OpenCDA

June 17, 2014

Historic Convention! – Mary Souza’s Newsletter, June 16, 2014

Filed under: Probable Cause — Bill @ 7:14 am

06-16-2014 Souza Newsletter - Historic ConventionHistoric Convention!

(more…)

June 15, 2014

Judicial Confirmation – Bypassing Voters

Filed under: Probable Cause — Bill @ 7:20 am

sleight of handThe 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…)

June 3, 2014

Guilty!

Filed under: Probable Cause — Bill @ 12:19 pm

CannonOur 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.”

May 31, 2014

Coeur d’Alene Proposes (Another) Police Substation

Filed under: Probable Cause — Bill @ 8:15 am

1424 E. Sherman-sizedThe agenda for the June 3, 2014, Coeur d’Alene City Council meeting notes the Council will be asked to approve “…the funding and authorization of staff to negotiate a lease agreement with Eastlake, LLC. and expenses for an East Sherman Police Sub-station.”  The staff report (at online Council packet pages 40/61-42/61) presented to the City’s General Services Committee lists the address as 1424 E. Sherman Avenue in the body of the report.

According to the Secretary of State’s website, there is no “Eastlake, LLC.”  However, the website does list “East Lake, L.L.C.” with a business address of 1424 Sherman Avenue, Ste. 300, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814.  Here is more information about East Lake, L.L.C. from the Secretary of State’s website.

Long-time readers may recall that in April 2008 OpenCdA raised strong objections to the City’s ill-conceived and wasteful Public Safety Substation in the Park.  Some of those objections came from the unwillingness or inability of then-Chief Wayne Longo and Captain Steve Childers to provide satisfactory answers to some fairly basic questions we thought Council should ask so it could determine if the proposal could successfully achieve the Mayor and Council’s objectives for public safety.

We think those questions and others still need to be asked by Council and answered by the present project’s proponents.  (more…)

May 30, 2014

School Construction Corruption?

Filed under: Probable Cause — Bill @ 7:25 am

corruptionThe Rochester Democrat & Chronicle newspaper is reporting today that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the Rochester City School District and some of its contractors in a bid-rigging and kickback scheme.  Some of the underlying details of the alleged frauds committed are outlined in the D&C article.

OpenCdA has put up several posts describing the basis for and workings of Quebec’s Charbonneau Commission looking into the extensive corruption in Quebec’s construction industry.

It will be interesting to follow developments in the FBI’s investigation of the Rochester, New York, school district’s contracting practices.  School districts may be especially vulnerable to the type of fraud alleged in Rochester, because quite often their administrators and patrons just cannot imagine that their community’s predators in the construction industry would take advantage of their gullibility and vulnerability.

Of course to crooks, a dollar is a dollar.  While not all in the construction industry are crooks, some are, and school district boards have a duty to the district’s patrons to safeguard the money entrusted to them.  Board members must remember that their duty is to the district’s patrons and students, not to local industry.

May 29, 2014

Wrong!

Filed under: General — Bill @ 7:27 am

Fact CheckThe image below was copied from a Los Angeles Times opinion piece online today.  Use your appropriate mouse button to enlarge the image.

Note the image’s caption identifies the three handguns as “Glock handguns. ”

Well, no.  While we are not firearms aficionados, we do immediately recognize the handgun in the upper right as being a Sig Sauer (very likely a P226), but certainly not a Glock.

Maybe before editorializing about gun control, Times writer Scott Martelle might want to take a handgun orientation and safety course.

(Mouse click on image to enlarge)

(Mouse click on image to enlarge)

ADDENDUM on 05-29-2014 at 2:30 PM:  We just followed the link to the entire LA Times op-ed piece and notice the word “Glock” has now been removed from the photo’s caption.  However, there is no mention of a correction in the op-ed.

Selecting a New Magistrate Judge

Filed under: Probable Cause — Bill @ 6:44 am

Judge copyThe Coeur d’Alene Press is reporting that there are 17 applicants who want to fill the First District Magistrate Judge position to be vacated by retiring Judge Penny Friedlander.  The article identifies the applicants.

The process for filling a magistrate judge vacancy is prescribed in Idaho Code, Title 1, Chapter 22.  Because Judge Friedlander is retiring, her replacement will be appointed by the District Magistrates Commission of the First Judicial District pursuant to Idaho Code § 1-2205.  A magistrate thus appointed must stand for election in the first election after serving for 18 months in the position.  The process for retention or nonretention of a magistrate by election is specified in Idaho Code § 1-2220.

Here are the current members of the District Magistrates Commission of the First Judicial District.

May 28, 2014

Interim IG Report Issued Today – Dept. of Veterans Affairs

Filed under: Probable Cause — Bill @ 3:08 pm

VA-OIG SealToday Acting Inspector General for the Department of Veterans Affairs Richard J. Griffin issued an interim report entitled Review of Patient Wait Times, Scheduling Practices, and Alleged Patient Deaths at the Phoenix Health Care System.

The 35-page report is an interim report, however to ensure all veterans receive appropriate care, the IG submitted four recommendations to the VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to be implemented immediately.

The final report will address the sufficiency of Secretary Shinseki’s implementation of the recommendations.

 

May 26, 2014

Just a Thought…

Filed under: Probable Cause — Bill @ 12:30 pm

ConflictOfInterestIn its online article headlined Conflicts handcuff taxpayers posted  May 25, 2014, the Coeur d’Alene Press made a big fuss about the costs incurred by Kootenai County which hired private conflict attorneys to represent indigent clients after its own Public Defender’s Office attorneys had declared conflicts.

It occurs to OpenCdA that the Press ought to make a similar and perhaps even more exhaustive examination of the use of conflict attorneys by the Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney.   In most instances those conflict attorneys will come from the prosecuting attorney’s office in another county. For example, Kootenai County may refer cases to Bonner or Nez Perce Counties for charging decisions and prosecution.

We’d suggest reporting but not focusing exclusively on any additional costs incurred by Kootenai County with such referrals.  Rather, we’d suggest looking at the reasons the Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was unwilling or unable to conduct the statutorily prescribed functions for which the office was created and the Prosecuting Attorney elected.

Being elected officials, prosecutors are sometimes tempted to cherry-pick the cases they choose to prosecute in order to enhance their conviction record during the next campaign.  Having a you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours relationship with prosecutors in other counties benefits both prosecutors since the voters from County X don’t get to vote for or against the prosecutor from County Y or County Z.  And too, if County X’s prosecutor has valid ethical conflicts, then the voters from County X need to know that.  Too many hand-offs to other county attorneys may suggest to voters that County X’s Prosecutor might be better suited for private practice rather than public service.

It’s just a thought.

May 25, 2014

Lesson Learned: Control the Press, Control the People

Filed under: Probable Cause — Tags: , — Bill @ 9:38 am

Hoover Book Cover copyThe image our US press has created and cultivated for itself is one of journalistic independence.  Our press, which today must include the electronic news media as well as print,  strives to promote itself as the purveyor of truth for the benefit of us citizens.  To believe the self-image the press has concocted, though, requires us to accept as fact the underlying premise:  that the press is independent of manipulation and control by external influences.

Matthew Cecil‘s recent (2014) book, Hoover’s FBI and the Fourth Estate, was intended to inform readers about the time and effort Hoover and his employees spent cultivating the FBI’s image by carefully and systematically manipulating the media.  Cecil diligently and successfully chronicled that.

Hoover had been the assistant director of the Bureau of Investigation’s Radical Division and had played an instrumental part in the Palmer Raids in 1919-1920.  Hoover realized that if the Bureau of Investigation was to gain public acceptance, it would have to overcome the bad tastes left by the outrageous overreach of the Palmer Raids.  To do that, it would have to be in total control of the agency’s image.  Beginning in 1924 when he was selected to clean up the Bureau of Investigation’s image and continuing until his death as the Director of the FBI in 1972, Hoover was obsessed with controlling every detail of every piece of information the public received about the Bureau and its successor FBI.  Cecil’s book details how Hoover picked and rewarded his friends and tried to discredit and destroy his enemies in the media. (more…)

« Newer PostsOlder Posts »

Powered by WordPress
Copyright © 2024 by OpenCDA LLC, All Rights Reserved