Imagine that!  In southern California the Inland Empire Public Corruption Task Force that includes the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office,  and the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office has served a search warrant at the Palm Springs, CA, city hall.

It has been alleged that Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet may have taken a walk on the shady side when he received about $200,000 from a local developer, Richard Meany.  Seems Meany was going to need to purchase some Palm Springs city property for the project, so he hired the Palm Springs mayor to consult with him on the project.   The mayor and council subsequently voted to approve the sale of the property to the developer at a questionable price .

Palm Springs is a resort city with a population of about 46,300 residents in the Coachella Valley.

Fortunately for us in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, nothing like that could ever happen here.  Mayor Steve Widmyer would never have any close ties with any local developer and then be involved in a deal for city land with that developer’s company, right?

Occasionally a television news story provides the station’s watchers, listeners, and online readers with a concise but fairly complete picture of how a city councilman’s official actions can prompt a federal criminal investigation.  That was the case when Hampton Roads, Virginia, television station WVEC ran its February 2, 2015, news story entitled FBI investigating Beach councilman’s vote on Cavalier project.

Not counting the attachment to the federal grand jury subpoena detailing the records which the city of Virginia Beach, Virgina, Custodian of Records is required to bring before the grand jury, the news story is only about 575 words.

WVEC’s news story suggests someone credibly alleged that Virginia Beach Councilman John Uhrin may have accepted a bribe or gratuity in return for his favorable vote on a project providing a developer millions of dollars in taxpayer incentives to renovate a hotel and allow a permit for a luxury housing community.  It appears that the bribe or gratuity alleged took the form of Uhrin’s wife being hired to market the homes in the project in return for Councilman Uhrin’s favorable vote.  (Generally, a bribe is a payoff for future official action, whereas a gratuity is a payoff for a prior official action.)

Note that at this point, the FBI is only conducting an investigation.  The function of the investigation is to gather verifiable, relevant facts which would allow the federal grand jury to decide if there is sufficient admissible evidence to warrant indicting anyone with a crime.

Suppose you’re an honest and diligent elected or appointed official in northern Idaho.

Or maybe you’re a planning commissioner or a city councilman in Coeur d’Alene.  Or maybe you’re a newly-elected county clerk with a competent and honest chief deputy.  Or maybe you’re a trustee in the local school district or community college.  Or maybe you’re a city councilman in Athol.

Or maybe you’re among the many honest citizens who have seen and experienced dishonesty, deception, and signs of criminal exploitation among a distressing number of elected and appointed officials so you have turned to your local or county or state government and tried to report what you have observed.

If you’re one of the people among the aforementioned groups who want responsive, honest government, you all have one thing in common:  You’ve very likely been told in one way or another to sit down, shut up, and don’t ask questions.  “It’s not your responsibility.”  Except you know it is. (more…)

Former Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell was sentenced to two years in federal prison today after being convicted by a jury on one count of conspiracy to commit honest-services wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to obtain property under color of official right.  Those are public corruption charges which include bribery.

McDonnell isn’t the first prominent politician to be sent to prison for corruption in recent history.  

The crimes McDonnell committed are fairly well explained in the press release put out by Dana Boente, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

A substantial part of McDonnell’s defense for his actions was based on his erroneous and arrogant belief that accepting bribes and gratuities in return for promoting a Virginia business is acceptable because it is “politics as usual.”

Commenting on McDonnell’s corruption, Assistant Attorney General (Criminal Division) Leslie Caldwell said, “Robert McDonnell corrupted the most powerful office in Virginia and fractured the public’s trust.   Taking bribes in exchange for official actions is not politics as usual—it is an insidious crime that strikes at the heart of public service and will not be tolerated.”

Well, maybe it won’t be tolerated in the Eastern District of Virginia and most other federal judicial districts.

But here we have Idaho.