City Government
Bieter Has Opposition For Mayor Job
September 4, 2015 
Looks like Boise Mayor Dave Bieter will have an interesting football season and it won’t be on the gridiron.
Judy Peavey-Derr, former Ada County Highway District commish, former Ada County commish, and current Greater Boise Auditorium District commish, ran onto the field just before time ran out at 5p.m. Friday to get her name on the ballot, hoping to win the quarterback position so she can call the plays at City Hall.
Peavey-Derr was critical of Bieter’s “urban sprawl” policies and said she is up to the task of running the city following the death of her long-time husband, Allen Derr. She told the GUARDIAN she was not in support of the latest Foothills levy proposal, but would bring some substitute plays to benefit all residents of the city.
The filing deadline for the November Boise City Council and Mayor elections ended with all but one seat being contested.
Former Ada County Sheriff Myron Gilbert was apparently willing to toss his helmet into the game when no one else would challenge Bieter (he filed prior to Peavey-Derr). Gilbert is 84, but still active in local community projects. His biggest problem will be name recognition since he has been out of office for nearly 50 years.
Seth Holden, a BSU student, has also filed to challenge Bieter, but we don’t have any further info on him.
Lauren Mclean, the incumbent at seat 1 is running unopposed. She was a moving force during the first $10,000,000 Foothills serial levy campaign. She bucked Team Dave and voted against the “panhandling ordinance” which was overturned in Federal Court and has gained interest by the U.S. Justice Department. Boise citizens will be forced to pay tens of thousands in attorney fees to the ACLU, thanks to the ordinance.
Scot Ludwig, a Bieter appointee with support of the development community, including the Gardner Company–the big downtown builder–is running for reelection as an incumbent for seat 3.
Ludwig is challenged by Adriel Martinez, a BSU student. Rather than pay the $40 filing fee, Martinez filed a nominating petition with 10 signatures. At least two of the signatures are invalid because the people live in Kuna and Garden City–outside Boise City limits. The Ada County election clerk certified only 3 signatures on the Martinez petition and 5 are needed to qualify as a candidate.
The seat 5 race looks like a re-match, in part, of the election from four years ago. Incumbent Elaine Clegg is being challenged by former Boise FD Capt. Paul Fortin. Newcomer to politics is Andy Hawes, a 45-year old attorney who is also running against Clegg. Based on coffee shop chatter, the Clegg-Hawes race could be a liberal vs conservative contest in a supposedly non-partisan election.
EDITOR NOTE–As in all elections, the GUARDIAN will provide space for any candidates to post voter information and press releases.
To insure more advertising-free Boise Guardian news, please consider financial support.
Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Sep 4, 2015, 6:28 pm
Former Idaho Bar President Andy Hawes is also running against Clegg for seat #5. He has my vote.
EDITOR NOTE–You are correct and didn’t scroll far enough on the clerk’s site. It has been fixed.
Sep 5, 2015, 6:36 am
Peavey-Derr for PERSI bump?
Sep 6, 2015, 7:53 am
Based on your story highlighting Andy Hawes, I hardly think he could be considered a conservative. And Elaine is as batty leftist as one can be. So I’m not seeing the liberal/conservative matchup here. Unless not as batty leftist is now defined as conservative.