Boise comes after citizens who fought for monument

CITY OF BOISE, WITH $479 MILLION BUDGET, COMES AFTER SWINDELL AND FISCHER FOR $10,000

The City of Boise has placed a lien against all real and personal property belonging to Brandi Swindell and myself to collect a federal court judgment against us for $10,131, in connection with our effort to protect the public display of a Ten Commandments monument in Boise’s Julia Davis Park.

The June 23 letter says the city of Boise has taken action to place “an automatic lien against all real and personal property under your individual names.”

According to a letter received from the Boise City Attorney’s Office, “This Judgment will remain on your credit record until the debt is paid in full.” And if it is not resolved by July 15, the city says, “[W]e will proceed against you to collect the amounts due, plus interests and costs.”

This matter goes back to the very beginning of our battle with the city in January of 2004. When we got wind of the city’s surreptitious plan to remove the monument – which had stood peacefully in the park since 1965 – Ms. Swindell and I sought an injunction against the city to prevent removal of the monument, in order to give us time to organize a community response.

(The city slipped the monument removal item on to its agenda as late as legally possible, concealed it under a euphemistic label, scheduled it for discussion at a pre-council meeting that the public normally does not attend, and had scheduled removal of the monument just three days after the decision was made. We had no option but to move quickly if the city was to be stopped.)

As you are aware, the ACLU has padded its coffers by successfully suing cities on the grounds that the presence of religious monuments offends them. We reasoned that, if being offended is a legitimate basis to initiate legal action, then we had the same right to challenge the city on the grounds that removing this monument offended us.

A federal judge, who had ruled in 1995 that a similar monument in Bannock County was constitutionally protected, rejected our request, and to make matters worse, ordered us to pay $10,131 in attorney’s fees to the city. This for just three days work and despite the fact that the city has a full-time staff of several dozen lawyers, who are already being paid to do the legal work of the city. In other words, this federal judge ordered us to pay the city’s lawyers to do their job.

Ms. Swindell and I both work for small non-profit organizations and thus have limited means. The city of Boise, on the other hand, has an annual budget of $479 million, and thus is certainly in a position to waive this judgment. Yet the city’s mayor is still determined to come after us for $10,000. This is a sad indication of what this city is prepared to do to its own citizens who do nothing more than exercise their right to freedom of speech and to seek redress for their grievances.

The city has made no effort to contact us for these last 4 ½ years about this matter, and the very first communication we had from them on the subject

came in the June 23 letter, in which we were informed that city leaders were dropping the hammer on us.

So we have until July 15 to find a way to satisfy the city’s demand. Appealing the judge’s 2004 ruling would have required an appeal to the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals, where its left-leaning tilt means that we would be likely to lose and be at risk for another $80,000 in attorney’s fees. Ms. Swindell and I simply were not in a position to risk that kind of financial exposure.

Ms. Swindell and I are asking you to stand with us in the effort we made to protect the public display of the word of God and to protect freedom of religion and speech in Idaho’s capitol city. We need your help.

If you would like to come to our side, you may contribute to our legal expenses by sending donations to:

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