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by Free Market Duck

University Place perps agree to not sue themselves…Pay each other $8.3 million…
Cryptic Partners remains as possible ‘fall guy’ - Part I
(April 1, 2006)

Whew, what a coincidence.  Just in time for Gov Kempthorne’s confirmation hearings before the U.S. Senate for Secretary of the Interior.  Is he guilty or not guilty?

Federal criminal investigation by US Attorney from Portland, Oregon continues.  At this point, neither US Attorney Allan Garten or Idaho state prosecutor Bill Thompson will “exonerate” Kempthorne (or ANY participants) from federal criminal activities.

Are Idaho perps closing ranks, throwing Cryptic Partners to the litigious wolves?

Is Idaho Statesman newspaper whitewashing the University Place fiasco for Gov K’s upcoming confirmation hearings and for itself since the Statesman failed to disclose one of their reporter’s possible conflicts of interest, i.e. “dating” Idaho State Bar President Debora Kristensen who is a law partner at the very law firm, Givens Pursley, that the reporter was investigating in the University Place scandal?

Boise, ID – As I said in my latest book, Boise’s Watergate: University Place & All The Governor’s Men, the judicial system in Idaho is a complete farce.  Anybody who doubts that yesterday’s $8.3 million civil settlement agreement by the parties, for the parties, and to the parties is anything but a continuation of the same type of mockery of justice in the continuing saga of dynamic political corruption in Boise’s Watergate is fooling themselves.  And the main reason that this settlement is happening NOW – instead of its scheduled Jan 2007 date – is (1) to provide smoke and mirrors to try and convince the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to confirm Governor Kempthorne for the position of Secretary of the Interior, and (2) to cushion the blow that the book, Boise’s Watergate, may have upon readers at the local and national level as it reveals all the alleged nefarious misdeeds by the participants in the Ada County Courthouse scam and the University Place fiasco.

What the $8.3 million settlement agreement does do:

   The $8.3 million settlement agreement settles two out of three lawsuits that were combined by Judge Hurlbutt last year and scheduled for Jan 2007.  The first lawsuit was for $25 million by the UI and UIF v. two Boise law firms, Givens Pursley and Elam & Burke and 4 Boise lawyers, Roy Eiguren, Ed Miller, and Frank Lee from Givens Pursley, and Ryan Armbruster from Elam & Burke.  The second lawsuit was for $10 million by the UI and UIF v. Great American Insurance Company who previously refused to reimburse the UI or UIF for the alleged misdeeds of various participants in the University Place fiasco.

   The third lawsuit, which is still alive and kicking, is for $7 million by the UI and UIF v. California pre-development company Civic Partners (Cryptic Partners for those of you who are reading Boise’s Watergate) and its CEO Steve Semingson who worked hand-in-glove with the Idaho participants in both the Ada County Courthouse scam and the University Place fiasco.  In fact, don’t be surprised if the $8.3 million settlement agreement is not just a closing of ranks by the Good Ol’ Boys of Idaho in order to put on a good face for the U.S. Senate so they will confirm Gov Kempthorne at the upcoming confirmation hearings, but it may also be a foreshadowing attempt to throw outsider Cryptic Partners to the litigious wolves like a used prostitute being tossed into the alley after the Good Ol’ Boys in Boise’s Watergate allegedly finished using her as what could best be described as ‘Pursley’s Personal Landromat’ to allegedly wash funds from the U of I into the pockets of Cryptic Partners and the Boise lawyers, ALLEGEDLY.

   What is not clear from the $8.3 million settlement agreement is whether it includes squashing Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden’s $18 million lawsuit by the state of Idaho v. the UIF Board members to recover money for the U of I.  Let’s assume that it does.

   In summary, the settlement absolves from civil lawsuit the following individuals and groups:  The UIF and its directors, officers, and volunteers; the U of Idaho, the U of I Regents (who, by the way, are hand-picked by Gov Kempthorne and are the same individuals who comprise the Idaho State Board of Education and the ISBOE initiated the $1 million investigative Prince Report, what?  Are they investigating themselves?  How does that work?); AG Wasden on behalf of the CIT and its beneficiaries (from which the perps “borrowed” $12 million); Great American Insurance Co. who insured the UI and UIF; Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Co. who insured the UIF; Attorneys Liability Protection Society, Inc., Risk Retention Group who insured the lawyers and law firms; State of Idaho Dept of Admin - Risk Management Group who insured the state of Idaho and its employees; Givens Pursley law firm and its attorneys Roy Eiguren, Ed Miller, and Frank Lee; Elam & Burke law firm and its attorney Ryan Armbruster (all of whom except Frank Lee have already been charged with misconduct by the Idaho State Bar Association); ex U of I President Bob Hoover; and ex U of I VP of Finance and Admin Jerry Wallace.

What the $8.3 million settlement agreement does not do:

   The settlement does not quash the UIF’s civil lawsuit against developer Civic Partners or Civic Partners’ counter lawsuit against the UIF.  Note:  the UIF has recently claimed that it is not responsible for the money paid to Cryptic Partners since it was allegedly done illegally through self-dealing from the U of I (Jerry Wallace and others) and, therefore, all litigation should be between the U of I and Cryptic Partners, not the UIF.  (This is a very tricky case, indeed.  Whatever happened to the simple Perry Mason cases of, “Your Honor, I saw the perp pull the trigger and shoot the victim deader ‘n a doornail at 2 pm on Tuesday?”)

   More importantly, the civil settlement does not quash the ongoing federal criminal investigation into the University Place alleged misdeeds by ANY of the participants, including those Boise lawyers and law firms named in the civil settlement above, Civic Partners and its CEO Steve Semingson, or the Governor and All The Governor’s Men listed in the book, Boise’s Watergate.  Those individuals include the five major participants pictured in the Idaho Statesman’s June 29, 2003 front page article headlined, “Influential U of I backers greased the skids for University Place,” and showed lawyer Roy Eiguren, Governor Dirk Kempthorne, former U of I President Bob Hoover, Governor Kempthorne’s former Chief of Staff Phil Reberger, and House Speaker Bruce Newcomb.  Since the book, Boise’s Watergate, alleges that the perps participated in a dynamic alleged crime spree against the Idaho taxpayers that included both the $100 million Ada County Courthouse scam AND the $136 million University Place fiasco, participants who may be indicted in the federal criminal investigation range from former and current Ada County Commissioners all the way up to the Governor’s Office.

   So where are we now?

   Stay tuned.  More to come tomorrow (Monday April 3), including one of only two quotes allowed by anonymous source, Deepest Throat. – Deep Throat II

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