OpenCdA could not help noticing that at least according to the Sunday Coeur d’Alene Press skewspaper article headlined A matter of public safety, newly-hired Police Chief Lee White wants to equip the Coeur d’Alene Police Department with a mobile command center (mouse click photo at left to enlarge) and a crime scene vehicle.

He estimated the combined cost of the two specialized vehicles would be approximately $300,000.

OpenCdA thinks that would be money well spent, a very wise investment. (more…)

President Obama’s press office has released preliminary information about the administration’s proposed America’s College Promise program.  The stated purpose of the proposal is to encourage graduating high school students to use the community colleges as a stepping-stone to baccalaureate programs.

This morning’s Washington Post article headlined Obama to unveil proposal for tuition-free community college summarizes the administration’s press release and adds a little bit of reader appeal.

OpenCdA is anxious to see Idaho’s evaluation of the President’s proposal.

It seems as if hardly a week goes by that we don’t hear about this Congressional committee or that one planning to hold hearings or undertake some other action to exercise its oversight function.

But how many citizens know what oversight by Congress involves and how it works?  For that matter, how many Congressmen know?

To make understanding Congressional oversight easier, the Congressional Research Service has recently updated its 154-page Congressional Oversight Manual.

The manual explains the purposes of Congressional oversight which include:

• Ensure Executive compliance with Legislative intent
• Improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and economy of governmental operations
• Prevent executive encroachment on legislative prerogatives and powers
• Assess agency or officials’ ability to manage and carry out program objectives
• Ensure that executive policies reflect the public interest
• Protect individual rights and liberties

The manual elaborates on what is involved in accomplishing these and other purposes.

As Woodrow Wilson said in 1885:

Quite as important as legislation is vigilant oversight of administration.

It is the proper duty of a representative body to look diligently into every affair of government and to talk much about what it sees.  It is meant to be the eyes and the voice, and to embody the wisdom and will of its constituents.

OpenCdA wonders when the Idaho Supreme Court’s cutups will be taking their comedy act on the road?

First it was Justice Daniel “Bean-spiller” Eismann with a jaw-dropping  introduction to his Nield dissent.

And now we have Chief Justice Roger “Damage Control” Burdick delivering some  beauts in an otherwise dull Idaho Supreme Court Press Release on December 22. (more…)