Idaho bar owner’s bounty on Boise mayor is delusional and dangerous | Opinion

Looks like Boise Mayor Lauren McLean is really triggering an owner of a bar in Eagle.

Mark Fitzpatrick, a real estate agent and retired law enforcement officer from California, is offering a $10,000 “reward” and free beer or wine for life in exchange for information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of McLean.

His bounty for imagined, unknown crimes is delusional.

The guy who moved here from California told the Idaho Statesman that Idaho has become more politically liberal — which, of course, is complete nonsense and the exact opposite of the truth.

Fitzpatrick’s logic for arresting McLean beggars the imagination: Because McLean is progressive, she pushes “morally wrong” ideas, and therefore, she must be conducting illegal activities and should be locked up.

“I want to wake up and expose evil, and I want to do it for the glory of God,” Fitzpatrick said.

Evil? Who knows what his definition is.

Fitzpatrick has hosted the poorly attended and lampooned “Hetero Awesome Fest,” puts on conspiracy theory trivia nights, offers free real estate services for liberals to move out of Idaho, and gives away AR-15 rifles, all meant to trigger the left and “own the libs.”

He offered a similar bounty for anyone providing information leading to the deportation of an undocumented immigrant.

This latest bounty on the mayor is beyond the pale.

McLean has received an outsized level of vitriol and attacks during her tenure as mayor from the growing far-right gang in Idaho. And for what? What are her alleged crimes?

For trying to prevent homelessness? For ushering in a rewrite of the city’s zoning code? For providing incentives to build affordable housing? For wanting a city that lives up to the Golden Rule?

On his bar’s website under a photo of McLean with the absurd claim that she is “helping turn our sons into daughters,” Fitzpatrick lays out McLean’s perceived offenses.

“Under Mayor Lauren McLean, Boise has embraced a progressive agenda that prioritizes ‘wokeness,’ DEI initiatives, strong support for LGBTQ+ causes including transgender policies, welcoming refugees and immigrants, and aggressively pushing affordable and low-income housing developments.”

Oh, the horrors of welcoming people, doing unto others, supporting basic rights and wanting people to have shelter.

Criminal? Give us a break.

For whatever reason, Fitzpatrick strangely seems to dwell a lot on LGBTQ+ issues.

But Fitzpatrick’s reward and latest attention-seeking ploy is not just unhinged and silly; it’s dangerous.

Remember, three years ago, a Greenleaf man was arrested with bullets with threats against McLean, including her name written on one, and was later sentenced to 6½ years in prison by a federal judge.

Suggesting that McLean is evil and breaking the law when she absolutely is not foments political violence — especially when it’s couched in the notion that you’re acting for “the glory of God.”

Fitzpatrick states on his website (under No. 5 of his terms and conditions, as if he should be taken seriously): “No Vigilante Behavior. This reward is strictly for providing information directly to law enforcement authorities.”

He recognizes, with a wink and a nod, that some may perceive his offer as an invitation to violence.

Fitzpatrick’s vile rhetoric is just further evidence of our degraded and coarsened political discourse, in which anyone with whom we disagree is “evil” and should be locked up.

We now live in a country in which the president of the United States posts disparaging statements about a movie director who has been brutally killed — without a peep from some allegedly principled members of the Republican Party.

Of course Fitzpatrick believes he can post something like this without worry.

Remember when Hillary Clinton said Donald Trump’s extremist supporters were “a basket of deplorables”? This is precisely who and what she was talking about — and she was right.

If this is the guy on your team, you might want to think about what your team stands for.

Statesman editorials are the opinion of the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board. Board members are opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, editor Chadd Cripe, assistant editor Jim Keyser and community members John Hess, Debbie McCormick and Julie Yamamoto.

This story was originally published December 18, 2025 at 4:00 AM.