Mailer accuses this incumbent ACHD candidate of ignoring citizens. Who is behind it?
A flyer sent to Boise homes from a local PAC interested in safer routes to schools encouraged “No” votes for a Republican candidate and incumbent Ada County Highway District commissioner.
The flier, paid for by Safer Streets and Families, a new Idaho political action committee that reports having raised $40,000 since Sept. 23, used Idaho Statesman, KTVB and Boise State Public Radio headlines about property tax increases, golden-parachute contracts and a million-dollar settlement to criticize Mary May, the five-member commission’s president.
May was elected in 2018 to represent District 3, which covers covers downtown Boise, the North End, Northwest Boise, Garden City, Eagle and Star. She has garnered support from numerous local Republican officeholders, including leaders of the Legislature’s transportation committees. May faces challenger Miranda Gold, who has garnered support from multiple Boise-area Democrats in Idaho’s House of Representatives.
Lawsuit, business demolition, shady contract criticism appear in mailer
“What is Mary May up to?” the flyer asked in red letters on a black background. It accused her of “crony contracts,” “ignoring citizens” and “petty lawsuits.”
But the Idaho Statesman found some of those assertions to be questionable at best.
1. The Smoky Davis demolition. The mailer referred to a February 2020 KTVB story following up the commission’s 2018 decision to demolish the former Smoky Davis smoked-meat store as part of its State Street/Veterans Memorial Parkway/36th Street intersection expansion. “ACHD demolishes local store, sues owners, pays $1.8 million settlement,” said the flyer’s edited version of the TV station’s headline.
In 2017, ACHD offered to pay the owners of Smoky Davis $248,260, but they rejected the officer, the Statesman reported. A lawsuit followed, and the Davis family won: The court ordered a $1.8 million settlement for the land and resulting damages.
May was not elected to the commission until 2019 and said she did not play a role in the demolition or the lawsuit.
According to meeting minutes from the Feb. 19, 2020, ACHD meeting, commissioners including May voted unanimously to accept the settlement as part of a vote on a package of items decided without discussion.
2. Property taxes. The flyer also referred to a June 2022 Idaho Statesman column about an increase in property-tax assessments. May has no role in assessing home values. Assessments in Idaho are performed by county assessors. “Property assessments up 31%, taxes are next,” said the headline, an accurate copy of one of the Statesman’s digital headlines.
May noted that ACHD elected not to take any of the 3% increase state law allows local governments to claim in ACHD’s property tax budget this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.
“With the climate and everything everybody is facing out there, with the cost of living ... I would not be in support of taking the property tax this year,” May said during the commission’s budget hearing, the Idaho Statesman reported then.
Regardless, taxes will go up on bills homeowners receive in coming weeks, in large part because of this year’s steep rise in assessed house values that is propelling a continuing shift of tax burdens from commercial properties to homeowners. That shift affects ACHD, Ada County, and the county’s cities and other taxing jurisdictions.
3. The ACHD director’s golden parachute. The mailer also referred to a November 2020 Boise State Public Radio story about the commissioners’ approval of a new contract for Executive Director Bruce Wong. That contract included a provision that if a new board hired a different director to replace him, Wong would be entitled to a year of pay plus benefits.
“ACHD Signs Off On Golden Parachute Contract for Director,” the flyer said, an accurate copy of the radio station’s headline.
May voted in favor of the contract in 2020. She told the Statesman by phone that the “golden parachute clause” is routine to protect someone from being fired without cause. If Wong was fired with cause, the pay would not be included, Boise State Public Radio reported.
“I can’t fathom why anybody would fire anybody without cause,” May said. “That’s just not good governance.”
Two ACHD commissioners voted against the contract because they said it was forcing a future board into a contract with Wong without its consent.
4. The ACHD director’s ‘I’ve had it’ comment. The mailer referred to a December 2019 Idaho Statesman story about a comment Wong made to then-board President Rebecca Arnold. He had said in a recording “I’ve had it with that group,” referring to the Capital Investment Citizens Advisory Committee, a group of residents and municipal planners from cities across Ada County, the Statesman reported. (The mailer accurately copied the Statesman headline, “ACHD director: ‘I’ve had it’ with citizens advisory group.”)
“I didn’t make that comment,” May told the Statesman. “That wasn’t made to me. I didn’t make it. So you know, I had absolutely no part in that discussion.”
What is Safer Streets and Families?
This is a PAC that began receiving donations on Sept. 23, according to filings on the Idaho secretary of state’s campaign-finance reporting site. It lists its address as a Boise post-office box and its chairman as Jim Edwards.
According to the campaign finance reports, the Safer Streets and Families PAC’s donors include:
- Conservation Voters for Idaho, which works to elect candidates it deems pro-environment, made an in-kind donation it valued at $5,712 on Friday, Oct. 28.
- Roundhouse Group, which is affiliated with Boise apartment developer Casey Lynch’s company Roundhouse, donated $5,000 on Oct. 13.
- Barber Valley Development, which is affiliated with Doug Fowler, who is overseeing the development of Harris Ranch, gave $2,000 on Oct. 6.
- The Hull Family Foundation, a Chicago-based organization that funds Democratic-leaning groups, donated $12,500 on Sept. 27. The foundation is run by Blair Hull, a millionaire investor, according to Influencewatch.org.
Fowler said the PAC is about safe routes to school.
“We really don’t have any control over who they’re supporting,” Fowler said by phone. “We don’t have anything against any of the other candidates running.”
Lynch did not respond to a phone call requesting comment. Neither did the Conservation Voters for Idaho.
Gold, who received a $1,000 donation from Lynch, did not answer a phone call request for comment but later emailed a statement. She said her campaign is not associated with the mailer.
“As we’ve seen in prior years — and in this current cycle — many PACs are stood up in support of or opposition to candidates,” she said. “BIGTV PAC is currently running a whole host of ads against me that make some wildly inaccurate claims against my record on Eagle City Council. Seems to come with the territory, unfortunately.”
May said she didn’t know anything about the Safer Streets and Families PAC, other than who donated to it as reported to the secretary of state.
“My opinion is [that it is] a little bit of some baseless fear-mongering by people who are grossly misinformed,” May said.
Election Day is Nov. 8.
This story was originally published November 1, 2022 at 2:25 PM.
