I will try to contain myself because Judge Hosack has yet to formalize his comments, but it will not suffice to say only that the trial was re-formatted at the very last second.  The judge’s clerk called Bill’s attorney late Tuesday afternoon, to say the contempt TRIAL, which was scheduled for 4:oo pm, on  this day mind you, would now be a “Status Conference” instead.  Bill, carefully and judiciously, as is his style, called everyone he could think of, to tell them of the change.  “Don’t bother to come”, he said, “the judge will probably just reschedule the trial.”

But that didn’t happen.  I wasn’t there, though, as I had planned to be before the change.  The judge DISMISSED the contempt charges… but that’s NOT the rest of the story.  And this one does not have a happy ending for Bill. (more…)

Councilman Mike Kennedy

This morning’s CdA Press headline cried out that Mike Kennedy has been vindicated!  The loving article tried to elicit care and concern for the poor city councilman.  And, in the unbalanced piece, every mention of Jim Brannon and the Election Challenge managed to leave an icky feeling.

I went to the CdA Press blog site to post a comment and see what other readers had to say but, lo and behold, they did not put the top headline article on their site; there can be no comments on their blog about the topic.

So let’s talk about it here.  Those of you who have read the piece…what is your opinion?  Fair and balanced?  Slanted?

Just as the judge ordered, the closing arguments started at 9:30 this morning and went until noon.  Good arguments were made and now the judge will take the case “under advisement”.  He expects his deliberation to take a couple of weeks because he’s tied up in a different trial next week.  Judge Hosack  hopes to issue a written verdict but said he might call the main players back to court and deliver his decision orally.

There’s absolutely no way of guessing what the verdict will be.  It was not a slam dunk for either side and the judge gave nods and indicators to both teams, in one way or another.  Here’s my take on today’s action:  (more…)

What in the heck happened today?  This was the day the whole thing was supposed to wrap up…maybe?  Well, it didn’t.  It’s going to closing arguments tomorrow morning at 9:30 am.  That’s right–Saturday morning!

The judge starts a jury medical malpractice case on Monday, he told the court, so he has to get this one done.  (more…)

Grow Up, Gridley!

Today I was embarrassed to be a citizen of the city where Mike Gridley is Head Attorney.  He acted like a juvenile delinquent when he was called as a witness.  And you won’t believe what he said.

Starr Kelso, attorney for the Election Challenge was asking questions, and Gridley was tense and snippy with his responses.  Then Gridley did something completely unprofessional.  Grildey was sitting in the witness chair and Starr Kelso handed him some papers, then turned away for a second.  While Starr’s attention was elsewhere, Gridley picked up the papers and purposefully dropped them on the floor.  When Starr turned back, Gridley told him the papers “fell”, so Kelso bent down next to the witness chair to pick them up.

As Starr stood up, Mike Gridley said, under his breath, “If you have any more papers you can shove them up your ass!”  Mr. Kelso turned to the judge and told him, within full hearing of the audience, what Gridley had just said.  Gridley whined, “No I didn’t”, to which Starr said, “That’s a lie!” (more…)

I am not kidding, this was a BIG day!  It started out slowly, with lots of testimony about Absentee Envelope and Ballot counts, voided ballots, duplicate ballots, etc.

Then two of the witnesses were No Shows—Dustin Ainsworth and Nancy White, so the Challenge team then called Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh as a witness.  Barry was amazing in his repetition of the phrases, “I’m not sure”, “Not that I recall”, and “It’s possible but I don’t recall that specifically”.

But the FIRST big thing happened right before lunch.  Challenge attorney Starr Kelso asked KC Prosecutor Barry McHugh if he was aware that KC Elections Manager Deedie Beard’s computer had been “cleared”, as ordered by County Clerk Dan English?  (more…)

Mayor Bloem

[Author’s Note:  While I said yesterday in my Newletter that I would hold my opinion about the trial until it was over, I’ve decided to report back each day with some of the events that went on in the courtroom.  I will still (try to) keep my outright opinions to the end.]

The second day of the Election Challenge trail was surprising.  I was amazed at how much the Chief Elections Officer of our county does NOT know!

But first, let me set the stage for you: The trial is being held in Courtroom # 9 on the first floor of the newer County courthouse building.  This is a larger courtroom but it’s unusual because the seating pews (like the hard wooden ones in church) are not evenly divided between the different sides of the room.  As you enter the big double doors, the left hand side of the room has a narrow section of pews.  This is where the City and County officials and supporters seem to congregate.  It’s kind of odd to see them all squished in there, way too close to each other.  (more…)

This morning’s CdA Press has an article about a legal complaint filed by Mike Kennedy’s attorney, alleging that Bill McCrory violated a court-ordered confidentiality agreement by posting information on this web site.

Here’s the post that Bill made on July 17th, entitled “Who Decides When Violations Matter?”

Notice that the legal affidavit was posted here AFTER it was filed in court and became a public document that you or I or anyone could easily request.  Notice also that the affidavit was posted here AFTER the CdA Press ran a whole article about it.

And remember that Bill McCrory is an extremely honest and honorable man.

This comment came in last evening, added to a different post, and I thought is was well worth its own presence here.  Cory has offered some thought provoking ideas on the Election Challenge.  Do you agree?:

Please indulge me with a little fantasy.

Imagine Coeur d’Alene has a very powerful, “hooked-up” mayor who is thought to be supported by powerful business interests. Lets call him Mayor Daly. Lets imagine that a grass-roots candidate challenges him and has support of many “little people.” We will call her Jane Doe. Lets imagine that Jane’s supporters work their hearts out, dig deep in their pockets to support her, and by sheer hard work and determination she wins. (more…)