Cheers to Dave Frazier of the Boise Guardian. On his blog, the Idaho Statesman's Kevin Richert referenced that Boise City Council Candidate Dave Litster is referring to Mayor Bieter's downtown trolley as the Folly Trolley. Of course, the term is not of Litster's making, it was originally coined by Frazier on the Boise Guardian as he has reported on politicians' seeming love affair with ill-advised rail projects. That a phrase originally used by Frazier has found its way into the politically debate shows the growing influence of his blog. While I doubt your average Boiseian knows who Frazier is, they don't know who Adam Graham is, and for that matter I doubt Kevin Richert gets mobbed by autograph seekers when he goes to pick up his dry-cleaning. The important thing is that Frazier is connecting with readers who are making their voices heard. He is perhaps, the most important blogger in covering Idaho's Capitol. He has no political allegiance to which he kowtows. He is what newspaper men were supposed to be. Even as the Statesman has ignored new media outlets over the past few months, Frazier has become a prominent voice in doing the job that the Press ought to be paid to. And after all these years of solid reporting, he's having a well-deserved impact.

Boos to the tone-deafBoiseCity Councilfor its outlay oftaxpayer money for the Trolley. Despite the City's spin, we know that's exactly what it is. Maryanne Jordan seems to believe she leads a charmed life and cannot lose. That's the only explanation for this boneheaded vote. The PR so far hasn't worked.A poll paid for the Idaho Statesmen, whose accompanying story would be better titled, "Majority of Boise opposes Street Car" shows that about 37% actually support the idea. The city argues that the number would increase as people learn more about it. I would argue the opposite in these current times.

Cheers to the Boise City Council: Randy Stapilus has talked to some folks in Boise who are generally in favor of mass transit and they're not really enthused with the trolley. There's good reason for this. As Portland State University Doctoral student Chris Blanchard identified this as an economic development projectnot a public transit project. The Mayor is doing harm to the cause so embraced by transit supporters as the Statesman observed in a recent editorial. When one brings up local option taxes, the image of Dave Bieter's trolley folly will be fresh everyone's minds. I'm not a fan of higher taxes, and I'm not a fan of any of the various local option bills that have gone through the Idaho legislature (save for Raul Labrador's local option fees bill) as they've all given government too much power to raise too much taxes without sufficient public involvement. Heck of a job, Team Dave.

Cheers to Ada County Commissioner Sharon Ullman: Ullman continues to use her blog from inside government to blow the whistle on outrageous government practices. She revealed an outrageous proposed outlayfrom the ACHD to spend $400 per bench to make the benches ADA compliant. Ullman believes this can be done at a significantly lower cost and found experts on the rights of the disabled who back her up. Ullman has leveraged blogging to provide good information on what's going on. While I've not taken a stance on her race for Governor, I'm satisfied with the great information she's providing as commissioner.

Cheers to William Byrk who has filed papers to be the Democratic sacrificial lamb Nominee for U.S. Senate against Senator Mike Crapo (R-Id.) Byrk won the New Hampshire Republican Vice-Presidential Primary in 2000, and has never been West of Buffalo. Still, even though he's never been to Idaho, he believes we deserve a choice. Well, that's mighty neighborly of him. And given the sorry state of the Idaho Democratic Party, he's easily the frontrunner. As an aside, pencil me in for the 2016 Republican Vice-Presidential Primary in New Hampshire. Going to New Hampshire every four years to run for Vice-President sounds like a winsome hobby.

Boos to the Worldwide consortium of news organizations that decided to cover a junior hockey team playing strip hockey. I don't condone the actions, I understand the concern of parents, and I understand why local media outlets covered it. What I don't understand is how this is worldwide news. This is one of the coming of age transgressions that is rebuked and thenforgotten, as most of these boys will undoubtedly become productivecitizens. That it got the coverage it did shows theabsolute degredation of media.

Cheers to Wal-Mart, who I saw today is partnering with the Boise Rescue Mission to feed the hungry. They get a lot of bad PR from the liberal press, but they do much good.

Three Cheers for Chris Ehrman, an Ada County paramedic who could save your life if the situation calls for it. As Commissioner Ullman reported on her blog, Ehrman has gone beyond in serving the public in his service to his country in Iraq. Thank you to Commissioner Ullman for highlighting this public servant. And thank you especially to Ehrman for his service to country and community. Welcome home.