Boise is more interesting than San Francisco ever was….or maybe I was too young to notice. Lots of people don’t know what is appropriate behavior and I don’t know who will teach them.

Although I’m not a City employee, I have worked with Paul Wood’s quite a bit in the last couple of years and I believe him when he says he did not approve the mailing in question. Paul is very sensitive to even the suggestion of inappropriate behavior, and was motivated to run, in part, because of the underhanded tactics of the current commissioners. It would be just like the Dems though, to sabotage their own candidates with some stupid tricks like this. But don’t be too quick to toss all City employees, or all Dems for that matter, into the Team Dave camp. There are plenty of people who think for themselves and take their responsibility to the citizens seriously, and I think Paul Woods is one of them. I hope his campaign can proceed without this kind of “help”.

But, one of the reasons that the Rovian paradigm is so successful, is that too many people have abdicated their civic responsibilities and do not participate in the process. When the “average guy” stays home, moneyed special interests have free reign to corrupt and manipulate the system. More people need to show up and not only vote, but contribute to and work on campaigns and issues (and work within the rules). Politics is not a spectator sport, at least not if you want the process to reflect your values and aspirations, rather than the well-being of Halliburton, KBR, Washington Group, Micron, André Agassi…………….etc. etc. etc.

Of course there’s always the conflict between individual analysis and the group think aspects of party politics. But still, if the “nay sayers” stay home, all we’re left with to make public policy are the egomaniacs and yes men and women, which lead to less than meaningful debate.

Thanks for the scoops and interesting commentary.

The City of Boise used to outsource their ethics training, now its tailor done in-house.

You get to hear limited subjects repeated and the proper way they want employees to deal with them (often providing incomplete information). The current overall employee ethics training program seriously lacks…

Problem is, I think that HR knows it…

After having received training by both means, I can say that the city either needs to find someone who knows how to teach a complete and full ethics course or return to outsourcing.

Maybe the problem is with Legal holding HR back from doing the job they could do otherwise ???

Given the last post, the only thing left is to remember that the noose has thirteen coils and the gallows has thirteen steps.
Mr Mayor??? come-out, come-out, whereever you are!!!

Hmmm… the plot thickens.

Maybe Mr. Oldenburg better check in with us every couple days, just so we know he’s OK. There are sinister forces at work here. It would easy for him to “trip” (nudge nudge, wink wink) on the greenbelt, and get swept away by that swift-flowing current, ending up floating face-down in somebody’s yard on Eagle Island. (I’m just off another season of “24” here, but I’m picturing a “Team Dave” where Dave is just a puppet of a secretive shadow government. Gary Lyman is really calling the shots, via untraceable, encrypted satellite cell phone, from his armored underground fortress.)

Maybe we should slow down a bit. I am not one to defend Team Dave and would never, ever come to the defense of Mr. Riley.

However, could it be that someone was just being stupid when they mailed the thing out? There is lots of stupid everywhere. Perhaps the employee in question is not that bright and therefore didn’t think anything wrong with what they did, even though it was a very stupid act.

As for Team Dave and Mr. Riley, well the placebo comment is spot on. As long as it looks like somthing is being done, they feel it is as good as having it done. It is exactly the same as their so called ethics policies. Because they have this means something very real in their minds. Pull back and look at it objectively and you see it for what it is – all hat and no cattle.

EDITOR NOTE–Ferris, you got it totally correct. There was a minor infraction which was reported and corrected. At that point the system burped and “victim” truthfully reports to us that city never contacted him. GUARDIAN blog worked to perfection, one foul two freethrows. Play ball.

As one who has called to hotline several times in the past to report this, that, or the other thing…..it’s been my experience that calling the hotline actually WORKS. I got the tip from a neighborhood cop who says the mayor’s office passes off the complaint to the various department heads, who in turn have to report back to the mayor’s office with a solution & a reponse within 48 hours. So there was an employee who boo-booed and noted that the problem was resolved when it really wasn’t. Guess what folks, we ALL have done that in the past….(How many times have YOU drawn checks against a deposit you forgot to make????)
There’s no denying that the hotline does have a certain placebo effort for those who just want to whine…but when I’ve made a legimate complaint, I’ve received follow-up calls from the departments heads of PDS, Parks & Rec, and the police department along with immediate action for solving the problem. Now THAT’S service!

Ferris B.,

Yes, but what you said did allow for me to rant on about the fact that the tax payers are the ones who seem to pick up the tab for the actions of “stupid is as stupid does” .
We may recall the great “mistake” of President Bush and his weapons of mass destruction – which is costing lives as well as taxpayer monies into generations to come.

Several years ago there was an ad on the TV – the sound bite was “IMAGE IS EVERYTHING” and it does appear that many took that to heart, including our local governmental officials.

We need a good sound bite for subtance….. (heavy sigh)

So Perry what you are saying is that Jade and others in the Mayors office were (are) confused? Neat way of saying we lied in our “actions taken” log.

And we trust these folks to run our city, investigate poop farm issues and make un-bias rulings on growth and infill? I venture to say they have been (are) confused a lot during those times too.