Arrests and more: We dug into 68 candidates on November’s ballots. What we found
Seven candidates for mayor, City Council and school board seats in the Boise area this November have past arrests or have been involved in legal disputes, the Idaho Statesman has found.
Three Statesman reporters conducted background checks on 68 candidates vying for elected positions in the six cities and three school districts in Ada County, as well as Nampa and Caldwell, in October. From court and other public records, the checks turned up incidents that voters may want to know about.
These include two candidates with drug charges, one with a DUI, four with other criminal charges, and one who was sued.
Boise and Garden City races
One candidate running for Boise City Council has past drug charges, the Statesman found. Derek James Smith, a salesperson and first-time political candidate hoping to unseat City Council President Colin Nash, has been open about his past meth addiction. Smith has drug charges from Maryland and Ohio, and in 2013, he pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute.
He told the Statesman that he had been dealing drugs. He said he could have had the record expunged but that he didn’t want to hide.
“I don’t want to have skeletons in the closet. I want to have them in the front yard,” he said by phone. “I just want to help people. I just want people to know that they can overcome. That’s why I’m doing this.”
In Garden City, some mayoral and City Council candidates have faced misdemeanor charges.
Teresa Roundy, a mayoral candidate, pleaded guilty in 2023 to misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. She paid $347 in fees. Roundy told the Statesman by phone that she used marijuana and CBD to recover from the trauma of going through family court.
“It saved my life,” Roundy said.
In the City Council race, incumbent Teresa Jorgensen was found guilty in 2012 of three counts of criminal contempt of court, all misdemeanors. She was acquitted of one other count of contempt. In a text message, Jorgensen said the counts stemmed from a custody dispute and “do not reflect my character or conduct.”
“I acted in the best interest of the children,” Jorgensen wrote. “This was painful for all parties concerned.”
Jorgensen was elected to the council in 2021 and is seeking a second term against five challengers.
Molly Lenty, one of three candidates running for Garden City mayor, faced a lawsuit from Wells Fargo Bank in 2015. Lenty worked at Wells Fargo until 2022, she said. In a phone interview, Lenty said the case was because her now ex-husband hadn’t paid off a credit card. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2016.
Star City Council
In 2005, a Star City Council candidate, Bruce Wise, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor domestic battery, to which he pleaded not guilty. The charge was later reduced to disturbing the peace, also a misdemeanor. According to court records, Wise pleaded guilty to the lesser charge and received a withheld judgment, meaning that after serving probation, attending a behavioral treatment course and paying a $263 fine, he was able to apply to have his case dismissed in 2006.
Wise told the Statesman by phone that the arrest arose from an argument with his then-wife. Wise maintained that he did nothing wrong and emphasized that he has had no arrests or concerns about his behavior in the 20 years since. He called the arrest “stupid and embarrassing.”
Wise is a retired business owner and is running for elected office for the first time. He is one of six candidates hoping to take over a seat vacated by incumbent David Hershey, who is not running for reelection.
%20cropped.jpg "Bruce Headshot - Bruce Wise (1) cropped.jpg")
Nampa City Council
Court records show Shaun Simmons, running for Nampa City Council against incumbents Randy Haverfield and Victor Rodriguez for Seat 5, was charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence in 2011. Simmons was granted a withheld judgment, which means the charge wasn’t recorded as a conviction because he completed the terms of his sentencing successfully.
He told the Statesman when reached by phone that he had used discretion and mistakenly thought he “was good to drive.”
“I haven’t done it since and advocate anybody that has been drinking to play it safe and don’t risk it,” he said.
Simmons completed 60 hours of community service, 16 hours of substance abuse education and one year of unsupervised probation. He paid a $723 fine and had his driver’s license suspended for 180 days, according to court records. The charge was dismissed in 2014.
He said his blood alcohol concentration during the incident was 0.089%. It is illegal to drive in Idaho with a level of 0.08% or more.
“It’s definitely not something that I am proud of or enjoy talking about,” Simmons said. “But I’m all about transparency, and if people can’t handle that, they shouldn’t run for office.”
Caldwell City Council
Court records show Randy Neary, running for Caldwell City Council against incumbent Chuck Stadick and Dennis Staack for Seat 2, was charged in 2013 with felony attempted strangulation, misdemeanor domestic violence without traumatic injury against a family member, and misdemeanor intentional destruction of a telecommunication line or instrument.
Neary received a withheld judgment on the attempted strangulation charge, with the charge not counted as a conviction because he met the conditions of his sentence. The case was dismissed in 2014. The other charges were dismissed, too.
He told the Statesman that the charges stem from an incident that occurred in the midst of his divorce with his ex-wife. She was moving out of their house and into a new place, and he came by thinking she was away at work. A fight ensued.
“At that time, we were toxic to each other,” Neary said by phone. “She had hit me and pointed a finger in my chest a few times. And I did grab her hands and tell her, ‘Stop hitting me,’ and I had taken her phone, because it was a solid rock phone. Some words were said that were rather mean. And I was like: ‘I’m not going to let you do that. I’m going to take your phone.’ ”
His ex-wife, Staci Neary, told the Statesman in the same phone call, after Neary added her to it, that she had called 911 with one of their children’s phones, expecting the police to break it up and tell her then-husband to give her back her phone.
Instead, the responding officers “let us know one of us was going to be going to jail that day,” they said in a joint statement shared with the Statesman. Staci Neary said she was contacted numerous times and asked to testify against Randy Neary, but she believed she had nothing to testify to. She said that she was told she could also face charges based on the accounts they gave to police that day.
“I’ve never, ever felt that I was a victim of domestic violence, ever,” Staci Neary told the Statesman. “It was one fight, one fight that just got so blown out of proportion.”
Staci and Randy Neary said in the joint statement that they’ve successfully co-parented their children for 25 years and have remained close friends since the divorce. They even go over to each other’s houses for dinner. Staci Neary said she supports his bid for City Council.
“It’s a private moment that none of us are proud of, but it’s also not what it seems like on the surface looking in,” Randy Neary said. “We knew it would come up, but it’s been harder than we thought.”
Follow our election coverage
For more Statesman election coverage, go to IdahoStatesman.com/Election. To hear from the candidates in their own words, find Treasure Valley candidate Q&As in the Statesman’s Voter Guide.
This story was originally published October 23, 2025 at 11:05 AM.
