April « 2013 « OpenCdA

April 3, 2013

Well Done, Councilman Adams!

Filed under: Probable Cause — Bill @ 9:34 am

On April 2, 2013, First District Court Judge John P. Luster released his decision approving the City of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, petition for judicial confirmation to incur $36 million in debt to upgrade the City’s wastewater treatment system.

After officially voting to approve the City’s petition on January 2, 2013, Councilman Adams reconsidered. Although he could not change his vote at Council, Councilman Adams appeared at the Court’s hearing and was heard by Judge Luster.

Judge Luster’s decision addressed the issues Councilman Adams had raised, and as reported in today’s Coeur d’Alene Press article headlined No vote necessary, Councilman Adams will not appeal the Court’s decision.

Councilman Adams has been vilified by the Mayor, the City Attorney, and some disturbingly ignorant colleagues on the Coeur d’Alene City Council.

Online Press pseudonymous commenter “Sheeken Hunter” says it best in his online comment.

Well done, Councilman Steve Adams!

ADDENDUM: The questions raised in our March 21 post “Under Color of Law” remain unanswered. Specifically, what Idaho statute gave the Mayor and four members of the City Council the authority to pass a motion to exclude a duly elected City councilman from a deliberation but not a vote on a matter pending before Council?

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Not the First Time…

Filed under: Probable Cause — Tags: Administrative Incompetence, Disinformation, Mike Kennedy, News Reporting — Bill @ 8:34 am

This morning’s Coeur d’Alene Press published a letter to the editor by School District 271 Trustee Tom Hamilton. Hamilton’s letter was a response to a My Turn opinion column written by Adam Graves published in Saturday’s Coeur d’Alene Press.

In his opinion column, Graves criticized School District 271 trustees for not sending even one trustee to a fund-raising auction for one of the local schools.

In his response to Graves, Hamilton observes, “Knowing that formal invitations (likely printed by your firm) were mailed to several District Administrators, the board [SD 271 Board of Trustees] is left to assume that your failure to extend the same invitation to the trustees could only be an act of omission, deliberate or otherwise. Could it be that an opportunity to slander the board was your intent all along?”

Hamilton reasonably asks if Graves was trying to manufacture a situation that would result in an opportunity for them to attack elected officials. This scheme has been tried before here in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. (more…)

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Bi-Partisan Corruption, Part 2

Filed under: Probable Cause — Tags: Public Corruption — Bill @ 7:18 am

Yesterday’s OpenCdA post provided initial information about the federal bribery investigation involving an alleged conspiracy between New York State Senator Malcolm Smith and several elected and political party officials in New York including New York City Councilman Dan Halloran.

Smith, a Democrat, and Halloran, a Republican, are accused of actions amounting to buying Smith onto the New York City mayoral ballot as a Republican candidate.

Today’s New York Times has an pretty good link analysis graphic entitled Untangling the Arrests in the New York Corruption Case. The graphic identifies the roles and dollar amounts associated with the six who have been arrested to date.

The companion news article in the Times headlined Lawmakers in New York Tied to Bribery Plot in Mayor Race provides a little more detail about the scheme and the investigation.

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April 2, 2013

Bi-Partisan Corruption

Filed under: Probable Cause — Tags: Public Corruption — Bill @ 9:20 am

When talking about corruption by public officials, rabidista partisans like to be able to point out that a person accused is of the opposite political party. The rabidistas of both major national political parties gleefully try to persuade others that specific political party affiliation is a de facto indicator of and precursor to corruption.

As radio character Fibber McGee’s wife Molly used to say to him, “Tain’t so, McGee.”

Corrupt public officials use political party affiliation as a tool to achieve corrupt results. They will be whatever they need to be to achieve their desired results. They are political chameleons. That is being illustrated in a corruption scandal unfolding in the New York City mayoral race.

Read on. (more…)

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