DFO: $40M Fib, Grudges Fuel Recall

The recall election launched last week against progressive Coeur d’Alene Mayor Sandi Bloem and three City Council members is based on a fib and old grudges. A recall backer circulated a flier at the Republican Women’s luncheon Thursday claiming that her group is trying to remove Bloem & Co. from office because they wouldn’t allow an advisory vote on the, ahem, $40 million upgrade of McEuen Field (the ball fields and green space at the foot of Tubbs Hill in downtown Coeur d’Alene). Only the real cost of the makeover is $14.2 million, including about half to transform five acres of concrete into green space by moving the Third Street parking lot. All without raising property taxes. Mary Souza, one of the recall leaders, was an outspoken critic of the Bloem administration, even before she lost a 2005 three-way race to Mike Kennedy, one of the recall targets. State Rep. Kathy Sims, R-Coeur d’Alene, is another recall leader. Sims helped circulate an attack ad against three City Council incumbents in the 2007 city election and then fought City Hall for more than a year before paying a small fine for submitting incomplete campaign finance papers/ DFO , print Huckleberries. More here.

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