DIXON: Tell full story, Press
In your recent articles on our local government legal costs, I hoped to see in-depth reporting, not a whitewash. Coeur d’Alene city attorney, Mike Gridley’s conduct of the Daniel Dixon case was noted in your article as costing taxpayers $3.3 million. I hoped for the whole truth.
The case should never have been prosecuted and Mike Gridley, if he had investigated properly, should have known that. The charges made were a sham setup. Dan is a man of highest integrity and is what cost him his job.
Gridley lost the initial case, but appealed it adding to the costs. Then he lost on appeal. So he appealed it up to the Ninth Federal District Court and lost again. The final settlement to the Dixons was $3.7 million, not $3.3 million. In addition, the city had to pay Dixon’s court costs and the added costs of the outside lawyers the city hired to litigate the appeals. It’s reasonable to assume the final tally was $4.1 million or so. The actual figure should have been easy for your reporter to find and report correctly.
A Press article, when the Dixon case was being pressed, reported the figure as $3.7 million. From the point of the initial $3.3 million judgment, interest accumulated. As the appeal losses mounted up, the costs of the case went up.
Interested taxpayers need to know that Dan offered to drop the case with a simple reinstatement of his position and $70,000 reimbursement legal costs he and his family had accumulated to that point. Gridley’s poor judgment could have saved about $4 million in taxes. It could have prevented a stain on the Coeur d’Alene Police Department’s management team and considerable grief to the Dixon family.
Other letters tell of incidents where Gridley’s judgment has resulted in wrongful costs of tax dollars and grief inflicted by unneeded litigation.
His poor counsel results in unneeded city litigation costs that drain our taxes. A more intelligent analysis of situations would use negotiations, arbitration, and even waiting for similar federal and state litigation. Such approaches would not only save tax dollars, but help all of us get along together in a civil manner.
Given Gridley’s performances and longevity in the Attorney’s office, I suggest he be put out to pasture.
VERN WESTGATE
Coeur d’Alene