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November 19, 2014

A Tale of Two (Skews) Stories

Filed under: Probable Cause — Bill @ 7:23 pm

ysursa copyIn this Spokesman-Review skewspaper story, departing (but not soon enough) Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa just can’t seem to figure out why Idaho’s voters aren’t turning out for elections.

Then in this Idaho Statesman skewspaper story, we learn that a substantial amount of Idaho’s legislation which would-be voters believed was being thoughtfully and carefully written by Idaho’s citizen legislators elected to represent us is actually written by lawyer-lobbyists paid to write laws that help the people paying them rather than those electing the citizen legislators.

Gee, Ben, ya think there just might be a connection?  Ya think that maybe Idaho’s voters are smarter than you and your cronies in Boise thought?  Ya think that maybe we figured out that our legislators are more influenced by the people who make large campaign donations and by lobbyists who can sit in their offices and buy them off-the-book meals when they’re in Boise?  Of course, those lobbyists are only providing useful “information” to the citizen legislators, right Ben?

Here’s another thought, Ben.  As you leave office with the accolades and departure gifts from your cronies in the Boise area, understand that you won’t be missed by Idaho’s citizens who hope for honest and truly representative government in Idaho.  Not for a nanosecond.

2 Comments

  1. “honest and truly representative government in Idaho[?]” This will never exist so long as Idaho is ruled with an iron fist by one political party and, as the S-R story ‘linked’ story reported, “Just 37.59 percent of Idaho’s voting-age population” voted in the general election statewide.

    Comment by up river — November 20, 2014 @ 6:33 pm

  2. up river,

    I could not agree more with your observation about one-party domination.

    But political party affiliation plays another part in corruption as well. People who associate corruption with affiliation with any particular political party are either remarkably ignorant or complicit. Racketeers and organized criminals use party affiliation as a tool much as affinity fraudsters like Bernard Madoff use religious affiliation or civic organization membership to get closer to their intended victims. Racketeers and organized criminals are experts at manipulation, and if successful manipulation requires claiming to be affiliated with any particular political party, they will adopt whatever mask it takes. Racketeers and criminals exist for profit. They will use whatever tool is available to give them control over the officials who make decisions affecting their profit. If they need to assume the role of a loyal (insert party affiliation here) to further their enterprise, they will do it easily and convincingly.

    You may have seen Wednesday’s Coeur d’Alene Press skewspaper op-ed piece by Idaho Representative Judy Boyle from Midvale. It was titled Is Idaho as corrupt as Washington, D.C.? Although I would have chosen to compare Idaho to state governments rather than the DC or federal government, her point was well-taken. Having lived in Maryland, Virginia, and California, it is my opinion that many of Idaho’s elected officials rival their counterparts in those states as having been bought and paid for. I thank and salute Representative Boyle for speaking out publicly. Would that more of her colleagues in the Idaho Legislature follow her lead.

    In my view, two significant differences distinguish Idaho from Maryland, Virginia, and California: First, in those other states, most federal and state (county) prosecutors and law enforcement at least make the effort to attack corruption rather than participate in it or ignore it. And second, the news media there will uncover and report corruption rather than promoting or ignoring it. When racketeers and organized crime want to dominate a community, a county, or a state, they must first gain control over those with the duty and responsibility to stop them. Then they must keep the public in the dark by manipulating and controlling the news media in those areas. And to that end, here we have Idaho.

    Comment by Bill — November 20, 2014 @ 6:51 pm

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