Candidate will serve time

The Boise City Council candidate who claimed she was too busy to serve her sentence of 25 hours of community service for obstructing and delaying a police officer, and wanted to pay a $100 fine instead, has changed her mind, and now says she’ll serve out her sentence. Brandi Swindell, a 28-year-old anti-abortion activist, had claimed through her lawyer that serving the community service would place an “extraordinary hardship” on “her ability to actively pursue her life’s work.” That prompted the councilwoman she’s challenging to publicly wonder how someone with no time to do community service would have time to run for or serve on the City Council. Now, Swindell has told the Idaho Statesman she’s instructed her lawyer to withdraw her request to change her sentence. “It’s a non-issue now,” she said.