“Life was good,” said Mike Masterson, referring to his eight-and-a-half years after he retired from being Boise Police Chief. But after writing a couple of op-eds in the Idaho Statesman, pushing back against Mayor Lauren McLean, Masterson said he started hearing from “all types of contacts.”
“They would all ask, ‘Hey why don’t you run for mayor? You’d be a good mayor,’” said Masterson.
But he had the get the ultimate “yea” or “nay” from his wife. So, after a long conversation, primarily about their kids’ and grandkids’ future, Masterson indeed launched a campaign.
With just a few days before Election Day, Masterson visits with Morning Edition host George Prentice to talk about a myriad of topics, beginning with that decision to run.
Boise State Public Radio spoke with all four Boise mayoral candidates. You can find the other interviews here:
- Here’s Joe Evans, candidate for Boise Mayor. He’s convinced he’ll be in a runoff election
- Here’s Aaron Reis, candidate for Boise mayor. He doesn’t want you to vote for him
- For Lauren McLean, being Boise mayor is ‘the honor of my life,’ and she’d like four more years
“I invested eight months of my life in this political process so far. Sometimes it's been 12 to 14 hours a day. If I have to go another 30 days, I'm willing to invest that as well.”Mike Masterson
Read the full transcript below:
GEORGE PRENTICE: It's Morning Edition. Good morning. I'm George Prentice. Well, here we are. We are in the home stretch as we head to Election Day. And this week we are spending some time with the candidates who are running for certainly the highest profile race in the Treasure Valley. And that is the race to see who should be the mayor for the city of Boise. So here comes Mike Masterson. We know him as the former chief of police and indeed a serious contender to the incumbent.
MIKE MASTERSON: Good morning George.
PRENTICE: When you had decided to run, you were very open in talking about the fact that it was a process and ultimately had to consider the counsel of the people who mean the most to you. Talk to me about that decision.
MASTERSON: Retired. Life was good… eight and a half years. I know I told you I edited and was the principal writer for a veteran's newspaper. I got to take time off and fish golf. You know, I wrote a couple of editorials when the mayor first came out and was casting aspersions on the dedicated men and women of the police department based on the troubled actions of a retired captain, very troubled in terms of the racist remarks that he was offering. The people that I worked for, they said, “Hey, boss, nobody's speaking up for us. Would you do it?” So I wrote the first editorial. The second editorial was pretty easy. Is that when she went out and on the basis of a friend's advice, got a Washington, D.C. law firm to investigate the department, I wrote a second editorial. I started to get all types of contacts after that from people who said, ‘Hey, why don't you run for mayor? You'd be you'd be a good mayor.” You know, ultimately, it came down to a discussion with my wife. She is the one who gave the yay or nay because we, you know, we've been together 47 years. We've worked for 30 of those years together. We thought that we were going to do some things differently in retirement together, finally. But, you know, we began to talk about my grandkids, who I have a couple of grandkids here in, in Boise, and we talked about, you know, if I can't leave a legacy that is better for them, that they can they can want to live here in Boise. They're proud of it and they can afford to live here. Then all the years that I've worked in public service haven't mattered. If I can't, if I can't make that legacy, and I see in their eyes and in their spirit the children and the grandchildren of many other people that I've worked with. And so to me, I am in good health. I'm not six three, 190, and I don't have a doctor that will confirm that. But I'm in good health, and I think I still have something to offer to the people that treated me so well. When I moved here in 2005 as an outsider.
PRENTICE: It appears as if some change is necessary within the Boise Police Department to the degree of how much change will happen or should happen. I guess we're going to find out, but can you speak to that? Do you think change is necessary?
MASTERSON: Some change is necessary. I think change in leadership in City Hall is necessary.
PRENTICE: Okay, but can we focus on the police department?
MASTERSON: You bet. But. But it starts at City Hall. Because, you know, I tell people right now, the Ada County Sheriff, Meridian and Garden City have no vacancies in their department, no vacancies. That's hard hitting when the Boise Police Department has at least 30. You know, why is it? Well, I think it's because, number one, we haven't had the stability of leadership in the department. We've had a lot of adverse incidents that have occurred out there with the former chief, that the officers have been demoralized. Why do you want to go to work for a department former chief like that? Yes. Why do you want to go for a work for the mayor that doesn't support you? So there is changes that that need to be made. I mean, first of all, we need to hire those 30 officers. And I need to sit down with the police chief and talk about the different strategies that we can expedite that process, because if we don't have all of those people that are authorized, we're not fulfilling all of our mission. We have to take from the vacancies that exist and make sure that we have patrol officers that respond to priority and emergency calls out there. That means we're not doing something else. We're not doing traffic enforcement. We're not solving problems in neighborhoods. We're not on bicycles downtown. We're on not on motorcycles doing traffic enforcement. We need to solve that issue to get back up to the number of officers that mayor and council have authorized so that we can do our work.
PRENTICE: But is it your sense that the policies and or practices currently in the department are good enough?
MASTERSON: Oh I think listen, I have never relied on the status quo. I always think that there's room for for improvement. I want to look at what is going on with the rest of the country, and how other large cities are attracting and retaining their employees.
PRENTICE: It's pretty difficult to convince a young person who's looking at a career just nationwide, as far as the culture, they're thinking twice about going into law enforcement.
MASTERSON: Absolutely. There's too many opportunities out there now, too many other vacancies where they can go and not have that type of pressure. But I can tell you, after doing this for 40 years, there's no greater feeling than making a difference in the lives of others. And I just got a text message this this week, as a matter of fact, from a woman who reached back to 2006, who told me that it was one of my police officers who came to her domestic abuse incident. He put his hand on her, her hand, and he said, ma'am, I believe you. She said, that changed her life forever. And she wrote about that this time. And, you know, they're the things that we take away in retirement, that we reflect back and think, yeah, we did make a difference. And I would urge people to do that. We need to reach out to more young people at BSU. We need to provide internships to get folks in to students, to get them to see the side of policing that they don't understand. Law enforcement is a very small percentage of the work that we do. The other work that we do is we're social workers, we're psychologists, we're mental health workers, we're parents sometimes. And you know those roles. It's important because we're helping to shape the lives of others.
PRENTICE: In the event hosted by City Club, there was a question in some conversation in regard to matters that many may consider to be national issues. In particular, Mayor McLean's very public remarks in regards to abortion restrictions in the state of Idaho. And she doubled down on that and said, you bet that matters to me. And it matters to, in her words, the values of our city. And correct me if I'm wrong. What I heard from you was that may not always be the place for a mayor.
MASTERSON: George, you're absolutely right. I don't think it's the place for a mayor to get involved in state and federal political matters. We have enough problems here in Boise that need to be solved. Senator Risch isn't going to solve our problems. And representative Brooke Green is not going to solve our problems. They deal with those issues at the state and federal level. You know, I just can't see as a mayor standing up and telling another legislative body, I'm not going to follow your rules. I am a guy who has enforced the rules, some of them that I don't like over 40 years. But that's not my job to do that.
PRENTICE: But let me just pause you there, because I think what she was saying was she was inclined not to have the Boise Police Department follow up and investigate and or arrest a caregiver and or a woman who may be running afoul of Idaho's abortion restrictions.
MASTERSON: She absolutely said that. And I don't think it's up for a mayor to pick and choose what laws we're going to follow. I don't want to create a law as a mayor and then have my council members come out and say that I don't agree with this law. We're not going to follow it. It's just absolutely wrong. Listen, I have talked about this issue. I have daughters, I have talked about how wrong it is for politics to insert themselves in medicine and women's issues, but it's not my job to lobby citizens one way or the other in support or in opposition to a law. I mean, you go up to the state legislature and you voice your opinion up there. My job is the mayor is to make sure that you have a safe downtown. You have you have adequate park system. You have fire protection that we're building appropriately to accommodate our needs. And I just think that that tends to be more divisive in our community than bringing us together.
PRENTICE: There are only so many hours in the day, only so many hours in a year. There's only so much money in a city budget, and only so much you can ask taxpayers to fund projects, proposals, departments, etc. Where is the current administration spending too much or too little time, or too much, or too little money on things that you think ought to be or ought not to be?
MASTERSON: Well, I'll start with the 60% increase in her own budget in three years in the mayor's office. 60% is an extraordinary number. It involves deputy chiefs of staff now. It involves community engagement. It involves a whole array of services there. I want to get back to cutting down the bureaucracy so that when a citizen has a problem, they don't have to go through three levels of bureaucracy to get somebody in the mayor's office to solve their problem.
PRENTICE: So you would shrink the mayor's budget?
MASTERSON: That's one. You know, I need to take a look at where the spending is occurring. We've had a great deal of money that came through the American Rescue Act. Money with Covid. I know we spent $14 million for for housing for for housing and homeless issues. I know we spent $10 million on on climate change issues. We had a good time over the last three years with money that was coming in. And now the faucet is going to be shut off. We're not getting the the temporary rental assistance money or these other funds that are coming in. It's going to make it a little bit more difficult. The major assets that we got, particularly our parks systems, came from women in our community: Julia Davis, Katherine Albertsons, Edna Harris, Mary Ann Williams. I mean, all of those parks are great. We got a golf course that I used to go to up at Quail Hollow that was donated to the city, you know, so we need to be working more with with those members of our community who want to enrich the lives of others through through parks here.
PRENTICE: So you would advocate for more parks or just to expand that portfolio?
MASTERSON: I think we have to take care of the parks that we have now.
PRENTICE: There are a number of parks, but there are folks in West Boise, for instance, who would like to have a little bit more green space.
MASTERSON: And I understand the importance of connecting some of our parts to 15 minutes from neighborhoods and other places. But we have far too many parks in this city, particularly in the southwest part, the Murgitio Park that are promised. But we're not doing anything for for development yet. Harris Park down at Harris Ranch has not been developed, so I'd like to sit down with the Parks Department and the Parks Commission and see exactly what we're looking at for a strategic plan, and then work with the Parks Department to go out and find the resources that. Are necessary. Yes, some of them may be through taxpayer money, but we have a very giving community. What can we do to bring these improvements to the outlying areas as well?
PRENTICE: If you were to be elected, you would inherit quite a bit, including the new zoning code rewrite, which goes into effect December 1st. You have indicated that you weren't a fan of the end product and how we got there. That said, it will be codified on December 1st. I mean, what do you do with that? Because you have a city council that voted for it unanimously. You have a department that they're basically the architects of that. How do you unwind that?
MASTERSON: Yeah. Well, I'll point out that the city council that voted for it was three hand-picked council members from the mayor and was pushing the mayor's agenda for that. I thought the process was too aggressive. Now, just don't ask me. Ask the thousands of citizens that are up in arms because they didn't think their voices were heard or their questions were answered. And I'm hearing those concerns and they're occurring on State Street. They're occurring in our most affordable neighborhoods where people moving here can still come here, buy that old house, renovate it, and have that type of promise that we have made to our citizens in terms of living in a quiet neighborhood and safety. I just think it's gone too far. So as mayor, I will initiate a review of that. I will expedite the review. I won't wait a year. There's no affordable component in this. I mean, it's been talked about and the mayor's trumpeted, you know, a few hundred new homes that may happen as a result of this. And I'm not sure homes means houses. Homes could mean apartment and duplexes and even building at today's prices. You can't tell me that with the cost of construction, the cost of building materials, that we're going to build, anything for less that will be rented less or will be cheaper, that is not a dream that's going to come true. That's something that's being expressed as idealism and not as not being pragmatic because it's not going to happen.
PRENTICE: So would you take a, I think what I'm hearing you say is possibly a moratorium. Would you take that to the new city council to either slow things down or put a pause on the new zoning code?
MASTERSON: Yeah. You know, if we were to change the city zoning code, I would need the I would need the assistance of council. But as mayor, I can keep the same code, and I can invite in those people who don't think their voices were heard in their neighborhoods. Listen, there are most affordable neighborhoods, and they should have a voice. I don't know them all, but I will bring together a group of stakeholders that include professionals. Include voices on both sides. Because I think what happens is, is that in government we want to push these plans. We get our coalition together and we push it. And then it's happened so many times. It happened with zoning. It happened with Interfaith Sanctuary, is that we see the controversies that follow and the lawsuits that then stop us from moving forward as a community. And I want to change that by listening to people and work with them to create that vision that we have for the future of Boise.
PRENTICE: My last question is a political one. Are you prepared for the possibility that this could turn into another election, another runoff?
MASTERSON: Well, listen, I invested eight months of my life in this political process so far. Sometimes it's been 12 to 14 hours a day. If I have to go another 30 days, I'm willing to invest that as well.The stakes are high. We have the future of Boise. We have the issue of transparency, of collaboration, of accountability. And I think that I can bring those skills to to City Hall. And I am determined to see this out, even if we have to go to a runoff.
PRENTICE: Mike Masterson, good luck next week. And thanks for giving me some time this morning.
MASTERSON: Thanks, George. Appreciate it.
Find reporter George Prentice on X @georgepren
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