Chapter 12
Service to our Communities – principally in Idaho
Index
Overview
Junior Achievement – Los Angeles (1965-1966)
United Way of the Treasure Valley (1978-1983)
Ore-Ida-Council, BSA (1984-1988)
Area II, Western Region, BSA (1988-1991)
Boise State University – Wrote the Book “Idaho Entrepreneurs” (1992 and 2019)
Idaho State Senator (14 years ended Dec. 2006 - Chapter 17)
Mary Kay – Unwed Mothers and Handwork Art
Idaho Statesman Editorial Board – (2007-2008 and 2011-2012)
Highway District registration fees – Chairman - 2008 General Election
Association of Idaho Cities – Six books: “Idaho’s 200 Cities” (2017)
Overview
Arthur Andersen & Co’s policy was to encourage all personnel to support their community. The firm made time and money available to do so. Partners were required to contribute one percent of their cash income to charities in their communities.
While most of the service I gave to not-for-profit entities was in my name and person; Mary Kay was a visual and integral part of making my service successful. She was with me on many public occasions, she hosted entity leaders and their spouses in our home, sometimes overnight. She typed and proofed the books I wrote for Boise State University and, before her death, the Association of Idaho Cities (AIC).
Mary Kay’s name is highlighted in all of those books. The royalties from “Idaho Entrepreneurs” (first edition 1992, second edition 2019), go to the “Mary Kay and Hal Bunderson – Arthur Andersen; Excellence in accounting Scholarship Fund. Ken Harward, AIC Executive Director wrote in the Foreword to the six books: “Idaho’s 200 Cities” (2017); “Bunderson’s late wife, Mary Kay, joined him in his commitment … This book project is affectionately dedicated to Senator Hal Bunderson and his wife, Mary Kay.”
Junior Achievement – Los Angeles (1965-1966)
JA is an organization dedicated to give principally junior and high-school students hands-on education and training about running a business – entrepreneurship - teaching students how to select, produce and market a product at a profit. During my second year at Arthur Andersen (1965-6), I volunteered to work with the Junior Achievement club that Andersen sponsored, financed and paid the expenses of Andersen employee volunteers. Our Club made and sold pencil holders.
United Way of the Treasure Valley (1978-1983)
Mary Kay and our children arrived in Boise in the summer of 1977. My partner, Bob Philip, arranged for me to join the 60-member United Way Board of Directors. Ray S, was the current president of United Way and Ken P, president-elect. Ray was the CEO of Hewlett Packard’s Boise operation of about 6,000 employees and Ken, was head of IBM’s marketing group.
After I had been on the United Way Board two years and observing, I wrote a letter to Ray, recommending certain improvements. A few days later, Ray asked me to join him and Ken for lunch. They asked me to be the 1980 General Campaign Chairman; explaining it was a three-year commitment: General campaign chairman, president elect, then president. Ray had one year left of his commitment and Ken, two years. My commitment would end in 1983. I agreed.
Not because of me, but 1980 was a milestone, it was the first year total donations exceeded $1 million. I was president-elect for only a short time before becoming president; Ken’s employer transferred him to Boston. I served nearly two years as president of United Way.
Those two years, played out with controversy influenced by national debate over the rights of women. Roe v. Wade in 1973 and lack of women participation on public boards.
Planned Parenthood – the issue was integrity – they said abortion - The local Planned Parenthood agency had been receiving financial support from United Way. Management of the agency told the United Way “loaned executive” staff evaluating their next-year appropriation request, that they had no plans to open an abortion clinic. The United Way board approved their funding request. A few weeks later, Planned Parenthood took out a full-page ad in the Idaho Statesman about their planned abortion clinic in Boise.
I called a meeting of the United Way Executive Committee. It was the unanimous vote that United Way must not allow an agency to be untruthful on significant matters and still receive funding. But it was a matter for the entire Board to decide. In the past, the Board did not allow proxy voting, the Bylaws were unclear. The Committee voted to not allow proxy voting. The matter would be decided in a closed meeting of the Board. Attorneys who were on the Executive Committee believed we were not subject to open-meeting laws and since the Bylaws were silent on allowing proxy voting, the Executive Committee was on safe ground; in order to cast an informed vote, a Board member must be present to hear the pro-con debate at the meeting.
The full board meeting was scheduled. The matter was a prominent topic in the local press, radio and TV news. The Board met at the St. Luke’s conference center in Boise. A solid majority of the Board voted to defund. As I opened the door from the conference center auditorium into the foyer, I was surprised to see a large table with one chair. On top of the table facing the chair were more than a dozen microphones and a gallery of reporters and the public.
Accommodating their request, I sat down in the chair and made a summary statement, “Tonight, the United Way Board has voted to cancel the funding appropriation to Planned Parenthood. The reason for defunding was integrity. Planned Parenthood told United Way one thing, and did the opposite. United Way cannot work with an agency that is not truthful. I will now take questions.”
Many reporters kept trying to divert me away from integrity to abortion; pro-life vs. pro-choice, etc., a theme that had been circulating in the media. Some reporters crafted their questions to take me off-message, such as, “How many of the Board are pro-life?” I responded, “I have no idea” – which was true. If I would have offered a number or a guess, I would have fallen into their trap. A year later, the new United Way Board funded Planned Parenthood.
How come you have so few women on your Board - A month later, a reporter called me with that question. Suggesting it was a conscious effort to protect male dominance. I told him we have a committee of the Board that evaluates applicants to fill vacancies and makes recommendations to the full Board. I said Jim B., the CEO of Idaho Power Company chaired that committee. As soon as I hung up, I called Jim to alert him. His secretary said she thought Mr. B was already talking to the reporter.
The story in the next day’s newspaper quoted Jim as saying, “Well, it’s not like it pays a lot of money” (totally volunteer). However, in the ensuing years, more women trained to be business executives and for the United Way Board, more vacancies were filled with women.
Commentary – My experience with the United Way proved valuable in the future. My involvement with other community organizations and the Idaho Senate put me before the press frequently. I learned to not allow reporter questions to take me off-message. With regard to the United Way press conference, I refused to divert in the direction many reporters tried to lead me. I stayed with the integrity reason, which was solidly defensible. Thus, I felt my first experience in a press conference was successful. This was confirmed to me when I saw out of the corner of my eye, John C., chief inhouse legal counsel for Boise Cascade Corporation nod slightly, but affirmatively, immediately after I gave a response to a critical question.
From a professional standpoint, my service as the volunteer leader of United Way allowed me to get to know the executives of most of the major businesses and institutions in the Greater Boise Metropolitan Area. Incredible opportunity for a new business person trying to establish a good reputation.
Ore-Ida-Council, BSA Financial VP (1984-1988)
A few months after I completed my responsibility at United Way, Dr. John Keiser, President of Boise State University and who was also serving as the volunteer president of the Ore-Ida Council of Boy Scouts of America (BSA) asked me if I would serve as his Financial VP.
I knew John quite well because of my work with United Way and Arthur Andersen was the outside auditors for the Idaho State Board of Education, which included the annual financial audit of Boise State University. I was the Arthur Andersen Partner in charge of the audits.
I agreed to serve, with the proviso that Arthur Andersen would perform a management audit of the Council at no charge. I understood the Council was having financial difficulty and I wanted to know what I was getting into. Annual contributions were insufficient to run Council operations and maintain its properties. Was the reason poor management or poor cash flow?
John welcomed the offer. I assigned Arthur Andersen staff who were not working on other clients to do the work. They came up with many recommendations for improvement; some were implemented immediately, others would take time.
One major recommendation was to sell part of the Council’s Payette lakefront property, put the proceeds in a restricted trust wherein the principal could not be invaded, but investment income was available for acquisition and maintenance of scout property. Another recommendation was to engage a public accounting firm to perform an annual audit of the financial statements.
Keiser agreed with the first recommendation, but did not want to implement it because of the controversy; he said he would leave that task for the next Council president
Reid Olsen, a CPA and partner in a local accounting firm, was involved in scouting. I asked him if he would conduct the annual audits without charge, except for expense reimbursement? He agreed. Years later, he thanked me. He said that exposure had a significant positive effect on his reputation and business.
The 10-days long Boy Scout National Jamboree; held every four years at the Fort A. P. Hill Army Base in Virginia, was being organized for 1986. Everyone paid their own way. Councils would sponsor one of more troops from among its membership. The late Dr. Paul Kelson, a local orthodontist, organized the troop from the Ore-Ida Council; 36 scouts into four patrols and four adult leaders. Brian wanted to go. I wanted to be with him.
I volunteered to be an assistant scout master. Our troop left a week early to tour interesting sites. We flew into Detroit, Michigan where Paul had chartered a bus. Our stops included the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit; the baseball hall of fame museum at Cooperstown, NY; the birthplace of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Palmyra NY; the twin towers of World Trade Center (Destroyed 2001 by Islamic terrorists), Gettysburg and other Civil War sites.
When we were at Arlington Cemetery; Boy Scout Brian and our troop’s other Patrol Leaders laid the wreath at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
When John Keiser’s term of office was coming to an end (mine also); Ore-Ida Council Board members, Dale D., CEO of the JR Simplot Company and Ted E, CEO of a bank (subsequently merged) came to Mary Kay and my home to ask me to accept a three-year commitment as president of the Ore-Ida Council. Given the prominence of the two men, Mary Kay and I guessed their purpose before they arrived - and agreed I should say yes.
The first order of business was to get commitments from certain Board members to serve on the executive committee and see if there was Board support for implementing the Arthur Andersen management audit recommendations. The Board approved and we moved forward, but there was significant controversy in the media. The editorial board of the Idaho Statesman headlined an opinion piece with, “Scouts sell crown Jewels.” I responded with an op-ed; “Scouts are our jewels, not property.”
We sold the property for $2 million and invested it with a brokerage house in a managed account. The market was hot at that time, producing over $200k in two months. We used the money to make needed repairs and improvements to Council properties, bought 2-acres next to the freeway in Meridian for the site of a new scout office, (most scout families lived several miles west of Boise) and a 40-acre High Adventure Canoe Base on the Salmon River – for older scouts. We were in process of looking for day-camp property for younger scouts on the Boise River west of Boise when the market flattened. We stopped further purchases until our investments started producing income again.
My term of office was coming to an end. I was awarded the Silver Beaver pendant for service to youth. I resigned from the Board because I was in process of being transferred to the Salt Lake City office of Arthur Andersen &Co. (Chapter 7).
Within two years, the new Ore-Ida Council administration reversed the plans the previous Board and I had put into place. They broke the trust, sold the freeway land and used the money to build a three-story scout office building in Boise, near the mall.
Area II, Western Region, BSA (1988-1991)
Mary Kay, Kaylynn, Katherine and I moved into a beautiful 2,400 sq. ft. condo we had purchased a few blocks north of the Arthur Andersen offices in downtown Salt Lake City. Brian was serving his two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Taiwan.
(Chapter 7).
Will you agree to be President of Area II, Western Region for the next 3-years? - We had been in Salt Lake City for less than a year when Boyd I., Executive Director of Area II, Western Region, BSA came to my office. I knew Boyd from my service with the Ore-Ida Council. Salt Lake City was the headquarters for Area II. Area II included all of the Boy Scout councils in Utah, most of Idaho, western Wyoming and Eastern Nevada.
Boyd said Western Region executives were impressed with my work turning around the Ore-Ida Council and wanted me to be president of Area II, a three-year commitment. My duties included overseeing the annual Area II leadership-training conferences wherein Scout leaders from all of the councils met on the campus of Utah State University (several hundred people). I would chair Area II’s 5-member executive committee that coordinated all Area II activities. Mary Kay and I and the Area II Executive Committee and spouses would be expected to attend the semi-annual, week-long, Western Region leadership planning conferences held in various cities in the Western United States.
A Catholic priest was the keynote speaker – “you should be a Mormon” – At a Utah State University Area II conference, we had invited Roman Catholic Father Roger L. to be our keynote speaker at the first-day’s luncheon. He found me and as we were walking together across the USU quad to the student union ballroom where the luncheon would be served; I inserted my arm through his and said, “Father L, there is a woman here that told me she knows you.” He replied, “really?” I said, “Yes, she said you were such a wonderful man, you should be a Mormon.” I then quickly said, “Now Father L, you have got to accept that as one of the finest compliments you will ever get.”
I sat at the head table next to the lectern. As Father LaChance delivered his remarks, he would periodically reach down and pat me on the shoulder.
Commentary - Over a decade later, I was serving in the Idaho Senate, and because of that, I was invited to attend the dedication of the new Roman Catholic Holy Apostles Catholic Church in Meridian. I sat in the designated section for non-member VIPs. Father L, had regional responsibilities and attended in his official capacity. It was good to see an old acquaintance.
The last year of my three-year term as Area II President, Mary Kay and I invited Cleo and Shirley to attend the commencement dinner at the USU Student Union Ballroom. I was pleased they came because of all the volunteer service activities in which Mary Kay and I were involved, it was the only time a member of our family sat in.
Boy Scout National Jamboree - 1989 – Chief of Area II Subcamp, 1,400 Scouts – The Jamboree is laid out into four regions with a subcamp for each area in the region. Each subcamp headquarters had food commissaries, shower facilities and latrines. Volunteer physicians were on staff at each region.
Our Area II volunteers arrived a few days before the scout troops. As the troops arrived and directed to their designated; it was remarkable to see open fields transformed into a tent-cities with grassy streets and thoroughfares in a matter of hours.
There were about 35,000 scouts at the Jamboree. US President George H. W. Bush was scheduled to address the assembly. He would speak from large open stage at the base of the large natural grass-covered hillside in the shape of an amphitheater. The Scouts marched about nine abreast, on the paved roads into the amphitheater; by region, by subcamp, by troop.
I was invited to arrive early and set where there was a commanding view. I observed the discipline of half-mile-long lines of scouts marching in military fashion and taking their place in the amphitheater.
I saw several sharpshooters stationed at strategic locations to protect President Bush. There was an open area next to the amphitheater stage for the Presidents helicopter. As he flew in, an Army band struck up “Hail to the Chief” as the scouts cheered. The fanfare continued as the president walked alone to the microphones on stage, waving to the scouts as he walked. After his address, the fanfare erupted again as he returned to his helicopter and flew out.
Area II Executive Committee meeting - hosted in our home – Mary Kay and I hosted one of the committee’s planning meetings overnight in our home; five couples and spouses. When we designed our home, we designed it to accommodate overnight gatherings.
Our guests drove hundreds of miles to our home. Mary Kay had all of the meals planned so that the other women could help and visit while the men took care of their business. The first breakfast: Mary Kay seated everyone around our long kitchen table overlooking the Boise River. She served Belgian waffles made with her special recipe of overnight-raised batter. She had three waffle makers and two electric fry-pans running concurrently. She mixed fresh raspberries and peaches with pie-filling for topping. On top of that, she offered homemade whipped cream. She cooked sausages and offered home-made grape juice or milk.
For that evening, we purchased tickets to the Caldwell Night Rodeo. Our guests were very congenial; a joy to be with. They raved about Mary Kay’s hospitality. The wife of one member, Mary Ellen Smoot, became The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 13th General President of the Relief Society.
Western Region Board meetings – Expensive but remarkable – During the three years I was president of Area II, Mary Kay and I attended Board meetings held in famous hotels and resorts. Board members paid their own way. We attended regional meetings at The Boulders Resort and Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona; Teton Mountain Lodge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Disney World in Orlando, Florida and Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, California.
Teton Mountain Lodge – Bunderson Family Reunion - Mary Kay and I were impressed with our experience at the Teton Mountain Lodge and a few years later booked rooms at the lodge for my siblings and spouses who rarely got together, to come for a family reunion.
Western Region Board meeting at Disney World – stayed over to make it a family affair - At Disney World, Mary Kay and I took our married and unmarried children and grandchildren. I extended our reservations at the hotel. When my meetings were over, I joined them in the park.
I made it a point to book a family reservation for dinner at the Chinese Restaurant at Epcot Center; largely staffed by twentyish-age Peoples Republic of China expatriates who worked at the restaurant for a year and returned home. Since Brian was fluent in Mandarin, I asked him to introduce us to the receptionist and get us settled. He spoke Mandarin to the Chinese receptionist. As soon as he spoke, it seemed the news spread rapidly; there’s an American here that speaks Mandarin. We were seated a long rectangle table; Brian and I set across from each other. A half dozen Chinese waiters surrounded our table, talking to Brian. Brian was having a wonderful time laughing and talking to the young men. Peridiocally stopping long enough to tell us what they were talking about. All of a sudden, one of the young men standing behind me thrust his arm over my shoulder pointing to Brian, and exclaiming; “ah, Beijing, Beijing!”
Brian served his Church Mission in Taiwan and learned Mandarin with a Taiwanese accent. However, when he was going to school at Arizona State University, he took several classes in Asian Studies; one of which offered a semester abroad at “Peoples University,” in Beijing, PRC.
The Peoples University did not have enough bi-lingual professors to work with each ASU student. Because Brian was already fluent in Mandarin, his ASU instructor assigned him to a Peoples University professor that was only proficient in Mandarin, albeit the Beijing accent; the “gold-standard” of all regional accents in China. Near the end of the program, His instructor told Brian; “You are an egg." Common with Chinese idioms, the meaning is metaphorical; white on the outside, but yellow on the inside.
Brian said his experience working with the Chinese instructor was hard, but he apparently did a great job cultivating the Beijing accent, because at the dinner table, Brian’s purposeful use of the Beijing accent obviously impressed the young men. Had he used a regional accent, he could have offended those from a different region. Whereas, the young Chinese man that stood behind me, shouted out Brian’s suspected Beijing connection as a compliment.
When we completed our very enjoyable dinner, one Chinese waiter follower us outside; talking to Brian as we walked. When he left to go back inside, I asked Brian what was that all about? Brian said the fellow’s native accent was not that of Beijing. He was complimenting Brian for his Beijing accent; and apologizing because he had not mastered it yet.
Western Region’s Strategic Plan – awarded the Silver Antelope – Because of my professional background as a partner with Arthur Andersen, Western Region executives asked me to help them write the Western Region’s Strategic Plan. Mary Kay and I made trips to the scout offices in San Francisco for a few days and then to Los Angeles. The trip to Los Angeles was nice because we stayed over so we could spend time with our old friends.
When we attended the Western Regions conference at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, I was pleasantly surprised to be called up at the closing banquet to receive the Silver Antelope Service to Youth Award.
West Ada County School District – 1990 School Bond Election
The Meridian School District, now named “West Ada School District,” had a fire in the large auditorium in their Meridian complex. The extensive damage was not totally covered by insurance. The District needed money to complete reconstruction and build more classrooms for the rapidly growing number of students. They district’s Board of Education voted to hold a bond election to build the needed facilities with the bond to be repaid with increased local property taxes. The asked another person and me to co-chair the bond election.
My counterpart and I met with school parent-teacher organizations, business groups, service clubs and other organizations who wanted a briefing; sent out information mailers, public service announcements and signs.
On the night of the election the school board, district administration, election co-chairs and members of the local news media gathered at the district offices. When the final votes were tabulated, we had more than two-thirds of the vote in support. A great relief.
Boise State University – Wrote the Book “Idaho Entrepreneurs” (1992 and 2019)
I started writing the book in 1989. The first edition was published in 1992. The second edition was published in 2019.
The second edition is more useful for most readers because I have added commentaries explaining the business lessons people can learn from our entrepreneur’s individual experiences.
The second edition is also more reader-friendly than the first edition. In the second edition, I give each entrepreneurial experience a headline and the headline become part of the index. Thus, the reader can go to the index; select an interesting headline, go to the headline story; read it; close the book, and they haven’t lost their place.
The first edition format was dictated by the head of the College of Business. He said my commentaries were answering the questions he wanted the professor to teach.
BSU President John Keiser asks me a book for the University - When John and I were working together on community projects, I told John I was going to take early retirement from Arthur Andersen in 1989. He said he would like me to do something for the University when I became available.
With my professional experience with closely held companies (I had been the head of the Small Business Division in the Atlanta Office of Arthur Andersen & Co.); John wanted me to write a book profiling some of Idaho’s great entrepreneurs who developed their businesses into prominence. The name of the book; “Idaho Entrepreneurs.”
John and I met with the Advisory Board for the College of Business and they recommended the entrepreneurs we should be consider. The selection criteria were that the businesses must be started and developed in Idaho by the same person. That definition disqualified Idaho’s many prospectors and timber businesses that sold their mining claims and lumber mills to other businesses. Five of the six entrepreneurs we selected: JR Simplot, Morrison Knudsen, Trust Joist (TJ International), Garrett Freightlines and Chesbro Music, readily agreed to be included. The sixth, Joe Albertson refused. (see below).
John hired me as Executive in Residence; put me on salary assigned an editor from BSU to help me and gave me an office in the Department of Economics. John and I went together to meet with the CEOs of two companies, or he or I called. We called on them to request their approval and assistance. When the book was ready for publication, John wrote the Introduction.
Helping BSU in other ways - My presence on campus invited other requests. Some professors asked me to be a guest lecturer. The head of the Economics Department asked me to write a story for the department’s monthly magazine on how First Security Bank survived the bank collapses of the Great Depression.
In filling that request, I was able to use some of the research for writing Idaho Entrepreneurs, because Harry Morrison of Morrison Knudsen Corporation, lead the effort in making one failed Idaho bank solvent in 1932.
Joe Albertson said no - When John and I went to the Albertson’s corporate offices to discuss the book project, we met with the CEO, Warren McCain. After we made our request, Warren left us to ask Joe for his permission. He returned and told us that he was sorry, but Joe preferred his privacy; “He did not want anybody writing a glorified obituary on him.”
Joe died; the Albertson name remains, but ownership of the company has changed hands three times. Unfortunately, Joe’s complete story, that includes countless company employees that contributed to making Albertson’s great company, remains unpublished
I resigned from BSU, but not from finishing the book - After I was employed for six months, I went to John’s office and told him I did not need a fulltime job. I would finish the book at my expense and on my time schedule. Thus, my employment at BSU ceased. Two years later BSU published the book. Idaho’s Governor, Cecil Andrus, held the press conference in his office.
Boise State University Scholarship Fund – Net book proceeds - The “Mary Kay and Hal Bunderson - Arthur Andersen - (endowed) Scholarship Fund;” managed by the BSU Foundation, is the depository for the net proceeds from book sales and donations. The fund has about $60,000 in principal. Annual fund investment earnings have been paid out for scholarships since 1994.
Idaho State Senator (14 years ended Dec. 2006 - Chapter 17)
I served nearly seven 2-year terms as an Idaho State Senator; Republican; representing District 14 (there are 35 legislative districts in Idaho). When I started my service in 1994, District 14 included the city of Meridian north of the freeway, all of Eagle and Star and west Boise.
My first term began in April 1994; a Gubernatorial appointment to fill the 20-month unexpired term of the previous District 14 Senator who had resigned. I ran successfully for the next six terms. See Chapter 17 for my significant experiences in the Idaho Senate.
Mary Kay – Unwed Mothers and Handwork Art
Mary Kay our began working with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Social Services, following our 21 year-old special needs daughter, Katherine, being placed with a group home - personal care provider - under contract with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and federal Medicaid in 1996.
At Church Social Services, Mary Kay volunteered to work with unwed mothers. She counseled pregnant young women and if they chose to put their baby up for adoption, she cared for the infants in our home until the adoptive parents were selected.
After a few years, health and other conflicts caused her to stop providing that service. She then devoted thousands of hours crocheting artfully-designed edging around more than 100 two-ply flannel baby blankets that were given to new mothers.
She crocheted hundreds of fluffy-white, blue or pink trimmed, bereavement blankets for humanitarian service purposes. She donated them to the maternity wards at local hospitals – to be given to the parents of children who were still-born or died in the hospital shortly after birth.
We had a workman in our home who saw Mary Kay crocheting a bereavement blanket and said, “My wife and I have one just like that. Our baby daughter recently died after birth. The nurses brought her to us, wrapped in a little blanket like that. We mounted the blanket under glass. It is a tapestry that hangs in our family room - to remind us of our little girl.”
She crocheted two alter cloths for the Boise Idaho Temple and third for the Twin Falls Temple – each taking several hundred hours to complete. She also crocheted beautiful bookmarks and women’s scarves that she gave away. Hundreds of friends and newlyweds were recipients of beautifully designed washcloths and hot pads that Mary Kay crocheted or knitted
Idaho Statesman Editorial Board – (2007-2008 and 2011-2012)
Six months after I retired from serving in the Idaho Senate in 2006, the management of the Idaho Statesman newspaper invited me to serve a (non-paid) term on their editorial board. Besides the community member, the Board consisted of the President-Publisher, Editor, Editorial Page Writer and his assistant. This was a time, when all of the newspapers were printed on paper and delivered to the customer’s door. The advent of electronic newspapers was still a decade away.
The Board routinely met for about two hours each week to discuss topics on which they planned to write; news stories that may have needed modification; to interview candidates running for political office; annual interviews of each of Idaho’s two US Senators and two Congressmen, and interviewing the heads of local, state and federal agencies and entities that were in the news.
Because of my recent involvement in the Idaho Senate and community service, I knew many of the interviewees and was knowledgeable about many of the controversial matters in Idaho. I was also independent-minded, sometimes publicly challenging people of my own political party (Republican) who were pushing an agenda which I felt was harmful.
I suspect it is for those reasons, they asked me to serve on the editorial Board. Albeit one board member said, “Hal has forgotten more than most people will ever know;” a nice complement.
A year after my first term on the editorial board in 2008, the newspaper holding-company that owned the Statesman, reassigned Mia to a large Midwest newspaper. The Statesman’s editor called me and asked if I would come back on the editorial board for a short time; until Mia’s replacement was on board. I agreed. However, the “short time” turned into a year.
I told the Board I agreed to chair the ACHD Citizens committee charged with passing the doubling of registration fees on cars and light trucks and asked if they thought it would be a conflict. Their response; No. If they wrote an editorial about the matter, I could recuse myself.
Highway District registration fees – Chairman - 2008 General Election
The last few years I served in the Idaho Senate, I chaired the Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee and was involved in passing legislation that was helpful to Ada County Highway District.
I suspect that was the reason that in 2008, the ACHD Board and management asked me to chair the 50-member citizen’s committee charged with passing a doubling of registration fees on cars and light trucks in Ada County; staying in effect for the next 20-years; to 2028. The residents of Ada County would vote on the proposal in that November’s general election.
The ACHD Board agreed to dedicate half of the increase to “safe routes to schools” and half to “Congestion mitigation.” At the time, many elementary school children walking to school had to walk on the side of the road. With passage of the increased registration fees, ACHD would build sidewalks and where that was not possible, eight-inch-high, six-inch-wide curbing, separating the road from where the children would be walking,
We had a small promotion budget. Thus, it was imperative we have as much personal contact as possible. ACHD’s public affairs officer and I were invited to speak at every PTO organization in the county as well as service clubs and anywhere else there was a forum. On election eve we all gathered at the ACHD offices to await the voting results. The initiative passed with more than a two-thirds majority.
That result was particularly gratifying because the nine highway districts in Kootenai County (North Idaho - Coeur d’Alene) joined together to pass a similar initiative; but they only garnered a third of the vote.
Association of Idaho Cities – Six books: “Idaho’s 200 Cities” (2017)
The AIC invited me to speak at their annual conference in January 2005. I said that there were many people who wanted to move to Idaho or move their small businesses. However, they generally did not know their options of where to settle; except for certain of Idaho’s largest cities.
I said if you do your part, I will donate my time and expenses and we will write three books profiling each of the three regions in Idaho; North, Southwest and East, by county; profiling each city within each region; a total of exactly 200 cities. I said we would also write trivia Q&A for the three regions and each city; 203 chapters.
A standing ovation erupted. Albeit, most of the cities provided limited support in original research; that was up to the AIC staff and me. However, before publication in the fall of 2017, each mayor and city council provided the photographs we used in their chapter and they received and approved the final draft of their chapter.
Over 100 individuals directly participated in researching or writing one or more chapters in the three profile books. I wrote the three companion “Trivia” books - a total of over 1,600 Trivia, multiple choice or true and false; with stories, where warranted.
It took 13 lapsed years, start to finish, to write and publish the books. In his foreword to the six volumes, the former AIC Executive Director, Ken Harward complimented me for my persistence.
In January 2019, I spoke the AIC Conference in Boise where all 105 Idaho State legislators (Senate and House) and the mayors and city council of all of the 200 cities were invited. I spoke to the publication of the books that actually occurred the preceding year, and held-up a hardbound copy of the three profile books and softbound copies of the three companion Idaho Trivia books.
The AIC gave a softbound copy of the profile book that included the cities in their district, to each legislator. Two years later, I made a cash contribution of over eight thousand dollars to the Idaho Library Association for the purpose of providing copies of all the books I had written to all of Idaho’s libraries that did not already have them.
The AIC knew of no other state in the union that completed such a project; profiling every city in the state.