Remember this?  Its title is “Under the Rainbow,” and nearly a year ago it was commissioned by the City of Coeur d’Alene Art Commission to be at the entrance to McEuen Park.  This little beauty was to go for a cool $100K.  At the time, the Arts Commissioners, the Mayor and many (but not all) of the City Council gushed about how beautiful this would be.

OpenCdA was given a peek of the Arts Commission minutes of the June 17, 2014, meeting.  It seems that the Commissioners’ attitudes may be changing now that the art has been accepted and installed and the check written to the artist.

Here is what the minutes reflect Arts Commission members saying now about “Under the Rainbow” at their most recent meeting:  (more…)

This morning’s local skewspaper, the Coeur d’Alene Press, informed its readers that the First Judicial District’s Magistrate Commission had picked Coeur d’Alene Deputy City Attorney Anna Eckhart to replace retiring Magistrate Penny Friedlander.

OpenCdA and several other very interested citizens sat through the six hours of interviews of the six finalists conducted by the Magistrate Commission.  Four of the 14 Commissioners were absent from the interviews.   OpenCdA’s request to review all 17 applicants’ application forms, letters of recommendation, and results of investigation had been denied on Wednesday by Trial Court Administrator Karlene Behringer.

Based only on the Thursday interviews, OpenCdA would agree that from among the four local applicants, Anna Eckhart was a suitable choice.

But among the six finalists there were two applicants who were not local.  They were passed over and were in our view superior to Eckhart and the other three local finalists in depth and breadth of legal practice experience in and out of the courtroom.  The two applicants who were rejected by the First District Magistrate Commission were Barbara Ann Duggan, a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney from Ada County, and James Craig, Assistant Chief Counsel of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Orlando, Florida.  Mr. Craig also has an advanced law degree, a Master of Laws from American University Washington College of Law.  (more…)

According to First District Court Trial Court Administrator Karlene Behringer’s press release sent Monday, June 16th at 6:21 PM, the six finalists for the Magistrate Judge vacancy will be interviewed on Thursday, June 19th at 9 AM.  The six finalists are identified in the press release and include applicants from Boise, Coeur d’Alene, Rathdrum, and Orlando, Florida.

The interviews conducted by the Magistrate Commission will be open to the public, however the deliberations by the Commission will not.

Our call to Karlene Behringer with some questions about the process has not been returned.

Our OpenCdA post entitled Selecting a New Magistrate Judge posted on May 29th identified the members of the Magistrate Commission who will be conducting the interviews.  It also linked to the local skewspaper’s article identifying the 17 original candidates.

Historic Convention!

(more…)

The June 5, 2014, Coeur d’Alene Press skewspaper article headlined Judicial OK sought on jail was uninformative and in one instance, misleading about the statutory process of judicial confirmation.  The article was correct about one thing:  It is the method which two of the three Kootenai County Commissioners and the Sheriff have chosen to bypass the voters in Kootenai County.

However, we wish Press staff writer David Cole and his editor and publisher had done a better job of explaining what judicial confirmation is and how the Legislature intended for it to be used appropriately.  OpenCdA will try to fill in some of the blanks left by the Press. (more…)

Our post on March 27, 2014, reported the arrest of Charlotte, NC, Mayor Patrick Cannon on federal corruption charges.  It reported the details of the various allegations against Cannon.

Today the Charlotte Observer newspaper reported that Cannon has pleaded guilty to one federal corruption charge.  The allegations resulted from a four-year investigation of Cannon in which it was shown Cannon took bribes to help developers.

Typical of corrupt public officials, Cannon sought to minimize the seriousness of his offenses.  He had accepted bribes, however he referred to this as “accepting money for constituent services.”

Cannon faces up to 20 years in federal prison for his guilty plea.  Or perhaps Cannon would prefer to think of his prison sentence as “an extended vacation in an exclusive, taxpayer funded facility.”