Since Jim Brannon’s lawsuit contesting the November 2009 Coeur d’Alene city election was filed in Idaho’s First District Court on November 30, 2009,  the public has been kept almost totally in the dark about every aspect of that matter.  Our local newspaper, the Coeur d’Alene Press, and our regional newspaper, The Spokesman-Review, have failed miserably to fulfill one of any daily newspaper’s principal responsibilities:  Provide the public with accurate, timely, complete information we can understand so we, the people, can exercise our responsibilities to oversee and evaluate the conduct of our public officials.

In February 2010 I began keeping notes and researching the court filings and other public documents.  It has been an ongoing effort resulting in the paper titled The Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Election Contest Lawsuit – 2009-2011.  There are hyperlinks to other material embedded in the paper.

As Dan Gookin would say (correctly!), it’s clunky.  It is divided into logical sections with headings describing the section’s content.  I’ve tried to base the content on the questions I believe people would like to have answered by credible newspapers.  In the section titled “Major Issues of Statewide Importance,” I’ve tried to identify the larger issues legislators will have to address.

One promise I can make:  After reading this, you will have a better understanding of the election contest lawsuit than Coeur d’Alene’s mayor, city council, and city clerk.