Comments on: 2C Prosecutor Deal Typical Local Government

By: Kappa TA

Kappa TA — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 04:08:51 +0000

Mr. Bujak is still not in jail. He has admitted taking $288,000 from Canyon County. According to a Stateman article today on other elected and former elected officials facing foreclosures, it was noted that Mr. Bujak is no longer facing foreclosure. Isn’t that special? In addition to the lost $288,000, 2C has now hired an outside lawyer to try to recover the money from Mr. Bujak, further burdening 2C taxpayers. I hope the voters in 2C oust Kathy Alder (one of three) who approved this rotten apple deal and elect her opponent. Gotta start somewhere, and the best place to start is to take away this commissioner’s keys to the courthouse. Elect ESTELLA ZAMORA in 2C-District 2 regardless of her political affiliation!

(Note: BG’s readership spreads far and wide)

Thank you.

KTA

By: soccermom

soccermom — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 06:31:58 +0000

I worked in his office and the guy pulled in over 200k a year. So he did take a significat pay cut to become prosecutor- never understood why he would do that except I know he had big political dreams. He can kiss those dreams good bye now. He and his wife are (DELETED)!!!!

By: JamesBond

JamesBond — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:41:11 +0000

Having worked extensively at all levels and in all branches of government, and being a fiscal conservative, I have long believed that there is no more corrupt and wasteful form of government than local government.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 03:10:23 +0000

Money from city of Nampa should equal money received by Canyon County Treasurer. Anything different should be the catalyst for a forensic audit of this mess.

Shame on John Bujak and shame on the people who signed off on this deal at the County as well as the city of Nampa.

By: Kappa TA

Kappa TA — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 18:01:09 +0000

Does anyone know which Idaho Supreme Court case (1987) Mr. Bujak refers to in his claim that he can financially and personally gain from a contract in his capacity as 2C elected prosecutor? Mr. Bujak now says the contract with the city of Nampa is legal as amended. He is an attorney and knows that contracts that misrepresent facts are invalid. 2C commissioners are dodging the ball on this issue, because the prosecutor has oversight over them. To get to the bottom of all this, a prosecutor from another county needs to pursue the matter with the AG’s Office. As most of us know, the AG has been reluctant to take action against public officials; former Boise Mayor Coles was an exception. It’s time for the hierarchy to work again, and not continue to sidestep alleged misconduct by public officials. As readers have noted, if there’s nothing wrong, release the records. If the organization for which I serve in a leadership capacity and as an “elected official” earns more fundraising revenue than anticipated, should the leadership, including me, then be allowed to personally pocket the change or should the money be returned to the operating budget? I think we all know the answer to that. So should Mr. Bujak, the city of Nampa and 2C commishes. Just a thought for the day as I head out pro bono to serve my constituents.

EDITOR NOTE–If memory serves, it was Coueur d’Alene and/or Kootenai County with a prosecutor named GLEN TAYLOR. The court of public opinion seemed to have the same decision we are seeing here regardless of what the Supremes ruled.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 12:59:38 +0000

Bujak doesn’t get it! We taxpayers hired him to do stuff efficiently. It is part of his pay package and his leadership role to save taxpayers money when and wherever he can. He should be audited by the AG’s office on this deal.

By: Timm!

Timm! — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 02:24:37 +0000

There are a number of typos in Mr. Bujak’s letter: “salary di!erences”
“Chief of Staff!”
“prosecutor’s o”ce” (that one shows up twice) and possibly others. Were these typos in the original, introduced when the letter was transcribed, or the result of some technical snafu?

EDITOR NOTE–We can’t really tell. The letter was indeed from Bujak, but it probably went through Windows and Apple and back. It also could easily have contained the typos.

By: cyclops

cyclops — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 22:37:47 +0000

As I understand his statement, he entered into the original contract which was determined to be illegal. Then he amended the contract to reflect a contract that is against state statute.
In addition, he can’t seem to afford spell check. To hell with the question is this legal! What kind of attorney is he?

By: Kappa TA

Kappa TA — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:14:23 +0000

FYI: I forgot to add this Idaho statute in my previous post:

TITLE 59
PUBLIC OFFICERS IN GENERAL
CHAPTER 2
PROHIBITIONS AGAINST CONTRACTS WITH OFFICERS
59-201.OFFICERS NOT TO BE INTERESTED IN CONTRACTS. Members of the legislature, state, county, city, district and precinct officers, must not be interested in any contract made by them in their official capacity, or by any body or board of which they are members.

The judge in this case doesn’t need 30 days; the statute above is pretty clear. The city of Nampa is now reconsidering the contract as amended, as well it should.

KTA

By: Yessir

Yessir — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:15:16 +0000

This arguably makes him the highest paid prosecutor in the state. A 102k base salary plus an additional 50k from this contract. That’s more than Greg Bower or Larry Wasden. Bujak maintains that he has financial problems right now because he took a “significant pay cut” when he took the prosecutor job. As someone familiar with his private practice, it’s hard to swallow that he was taking home well in excess of 102k in salary each year. It also makes him look like a financial idiot to sign onto a new position that would not provide him a minimum salary to pay his existing bills. It’s the lack of transparency in all of this that’s troubling. If you’ve got nothing to hide, and it’s all above board, just say “hey I made some stupid financial decisions and I’m digging myself out” and give the public access to these bank accounts.