OpenCDA

February 5, 2014

Idaho’s AG Wasden — A Corruption Fighter? Not Even Close.

Filed under: Probable Cause — Tags: — Bill @ 8:12 am

Horse20Poop20sm copyWasden copyIn her blog post titled Wasden:  State needs to stop hiring expensive outside counsel, Betsy Russell included this paragraph:

Wasden noted that a new bill is being introduced to require his office to conduct public corruption investigations at the county level. That additional workload will require one additional deputy attorney general and two investigators, Wasden said. “Public corruption is not a subject that should be addressed with nickels and dimes, but instead be made a priority in our state,” Wasden said.

Obviously Wasden is campaigning for reelection, and he’s hoping that no one will call him on the horse poop that he has already begun to shovel.   I’ll call your one shovelful and raise you one, Larry.

Review OpenCdA’s post dated February 12, 2013, entitled Good Intentions – Bad Law.   For those readers who think Wasden and his staff are serious about making corruption investigations a priority in Idaho, think again.   As noted in that OpenCdA post, Wasden’s chief criminal deputy (then) Stephen Bywater advised the Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney in 2010 that successful prosecution of some Caldwell East Urban Renewal Agency (CEURA) commissioners would not likely succeed, because the CEURA money (that’s public money, folks!) they used to buy their personal YMCA memberships might be defended as necessary to inspect the CEURA’s YMCA project.  Here’s what Bywater included on that matter in his letter of October 25, 2010:

CEURA Corruption

Except as noted in my Feburary 12, 2013, OpenCdA post, the law that was in effect in 2010 expressly authorized urban renewal agency officials, “…within its area of operation, to enter into any building or property in any urban renewal area in order to make inspections, surveys, appraisals, soundings or test borings, and to obtain, upon sufficient cause and after a hearing on the matter, an order for this purpose from a court of competent jurisdiction in the event entry is denied or resisted.”  So the CEURA officials already had the right of inspection statutorily conferred; they didn’t need to spend public money for their own private memberships.  And that is what AG Wasden and DAG Bywater should have told the Canyon County Prosecutor.   That’s what a corruption-fighting AG would have told the Canyon County Prosecutor.

Wasden is no more serious about going after elected and appointed corrupt public officials in Idaho than many of the county prosecutors are.    He says he doesn’t want to address the corruption problem with nickels and dimes.  That may be correct.  It certainly appears as if he doesn’t want to address it at all.  And of course it will be a priority — a very, very low one.   Unfortunately, Wasden is likely to have the support of the Legislature on that.

 

3 Comments

  1. The linked SR article provokes thoughts that, despite my best efforts, cannot be restrained.

    1. Wasden’s statement–“Outside legal counsel should be used only in those instances when my office lacks the necessary legal experience.” I think it would have been nice if one of the legislative committee members hearing Wasden’s presentation had suggested to him that ‘his’ office has no legal experience investigating/prosecuting public corruption.

    2. “Gov. Butch Otter is recommending just a 0.2 percent increase and no new positions.” It appears to me that the Gov’s position, to quote South Park’s Officer Barbrady, can be summed up as–“Ok people, move along. There’s nothing to see here.”

    Comment by up river — February 6, 2014 @ 3:32 pm

  2. up river,

    I’m waiting to see the new legislation to which Wasden referred. It seems to me that before the AG can make a meaningful budget request and before the Guv can effectively deny it, both might want to be sure what the requirements imposed by the Legislature are. I hope the law actually identifies the specific crimes included in the very broad term “public corruption.”

    Comment by Bill — February 6, 2014 @ 3:58 pm

  3. Well, this is just plain strange. I went to the Legislature’s website again today and did a search for the Wasden bill using the terms “public corruption”.

    This is what came up???? It’s Greek to me.

    Comment by Bill — February 6, 2014 @ 4:17 pm

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