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I know, I just don’t give up. Here it is just for you – 44 pages of stuff from Betsy Russell. If you can’t get it from the government just ask Betsy for it. Unreal. She might as well quit her day job and just run for political office or get a special appointment of some sort. I know it’s out there somewhere. Again, If you can’t get it from the AG’s office just ask Betsy!
I contacted Betsy Russell with the Spokesman Review per my thoughts from this post on Idaho’s Secret Society. She is on the Idaho Judicial Media/Courts Committee and Rule 32 Committee. It is important that we know what these people are doing. I wanted the minutes but the AG’s office does not have them. They don’t have lots of stuff like calendars of meetings ect., but not Betsy Russell – she has pages and pages including an agenda and their last approved minutes. However, she does not remember the last time the Rule 32 committee met (judicial records).
Granted, she provided me with some very nice information, however, she stayed away from real concerns like judge’s spouses on committees and how the judiciary can ignore some of the laws because it’s their constitutional prerogative.
She sent me 44 pages of information! Minutes from their last meeting and the draft of a handbook for judges about the media: A Handbook: “Idaho Judges Guide to the Media“. I guess they (judges) need some education. But, what we really need is a handbook for the public on these judicial committees!
I encourage you all to read the stuff Betsy Russell has provided the public and get your input in anyway you can! I am refraining from any personal opinion at this time – it’s yours to peruse.
A point of local interest: Mike Patrick,Editor for the CdA Press is also on the Judicial Media/Courts Committee – the Idaho judiciary website is not correct and does not reflect his membership at this time. Patti Tobias is supposed to keep that up to date. She is the Director of the Courts and a very busy woman. However, nobody really tries to keep track of these judicial committees except me. 
Now, why should I have to go to the media to get this stuff? You would think our government would have it readily available to us? Ya think?
 …well at least some of them.
This is bad, very, very bad. According to Wayne Hoffman with the Idaho Freedom Foundation: Court ruling a big blow for the Constitution
“The handmaidens of Big Government are the judges of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, of which Idaho is a part. Earlier this month, the court allowed to stand a ruling that says police can surreptitiously attach a GPS device to your car, track your movements and monitor your activities — all without needing a search warrant.”
Here is the case filed August 12th, 2010. A few of the judges dissented viewing this as little kids playing on the street but they are the cops instead.
Excerpt:
“The needs of law enforcement, to which my colleagues seem inclined to refuse nothing, are quickly making personal privacy a distant memory. 1984 may have come a bit later than predicted, but it’s here at last.
The facts are disturbingly simple: Police snuck onto Pineda-Moreno’s property in the dead of night and attached a GPS tracking device to the underside of his car. The device continuously recorded the car’s location, allowing police to monitor all of Pineda-Moreno’s movements without the need for visual surveillance.
The panel holds that none of this implicates the Fourth Amendment, even though the government concedes that the car was in the curtilage of Pineda-Moreno’s home at the time the police attached the tracking device. The panel twice errs in very significant and dangerous ways.”
… this invasion of privacy was all because some folks saw these guys buy fertilizer at Home Depot. From Judge Reinhardt:
I concur in Chief Judge Kozinski’s dissent.I have served on this court for nearly three decades. I regret that over that time the courts have gradually but deliberatel yreduced the protections of the Fourth Amendment to the point at which it scarcely resembles the robust guarantor of our constitutional rights we knew when I joined the bench.
 I have about exhausted further efforts to gather information about our Idaho Judicial Committees. It’s beyond reasonable, it’s nearly impossible because nothing is either there or it takes time to get the information – generally late enough to keep the public out of the loop. I don’t know, maybe Betsy Russell with the Spokesman Review knows something? She is on a few of the Idaho judicial committees and she is a seasoned reporter for the Spokesman Review (Washington paper) and covers many political events, people, and the courts in Idaho. Our judicial government site boasts of all these committees but some do not meet formally nor take minutes. They keep no record of their meetings, nor do we have timely record keeping for the ones that choose to draft minutes. This is because they can do what ever they want. They have all the power and we have none. It is their Idaho consitutional right. This is because we have a weak and puny legislature.
I knew that the Idaho Judicial Administrative Conference met in July. There were several things on their plates I was interested in – but, nope, no minutes. Then the Media/Courts Committee met awhile ago. Betsy Russell with the Spokesman Review is on that one including the Rule 32 Committee (judicial records committee), but, NOPE – no records there either at least not yet, maybe in a couple of months or so?
Just what the hell are these people doing in the shadows?
Latest reply from the AG’s office – they just skirt around my requests now. They send me duplicates and when I want real stuff, it’s not available or does not exist. This type of thing just keeps repeating itself over and over again. I am lucky I got what I did. In order to keep it tidier, I asked for their calendar of meetings. Nope, that is not in existence. This is Idaho judicial record keeping per the Idaho AG’s office. No calendar, no way to keep track of the meetings, no way to ask for past minutes, just no way to find out anything – it’s just one big secret society.
As for the Judicial Meeting Calendar for 2009 and 2010, I do not believe we have a single document that would include all meetings
The Coeur d’Alene City Election Contest Lawsuit
Anyone who votes in any federal, state, or local election anywhere in Idaho ought to know about the
ongoing city election contest lawsuit in Coeur d’Alene. The lawsuit reveals the need for a
comprehensive review of the state’s election law administration, especially pertaining to residency,
campaign finance, and timely resolution of election disputes. Felony criminal prosecutions should be
considered in Kootenai County for perjury, forgery, and alteration of sworn public documents
If you want to digest in non legalese all of the facts surrounding the Coeur d’Alene Elections Contest, you can read it right here. This paper was sent to the legislature in Idaho and many others. Do they have comment or are they just counting on their own elections being administrated as negligently as this one in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho? Why are they hiding? Why aren’t they outraged? Well, they must want to win any way they can. All elected officials need to question this election because if they don’t you can be sure they lack the integrity to represent us and our vote essentially doesn’t matter.
For accurate commentary - vist this citzen journalism site : OpenCdA. Next Hearing on several motions: Tuesday (August 31) at 3 p.m. in Courtroom 2 of the Old Courthouse, Judge Hosack presiding – CdA, Idaho.
I wrote this post awhile ago, Idaho Judicial Branch Violates State Statute? My main question concerns the formation of the Judicial Committees which are in direct conflict of this Idaho Statute:
1-214.Assistance in formulation of rules. The Supreme Court is hereby authorized to appoint from among the district judges of Idaho and the members of the organized bar of Idaho such persons as it deems advisable to assist it in the formulation of such rules.
From the Idaho Attorney General’s Office:
The question you have presented with regard to the Court’s rules raises a fairly significant Separation of Powers (Art. 2, Sec. 1, Idaho Constitution). Although the legislature has indicated that the Court is authorized to appoint from among the bar and bench for purposes of its Rules committees, it is likely a power that the Court has absent any authorizing legislation. It appears that the legislature recognizes the Court’s independent authority in this respect through Idaho Code sec. 1-212, which states: Rule-making power recognized. The inherent power of the Supreme Court to make rules governing procedure in all the courts of Idaho is hereby recognized and confirmed.
Meaning “ inherent power” to do whatever they (judiciary) want. However, since they have gone beyond the statute and are now appointing the private sector to their committees (mostly their favorites to get the job done), it is important to note that any person can volunteer to be on the judiciary committees and lobby the judiciary their concerns or oppose others. Also, the meetings are open and we can attend and volunteer to serve on them. The judiciary is not subject to the OML – Open Meeting Laws.
Here is the Separation of Powers:
Section 1.Departments of government. The powers of the government of this state are divided into three distinct departments, the legislative, executive and judicial; and no person or collection of persons charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any powers properly belonging to either of the others, except as in this constitution expressly directed or permitted
Just say’n – if we don’t get on some of those committees the Judiciary will continue to walk all over the Legislative and Executive Branch. The judiciary is now drafting and has stated that their chosen committees can draft laws. Then, at the same time they can ignore the laws they choose – the ones our Legislature and Executive branch have passed into law. They also suspend rules when it suits them if they don’t like the way lawyers are using them. They just form another committee to study the issue and get it tweaked the way they want it.
I have been told that to provide any legislative oversight, we would need to have a constitutional amendment proposed and passed by two thirds of the legislature and a majority of voters and folks. It is doubtful that is going to happen. This is Idaho.
In the meantime, our Judiciary just ignores laws, drafts the ones they want, gets the ones passed that they want and all of this with no public input – only from the chosen ones on the committees. That is why we need to get interested in our Judiciary so we can have a say in some of the rules that affect our rights to due process.
Those who are interested in volunteering to serve on one of these committees should contact Patti Tobias, Director of the Idaho Courts (208) 334-2246, to assist in identifying those opportunities. The judiciary committee meetings are open to the public if you can find out when and what time they meet. Because if we don’t, we are screwed – not that we aren’t anyway.
Whatever happened to that equal protections under the law thing? Can I ignore the law? Oh, that’s right, this is Idaho. We can ignore the Constitution, too. That pesky Article I:
Section 2.Political power inherent in the people. All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for their equal protection and benefit, and they have the right to alter, reform or abolish the same whenever they may deem it necessary; and no special privileges or immunities shall ever be granted that may not be altered, revoked, or repealed by the legislature.
P.S. I have been critiqued as followed:
An idea can be drafted into an RS (routing slip) which is the first step toward making a law. That RS must have a legislative sponsor to carry it to a hearing of the Germaine legislative committee in either the House or the Senate. If it meets the will of the committee, it is sent to print and assigned a bill number. Then, it is heard again, almost always in the same committee that printed it, where the public is invited to testify. If a majority of the committee members believe it is good, they will send it to the floor of the body, House or Senate, for consideration. If it passes that body, the same process beginning with a committee hearing with public input, starts on the other side. If it passes both bodies, it is sent to the Governor, who also considers public input, for his signature. To suggest that the judiciary has the authority to pass laws is incorrect and to suggest that the public cannot provide testimony on passage of an idea that starts in the judiciary is also not right.
My thoughts: We need to be on these committees (judicial) because it is almost a guarantee that the judicary can pass whatever they want and ignore what the legislature passes. There is not enough public participation at the judicary committee level. They can pass surcharges that increases fees and they can draft rules that waive the Idaho Court Rules of Evidence. The public may get a say at the Legislative level but it is not there for the court rules process. What legislative committee is going to say,”No” to the judiciary?
Here is my example. An order from the Judiciary. The judicary does not have confidential RSs to my knowledge.
Here is my point and reply from Senator John Goedde (R), Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho:
If you are on a judicial committee of if you are a private citizen with no judicial affiliation, you can ask a legislator to draft a bill which starts as an RS. You are right, an RS is the personal property of the legislator until it is approved for printing. The order you provide a link to is not a statutory change but a change within the court system where the legislature has no oversight.
 Times are not that tough. Really they are not. Not in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The Mayor does not think so and neither does her cohort group of thieves – the LCDC (Lake City Development Corporation) think so.
Tom Hasslinger with the CDAPress tells us that those “Big Ticket” items are getting prepped to go. “Namely, a redone McEuen Field in downtown Coeur d’Alene and a revamped education corridor near the North Idaho College campus.”
“That’s what we’ve been saving for,” said Tony Berns, LCDC executive director. “The board has been wise to leverage a lot of our resources by borrowing money when money was cheap, so we’re in a good position to tap into that cash to most likely help pay for some of these big-ticket items.”
The key word is “help,” that’s why property taxes are going up. Wayne Hoffman with Idaho Freedom reports, Spending, tax increases are not ‘conservative’ budgets “In Coeur d’Alene, the city is contemplating a 1.5 percent increase in property taxes. “We’re asking the citizens an awful lot, but this is the best balance we can come up with,” said Mayor Sandi Bloem, according to a story in the Coeur d’Alene Press.”
Unbelievable. Some benefit. Homes in foreclosure, real estate at rock bottom, jobs are scarce, our governments are taking madatory furloughs and the city plans to RAISE TAXES so they can pay for those “big ticket” luxury items that will enhance their vision. They need eye exams, badly. I also have a feather for them and a place they can stick it so CDA gets sufficient public attention.
According to Jay Howell with the Idaho Freedom Foundation, taxpayers have paid out more than $200,000 since 2003 through the Idaho Judicial Branch in hiring their public relations firm, Gallatin Public Affairs.
Furthermore, Idaho State Code 67-5716 exempts a number of state government entities from the bidding process, the Judicial Branch among them:
14) Agency. All officers, departments, divisions, bureaus, boards, commissions and institutions of the state, including the public utilities commission, but excluding other legislative and judicial branches of government (emphasis ours), and excluding the governor, the lieutenant governor, the secretary of state, the state controller, the state treasurer, the attorney general, and the superintendent of public instruction, and, as provided in section 67-5728, Idaho Code, excluding Lewis-Clark State College, Idaho State University, Boise State University and Eastern Idaho Technical College.
So the Judicial Branch is legally free to award contracts to whomever it sees fit, provided it’s done “in accordance with good business practice and in the best interest of the state.
Evidently, according to Patti Tobias, Administrative Director of the Courts.
Awhile ago, I told you about Richard Carlton. He was hired through the  newly formed Idaho Judicial Wellness Committee (read the Wellness Committee Minutes and the Administrative Conference) to operate the secret hotline for Idaho Judges and their families. He is from out of state and was hired so things “don’t get spread around” according to their own minutes. That is why they did not hire anyone from Idaho. I guess their own physicians and medical teams are not trustworthy. That is why they need a secret hotline. No competitive bidding for that employment, however – just at the direction of the appointed members of that judicial committee.
What confuses me is why does the Judicial Branch continue to ignore this statute that distinctly says only Judges and Idaho State Bar Members are to be on the judicial committees? You see – they are appointing their favorite Tom, Dick, and Harrys including spouses of judges to support whatever might be on their agenda. No public input or approval needed as they spend our money for WHATEVER.
1-214.Assistance in formulation of rules. The Supreme Court is hereby authorized to appoint from among the district judges of Idaho and the members of the organized bar of Idaho such persons as it deems advisable to assist it in the formulation of such rules.
Rep. Lynn Luker, R-Boise, questions why the judiciary needs to contract with a public relations firm in the first place. “If they need to issue a press release, why can’t they just do it from the administrator’s office?” he said. “Why do they need to spend that money in the first place, instead of just issuing a press release if they need to?” Luker is a practicing attorney, and a member of the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee.
Well, he’s got that right! Let me make this clear. Luker is a legislator on the HOUSE Committee which is different from the Judicial Committees. However, he is on the right legislative committee to illicit change and ask the right questions.
Why does the Judicial Branch need a public relations firm? Afer all, if they need to convene a Conflict Resolution Panel you just call Patti Tobias (208-334-2246) or Betsy Russell with the Spokesman Review (Washington paper) and the Idaho Press Club (208-336-2854). That panel was established by the Media/Courts Committee to help “sort out significant conflicts of courthouse coverage on a case-by case basis. The panel can speak with or mediate on behalf of any lawyer, judge or journalist faceing a free press/fair trial issue ” (p.35 The Judicial Family Handbook created by the Judicial Wellness Committee). Oh yeah, Betsy Russell is one of those non attorney – non judges on those judicial committees (Rule 32) that I believe violates the statute – I.C. 1-214.
No coverage on that! Chief Justice is thinking that he is above the law and he is one lucky cat because he has PR Firms and special hotlines to protect him! Not to mention that if his retirement fund becomes jeopardized, he’ll just get a special EMERGENCY increase orchestrated to beef up his account!
P.S. I am not an attorney. This is not legal advice. I could be wrong. But, then attorneys can get it wrong too - so can judges – except my Chief Justice. :-)
“‘World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is August 1st - 7th and celebrates the signing of the Innocenti Declaration, produced and  adopted in 1990 by participants at the WHO/UNICEF meeting on “Breastfeeding in the 1990s: A Global Initiative on the Protection, promotion and Support of Breastfeeding.” The document lists the benefits of breastfeeding, plus global and governmental goals. World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated in 120 countries on various dates.”
So, in honor of World Breastfeeding, I would like to introduce you to Cover My Heart. Cover My Heart is a brand new business starting with their own sweat and skills. All covers made by hand (for  now). CoverMyHeart.com is a patent pending, breastfeeding blanket that offers breast feeding mothers convenient breastfeeding anytime, anywhere with nursing privacy, comfort, reliability, back support and style.
The padded heart offers support and easily weights the blanket for ease in breastfeeding.
Remember, awhile ago when the Idaho Legislature wanted to enforce public breastfeeding as illegal? They were not comfortable with brazen exposure at the public dining arena. Well, this is the discreet and modest solution to their woes! Make them happy. Take a look at CoverMyHeart!
This custom design offers discreet nursing, coverage, back support, comfort, and security. Trust it!
Affordable!
GAD, Idaho local and state politics are at an all time low. It is just so massive it is difficult to wrap your brain around all of it. The Idaho Tax Commission is getting caught with sweet secret tax deals for the favored, politicians are making headway even though the IRS is after them big time (definitely going to use both of those examples for any interest I have to cough up because I filed too late), our vote is seriously compromised with the emergence of evidence that proves gross negligence and illegal voters (including one from a judge’s business address), and not to mention that our Judicial Branch is running rabid with no restraint and nobody can stop them. Can’t even ”Celebrate” without being called a bigot or racist if you don’t “Fiesta” instead. There is more – lot’s more, but that’s enough for now, I would rather look at the water.
Yeah, look at the water and it all goes away. No tourists, no billboards, no massive mansions and ruined shores - just real serenity and calm – a place you can still take your dogs for a bath and your horses for a walk. Rare.
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