Politics
More Funny Money
November 3, 2005 
While nothing shows up in Maryanne Jordan’s City Council campaign reports, she has been the direct beneficiary of thousands of dollars in “independent campaign expenditures” by out of state conservationists willing to pay to influence Boise voters.
In fact the, “Conservation Voters of Idaho” have collected $20,000 from two Seattle based groups and ponied up a measly $300 from local donors according to reports filed with the Boise City Clerk. She may have more appeal with Seattle spenders than those in Boise.
So far they have spent $13,000 on mailings and phone calls on Jordan’s behalf. That nearly equals Jordan’s total contribution amount listed on her own campaign report. (Check out “CITY PAYOFFS” link at right of this page.)
These PACS are perfectly legal and they allow candidates to disavow any knowledge of the fund raising efforts. Politicians usually deny receipt of any funds to their campaign and offer a glib remark like, “I guess they can support whomever they please.”
The GUARDIAN received two slick four-color printed mailings from the group in recent days. One was devoted entirely to Maryanne Jordan and the other supported not only Jordan, but incumbents Vern Bisterfeldt and Jerome Mapp as well.
Bisterfeldt and Mapp claim no knowledge of the supporters including how their images came to appear on the brochures. We think they were lifted from the official Boise City website.
The Idaho Statesman proclaimed in Wednesday’s local section that challenger Brandi Swindell got $4,500 from out of state–nearly a third of her campaign war chest. She is the darling of the Christian Defense Coalition and a Pennsylvania pro-life group who kicked in $1,000 each.
Jordan was quoted in the Statesman piece saying, “It is an insult to this community that out- of-state special interest groups are using our City Council race to advance their own agendas.”
At the time of this posting we have been unable to contact Jordan to learn if she thinks the community is indignant about those sly conservationists trying to advance their cause at her expense.
The election is November 8, but you can figure on more charges and counter charges as the gloves come off between these female combatants.
This is more fun than those sneaky phone calls on the eve of the past mayor’s race.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Nov 4, 2005, 1:56 pm
Can anyone tell me ?
How did Brandi get arrested for blocking the move of the Ten Commandment Monument?
I did some research today , after reading a letter to the editor of Statesman.
Young Man writes, “How could the monument be from the Cecil B Demille Movie ? The Movie was released in 1956 , and the movie prop arrived to Boise 10 years later?”
The City of Boise, Idaho, also received one of the monuments. Last year, when the city moved its 10 Commandments monument from a city park, the city explained how it came by the monument in the first place:
It was given to the city during the 1960s, one of an estimated 4,000 similar markers donated to communities across the nation by the Fraternal Order of Eagles. According to the Rev. Mark H. Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League of North Carolina, the fraternal organization began distributing the monuments during the 1950s as part of a campaign against juvenile delinquency. A decade later, Creech writes, Cecil B. De Mille got in on the campaign by making his own contribution with the release of “The Ten Commandments” a movie classic featuring Charlton Heston as Moses. De Mille promoted the movie by placing granite slabs of the commandments in parks, state capital lawns, and courthouses around the country.
This is a wonderful compromise for the whole community, Mayor David Bieter said. It removes the potential legal issues and places the monument in a prominent, historical location that will allow better public access than ever before.
Crews began cordoning off the area around the monument about 7 a.m. Monday. City officials formally announced the move at 11 a.m. as part of a prior arrangement with the Keep the Commandments Coalition, which agreed not to physically block removal of the monument if given at least two hours advance notice of the move.
Brandi is the co-director of the Keep the Commandments Coalition a community based organization dedicated to preserving the public display of the Ten Commandments in Julia Davis Park and promoting those values for stronger communities.
If there was a good Compromise and the Coaliton would not block the move, How did Brandi get arrested?
Russ
Nov 4, 2005, 9:49 pm
Ms. Jordon is proving that she can “double speak” with the best of them. Her negative comments about Brandi’s out-of-state” money is a two faced a comment as the best of double speak politicals. Nice try Ms. Jordon.
Nov 5, 2005, 8:45 pm
Jordon’s “double speak” is no worse than that of Brandi. She ought not go around throwing stones like “conservationists are trying to buy a council seat”. That leaves us to make a choice between selling the seat to “conservationists” interested in preserving foothills and wetlands, or to a bunch of fundamentalist wing-nuts I’d be hard pressed to ask for directions to the gas station. Hmmm….she makes the choice seem easy.
Nov 9, 2005, 3:33 pm
What happens to all the funny money now?
I have ideas what each candidate will/can/should do with the left over money. Any ideas from anyone else?