Bieter takes new job with Boise developer who helped his campaign
After four terms as mayor, former Boise Mayor David Bieter is going to work for a Boise developer.
David Wali, executive vice president of Gardner Co., told the Statesman on Tuesday that Bieter would joining the company as a project manager.
Gardner Co. is a Salt Lake City development firm with a Boise office. It’s known for several downtown buildings, including the Eighth and Main building, often called the Zions Bank building.
Bieter left office after 16 years after he lost to Lauren McLean in December’s runoff election. Wali said Bieter considered other offers but ultimately opted to join Gardner.
“He has experience in this community for his entire life,” Wali said. “The Gardner philosophy is to figure out what the community needs as part of a development strategy, and a guy that’s been in the public sector has a pretty good idea what the community needs.”
Bieter’s background is in law, and he worked as an attorney for cities and counties around the state, including with the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office. He also had his own firm focused on municipal law.
Wali said the project manager job means people will see Bieter at public meetings around the Treasure Valley, likely working on projects involving housing. If Bieter were to speak at Planning and Zoning Commission meetings in Boise, it would mean he would be testifying before several people he appointed.
Bieter also remains on the board of the Capital City Development Corp., Boise’s urban renewal agency. McLean wants him to step down, but Bieter told the Statesman at the board’s Monday meeting that he is staying on the board “as far as I’m aware.”
CCDC works with developers, including Gardner, to make physical improvements and bring new development to struggling areas. CCDC forms urban renewal districts, in which taxing entities — such as cities, schools and the highway district — continue to collect the taxes from within the renewal district’s territory at the time it was formed — but no more than that. Any new property tax revenue created by new development or rising property values goes to the district, which can spend it on projects like streetscapes and utility connections to new apartment buildings.
During his re-election campaign, Bieter received a $1,000 donation from Wali and $1,000 from Wali’s wife, Kathy.
Wali also was one of the developers who created the “Responsible Government Fund,” a pro-Bieter political action committee that paid for phone calls and mailers criticizing McLean’s policy on homelessness. Wali donated $10,000 to the PAC. A campaign spokesman for Bieter said at the time that there was no coordination between Bieter’s campaign and the PAC.
After the election, Wali and his wife each donated $1,000 to McLean. Wali also donated $500 to her 2011 City Council re-election campaign.
Bieter, in a text message Tuesday, declined to comment on his new position, which was first reported by KTVB.
This story was originally published March 9, 2020 at 10:28 PM.
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