Canyon
Dirty Pool At Canyon Fair
July 30, 2010 
If the action of the Canyon Commishes and their Fair staff is any indication of how the county will conduct Tuesday’s Jail Bond Election, the name of the game is DIRTY POOL!
The commishes set the Aug. 3 election at the last possible moment which was long past the deadline for applicants to get space for booths at the Canyon Fair…but the proponents of the bond got booth space while opponents were turned down. Fair officials stonewalled a records request for copies of the booth applications–which were obviously made past the April application deadline. They said it would take three business days for information to be provided which is AFTER the fair closes and the election is past.
It may seem like petty politics, but when local governments make the rules and change them to suit their own agenda while denying citizens the right to free speech, everyone suffers. Trust in Canyon County government is a sparse commodity.
KIVI 6 TV did a good piece on the issue Friday and poked holes in all the information offered by the Fair staffers.
To insure more advertising-free Boise Guardian news, please consider financial support.
Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Jul 31, 2010, 10:14 am
Dave,
This is a very underhanded deal on the booth assignment but also demonstrates just how hard it is to get answers.
Mr. Clements asked a simple question about the dates on the applications for space. If booth space was granted on a first come first served basis then why the ducking of his question about dates on the applications?
A public records request for this information is rediculous. These people work for us, not the other way around.
Jul 31, 2010, 4:17 pm
Looks like Boise City, Ada and Canyon counties all nwent to the same seminar. I believe it was called “How to screw the public while declaring openess and transparency”.
Jul 31, 2010, 8:26 pm
This is nothing. When I confronted Ada County Commish Sharon Ullman about the eviction of the folks at the RV park in Garden City, (Also covered by KIVI 6), this was her reply.
“You’re an idiot. Instead of looking at the county, which has been receiving $50 a year in rent from the operator of the RV park for TWENTY YEARS, why don’t you look to that operator, whom we estimate is making IN EXCESS of $300,000 a year at the expense of the people who are living in the RV park.
Find out the facts before you hurl accusations, based on what the media has totally misrepresented. Like I said, you’re an idiot. Go away.”
So Canyon County isn’t the only county in Idaho with a bunch of loosers at the helm. Register and Vote people. These elected officials gotta go!
Jul 31, 2010, 11:24 pm
I am curious about spelling on this web site. What exactly is a “looser”? Someone who is loose?
When I went to school a person who wasn’t winning was a “loser” –perhaps the spelling has changed.
Aug 1, 2010, 11:17 am
Of course I mispelled LOSER. I’m an idiot. Just ask Ullman if you don’t believe me.
I hope, TJ, you can find a way to forgive my transgression against your dictionary.
Aug 1, 2010, 11:21 am
Mr. Clements received copies of the booth requests. Oddly, his has a date stamp of July 12, 2010 and Mr. Steve White’s request has no date stamp.
This disparity just adds to the moniker “dirty pool” is the game played in Canyon County. They will stoop lower than the belly of a snake to deceive the public.
Good for Mr. Clements and the TV news for exposing this fraud.
Aug 2, 2010, 6:43 am
Ada County is foolish to be in the trailer park business and the entertainment business. I cite the ongoing melodrama over the horse races. And the potential loss of the baseball field (also leased to private business for a pittance). And river property for an RV Park. What a joke. As for the people there.. when your home comes on wheels and you park it on land you don’t own, you are taking your chances. Sorry.
EDITOR NOTE– We have asked Ada officials for facts regarding the RV PARK, HAWKS STADIUM, and N. ADA FIRE STATION which are all on the fairgrounds.
Aug 2, 2010, 10:02 am
Is there any truth to the rumor that canyon county pulled back their prisoners from the Elmore county jail to “over populate” the canyon county jail as a way to emphasize their argument that they need a new jail?
Wouldnt surprise me at all if they did… I know in Elmore the school superintendant (overpaid desk jockey) cried “overcrowding” at the High school to try and get his school bond shoved through, and to PROVE it he moved an entire extra grade into the high school to make sure it was “overcrowded”
Aug 2, 2010, 10:37 am
The fire district is holding a bond election tomorrow for a new fire station. Their literature says that if the bond does not pass “the fire station will close.” However, when asked, a District Commissioner told me that the time line for closing the station depended on the County’s plans for the Fairgrounds. The County is apparently willing to sign a 5-year lease, according to the Statesman. Whether the lease rate is close to market rates, I don’t know.