Reject nasty attack ads from wealthy developers in the Boise mayor’s race | Opinion

Shame on developers Steve Martinez and Dan Richter for once again funding negative attack ads, this time in the Boise mayor’s race, attacking incumbent Mayor Lauren McLean.

This year’s race for mayor is a good one, about the issues around housing affordability, homelessness, police accountability and leadership.

McLean and challenger Mike Masterson present nuanced differences. Each candidate is knowledgeable, engaged and well-versed in the issues. Both candidates are passionate about Boise and want the best for the city they love.

We need more civil discussions about their differences.

What we don’t need is a bunch of wealthy developers like Richter and Martinez slinging mud and contributing to our already disintegrating public discourse with scare tactics and dog whistles.

Their ads predictably feature apocalyptic images of homeless camps and promises of the end of society as we know it if you don’t vote for their candidate. With simple-minded and bigoted certainty, they suggest that support for gay rights is part of an “extremist social agenda.” They decry “high-density, low-income housing.” You mean affordable apartments? For people who can’t afford to buy a house in Avimor?

Kudos to Masterson for disavowing the first salvo in Richter and Martinez’s attack ads under the umbrella of their Building Industry Group political action committee.

This is similar to another group, Conservative Citizens for Thoughtful Growth, also led by Martinez, that leveled nasty attack ads against then-Ada County Commissioner Diana Lachiondo in her failed bid for reelection, which she lost to Ryan Davidson.

Martinez’s ads were so vile that he had to pull them for fear it would incite violence against Lachiondo. That’s the kind of sick mindset we’re talking about here.

Richter and Martinez’s PAC has also attacked Rep. Steve Berch, D-Boise, calling him a “woke progressive who backs high-density overdevelopment and state-funded critical race theory, mask and vaccine mandates and even sex-change operations on minors.” They went after Ada County Highway District Commissioner Miranda Gold, who they said had a “radical far left” agenda. And they targeted Eagle mayoral candidate Stan Ridgeway, who was called a “woke liberal who wants to spend all your money.”

Take note that the real reason Richter and Martinez attacked Ridgeway could be because their preferred candidate, now-Mayor Jason Pierce, was instrumental in getting Richter’s Avimor development annexed into the city of Eagle.

That’s where you come in.

Whenever you see these attack ads, think about the motives behind them. Don’t be duped by them. Look at who purchased the ad and find out who’s behind it. Think about the claims being made. Are they legitimate? Are they hyperbolic? Do the people running these ads actually share your values? Do Richter and Martinez really have your best interests at heart, or are they motivated by self-interest? Do they even live in Boise? Be a critical thinker, skeptical of any claims and motives.

These negative attack ads might actually backfire in Boise, a city that prides itself on being “Boise kind.”

Martinez was a big loser in 2021 when he used his Conservative Citizens for Thoughtful Growth to attack Boise City Council member Lisa Sánchez, who went on to handily defeat Greg McMillan, with nearly 60% of the vote.

Make no mistake, you’re still probably going to see a lot more attack ads.

As the Idaho Statesman’s Sally Krutzig reported, BIG Treasure Valley has received more than $200,000 in donations.

Building Industry Group PAC on Sept. 27 spent $51,940 on advertising with HA Group, which isn’t listed with the Secretary of State’s Office but has an address listed as owned by Republican political operative Tyler Hurst.

James Auld, a former Idaho legislator and Auld Investment Properties owner, donated $50,000 to the PAC. Billionaire Harry Bettis, rancher, founder of Clearwater Analytics and president of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, has donated $60,000 to the PAC since July.

These wealthy donors probably are not going to stop with their bad ads.

So it’s going to be up to you, the voter, to see through them, ignore them, disavow them, criticize them and shun them.

Research the candidates, learn their views, where they differ in their positions and their approaches.

Make your decision based on those differences and policy positions.

Not based on the fear, hate and anger of a few wealthy donors who don’t have your best interests at heart.

Statesman editorials are the unsigned opinion of the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board. Board members are opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, editor Chadd Cripe, newsroom editors Dana Oland and Jim Keyser and community members Mary Rohlfing and Patricia Nilsson.