City Government
Non-Partisan Mayor Race Turns Right
November 29, 2019 
These mailers paid for by Responsible Government Fund arrived Friday.
When we got our Friday mail at the Boise GUARDIAN world headquarters it was a bit of a shock and a bigger amusement to see Donald Trump supporter and self-proclaimed “CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN” David H. Leroy supporting Dave Bieter in what has jokingly been called a “non-partisan” mayor race. Leroy is a fixture in Republican politics as former Idaho Attorney General and Lt. Governor. He lost a congressional bid last year to Russ Fulcher.
Mailers paid for by Responsible Government Fund arrived Friday.The IDAHO PRESS reports the outfit is a group of developers.
Incumbent Mayor Bieter garnered a mere 30% of the vote while City Council President Lauren McLean captured more than 45% in the November general election, forcing a run off Tuesday Dec. 3. City law requires a majority vote to elect the mayor (50% plus 1).
In the second piece of mail, the same group called McLean “radically liberal,” listing such sins as radical anti-gun agenda, environmental extremist, and worst of all, a “registered north end democrat.” It will be interesting to see how Team Dave is able to spin this one for their long-term Democratic team captain.
To insure more advertising-free Boise Guardian news, please consider financial support.
Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Nov 30, 2019, 12:23 am
Wow, just Wow! Scrapping the sides of the barrel with see-through wood just to find some dirt. Extremely childish if you ask me.
If this is the best team Dave can come up with as well as the republican party then Dave Bieter can join his fellow Boiseans in the unemployment line without compensation. 16-years is too long and obviously to damaging.
I think the group who put out these mailers has Flagellated the Expired Equine long enough the equine should be glue. Talk about overused false terminology.
Nov 30, 2019, 5:31 am
Although I don’t live in Boise, it sure seems that maybe staying with Bieter is a safer bet than the obviously and radically leftist Mclean. Maybe Bieter will have learned that he isn’t as popular as he thinks he is and will adjust accordingly.
Nov 30, 2019, 8:06 am
Bieter loves to take credit for the “economic success” of the area. And apparently Mr. Leroy is buying in.
(I believe a lot of GUARDIAN readers kinda wish Boise wasn’t on so many lists, near the top.)
Leroy is probably right, that McLean is the more “liberal” of the two. I, too, am disappointed we don’t have a fiscal conservative, small-government candidate. But I’ll vote for McLean because I can’t support a career politician. Gotta term-limit Mr. Bieter!
Nov 30, 2019, 9:47 am
Desperate Daves dishing dirt, denigrate direct democracy…
Nov 30, 2019, 10:22 am
Here is what the Idaho Press reported a few days ago on the “Responsible Government Fund’s earlier mailing cut of the same cloth.
“The mailer was paid for by an organization called the Responsible Government Fund. The group filed a 48-hour finance report with the city of Boise on Nov. 21 showing $12,000 in contributions from two local developers, with David Wali from Gardner Company contributing $10,000 and Gary Hawkins from Hawkins Companies contributing $2,000.
https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/mailer-paid-for-by-developers-accuses-mclean-of-supporting-homeless/article_c2f4f2a2-deca-5b4d-9849-4efd61ac830e.html?fbclid=IwAR0zrZz0GGBXLxIawvUmi4jdbo0WasKhwcIvVXzksLriyeTfpEj2kwIYOYY
Seems to me the Gardner Company is a Utah-based developer Bieter has long been in bed with. So it’s OUT OF STATE $$$ Unkindly Polluting the Mayoral Race in Boise.
Nov 30, 2019, 10:40 am
The mailer from the group of developers claiming McLean supports homeless camps was low, even for Bieter. It it’s no surprise that the development community supports Team Dave. They’ve been allowed to do as they pleased for years. Bieter put a developer in charge of Planning and Development Services. Fox watching the henhouse.
Then the “Basque Mafia” thing. I don’t believe a word of that.
I expect one more below-the-belt dirty trick from Bieter before Election Day.
Vote!
Nov 30, 2019, 11:44 am
Consider this mailer an IQ test.
Dec 1, 2019, 3:03 am
Just a thought on how team Dave has railed @ Laura’s refusal to any further debates. Maybe she took a page from the sage words of our high school debate teacher. Went something like this: never argue or debate with a fool since the audience could soon loose track of who’s who!
Dec 1, 2019, 7:01 am
Dear fake republicans, You take from me without shame for your own benefit. Real republicans are not so greedy and selfish. I don’t care if we elect one of the Boise Zoo animals, Bieter has got to go. Nobody should ever again be allowed 20 years to set up a developer friendly syndicate.
Dear real republicans of Boise, Set down the beer can and pay attention. We have four years to find a solid conservative replacement. Solid means electable and dedicated to the solvent taxpayers of Boise. Someone who’s had a real job and had to pay their own bills.
Dec 1, 2019, 11:45 am
As a former progressive that pushed for radical environmental policies and even elements of what is now called “wokeness” I can see where the LeRoy flyer probably isn’t too far from the mark.
I hate both choices. It’s a matter of degree. The apathy of MOST eligible voters will spell doom down the road. I see the political calculation on the Left ledger and it’s actually working. Today’s Twitter infected mindset is shaping the outcome of our future. The hyperbolic nature of this new progressive wokeness in all things, is going to turn Boise into a landscape of SJW clay, ready to be formed into a new Portlandia. Bieter et al have already begun reshaping with transportation features. Your car is the enemy (No…too many cars is the problem and that points to overgrowth rates). But you can’t turn Idaho Purple, then Blue, unless you URBANIZE it. More density equals more PROGRESSIVISM and that means….more higher taxes and smaller homes and more apartments and more wokeness. It means more policing of your life, via Social Control systems like China has implemented. You know….”be Nice” campaigns.
You will score HIGHER when you downsize your life and say everything in line with the Twitterbots. You will score higher when you take up the same behavior of the social leaders in the mob (or at least what they say you should do). Selling your car and riding a bike will get you really big points. Moving into an apartment will score big too.
You think I’m being paranoid? I used to help do the groundwork for all of this years ago. Go look up Cascadia plans for urban sustainability for living without a car. See what has already been planned.
Oh, ask Lauren if SHE rides a bike to work everywhere. We already know Dave claims he does. That’s when we see who the proletariat is and who the Politburo is.
Dec 1, 2019, 5:35 pm
Why McLean isn’t debating Bieter:
Never wrestle with a pig.
You get dirty, and besides,
the pig likes it.
—G. Bernard Shaw
Dec 1, 2019, 8:10 pm
This contest is almost over. A feeling Leroy has had a few times in the many elections he has lost.
Why debate the same questions over and over? Just gives the Kind King a chance to avoid responsibility and cast blame.
It is still undecided until Tuesday, when Eagle voters (like Leroy?) wonder.
Dec 1, 2019, 10:11 pm
Almost:
Leroy is an East Ender, a Bieter neighbor.
Dec 2, 2019, 11:49 am
Forced Air: “… ask Lauren if SHE rides a bike to work everywhere. We already know Dave claims he does. That’s when we see who the proletariat is and who the Politburo is.”
Oh, goodness! I ride a bike everywhere, and I’m definitely “working class” (proletariat?). Must I switch to a less efficient and more expensive form of transportation to ever rise above the Great Unwashed?
Dec 2, 2019, 2:17 pm
Sounds like Dave Bieter supporters are hoping on on picking up all the Arnold & Coles votes – I would suspect that republican-leaning individuals would more likely stay home on Dec 3rd.
I still think it’s funny that the run-off election is between the two most aligned candidates on the initial ballot – as far as I can tell, their positions on most issues are identical. Most of the runoff coverage has focused on the Supreme Court appeal, and the opposing stances between Bieter and McLean. I’m struggling to find another topic that they disagree on.
Dec 2, 2019, 2:24 pm
McClean has been clear – she does not favor “homeless camps.”
So, the ad from the “Ada County Republican Party” is a lie.
It says a lot about the local R party as this mailer comes from the address of Graham Paterson, a recent R candidate from Dist 16A, and party rep.
I am more concerned with politicians willing to LIE about the issues and their opponents (or but their names on it as Leroy is doing here) than I am concerned about any candidate is actually open and clear on the issues.
“North ender”?
Kellen Moore could just about throw a football from Leroy’s house to McClean’s house.
Leroy lives in a “gated neighborhood” of 6 houses off of Shaw Mtn. Rd. Hardly a ‘neighbor of Beiter’ and certainly not in the same ‘type’ of neighborhood. People living behind gates and walls always have a special character.
Any guesses on LeRoys property taxes [R1077230060] since that appears to be a main issue for the election?
2019 $10,465.60
2018 $9,549.92
2017 $10,093.54
2016 $10,218.76
Last 3 years = a $246 increase.
His adjacent, 1/4 acre, parcel used solely for a swimming pool– taxes were:
2019 $373.14
2018 $379.56
2017 $415.54
2016 $368.44
So really he paid $251 more over 3 years for a million dollar property.
Thanks for the contribution, Leroy!
The equal land for his house is valued at $275K the equal land for his pool is only $27,500. bout the same footage- 10x difference is assessed value.
Who is complaining about property taxes?????
Dec 3, 2019, 9:18 am
How does the MisStatesman explain the guest editorial today from Councilmember Elaine Clegg? She’s defending Boise’s draconian approach to homelessness, and without mentioning his name, totally supports Team Dave.
This editorial. Today?
EDITOR NOTE–We got a press release from Boise Schools announcing a Friday ribbon cutting at Whittier school and the only name mentioned is Bieter in bold face. Helps to have your biggest supporter (fire chief) on the school board apparently.
Dec 3, 2019, 10:21 am
Don’t put the blame on Mr. Leroy. Blame the appraiser or the assessor if you think he is not paying his proper share. Why should he pay more than what he is asked?
Dec 3, 2019, 1:40 pm
Caeth, no one is “blaming” Mr. Leroy.
It is just a great example of what is happening in our little village as to who is paying the price- especially considering the initial post, right?
It also follows up on the previous posts of the Guardians home taxes went up $558 on a normal property compared to 246 on a much higher value property, AND it relates to the Assessor’s deflection- blames the Assessor as you imply.
Also, ONE (me) might say there is a group of people opposed to Bieter, in part due to higher local taxes and the use of those dollars; a part of that group (low/middle income) really does have ‘an issue’ about their property taxes, while the other part (high-income) people do not have anything to complain about- IMO, of course.
And of the opposition, who has the time & resources to make dumb political ads? See the irony, Caeth?
Plus, I just like to put real examples to my point. 🙂
Dec 3, 2019, 10:26 pm
The first thing she should do as mayor is recognize the Guardian as a media organization and take him off the municipal shit list. You should be receiving press releases. Bieter tried and failed to sink your battleship.
Dec 5, 2019, 12:24 pm
Sorry, I don’t get your point. You seem to suggest a different tax structure for low/middle income than high-income. Please show me some real examples.
Dec 6, 2019, 12:31 pm
Bikeboy……I don’t have a problem riding bikes. I ride mine and have for years. My problem is with the types that say one thing and do the opposite. Leo Decaprio et al banging on about climate change and then living like kings. My stint with the greenies taught me that they like to make demands that they can’t even match themselves.
They all wanna talk like Greta Thurnberg and live like millionaires and /or keep their powered luxuries. I guess tiny houses are for everyone except them. Even when the true believers step up to the plate, like Aussies who shifted the nation to rooftop solar, we now hear the elites prattle on about how there’s TOO MUCH solar and it’s going to have to be nationalized. Gee, you can’t have your PRIVATELY owned and operated solar….so let us manage it all for you. Collectivism is ALWAYS to answer from elites who never follow their own demands.