The relationship between the City of Boise and the Idaho Legislature can be — let’s admit it — a little testy. Just last April, for example, lawmakers effectively killed three new renter protection ordinances after the city spent months to get them passed. So to help us check the city’s temperament going into the new legislative session, the city’s Director of Government Affairs Kathy Griesmyer joined the City Cast Boise podcast.
Do you find that legislators are receptive to messaging about the city’s needs?
Irrespective of the politics at play, there's a recognition that government is here to serve people and provide a service. And working to really help lawmakers understand [that] we have a community that voted in particular leaders. We have a community that voted in a mayor. We have a community that voted in our council members. And they have been tasked with meeting the community's needs. And the legislature sometimes has a role to play in helping ensure that those programs and services can come to fruition [in Boise].
Some legislators have been very open about their disdain for Boise and have painted it as this liberal enemy in a red state. Do you think that colors how the legislature views the city?
I would say that's more of a fringe perspective. I think that myself and the contract lobbyists that the city utilizes to be at the statehouse to represent our really diverse set of issues we're working on, we really spend the time to help [lawmakers] understand, do some myth-busting, [and] provide more information.
What’s one myth you’ve had to bust?
Probably the biggest one early on was that we had a huge pile of money the city was just stockpiling, and in some part that was a lot of education about previous administrations, budgets, and funds. A lot of that was related to the previous library project and how that money was getting redirected to deferred maintenance or other programs. So some myth-busting about the amount of money the city had, how we were utilizing it, and what were our plans moving forward.
