Business
Trump And Bieter Admins Offer Similarities
May 3, 2017 
President Donald Trump’s attempt to distance himself from business endeavors while claiming no conflicts of interest sound familiar when one looks at Boise City. The “swamp” is bigger than Washington, D.C.
Derick O’Neill has been running Team Dave’s development services department for about five years. We had some concerns about the city buying land from his father, Peter O’Neill, at Bown crossing for a library, and then hiring Derick, but figured it would just be dismissed as “sour grapes” if we posted anything.
Wednesday evening we got a note from an upscale reader who said, “I saw the Hillcrest Country Club membership list today — the current one — Derick O’Neill is listed in the directory as the owner of “O’Neill Enterprises” not the Director of the Boise City Development Dept.”
Again, we figured it may be an oversight from an old membership list, not worthy of noting. But a quick search of the Idaho Secretary of State files shows this annual report:
See the annual report full size HERE.
It appears O’Neill signed an official state document in November 2016 as MANAGER of O’Neill enterprises, LLC. We will gladly offer response space to O’Neill and Boise City to explain that he is either NOT really a manager as purported on the official State of Idaho document, or that he really IS the manager of the development firm while also holding the official city development position. Might be a good one for Mayor Dave Bieter’s ethics panel to consider.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
May 3, 2017, 10:38 pm
It appears that Derick O’Neill is in “business” with Ed Miller, managing partner of the Givens Pursley law firm.
Has there ever been a time in the last 5 years when an attorney for the Givens Pursley firm has been involved in an action before the City regarding development or real estate?
May 4, 2017, 6:47 am
City of Boise lets President of Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce speak instead of the elected officials about Boise’s future.
Who elected Bill Connors?
What ethics are we talking about?
I wonder when already the public will get tired of Bieter.
May 4, 2017, 9:46 am
I am surprised that Mr. Ahlquist is not a member of the same business.
They just give him and his daddy contracts at $150 an hour and give him free foundations for buildings. 🙁
May 4, 2017, 2:09 pm
Hey! You just need to TRUST your elected officials! They know what’s best for you, and are better at spending your money than you are (thus the maximum legal property tax levy, year after year – at least Boise taxpayers). You elected them to make the tough decisions, now get out of the way!
The O’Neill situation is somewhat similar to Garden City… Mayor John Evans used to be a developer, and one of his projects was Riverside Village. The state deeded riverside land to Garden City with the stipulation that it be maintained as a public BIKE PATH… it’s never been open to bikes, and was posted “private property” until legal action was threatened. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence – the developer/city thing…
I’d GLADLY vote for somebody besides Bieter! We need somebody who loves this town, is a good administrator, and isn’t in bed with various deep-pockets special interests. City Hall is past due for a good shake-up. No career politicians, please!!
May 4, 2017, 3:30 pm
What do these folks all have in common?
-Trump
-Obama
-Bush
-Bieter
All puppets of the wealthy folks.
It’s called Oligarchy, or “rule by the rich”.
Voting serves to legitimize the puppets in what seems like a fair process, but isn’t.
May 4, 2017, 8:05 pm
FYI — O’Neill’s LinkdIn profile even publicly shows he’s been working for the City and owning his development company simultaneously for the past five years. This shouldn’t be normal, right?
I’m so confused….an investigative journalist or lawyer really needs to start asking some serious questions down at City Hall.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/derick-o-neill-37a15112
May 4, 2017, 9:08 pm
What? Did you miss how Obama used Bush laws to violate American’s privacy. None of these people is worthy of picking up after my dogs.
EDITOR NOTE–You got it backwards…perhaps they ARE worthy of doo doo duty!
May 5, 2017, 9:34 am
To What?
Stay on topic. This is about Beiter, not Obama. All politics is local.
May 5, 2017, 10:36 am
If I was an attorney that had any dealings with the City of Boise in any motion or action where Givens Pursley was involved with the Development Department I would have grounds for an action against both.
May 5, 2017, 10:39 am
We must be paying city employees way too much of they can afford a country club membership!
Oh wait – they just voted themselves a pay raise!!!!
May 5, 2017, 5:08 pm
Bikeboy – I fled Boise due to many issues including corrupt politicians, F35 insanity, growth, etc a year ago.
Guess what I found in my new Oregon neighborhood on the river?
The developer promised the same public riverpath access and didn’t follow through. Then folks who owned homes backing on the river took over the HOA and won’t discuss the path that wasn’t. Same nonsense, different state…
May 6, 2017, 6:53 am
EDITOR NOTE TO PORC–Thanks for the documentation about legal advisor, but our intent was to bring to light the issue of a current development official being a principal in a development firm. Lawyers often are shown as “Agents” in LLC filings.
May 7, 2017, 6:27 am
Mr Guardian
The problem is Ed Miller is a real estate lawyer. He has represented many developers in Boise. O Neill is one of his clients. He has represented the O Neills for most if not all of their projects. http://oeliving.com/communities/
Now Derrick is in Development services at the city. Do you see any conflict of interest here???…. that Ed Miller has had a problem with in the past?… Guess not
May 7, 2017, 8:20 am
Mr. Guardian…. when it comes to having a lawyer the clip from breaking bad comes to mind… ( as you know the part of Jessie is played by a Boise native
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNMQqh1ovlM
May 7, 2017, 1:54 pm
Ed Miller is indeed listed as an AGENT on several deal – – but with Mr Oniell he is a MEMBER of the company – not and an agent.
May 8, 2017, 9:40 am
Like with most national Democrats questionable ethical behavior is rewarded…not punished.
May 8, 2017, 5:35 pm
Oh like this hasn’t happened before? Remember Jay Amyx and his pals in construction who made bank from the urban renewal fiasco that leveled several historic buildings downtown?
Also Miss Scarlett, there hasn’t been a real investigative reporter on any of the local television news jokes since Jon Hanian and Michael Keckler helped take down the Coles Administration.