respectful, responsive and responsible governance.  Have a great St. Paddy’s Day weekend!  –Mary

PS– The photos above are from our trip to Ireland in 2007. My Mom was a McDonald, my grandmothers were Tracys and Kellehers…we have a lot of Irish blood, as will probably not surprise you!

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Mary Souza is a 26 year resident of CdA, local small business owner and former P&Z Commissioner.   Her opinions are her own.  To sign up for the free weekly newsletter, or access a free archive of past columns, visit www.marysouzacda.com  Comments can be sent to marysouzacda@gmail.com.  Please visit the local issues web site www.OpenCdA.com for more discussion.