Maybe all donations should go into a blind trust. Candidates would be able to see the balance, but not where the money came from. Anyone could give all they want, but anonymously. I bet “donations” would dry up.

Quid pro quo:
a Latin phrase used in English to mean an exchange of goods or services, in which one transfer is CONTINGENT upon the other:

Something like, “I’ll release this money AFTER you do an investigation for me”.

“paid” and “payoffs” to city candidates??? wow.

Doesn’t seem like anything above is CONTINGENT upon 1 thing or another; ‘expected’, perhaps.

I’ll make an important note here: the referenced BoiseDev story is for Boise Fire CHIEF Officers PAC, which is not the BFD PAC related to the ads (Boise Fire Local 14). The latter (not ladder) is contributed to by BFD employees through their payroll. IF it did not exist, the HR dept could reduce the BFD fire payroll by the contribution amounts and the fine city employees would have the same take-home. Ergo, should CITY POLICY prohibit payroll deductions to any PACs?

Boise Fire Local 149 owns office property on Orchard Street which is exempt from property tax..(to the tune of $8,000+/year)(they pay a small amount for the parking lot though). Much like the city not paying taxes on land– effectively the PAC has the same benefit as using free admin at the BFD office- a drain on tax dollars. And someone is worried about occasional mail being delivered to a city office?

BFD PAC is going to contribute to the mayor’s fund, regardless of who is sitting in the mayor’s office. Not contingent on anything.
And I’m willing to bet the mail/phone service is a standard with every similar PAC. Perhaps the Postal Inspector should be monitoring such things for govt offices. Seems small compared to personal use of vehicles, storage, and other personnel violations of ALL govt agencies.

But then, just like Mulvaney said, “We do that all the time.” “Get over it….Elections have consequences.”

public service at it’s finest. 🙁

business as usual, from the White House to City Hall.

BFD Local 149 ALSO uses City Hall West for mail service.
See Local 149’s current Ada County Assessment.

Chief Doan probably gets his utility bills there too, for the city secretary to handle. Ha!

NOTE: “Boise Fire Chiefs PAC” is not
listed on the State’s Sec of State site- Probably should be? although it is listed as an official PAC.

And Local 149 is on the Sec’s site as an association but not a registered PAC. Maybe it listed instead as “Boise Fire Fighters PAC” instead, which is a registered PAC, but not a legal entity.
So are there 2 or 3 BFD related PACs?Correct names ought to matter in that game. And when they use the same city address, it’s tough to distinguish which one is doing what.

The Idaho Fraternal Order of POLICE PAC
ALSO uses City Hall West as their address– to Josh Jagosh.

Looks a fresh memo needs to go out to some VERY experienced city employees.

Throw in their burnout funds,the police PAL groups, and the Fire/Police trust fund for health care being administered in Washington state and before you know it, there is a lot of possibility for missteps.

Bottom-line- these calendar models are lucky not to wrap a jet boat around a giant concrete pillar (oh wait…) and yet they are now expected to follow detailed administrative rules– like uniforms in a commercial or where their mail goes? smh

Boise Fire Dept union controls the FD itself, City Council and Mayor’s office in Boise (and many other cities).

BFD also controls Whitney and North Ada County (formerly Cole-Collister) fire districts via ‘contracts’. There are BFD employees on the governing boards of other local fire districts (Star, Eagle, etc), and BFD union wants to take over the Eagle FD. Watch, it will happen…

When will folks get the picture of this cabal?

True violations should be investigateable (sp?) by the Secretary of State, shouldn’t they? How can that process be set in motion?

The fact that some people are throwing candidates under the bus because they’ve gotten endorsements from developers/developments is crazy. Instead of assuming the worst, maybe you should think that those developers know that a change is in order and they want the BEST candidates to win so that something can actually get done for a change in EAGLE!

First off, understand what a contribution is. It’s not a payoff. Anybody that believes that 1000.00 or 500.00 is enough to buy an election needs to stop watching CNN and cartoons together. That is ludicrous.

First, stop talking about Avimor like it’s some enormous resort development in paradise. And, stop acting like it’s going to be annexed tomorrow. Both are false assertions.

And the term payoff is really bordering on Defamation, Libel, and Slander. No one took a payoff. Candidates, ALL, took donations.

So if you’re going to be fair here Eamonn should I conclude that because Mayor Ridgeway accepted money from Republic Trash that there is a contract coming up for renewal and that they are seeking an automatic renewal from Mayor? Or shall I assume that Mr. Hadden who accepted 100.00 from an friend of his who owns a consulting firm downtown Boise will automatically be selected for consulting for the City of Eagle if he wins? Do you see how insane this is?

Are you accusing EVERY citizen that donated to be paying off the City?
Even you Mr. Harter could have ulterior motives right? I mean, what if you wanted to submit a permit for a large addition to your home? Are you saying that a donation from you could be construed as bribery of an official in hopes of receiving a quick approval?

Do you see how this can spin out in lunacy?
If you want to really speak to the issue then do some homework, get some documents from the City via FOIA requests, and start connecting the dots. Oh, and start coming to the weekly meetings with the Mayor and Council and hold them accountable.

Jason Pierce, Brad Pike, and Charlie Baun for the team of people that will stop the uncontrolled over-development with high density housing, they’ll stop the Suez deal, they’ll help Eagle preserve our quality of life you’ve come to know and love. Eagle First as Jason says.

Mr. Rick. What do ya think if nobody could give or receive any kind of political donation whatsoever? I think we’d get an entirely different and better quality of politico.

Hell yes politicos are more responsive to those who donate. Just look at the entire history of the world. Call it whatever the hell you want to call it to make yourself feel better but it is what it is, and absolutely everyone knows it.

What this news blog is about is the politicos ignoring the needs of the many in favor of the desires of a few large donors. Even $1000 is a hell of a lot more than I give so that’s 1000 times more attention that donor will get. It’s wrong.

I will also recommend not one single government job at any level should be a better compensated job than the average private sector job. Government sector choking the life out of the country. This will loosen the grip. Perhaps whatever health insurance policy all the Eagle government employees have should be extended to all families in Eagle. Why not, all those families are directly paying for it.

OK Eagle Writer, what is your real name? Not Pierre Delecto I hope! And it sounds like I triggered Rick Gilmore up above. My only motivations are wide open spaces, fresh air, clean water and doing right by the citizens and not developers. The actions (or lack thereof) of the Eagle city council will have ramifications for decades to come. Like traffic and smog? Then vote for Pierce, Pike and Baun.

Eagle Writer: Not lecturing anyone, just providing jurisdictional boundary facts. It has been my experience that people are not very aware of the difference between the municipalities boundaries in relation to the AOI and Fire District boundaries. With elections coming up, it is useful in a string of comments such as this, for others to have a chance to realize that Eagle Fire (District) is not the Eagle Fire Department.

What’s a Growthophobe like me to do? Vote for Avimor or more apartment buildings, I guess. Apartments seem like the lesser of the 2 evils when looking at the donors behind Pierce, Pike and Baun.

Why shouldn’t the firemen support Hizzonor? They got a 7% raise this year.

Eamonn Harter: Let’s review how this works. If I ran for Congress (I will not) I would campaign on a strong 2nd Amendment. I would likely get contributions from people and organizations who agree with my position. Critics would shout that I was bought and paid for by gun rights advocates. But I was already a gun rights advocate.

A payoff would occur if an anti-gun rights advocate gave me money and I then changed my position to theirs.

Having worked in the campaign world for decades I fully remember the Ronald Reagan episode when his campaign received a sizeable donation from a gay rights groups. His staff thought he should refuse it and send it back, but Reagan said (paraphrase), “no, they are giving me money because they agree with my position, not because I will change my position to theirs.”

Eagle Writer, we are not talking about guns or gays here. We are talking about a land developer trying to buy a city government. Ada County is a no-go for expanding Avimor due to recent election results, so the next best thing is Eagle. Overturning the 2nd amendment would require a constitutional amendment ratified by 3/4 of the states, so that will not happen in our lifetimes. But the results of a city election with the mayor and 2 council members could annex Avimor. This is an apples to oranges comparison.

From what I understand much of the development in Eagle over the last 4 years (too rapid & so many multiple units in my opinion)
during Mayor Ridgeway’s tenure occurred as a result of contracts put in place by PREVIOUS Mayors/Councils. With the 2008 financial down turn slowed, building projects halted. Many(leveraged)developers sold land WITH development agreements attached to the land. Please correct me, but I believe that has tied current Mayor Ridgeway’s hands with regard to implementation of those existing contracts.

On the Avimore dilemma. This huge plot of land, across multiple jurisdictions will require that very smart people stand firm what will and will not work for our community as outside investors will take the path of least resistance. Very challenging reality! And we need representatives who will not back down.

Years ago, out of state investors/developers took advantage of our grid roads, cheap land, acres of foothills. As long as profitable future for them,they will not go away & will continue to promote to Eagle residents that annexing & developing another 22,100 acres (beyond the current 900 approved by ADA county)is a wonderful idea for our sweet town.

Is it possible that ADA county and Eagle could agree to
get together & say FORGET It Avimore, your type of development is too big of an intrusion & too sprawling for our way of life.