‘Socialist wish list’: Proposals in report to Boise mayor draw conservatives’ ire
A report to Boise Mayor Lauren McLean — written by a transition team she put together when elected mayor — is causing a stir, especially among conservatives, for what it recommends McLean do in her first term.
The report, written by 18 committee members, including some of McLean’s staff, recommends that the mayor make changes aimed at improving social relations and economic well-being, including steps to:
- Effectively make Boise a sanctuary city, including ending coordination with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
- Provide free contraception, abortion and reproductive health care for all Boiseans.
- Commit the city “to an ongoing and robust efforts to interrupt white dominant/white supremacist culture.”
- Work with Ada County to close juvenile detention centers and to eliminate cash bail and fines.
- Provide public funding of municipal campaigns and free internet across the city.
- Collaborate with the Boise School District to develop sex education classes that would run from pre-K through 12th grade.
- Increase the minimum wage to a livable wage “that aligns with the local housing market.”
- Increase by 30% the number city government leadership positions held by of women and people from communities affected by marginalization.
- Establish “language access for all who engage or interact with the government.”
- Increase lower-paying city positions “so there is no more than four times difference in salaries between the highest and lowest positions in city of Boise government.” (Based on salary information from May 2019, the highest-paid person in the city is Rebecca Hupp, director of the Boise Airport, whose salary would equal to $86.67 hourly. To meet the proposed standard, the minimum wage for city positions would become about $21.67 hourly.)
It also included shorter-term recommendations to ease the burden of the COVID-19 stay-home order, including prohibiting evictions and canceling rent and mortgages for all Boiseans during the duration of the order.
Idaho Freedom Foundation calls report ‘alarming’
Wayne Hoffman, president of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, called the equity report a “socialist wish list.”
“This is the most alarming public policy document ever produced by a government entity in Idaho in the 25 years I’ve been doing this work,” Hoffman told the Statesman on Tuesday. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it in its scope and audacity.”
McLean said the reports, including the one on equity, were not policy documents but instead just reports to her administration. She did not control what went into them, she said, but felt it was important to share them.
The equity report says Boise has an opportunity to “create meaningful reforms” and “become a model for the rest of Idaho and the country.” The other five reports written by transition teams McLean put together after her election cover the environment, housing, transportation, economic development and public engagement.
In a January interview with the Statesman, McLean said she wanted the various committee members “to not feel fettered by what’s been done or hasn’t been done ... but instead ask questions about what we ought to try.”
Report aims for ‘equitable, safe and thriving’ Boise
“The city of Boise is deeply committed to being a place that is equitable, safe and thriving for everyone,” says the report’s executive summary. “And in this time of national crisis, the city of Boise deepens this resolve by building meaningful relationships with vulnerable communities facing injustice and inequality.
“By enacting and embodying practices, policies and procedures that will interrupt the harmful impacts of one’s targeted status, we hope to build the future our children and families dream of and hope for now. These communities include black, indigenous, Latinx and people of color, people with disabilities, people who identify as LGBTQIA+ or non-binary, and people who are immigrants, undocumented or resettled through the refugee process.”
The committee that wrote the report was co-chaired by Francisco Salinas, director of student diversity and inclusion at Boise State University, and Kelly Miller, executive director of the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence. Other members included Lana Graybeal and Chloe Ross, both of whom work in the mayor’s office; former Boise City Council candidates Tecle Gebremicheal and Crispin Gravatt; and immigration lawyer Maria Andrade.
Hoffman said the equity report’s message was exacerbated by coming out while Boise businesses have been shut down and struggling. He said it didn’t matter that McLean herself did not write it.
“It tells you the type of people who are informing her decisions,” he said. He noted that McLean called the reports “inspiring to read” on the city’s website.
At a news conference Wednesday, McLean said she has used the equity report and five other transition-committee reports that came out last month to help her set priorities and guide public investments.
McLean said the Freedom Foundation’s focus on the equity report was removed from the greater context and is “dividing our community at a time when we need to come together around economic recovery and the deep and serious challenges we have.”
The purpose of the reports was to give residents an opportunity to weigh in on what they want from their government “after many years of not having that opportunity,” she said. McLean added that she made her priorities clear in her recommendations for the city budget.
“Much of this was developed in advance of the pandemic we found ourselves in, but regardless, the priorities that I brought to this office now I would say are even more important,” McLean said. “I am focused on affordable housing, climate innovation and clean energy investments, economic opportunity, and engaging our community in new ways.”
Boise blogger Dave Frazier’s most-read post
Dave Frazier, who writes the Boise Guardian blog, wrote about the report last week and told the Statesman it has been his most-read post.
Frazier said he thought McLean should either “disavow or endorse some of the things listed in the manifesto,” adding that while he personally wasn’t against some of the things listed, conservative readers were concerned about comments in the report about immigration.
Boise is not a sanctuary city but a “welcoming” one. A 2017 City Council resolution committed the city to“creating a community where all of our residents feel welcomed, safe, and able to fully participate in, and contribute to, our city’s economic and social life,” but the city does not have policies to protect undocumented immigrants from enforcement of federal immigration laws.
Boise generally does not handle immigration issues, Boise Police Department spokesperson Haley Williams said, although police may assist federal ICE officers if someone breaks state law rather than just federal immigration law.
The immigration portion of the report, as well as others relating to law enforcement, drew criticism from Keith Graves, who identified himself in a letter to McLean as vice president of “Code 3 to 1,” a group of more than 200 retired police officers and firefighters mostly from California, Washington and Oregon who are now living in the Treasure Valley.
“Unfortunately, your final transition team report entitled ‘A More Equitable City for Everyone’ has some of the same misguided government policies that ruined three great states,” Graves wrote.
‘Our issue isn’t with Mayor McLean’
The letter was posted to the group’s Facebook page Monday — the same day the page was made — and quickly gathered more than 100 shares, including by Ada County Highway District Commissioner (and former Boise mayoral candidate) Rebecca Arnold, Ada County Commission candidate Teri Murrison, a Facebook page dedicated to the Real 3%ers Idaho, and others.
Graves told the Statesman he wrote the letter because he believes Idaho is becoming too much like California, where he lived until two years ago. When he sent the letter to his membership, he said, they all agreed.
He didn’t expect it to go viral when he posted it to Facebook, but he said he has heard from several local officials, including Eagle Mayor Jason Pierce, who invited the group to come speak with him.
“Our issue isn’t with Mayor McLean,” Graves said. “Policy starts with an idea on paper, and it’s even scarier that it’s on the city website. She’s going to have to go back and forth on this, and we wanted to provide what we know.”
This story was updated Wednesday, May 27, to add comments from Mayor Lauren McLean’s news conference and to correct the name of the Real 3%ers Idaho.
This story was originally published May 26, 2020 at 7:46 PM.
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