Merchants of Debt Want You To Give Up A Constitutional Right

Idaho Merchants of Debt are trying get three constitutional changes passed by voters this November.  All three are asking you to give up your rights to vote on debts created by Hospitals, Airports, and Counties generating Electrical Power.  The claims by these debt merchants is the thousands of jobs depending on the ability to go into debt quickly and without your vote.

These Merchants of Debt are spending a bundle of cash on Television, Radio and any other means they can to get you out of the debt oversight for these boards and agencies.  "We need to act quickly" to save taxpayers money is the claim.

Here is the deal.  The Idaho Constitution requires a balanced budget and no public agency can go out beyond one budget year for any debts or liabilities without 2/3rds assent of voters.  Pretty simple, if they want to spend more than they take in they have to ask permission of "We The People".  The Republican platform has even come out against these changes.

The ability to act quickly is a red herring.  A few years back Meridian School District bought the JABIL property along the freeway in a very quick and businesslike manner for $19 million and they did it with all the strictures of the Idaho Constitution followed to the letter of the law.  They secured the terms and price of the property with the seller subject to a bond election that would require a 2/3 super majority of the voters.  The voters recognized the need and the good deal negotiated and passed the bond measure by a wide margin.

The GOLD CARD people pushing these changes are trying to convince you to give up a constitutional right to voter oversight of debt.  They are also asking to let boards and commissions put public assets up for collateral without your oversight.  We have enough voter abuse with Urban Renewal agencies circumventing voters and going into debt with no vote of the people of Idaho.

The three amendments to the Idaho Constitution deserve your NO VOTE.  There is a tremendous amount of money getting spent for you to give up a constitutional right we have all had for the past 110 years here in Idaho.  Follow the money on this one as it is just another MERCHANT OF DEBT EXERCISE. 

Keep Idaho debt under taxpayer control and oversight with your NO Vote November 2nd.

Nobody Wants to Talk About the High Cost of Death and Dying

It has taken about a year and a half to bring the final chapter of my father's life to a close. I filed his last IRS tax return a week ago.

 As trustee for his estate a full and complete picture of what is ahead for me and most people for that matter, came to the fore. You really can't escape death and taxes! My Father's estate matters have had a profound impact on me as this all draws to a close.  It has forced me to think logically about my own demise and how best to deal with this issue.

I watched the deterioration of my father as he made his trek to the end of life.  He was a Senior Research Engineer for Hughes Aircraft at the peak of his career.  He died at the ripe old age of 92. He survived two rounds of brain surgery, two rounds of heart bypass surgery, colon cancer but dementia moved in and robbed him of the ability to think clearly the last five years or so of his life.  In retrospect it was probably not a good thing he lived that long.  The main reason he did live that long is modern medicine and Medicare paying the bills.  There are no built in checks and balances with Medicare that would have intervened to shut off the flood of taxpayer dollars that went to keep him alive for so long. 

A review and reflection of his final years has led me to believe he lived about five years too long at a very high cost to taxpayers.  Costs for the medical heroics to keep him alive the last year was astronomical. The bills to his insurance company, Medicare and bank statements were very revealing as I sorted things out as the agent to take care of his estate.

The reasons is he opted for medical heroics up until the last day of his life remain a mystery to me, his oldest son and to my two younger brothers.  His quality of life and the pain and suffering he endured are hard to imagine.  He "fired" his cardiologist because the good doctor told him there was nothing more that could be done for him.  Yet the insurance and medicare systems continued to pay tens of thousands of dollars to keep him alive. Hospice care was out of the question at his insistence.  Nobody interveined to make the right end of life decision because the money kept flowing to keep him alive.

Hospice care would have been a much more dignified way to make the final exit in his case.  However, there is the reluctance in most cases for people and families to seize this opportunity.  We are buying into the hope there is a cure for not having to face death.  People and families are not willing to put a stop loss order on the costs inherent with keeping terminal familiy members alive. 

At some point in time the reality of just how much it costs to keep me alive will have to be dealt with by me and my family members.  I can only hope I have my mind intact and still capable of recognizing  the finite limits to life and make the decision to take advantage of hospice care.  The average age to death statistics are artificially high due to medical heroics. And for the most part do not offer any quality of life information or data to people prolonging the finality of death.

Old age and dying is a huge business in this country.  At some point an honest discussion of the costs of keeping terminal people alive will have to be made. The current state of denial is not sustainable. What is going on now is not a good thing for the people doing the dying or their family members.

Urban Renewal Is A Massive Property Tax Grab

URBAN RENEWAL IS A MASSIVE PROPERTY TAX GRAB! There is no such thing as free money, the tooth guy or the jolly guy in the red suit. All the lipstick in the world will not make urban renewal pretty.  It is, and remains, taxation without representation for property taxpayers.

 Nampa Development Corporation spent $108,000 to prevent a vote of the people when a legal challenge was made regarding their spending $68 million for a new police station and library without a vote of the people.

Caldwell East Urban Renewal has spent, borrowed and promised to pay $16.1 million for the new digs for Oregon Based TVCC and no vote of the people or taxpayer oversight.

Here, once again, is the deal on Urban Renewal Funding.  It is not free money, it is not federal funds returned to the local government.  It is a massive property tax grab (shift) put in place by the Idaho Legislature to circumvent voter approvals of pork barrel goodies property taxpayers all over the county get stuck paying..LIKE IT OR NOT:

You pay property taxes to Urban Renewal Agencies whether you live in the District or not. Urban Renewal is a massive property tax grab and has to be made up by higher levy rates for all property tax payers.

Prime agricultural lands are routinely included in Urban Renewal Districts.

Urban Renewal Agencies can condemn property via the “Power of Eminent Domain” and transfer it to private ownership.

Urban Renewal Districts issue Revenue Bond debt without voter approval or taxpayer oversight. It eliminates your Idaho Constitutional rights to vote on debt.

Urban Renewal Districts siphon off millions of property tax dollars from local taxing districts every year, increasing everyone’s property taxes.

Urban Renewal commissioners are appointed by Mayors; they are not elected by voters. There is no voter oversight of Urban Renewal Agencies and commissioners.

Urban Renewal Agencies can legally become developers and construct commercial projects for lease in direct competition with the private sector.

IDAHO URBAN RENEWAL LAW NEEDS TO BE AMENDED OR REPEALED.

Let your Legislators know you want this abuse of taxpayers to stop. Most Legislators do not know how UR works against property owners.

The fix is simple:
1. Voter approval in a county wide election to approve formation of UR agencies due to county tax impacts
2. UR Boards stand for county wide election due to county tax impacts
3. Life of the agencies to be no more than 10 years and a defined project plan with no changes to include additions not covered in original plan
4. Debt bonding to stand for county wide elections due to county tax impact 
5. UR agencies confined to blighted downtown areas and are prohibited by statute from inclusion of ag land in the district.

Pretty simple fix to a pork barrel program that  is totally out of control in Idaho. Most Legislators do not understand how UR agencies are pilfering the pockets of all county property tax payers and this needs a legislative fix.

It takes no talent to spend other people's hard earned money!  We are not taxed too little, our elected officials spend too much of our money without our approval.

IPTV Forum on Why Politicos Think You No Longer Need to Vote On Debt And White Paper On Issues

On September 23rd at 8:30PM, my friend Dave Frazier will be debating 7th District   Idaho State Senator Joe Stegner about the Constitutional Amendments on the ballot this Fall that will further restrict your rights to vote on debts issued by elected Politicos for Airports, Hospitals, and Power Generating issues.  Do you really want to give these people the rights to spend money without any oversight?  It could happen if these amendments pass muster with those who take the time to vote.

Here is another in a series of articles Dave has written on November Ballot issues we will vote up or down.

By DAVID R. FRAZIER, editor Boise GUARDIAN  (http://www.boiseguardian.com/)

Bowing to the pressure of local government lobbyists, more than 2/3 of the 2010 legislature passed three proposed constitutional amendments dealing with AIRPORTS, PUBLIC HOSPITALS, and POWER GENERATING CITIES.

All three seek to deny citizens their existing rights to vote on public financing of these facilities. Not a single citizen or group of citizens came to the legislature begging to be relieved of their right to vote. Elected officials statewide don’t trust the judgement of voters to make the right choices.

It’s absurd to ask citizens to go to the polls and vote to deny themselves the right to vote and that’s exactly what HJR5 does. As a nation we have fought wars around the globe to insure that people have the right to vote, not deny them that right with deceptive wording on the ballot.

Instead of saying “WITHOUT PERMISSION OF VOTERS,” the craftily worded proposals relating to airports–HJR5–and Power Cities–HJR7–say bonds (public debt) “shall not be secured by the full faith and credit or the taxing power of the subdivision or regional airport authority”. Deceitful at best!

Article 8, section 3 of the constitution gives municipalities (cities and counties) certain spending authority, but in each case those local governments must obtain, “ASSENT OF THE ELECTORS.”

For years, local governments routinely went around the will of the people to finance pet projects by invoking the “ordinary and necessary” provision, which allowed municipalities to seek “judicial confirmation” from a district court judge that a project was legal. That all changed when David R. Frazier challenged the city of Boise’s plans to build a $19 million police station and later a $27 million parking garage–without seeking permission from the voters.

The airport parking garage issue went to the Idaho Supreme Court. The court issued the landmark FRAZIER decision in 2006 which carved in stone the fact municipalities MUST seek voter permission to spend funds that exceed a single year’s revenues. ALL money collected by government–regardless of the revenue source–is public money.

Frazier's victory put the brakes on wild local spending and prompted numerous attempts at legislation–including constitutional amendments.

None of the ballot measures tell voters in plain English the rights they currently hold will be ELIMINATED, but all three measures quietly avoid the key phrase “WITH ASSENT OF THE VOTERS.” The proposals need a simple majority at the polls to alter the constitution following the 2/3 vote of the legislature which put them on the ballot.

The issue is CITIZEN APPROVAL of debt rather than the merits of any particular project. In Idaho the citizens hold the “power of the purse.”

Gov. Candidates Weigh In On Constitutional Issues

Gov. Candidates Weigh In On Constitutional Issues

Both Repub Guv. Butch Otter and Dem opponent Keith Allred responded to a GUARDIAN question about the three proposed Idaho constitutional amendments on the November 2 ballot.

In a nutshell the three proposals deal with the right of citizens to approve public debt at AIRPORTS, PUBLIC HOSPITALS, and CITY OWNED ELECTRICITY SYSTEMS. All three seek to eliminate the existing constitutional requirement for local government to seek approval of citizens before entering into debt.

To his credit, Candidate Allred stepped right up and gave us an unequivocal answer:

I am a strong supporter of voters’ ability to decide whether to support bonds that are funded with tax dollars. But when bonding does not implicate tax dollars, we should hold leadership of these entities accountable for the job we hired them to do, and allow them to make such decisions. I will be voting ‘Yes’ on the Constitutional amendments as proposed.

Otter's camp gave the usual response:

The Governor has no official role in this process. His vote is no more or less important than any other citizen’s. It’s up to the people to decide on these issues – not the government. So Governor Otter does not want to unduly influence anyone’s views on ballot measures that he did not initiate or champion.

The GUARDIAN does not endorse candidates, but we are open in our editorial stance opposing measures which leave voters out of the governing process.

Written by: David R. Frazier  aka Boise Guardian

Smog Checks and False Positvie Failures Noted

THE GUARDIAN  recently learned vehicle emission testing is causing vehicle owners headaches and costing them a lot of money with FALSE DATA and FAILURES to pass the test.

Here is the first incident reported to THE GUARDIAN.  If you get your battery replaced and go in for a smog check before your vehicle's computer resets, you will likely fail to pass the emissions check.  You need to leave all your electrical accessories off for at least 50 miles of driving until the on board computer resets itself. 

The incident reported cost the vehicle owner an additional $50.00  and a day of lost use while the car got yet another check from a mechanic.  The mechanic and his equipment could find nothing wrong with the car in question.  He was aware of what a battery change can do and related this to the vehicle owner.  The vehicle was returned for yet another check and it passed with no actual repairs done.

Lesson here is, if you have your battery replaced, leave the radio/CD player/GPS off for a few days until the computer resets or face a rejection at the testing station.  $50 spent just to find this out points out the OBDC check system will give some owners headaches for no good reason.

Guardian Banned on Courthouse Computers

It has been reported to THE GUARDIAN that content of our blog has been blocked on courthouse computers!

 This issue came up a couple of years back when Rodney Astleford was the IT director.  Mr. Astleford was ordered to block Guardian content from the courthouse computers.  Mr. Astleford courageously stood his ground and stated Guardian content was a freedom of speech issue and refused to block what we had to say. 

We can only wonder if any other sites are blocked as well. Can county employees still download porn onto Canyon County Computers?  Can employees still access just about everything else except THE CALDWELL GUARDIAN?  We certainly hope no other sources of information have been cut off from view by county employees.

We don't have access to county computers to verify this but for now we will assume we have in fact been been banned in the Courthouse, the bastion of judicial jurisprudence and keepers of our Constitutional rights. County employees will just have to check on us at home for now.

 It would appear censorship has taken over at 1115 Albany Street by those who would control all the worker bees thoughts and reading material and limit their freedom.

YourRights to Vote on Debt May be Taken Away In November Election

White Paper Explains Constitutional Challenge To Voter Rights


Tuesday, August 31st

This is the first in what we expect to be many discussions of three constitutional amendments before Idaho voters on November 2. The GUARDIAN will be crusading like an old time newspaper editor to preserve our voting rights, defending the Idaho constitution and the rights of citizens to hold the “power of the purse” when it comes to public debt. The issue is one of “right vs power-hungry politicos” rather than any particular project.

A Boise GUARDIAN White Paper

There are three proposed amendments to the Idaho Constitution on the November 2 ballot and all seek to deny electors the existing constitutional right to approve municipal debt.

Article 8, section 3 of the constitution gives municipalities (cities and counties) certain spending authority, but in each case those local governments must obtain, “ASSENT OF THE ELECTORS.”

For years, local governments routinely went around the will of the people to finance pet projects by invoking the “ordinary and necessary” provision, which allowed municipalities to seek “judicial confirmation” from a district court judge that a project was legal.

That all changed when Boise citizen David R. Frazier challenged the city of Boise’s plans to build a $19 million police station and later a $27 million parking garage–without seeking permission from the voters.

The airport parking garage issue went to the Idaho Supreme Court. The court issued the landmark FRAZIER decision in 2006 which carved in stone the fact municipalities MUST seek voter permission to spend funds that exceed a single year’s revenues. In short: DEBT that requires either bonds or other long term obligations to spend citizen money.

The court also defined “ordinary and necessary” to be unforeseen expenses of an emergency nature involving public safety or mandated by a court order that couldn’t wait until the next election for voter approval. That put the brakes on wild local spending and prompted numerous attempts at legislation–including constitutional amendments.

In 2010 at the urging of municipalities the legislature passed three proposed constitutional amendments dealing with AIRPORTS, PUBLIC HOSPITALS, and POWER GENERATING CITIES.

None of the ballot measures tell voters in plain English the rights they currently hold will be eliminated, but all three measures quietly eliminate the key phrase “with assent of the voters.” The proposals need a simple majority at the polls to alter the constitution following the 2/3 vote of the legislature which put them on the ballot.

The issue is CITIZEN APPROVAL of debt rather than the merits of any particular project. In Idaho the citizens hold the “power of the purse.”