McLean defends report that Idaho Freedom Foundation derided as ‘socialist wish list’
Mayor Lauren McLean said Wednesday that her transition team’s equity report — which suggests that Boise work toward becoming a sanctuary city, provide free contraception and abortions, and “interrupt white dominant/white supremacist culture” — was not a policy document but rather recommendations for her priorities as mayor.
The report came under fire when it was picked up by conservative groups, including the Idaho Freedom Foundation and a group of retired police officers and firefighters called Code 3 to 1, and criticized for its suggestions. Wayne Hoffman, president of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, called it a “socialist wish list” and “the most alarming public policy document ever produced by a government entity in Idaho in the 25 years I’ve been doing this work.”
McLean said during a news conference that the IFF had taken the report out of context and that the organization was “dividing our community at a time when we need to come together around economic recovery and the deep and serious challenges we have.”
“When you take a single report out of context, you lose that contextual nature of the work that 72 different people put into providing recommendations to me,” McLean said. “These are not policy documents, they are reports to me and my administration.”
The equity report came out last month as one of six reports to the mayor from her transition committees, which she established after she defeated incumbent David Bieter in December’s runoff election.
McLean tasked the committees with creating a list of suggestions for the new mayor. Other committees worked on the environment, housing, transportation, economic development and public engagement.
Some of the things proposed in the equity report are not feasible for the city to take on. For example, one suggestion included increasing the minimum wage, which only the state can do.
“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.”
The purpose of the reports, McLean said, to give residents an opportunity to weigh in on what they want from their government “after many years of not having that opportunity.”
Asked how Boiseans should distinguish what McLean approved of and what was just a transition committee suggestion, McLean pointed to budget proposals she made for the city in the upcoming fiscal year, which starts in October.
No money is allocated for birth control, for example, but the mayor proposed putting $100,000 toward an eviction prevention fund, $100,000 toward a “culture campaign on alternative transportation,” and more than $700,000 toward climate- and energy-focused initiatives in the 2021 city budget during a City Council work session on the budget Tuesday.
She did propose working toward some of the equity report’s suggestions, including the creation of a city Human Rights Commission, which is estimated to cost about $50,000, as well as training on diversity and inclusion, which is estimated to cost $100,000.
The vast majority of the equity report’s suggestions, however, have not been turned into budget proposals for the next fiscal year.
“If citizens will go read those various reports, you’ll see an abundance of ideas that demonstrates to me,” McLean said. “What I think is so special about this place is people of Boise are willing to come together and work on issues that are near and dear to the heart when they believe they’ll make their city better. I wanted to provide that opportunity for residents to do. And that’s what those transition reports are about.”
The Freedom Foundation’s Hoffman said Tuesday that it didn’t matter that McLean herself did not write the equity report.
“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.
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. There are 18 people named in the report, including 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.
This story was originally published May 27, 2020 at 6:55 PM.
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