Thursday’s local skewspaper ran an article headlined Committee picked to choose Cd’A chief.   The article said that the 13-member selection committee is still looking for someone to fill the one remaining citizen-at-large spot.

OpenCdA nominates Hayden attorney Larry Beck for that one remaining spot.

His name is already familiar to the Coeur d’Alene City Attorney’s Office.  Mr. Beck is the attorney who successfully represented wrongfully fired Coeur d’Alene Police lieutenant Dan Dixon in his federal lawsuit against the City of Coeur d’Alene.

Mr. Beck’s insight into the inner workings of the Coeur d’Alene Police Department would bring an interesting and very informed perspective to the process of selecting a new police chief.  Knowing what is broken is a good first step on the journey to fixing it.

On January 24, 2014, Idaho Federal District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled in Boise that the buyout of Saltzer Medical Group by St. Lukes Health System violated federal antitrust laws.  The news of the decision was reported by the Idaho Statesman in its story headlined Judge says St. Lukes buyout violates antitrust law, must be undone.    Here is a link to the judge’s Memorandum Decision and Order.

This decision, if it stands, may have significant effects on future hospital buyouts of groups of physicians in Idaho.

Notably, Judge Winmill observed that while the buyout was apparently a sincere effort by St. Lukes to improve the delivery of health care in the Treasure Valley, “… there are other ways to achieve the same effect that do not run afoul of the antitrust laws and do not run such a risk of increased costs. For all of these reasons, the acquisition must be unwound.”

In other words, instead of bending the law and allowing the illegal acquisition because he believed the outcome could be beneficial, Judge Winmill said that the same beneficial outcomes could be achieved without violating the antitrust laws.

Imagine that!  A judge in Idaho that follows the law.  What a concept!

ADDENDUM on 01-27-2014 at 6:55 AM:  Antitrust cases are about as exciting as watching grass grow, but antitrust law affects the costs of goods and services to all of us.  Here is a link to a US Department of Justice consumer booklet entitled Antitrust Enforcement and the Consumer. For another general overview of the federal antitrust laws, see the Federal Trade Commission’s Guide to Antitrust Laws.  Idaho’s state antitrust laws are found generally in Idaho Code, Title 48 — Monopolies and Trade Practices.

It is likely that health providers in our area including Rockwood Health Systems, Providence Washington,  Kootenai Health, and Northwest Specialty Hospital will be paying very close attention to Judge Winmill’s decision and any subsequent appeal.

ADDENDUM on 01-29-2014 at 7:52 AM:  Federal District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill has issued an order unsealing his Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law in this case.   The Idaho Statesman has reported on the content in a news article this morning headlined Newly released St. Lukes court documents show merger would have created higher salaries, costs.

Today the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) issued its 238-page report declaring that the National Security Agency’s program to collect bulk phone call records is illegal and recommending that it be discontinued.  The precise title of the report is Report on the Telephone Records Program Conducted Under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act and On the Operations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

This report is one of the results of NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s unauthorized release of classified NSA information.  Snowden’s release of the information and his subsequent search for asylum has been a big news story for months, and it will continue to be so for months to come.

Equally important, or maybe even more important, is the answer to a question that has been quietly asked and largely unanswered:  How did a relatively low-level employee of NSA contractor Booz Allen get placement and access to such a diverse and large quantity of extremely sensitive information?  (more…)

This article in today’s Los Angeles Times caught our eye not so much for the headline, Two charged in illegal San Diego campaign contribution scheme, but for these two paragraphs  buried deep in the article:

“According to the complaint, Encinas then approached a would-be candidate’s representative with an offer: masked contributions from the Mexican businessman, in exchange for the candidate, if elected, firing Police Chief Bill Lansdowne and letting Encinas pick his successor.

‘Encinas further stated that this was the one ‘guarantee’ he sought from Candidate 4 in exchange for the Foreign National’s campaign money,’ according to the complaint.“

The news article explains that “Encinas” is retired San Diego police detective Ernesto Encinas.  Here is a link to the complaint against Ravneet Singh.  Here is the news release distributed by the US Attorney for the Southern District of California.

Now why would “the Mexican businessman” be willing to funnel illegal campaign contributions through Encinas to San Diego mayoral “Candidate 4” in return for that candidate agreeing if elected to fire San Diego Police Chief Lansdowne and letting Encinas pick the new police chief?  What could “the Mexican businessman” possibly gain from having control over the choice of San Diego, California’s new police chief?

OpenCdA doesn’t think it will require too many brain cells to figure that one out.

The lesson to be learned, however, is that there can be the equivalent of “the Mexican businessman” in many communities throughout the United States.  Controlling law enforcement executives, prosecutors, judges, and other elected officials may provide a useful and unique type of business insurance not necessarily offered by traditional companies.  Just as elections have consequences, so do the appointments made by those elected officials.

On January 17, 2014, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit addressed the question, “What First Amendment protections are afforded a blogger sued for defamation?”

The Court held, “…that liability for a defamatory blog post involving a matter of public concern cannot be imposed without proof of fault and actual damages.”

Here is a link to the Court’s for-publication opinion.

The Court’s ruling was summarized in an Associated Press story online written by Jeff Barnard and published January 17, 2014.  The story was headlined Court:  Bloggers Have First Amendment Protections.

The news story reports, “If the issue is of public concern, plaintiffs have to prove negligence to win damages.”  Here is a brief but useful introductory explanation of negligence.

OpenCdA is an opinion blog, certainly not a legal authority.  Bloggers should discuss with their own attorneys the applicability of court decisions such as this one to their specific blogs.

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Former Secret Service agent from St. John County indicted for stealing counterfeit money

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho’s newly-installed Mayor Steve Widmyer is wasting no time in appointing his cronies to influential committees and commissions in Coeur d’Alene.

According to the City Council meeting packet prepared for this coming Tuesday’s meeting, Widmyer and the Rubber Stamps will approve several appointments.  One of those is listed as “Garry Stark (representing NIC) — Parking Commission.”  The North Idaho College Directory lists Garry Stark as NIC’s Assistant Director of Facility Operations.

You’re already familiar with Stark’s name if you read OpenCdA’s post on October 18, 2013, titled Steve Widmyer:  Not Suitable for Mayor.    See WIDMYER SUITABILITY ISSUE #2. (more…)

“You have to look for corruption to find it.  It doesn’t walk in the door.”

Those words of remarkable common sense were spoken by Patricia Ferrick, the Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven, Connecticut, FBI Division in  a New Haven Register article headlined New head of FBI in Connecticut to target corruption.

SAC Ferrick’s professional background, first with NYPD and then her assignments with the FBI, has clearly sharpened her focus on corruption.   It appears that Deirdre Daly, the Acting US Attorney for the District of Connecticut, has a shared commitment to investigating and prosecuting criminal conduct, including public corruption.

In contrast, look at the backgrounds of Mary F. Rook, SAC of the Salt Lake City FBI Division (responsible for Idaho), and Wendy J. Olson, US Attorney for the District of Idaho.  (more…)