Business
Boise Mayor’s Secret Trip Betrays Public Trust
December 1, 2021 
Boise Mayor Lauren McLean has betrayed a public trust by entering into a secret agreement with an unknown business while depriving citizens of any knowledge of attempts to increase population and demand for services in the city.
Her allegiance appears to be to corporate America rather than the citizens of Boise since she has a “non-disclosure agreement” with the business (according to the BoiseDev story) in an effort to deprive citizens of information until the timing is right.
A November story in BOISEDEV details the mayor’s secret taxpayer-funded trip to an undisclosed destination to meet secretly with an undisclosed business in an attempt to lure them to Boise.
While growth, the “housing crises,” and increased demand on sewers, water, schools, and municipal services are major issues, it appears our city mother is far from transparent in her actions.
In a transparent environment citizens would be advised of the interest a business may have and the intent of local politicos to sort of “test the water.” Instead we citizens are left to navigate the cloudy waters until it is too late to effectively protest any actions.
Perhaps some “water renewal” is in order.
UPDATE–Evening TV news on the national CBS segment showed a feature on Boise being the #1 least affordable city in the USA when it comes to housing. Secret government encouraging more workers needing more houses will do little to abate the “housing crises.”
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Comments & Discussion
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Dec 1, 2021, 7:56 pm
Sounds like a RECALL IS IN ORDER.
Dec 1, 2021, 8:02 pm
This mayor has been the biggest disappointment to me, for reasons such as typified in the latest blog.
Dec 1, 2021, 8:18 pm
And she lies like a rug
Dec 1, 2021, 9:27 pm
Large companies sometimes cannot disclose such information because it could negatively affect stock prices. This is NORMAL behavior. Obviously the writers of the “Boise Guardian” didn’t vote for McLean and are trying to smear her with this spin piece. Fake news.
EDITOR NOTE–You are wrong and obviously uninformed. We offered well intended reasonable advice after her election https://boiseguardian.com/2019/12/03/mclean-wins-by-near-super-majority/ She obviously has chosen to ignore the very reasons that got her elected.
Dec 1, 2021, 9:28 pm
That doesn’t surprise me. She is as liberal as they come but what surprises me is that the conservative citizens of Boise actually elected her, that’s what’s surprising. Boise, I thought you were better than that! Your City of Trees is going to become the City of Trash if she stays in office. She is buddies with the most hated Governor in America Kate Brown of Oregon and look how Brown has ran Portland into the trash. You better get her out before it’s too late!!!
Dec 1, 2021, 9:58 pm
Transparency has become worse since she was elected. The recent news that the City won’t release the Murgoitio report paid for with taxpayer money is another recent example.
EDITOR NOTE–And skirting the council by hiring a fire chief without consulting them.
Dec 2, 2021, 2:23 am
She was a key part of TeamDave until the few weeks before her election when she surprised the entrenched fatcat former mayor with a very strong campaign as the AntiDave. A lie of course. Now in power, she has learned from the best and knows no other way. She still has plenty of TeamDave involved at city hall. She runs a huge political machine with national connections and money so Boise voters are a smallish concern. Most important factor of all is she’s a hardcore liberal. The ends always justify the means for a liberal. These people would break a few eggs if not so likely to get punished for it in today’s America so don’t be surprised by lessor violations of trust. I’m curious if the local fake TV news has covered it at all.
Dec 2, 2021, 3:41 am
Dumb article. What mayor doesn’t work on many issues at simultaneously. What mayor doesn’t try to promote and attract the right businesses that will create better jobs for its people. What mayor in history hasn’t taken tax payer funded trips? Beiter and Coles were flying all over the world.
EDITOR NOTE–Bieter was voted out and Coles went to jail after resigning in shame.
Dec 2, 2021, 8:31 am
So, this is a hard one for me. I hate how fast things are changing in the Valley (mostly for the worse, in my mind, which likely matches the sentiments of most reader here), but I also understand that one of the roles of the mayor is to watch for opportunities they believe will improve the city. Quite the needle to thread, me thinks.
What my dream would be is to improve the economic opportunities available to long-time residents without the accompanying growth and pressures. I know that isn’t realistic, but a fellow can dream, right?
Dec 2, 2021, 10:07 am
Your rag is going onto my spam list.
Dec 2, 2021, 10:26 am
Boise is a beautiful city. And what makes Boise one of the best is the amazing, involved citizens. Why do elected officials when elected suddenly think the citizens are dumb and should not be involved is beyond me.
I do think Boise is a fairly blank slate. And should be utilizing that to the cities advantage. Like solar on every new construction, residential as well as commercial and industrial. That all industrial developments provide staving areas for trucks, so they don’t clog the truck stops trying to do business.That transit routes reflect the hours of business that they service. Use smaller busses, with better services.Ligbt pollution, it is terrible. Use to be able to see stars in the back yard. And infrastructure needs to be built before the the construction of the projects. And it needs to be built on a 100 year plan. I remember when Orchard and Capital were single lane. Downtown expansion should have thought it’s self out a little further. Suburban sprawl, build high rise apartments versus these ugly already outdated complexes! So keep the developers out of our politics. And don’t reelect anyone who doesn’t encourage citizen involvement. Just say, No. And have a clause in new development that local Idaho companies are given preference to corporate chains.Would rather have a Flying Pie tucked into an Industrial Park with Housing tucked in there than a Pizza Hut any day.
Dec 2, 2021, 10:52 am
You mouth breathin’ native Idahoan idiots need to die from Covid already. Let us fix the mess your idiocy and bigotry created.
John R. Simplot
Dec 2, 2021, 10:55 am
In 1971, the rock group The Who released “Won’t get fooled again.” The last line of the song is Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
When you hire a member of Team Dave’s staff you should know you’ll get the same.
Dec 2, 2021, 12:18 pm
Surprised?
She is just another wannabe career politician looking to climb the ladder while presenting a “vote for me and I will give you hope-and-change” agenda. Of course given low voter participation in the 2019 elections, she was easily provided with a path to the palace.
Also not surprised that it took a national news organization to finally shine some light at just how crazy things have gotten here. The local news channels continue to serve up their usual menu of human interest fluff, filler stories from “sister stations” out of state, and regurgitating press releases.
Dec 2, 2021, 12:37 pm
What do you expect from a Portland Oregon transplant
Dec 2, 2021, 3:44 pm
Guardian, you surely know better than this. There is nothing wrong with the mayor of a city entering a non-disclosure agreement with a company seeking to do business in the mayor’s city, if it was for the purposes of determining whether the opportunity was possible. If this thing, whatever it is, develops further then the city government will have to make all of the normal disclosures and will have to engage in a public process. Keeping the initial discussions confidential is normal, best practice, however. This trip appears to be an example of a mayor doing her job and this article appears to be an example of an uninformed, baseless rant.
Dec 2, 2021, 3:55 pm
McLean for Governor…..
Dec 2, 2021, 4:18 pm
As stated already, this is NORMAL operational business for ANY mayor. Not so secret if we all know she made a trip. But the editor has the Great Carnac view to know it’s for enticing a corporation? The BoiseDev piece did not say such and is only speculating. Amazing insight here though. Well, it doesn’t “betray my trust” at all.
The Guardian ought to be more concerned with all the expensive city paid travel for the police department buddies. Did Chief Matterson report every minute of his paid travel? Secret meetings with police vendors?
Can we hear it for bad, polarized political blogging? I suppose if the mayor was a republican, white, male, the Guardian would dry up with boredom.
‘you are wrong and uninformed’ in the editor’s note? maybe the Editor would fit right in with a Twitter account.
Dec 3, 2021, 9:47 am
The Public’sTrust?
The mayor is not from Portland.
Public knowledge that she has lived in Boise for a long time and contributed to Boise much more than keyboard blogging.
It is bad form when the Editor doesn’t drop a “Note” on such incorrect posts.
I agree with the above posts- a bad and needless Headline and story, especially coming out of a slumber for it.
What happened to “the fire is not burning” and “don’t want to focus on all the bad”?
Dec 3, 2021, 11:25 am
Thank you for this article. I expect exactly this kind of subversion from this mayor as she has shown as NOTHING better since her election. RECALL and soon!!
Dec 3, 2021, 1:45 pm
She is my employee. I hired her with my vote. Under what scenario may she usurp some right to conceal and be deceptive in her activities, all activities, to her employer. If she does not like the scrutiny, she may resign or not stand for the position again. I have the right to reprimand by recall or not hiring her again with my vote, next cycle. In the meantime, keep an eye out for me please, Editor. Even if it may appear biased and picky to some of your naysayers. I appreciate your necessary function. Thanks.
Dec 3, 2021, 10:08 pm
Looking back at the 2019 election, it makes sense what their strategy was. Dave Bieter knew he was losing favor with voters after the library and stadium debacles, and cozy relationships with developers: an opportunity for an outsider presented itself. Former Team Dave sycophant Lauren enters the race to “oppose” Bieter, et voila, a runoff between two Team Davers.
NDAs are legal instruments from the business world that have no place interfering with complete honesty between public officials and citizens.
Dec 4, 2021, 7:59 am
Two schools of thought in the comments:
1) Mayor McLean is indeed growth-at-all-costs to the already-here citizens (similar to the tone of the Guardian article), and
2) Quitcher bitchin, heronner is just taking care of her mayorly duties.
There may be some truth to both… however consider – which other local news outlets are doing ANY scrutiny of the dealings and double-dealings in local government? “The press” is pretty much non-existent anymore in these parts. If you watch the TV news, you see well-coiffed talking heads reading press releases, along with a few crashes and the Daybells. Sports in 30 seconds!
I appreciate the Boise Guardian’s efforts to keep us informed, and I’m happy to entertain his OPINIONS, mixed in with the facts. (Generally in agreement with his opinions, too.)
– Boise Native Growthophobe
Dec 4, 2021, 6:12 pm
Bikeboy…in your recap of local news you forgot 5 minutes of weather every 10 minutes. And we don’t have a lot of weather!
Dec 5, 2021, 8:01 am
Point taken, Erico49. (When the weather deviates slightly from the norm, it gets 15 minutes of coverage.)
Oh – and I forgot the regular Ammon Bundy updates. Ol’ Ammon is pretty entertaining. I like the current story – campaigning for governor = community service!
Dec 7, 2021, 9:44 am
Wow…you sure got the WOKE crowd to slither out of the shadows with this one!
The TRUE colors of progressive=hubris are flying for sure. I love how it USED to be that ANY corporate/government collusion was swiftly criticized by Leftists and rightly so. Now, in just a few years past…corporations are the new progressive darlings…much like they became in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.
Matt Carter, how do you know that she will “attract the right businesses that will create better jobs for its people”….were YOU at the secret meeting? We don’t know any of this other than Micron might be getting more sweet incentives. Just what are the “right businesses” for Boise?
Boise Lawyer….what if a conservative mayor was meeting with a firearms manufacturer in secret, would you want to know that?
JR SIMPLOT faker….thanks for your most honest feelings…we already know how your kind feels.
Dec 7, 2021, 1:12 pm
Forced Air, I think a firearms manufacturer would suit our city very well and I would encourage any mayor to hold talks with that industry. We need more good, manufacturing jobs and Idaho’s relatively liberal gun laws combined with Boise’s proximity to the interstate and a medium-hub airport make it a logical choice. It’s fine with me if a mayor meets prospective firearms manufacturer to explore possibilities and then engages in a public process if it looks like there is a potential deal.
Dec 8, 2021, 7:52 am
Boise Lawyer, well…that’s a very consistent position and I applaud it. I’m sure that many from the progressive camp would NOT appreciate a non-disclosed status in that event.
I still demand transparency because I want to know what kind of large economic influences may be coming to our area. I want to know if we will be further infiltrated by Cali-fornication that brings ironic voting patterns from that failed state.
Dec 29, 2021, 8:16 pm
I find this entire article beneath the Boise Guardian. Having worked for years in corporate growth strategies, this is a common practice that you try to make sinister with your slant and word choices. You are better than this!
Mar 24, 2022, 1:24 pm
I dare anyone to do a FOI request to find out how much tax payer dollars were spent on this trip so she could connect with business. Someone I know said it was waaaay more than what it should have been.