Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published in April 2007

Incrimination by examination

courtroomWe know that the constitution says we all have a right to not be required to incriminate ourselves: "No person . . . shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself." In some cases, the meaning of that right, and the line-in-sand it draws, are evident enough. In other cases, not so much.

Consider the appeal (formally, a request for writ of certiorari) of the Idaho Attorney General's office, filed Friday, to the U.S. Supreme Court, from a decision by the Idaho Supreme Court. Here's the executive summary:

After his conviction and sentence for rape, Krispen Estrada filed a petition for post-conviction relief in the Idaho district court, claiming ineffective assistance of counsel in sentencing. The district court determined that Estrada’s counsel in the criminal case had provided deficient performance by failing to advise Estrada about his privilege against self-incrimination in regard to a court-ordered psychosexual evaluation. The court denied the claim, however, reasoning that Estrada was not prejudiced because he would have received the same sentence because the sentencing court could have properly drawn adverse inferences at sentencing, such as lack of remorse, non-amenability to treatment, and risk to the community, if Estrada had refused to participate in the evaluation. The Supreme Court of Idaho reversed the district court’s finding of lack of prejudice, implicitly rejecting the district court’s determination that the sentencing court may properly draw adverse inferences from silence at sentencing, and holding prejudice was shown because the evaluation “played a role” in sentencing. The question presented is:

Other than in finding the facts and circumstances of the offense, may a sentencing court draw adverse inferences from a defendant’s refusal to cooperate in a pre- sentencing evaluation?

Estrada's offense is certainly heinous, "beating, choking and raping his estranged wife in front of their children," then holding off police in a seven-hour armed confrontation. But the question of self-incrimination - in this case, allowing an effective inference of guilt from a decision not to speak - is a lot broader than one case.

(more…)

Elsewhere

Micron TechnologyAthink piece in the current Business Week magazine points out that corporate spending is continuing to grow, but that "just increasingly outside the U.S. A BusinessWeek analysis of financial reports from more than 1,000 large and midsize U.S.-based companies shows that global capital expenditures in the fourth quarter of 2006 were actually up 18.1% over the previous year, a number that includes nonresidential construction as well as info-tech equipment and machinery. The comparable growth for domestic business investment, which is all the government reports each quarter: only 8.9%, without adjusting for inflation."

Which would be notable but not Northwest-oriented except that one of the handful of corporations the article highlights is Boise-based Micron Technology, on which a large chunk of the Boise-area economy is reliant. And whose CEO, Steve Appleton, is quoted as saying, "I don't have to hire one more person in the U.S. I don't have to invest one more dollar here - and we'll be just fine."

Back at Boise, where two years ago talk of the town was of a prospective new billion-dollar Micron production operation (not yet materialized), the Idaho Statesman has asked Micron for some further explanation of its growth plans. No response as yet, the paper reports.

After DeFazio . . .

Peter DeFazio
Peter DeFazio

We can't say we were surprised with word this morning that Representative Peter DeFazio shut the door - for the last time, apparently - on calls for him to run next year against Republican Senator Gordon Smith.

The Oregonian did quote him as saying, "This was not an easy decision. You don't get a poll that shows you're ahead of an incumbent senator and generous offers of support from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and just blow it off. It was a long and serious deliberation on my part."

So - next?

Democratic activist Steve Novick, the wonkish and sharp-tongued and witty ("hard left hook" is a neat line) political activist from Portland, has already announced; but as a first-time candidate (albeit plenty of experience in political circles) a number of Democrats are still looking for their nominee.

Earl Blumenauer
Earl Blumenauer

Attention turns next to Representative Earl Blumenauer, who represents the central Portland district and may be the most liberal member of the Oregon delegation. Blumenauer has made some moves in recent years toward statewide visibility (buying TV time in places like Bend, for example), and he's a solid and experienced campaigner - his years in electoral politics probably extend deeper than anyone now active as a candidate on the state or federal level. He would be a strong contender, and unlike DeFazio, he does not seem to have turned down the idea of a Senate (though he has apparently deferred to a DeFazio candidacy should it happen).

So, on the Senate front, watch Blumenauer closely in the next couple of weeks. He seems to be next at bat, and his self-imposed bar to deciding on the race is now removed.

Bowers to the House

Caldwell's Curtis Bowers will be the newest Idaho legislator, replacing Representative Robert Ring, who resigned for health reasons.

In choosing Bowers, Governor Butch Otter chose the third-ranked choice of the western Canyon County legislative committee which nominated him along with former state Agriculture Director Pat Takasugi and Caldwell attorney Jim Rice. But both of the others had issues. Takasugi was ousted by Otter on his arrival in the governor's office; whatever all his reasons were, a Representative Takasugi probably would have been an uncomfortable fit. And Rice had lost a county commission primary.

Bowers has his own back involvement, albeit tangential. In 2006 he announced he was running against Ring, often described as one of the more moderate House members, from the right. Bowers, who owned but by 2005 sold the Boise and Nampa Mona Lisa Fondue restaurants, withdrew from the Ring race early on. Still, indications are that the Ring-Bowers transition is another step n the rightward tilt of the Idaho House.

Never enough arenas

From the sports arena construction watchdog blog Field of Schemes by Joanna Cagan and Neil deMause, posted a few days ago:

According to The Oklahoman newspaper, Seattle Sonics owner and Oklahoma City native Clay Bennett declared recently that OKC's Ford Center "is fine for the immediate future, but the city eventually will need a new building." The Ford Center will turn five years old this June.

A few years back - while the Ford Center was still under construction, in fact - economist Rod Fort told me, "I don't see anything wrong, from an owner's perspective, with the idea of a new stadium every year." At the time, I thought he was joking, but now...

Quoth a commenter: "Maybe they're thinking in dog years?"

Why Seattle?

John Edwards
John Edwards

Everything in a presidential campaign has a strategic component, most certainly including where you do things. which gives some interest to the chocie by the John Edwards campaign of Seattle for its union hall presentation. [Hat tip: The Postman blog.]

The May 1 Edwards appearance, the King County Labor Council said, "is one of several candidate forums organized for an intensive six-month effort to engage union members and their families in the AFL-CIO’s presidential endorsement decision-making process. The AFL-CIO Executive Council voted to ask each of its 54 national unions to make no endorsement until the AFL-CIO General Board decides, following the six-month period of member consultation, whether or not to endorse a candidate prior to the primaries."

Candidates (and we are talking Democrats here) were allowed to choose among locations. Illinois Senator Barack Obama chose Trenton, New Jersey (May 14), New York Senator Hillary Clinton chose Detroit (May 19), New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson opted for Phoenix (June 4), and so on. The choices apparently were not random.

So what might be the thinking? Is there a reason a Seattle labor venue might be more attractive to Edwards? One comes to mind. Washington so far (in contrast to Oregon) seems to have had more Clinton and Obama than Edwards activity. Might this be an attempt at lunching a catchup in the Evergreen State?

Justice Davis?

Only the foolish make flat predictions, on application release day, about the name of the next appointed justice on the Idaho Supreme Court. The Idaho Judicial Council, which screens for two-to-four applicants (usually four), and the governor, who makes the final selection, have historically proven adept at upending expectations.

Bart Davis
Bart Davis

That said, the early money seems likely to go to the state Senate Majority Leader, Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, and for substantial reason.

The opening will result from the retirement of the court's chief justice, Gerald Schroeder, at the end of July. (He has, as an aside, a remarkable record on the bench. He has been a judge since 1969 and on the Supreme Court for a dozen years, and throughout has been held in broad high regard. In spite of which, neither stiff nor stuffy; he's low-key, humble and has a sense of humor. One of the region's lesser-known long-running class acts.)

The court opening, one of the few appointive spots in recent years, drew a pile of applicants: 19 in all. The Idaho Judicial Council (which will interview the candidates) lists them on its site:

(more…)

Open door progress

Acouple of things came out of the Burley water summit Idaho Governor Butch Otter called for this week. Neither was what he probably was hoping for.

One was a raft of bad headlines for holding the key parts of the conference behind closed doors; the critics included not only newspapers but also the chair of the Senate resource committee, Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow: "I don't think that my constituents want me involved in any type of situation in which public policy is decided behind closed doors." And, consequently, he declined to go to Burley.

Otter's rationale for closure was that deals might be more likely struck if no one had to couch their language in careful, quotable terms; if they could speak freely. Sometimes it works that way; that's how the massive (and useful) Nez Perce/Snake River deal was crafted. But that was a discussion of private interests and options in the context of a lawsuit; the water summit was intended to address more conventional policy-making about water distribution. In this case, everyone present was prospectively on the opposite side of possible lawsuits or regulatory actions - not the place to let your hair down. On top of that, anyone outside the room was likely to become immediately skeptical about whatever deals were struck inside, which is a bad place to start policy making. (There were also issues about who was and wasn't in the inner ring of negotiators - for example, Pocatello Mayor Roger Chase, whose city has been an important factor in water law in recent years, was bumped off the central group, in favor of the new mayor of Idaho Falls.)

In the event, the second thing that came of it is that very little did:No sweeping agreements were reached. The governor's spokesman, who would have the most incentive for spinning any results positively, said that “I think we’ve got a basis for moving forward, but I don’t think I’d call it an agreement.” A basis for moving forward might mean not much more than that no physical violence occurred in the closed room.

In the next round of efforts toward resolution (there never was any way this would get settled all at once), a more open approach - making clear to everyone the varied stakes involved, and that there really aren't any villains here - could yield more general understanding, which ought to result in some solutions. At least, after Burley, it might be considered as an alternative that could result in no less progress, and certainly in fewer bum headlines.

Cutting the knot

Steens MountainThe hearing room, for public testimony on what's being called "the Framework" on Measure 37 renovation, was packed with people, so many that not even all those who came to testify were able to get a seat there. So a second room was open, complete with big-screen video and pretty good sound, and it filled. And so did a third. Your scribe watched the proceedings from a mostly-full fourth room.

Measure 37 excites a lot of interest.

Most of the people who testified, and even most of those who simply showed up, were easily distinguishable, because most of them wore one of two types of adhesive shirt tags. One said, in red lettering, "I [heart] M37." The other, in various bright colors, said, "Fix 37."

This suggests a part of the problem the committee co-chairs, Senator Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, and Representative Greg Macpherson, D-Lake Oswego, face. The issue lies between legislative inaction on M37, on one hand, and a range of possible actions - with various and scattered support - on the other. The one side is a lot more focused than the other.

It's a solvable problem, but some core issues may have to be addressed if the legislature is to avoid its sad record of 2005, when it punted the issue altogether.

(more…)