I thought the Boise Center on the Grove was paid for with room taxes. Please elaborate if you can, anyone.

EDITOR NOTE–You are correct on room tax, but debt still needs voter approval. Center on Grove is OWNED by CCDC and they rent it to Auditorium District to get around voter requirement.

To “The Convention Center?”: To clarify the Editor’s Note, only the building housing the new Boise Center East expansion is leased by the Convention Center (which is part of GBAD – the Greater Boise Auditorium District). GBAD receives the room tax revenue, which is then used to pay the lease (and other expenses, of course).

It is also relevant to note that The Editor sued GBAD, claiming the lease arrangement was unconstitutional. The Idaho State Supreme Court UNANIMOUSLY decided that this type of lease arrangement was legal and constitutional.

It is also worth noting that the people who insist that large projects be approved by voters via a bond do so knowing that every “no” vote counts twice (where a two-thirds majority is required to pass).

I welcome that those who advocate putting large project up to a vote also advocate having the outcome of the vote be decided by a simple majority.

EDITOR NOTE–Steve, you lost the simple majority vote, illegally used public money to advertise in favor of an expansion, then turned around and mounted another effort to pass a bond which also failed. I can go for a simple majority if you will let the voters have the ability to come back for a second shot like you did. Don’t forget to tell folks your board spent $750,000 in attorney fees to deny the citizen’s a vote.

Leave it to a lawyer to dispute reality. Expenses on trips are standard. I regularly spend 10x more than Vicky on similar conferences and expense every penny.

The main article stands – funding law has been twisted 180 degrees from the Idaho constitution. But that seems par for the course these days… everything has been twisted into the reverse, and those that stand up for the truth are torn down.

“War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength” – 1984

In response to The Editor’s comments to my post:

I do not take responsibility for the actions of GBAD before I was elected to the Board in 2013. I believe most or all of the ones cited took place prior to 2013.

In regard to the $750,000 in attorney fees, I actually voted against appealing to the Supreme Court because I felt other entities should share in the legal fees since the outcome would impact other entities in addition to GBAD. However, it should also be noted that those attorney fees were incurred ONLY because The Editor sued GBAD in the first place. Everyone, including GBAD, has the right to defend itself – and the Supreme Court confirmed that GBAD was right and The Editor was wrong. While it’s a shame that legal fees are so expensive, it was ultimately the actions of The Editor that created that expense.

EDITOR NOTE–For the record, Frazier prevailed twice in 4th District Court where judges affirmed GBAD violated the Idaho Constitution. Each time GBAD refiled, changing the finance plan, and eventually appealed to the Supreme Court.

Under the final scheme CCDC replaced the bank as a funding source and included a “walk away” clause. The plan was approved because the funding was shifted to the CCDC which has authority to sell bonds. Mr. Berch, defending the constitution is hardly worthy of your accusation that I created the expense. Had your board followed the constitution and allowed citizens to vote, you would have saved three quarters of a million dollars for the District and plenty of angst for me.

How can citizens control government spending? Here are a few suggestions:

1) Change your party affiliation to ‘unaffiliated.’ Both main parties have utterly failed the common man and need to be deleted. Refuse to vote for any candidate belonging to either party, don’t contribute to their campaigns or vote in their primaries. A mass exodus from the party apparatus sends a message of no confidence.

2) Vote with your wallet. Shop outside of Ada County, live frugally, shop online at retailers that don’t collect sales tax and starve the beast of revenue. Consider leaving the county to an area with lower property taxes.

3) Know who in your community supports the corrupt politicians and refuse to do business with them.

4) Peacefully protest at official government meetings and outside the homes of government officials. This is your 1st amendment right and sends a very strong message.

Certificates of partiipation: a local two-year college issued them a few years ago. Because they coiuldn’t pass a bond two or 3 times, so they went through the back door.

What was that money used for?

To Boise Lawyer, perhaps you should dig deeper than KTVB fake news. In nothing did the lawsuit claim I took money. When the disagreement occurred, me and the Chief Deputy gave a check to the County Clerk for every penny that was disputed. The Commissioners filed charges anyway. A single penny was ever missing by Ada County. Get your facts straight before writing FALSE INFORMATION.