Boise County debt bill passes after digs over prosecutor’s letter

The Senate has passed HB 697, the Boise County debt bill. But first, Sen. Russ Fulcher, R-Meridian, read from the letter to House Speaker Lawerence Denney from Boise County Prosecutor RJ Twilegar threatening a lawsuit on behalf of Boise County women if SB 1387, the forced ultrasound bill, is enacted. “Now why is this pertinent? To me, that just gives you a peek inside the window of the mindset of who we’re dealing with here,” Fulcher said, speaking against the bill, which would allow the county, after a vote, to levy additional taxes for a bond to pay off a multimillion-dollar court judgment. “Apparently Boise County has the energy and the resources to file suit against us if they don’t like what we do on one bill, while at the same time asking us to grant them taxing authority for violating the law,” Fulcher said.

“Let the taxing districts solve their own problems,” he said. “What about a loan? I haven’t heard about that as an option. … If this were coming to us in the form of a loan I would be all over that. …  But not to grant taxing authority for violating the law. … In my opinion this is an unjustified bailout. This is bad policy and it’s bad precedent and I’ll be voting no.”

Sen. Jim Rice, R-Caldwell, called Twilegar’s letter “appalling,” and said, “Boise County, take responsibility - you created your mess, you get out of it.” However, after hearing Sen. Tim Corder’s closing debate, he voted in favor of the bill.

Corder, R-Mountain Home, said of Twilegar’s letter, “That doesn’t have anything to do with this issue. He was not the counsel of record in this case … and he has not been the counsel of record in any part of these proceedings.” As to Fulcher’s suggestion of a loan, Corder said that’s what Boise County is trying to do - take out a loan, in the form of a bond, to pay off the debt. The vote was 28-7, with opponents including one Democrat, Sen. Dan Schmidt of Moscow, and six Republicans, Sens. Fulcher, McKague, Mortimer, Nuxoll, Pearce and Vick.