Boise's Watergate
 University Place and All The Governor's Men

by

 Deep Throat II

Chapter 10 - ISBA Throws Monkey Wrench at UIF

“Even though the perps had just discovered they would receive ZERO reimbursement for their $21 million in interim financing for pre-development costs to Cryptic Partners, they ran out and illegally borrowed another $6 million in unsecured funds to drive the UIF's indebtedness up to $28 million."
 -- Deep Throat II

         In Chapter 8 – Governor’s Legislative Dog & Pony Show, we asked the question:  did the perps get the cover-up money to repay the U of I Foundation’s $21 million in pre-development costs?

The answer is:  yes and no.  Even before the Idaho State Legislature voted yes, 88 to 15, for the Idaho State Building Authority (ISBA) to issue the bonds, Boise’s Watergate fiasco started to unravel.  Wayne Meuleman, Director of the ISBA, began throwing monkey wrenches into the University Place project by asking important questions such as, what constitutes “reasonable” pre-development costs?  Who owns the University Place property so it can qualify for tax-exempt bond money?  Who’s managing the project?

Over the course of a year, in 2002, the stated amount of pre-development reimbursement to the U of I Foundation varied from a high of $30 million to $0.  How could everybody be so far off?  The Governor?  All the Governor’s Men?  The ISBA?  The Idaho State Legislature?  The UIF?  The U of I?  The State Board of Education (SBOE)?  Who was in charge?  Who was the project manager?  Who controlled the budget, the actuals, and the expected-at-completion expenditures?  Why didn’t the Governor and state legislators know before they passed the ISBA bond issue that the $21 million in pre-development costs for the UIF couldn’t be reimbursed?

In retrospect, nobody had an excuse.  The perps knew they were in deep financial trouble three months before the bond issue was passed in March 2002 when Wayne Meuleman, on Jan 11, 2002, told them ISBA bonds could only reimburse “reasonable costs.”  But the perps continued their scam because, as stated before, there’s gold in them thar hills.  They had nothing to lose and everything to gain.  As we shall soon see, even when the UIF was finally informed that their reimbursement would be $0, the perps illegally borrowed another $6 million in unsecured loans to drive the UIF indebtedness up to $28 million.  This was, however, only the penultimate height of audacity as the perps implemented Lord Acton’s famous dictum:  “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  Later, we will see how they topped this with an unbelievable “Reconciliation Agreement” worth $18 million.

Hercule Poirot invites you, mes amies, to read, and gasp at, the following comedy of statements that contains so many contradictions one can only ask, “Will the real UIF reimbursement please stand up?”

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