H. Brent Coles (born ) is an American politician who served as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Boise Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown area' ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

from 1993 to 2003. Coles resigned from office after accepting an illegal trip to the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

from an insurance company. Coles was a candidate in the 2019 Boise mayoral election, placing fourth out of seven candidates in first round of voting.

Early life and education

Born in

Idaho Falls Idaho Falls ( Shoshoni: Dembimbosaage) is a city in and the county seat of Bonneville County, Idaho, United States. It is the state's largest city outside the Boise metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population of Idaho Falls was 6 ...

, Coles moved to Boise with his family in 1968 and graduated from

Borah High School Borah High School is a three-year public secondary school in Boise, Idaho, one of four traditional high schools in the Boise School District. It serves students in grades in the southwest portion of the district. It is named after a prominen ...

in 1970. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

and a Master of Public Administration from California State University, Long Beach.

Career

Coles was appointed mayor in January 1993 by the Boise City Council, upon the resignation of

Dirk Kempthorne Dirk Arthur Kempthorne (born October 29, 1951) is an American politician who served as the 49th United States Secretary of the Interior from 2006 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a ...

, who was elected to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

in 1992. Coles was elected to a full term as mayor in November 1993, defeating Tracy Andrus, and was re-elected in 1997 and 2001. In 2000 and 2001, Coles served as president of the

United States Conference of Mayors The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) is the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. The cities are each represented by their mayors or other chief elected officials. The organization was founded i ...

. In February 2003, Coles resigned after being charged with accepting an illegal trip from Blue Cross of Idaho to the

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. Prior to his resignation Coles had been the target of a

recall election A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which, in certain polities, voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of of ...

drive. City council member Carolyn Terteling-Payne was appointed to serve until the end of 2003. Coles was indicted in May 2003 by an

Ada County Ada County is located in the southwestern part of Idaho, United States. As of the 2021 United States census estimate, the county had a population of 511,931, making it by far the state's most populous county; it is home to 26.8% of the state's p ...

grand jury for five felonies stemming from the incident and related activities. In November 2003, Coles pleaded an

Alford plea In United States law, an Alford plea, also called a Kennedy plea in West Virginia, an Alford guilty plea, and the Alford doctrine, is a guilty plea in criminal court, whereby a defendant in a criminal case does not admit to the criminal act and ...

to a count of presenting a fraudulent account or voucher and a count of misuse of public money by officers. The remaining charges were dropped as part of a plea bargain. In January 2004 he was sentenced to 180 days in jail and three years' probation. In August 2011, The state of Idaho levied a

tax lien A tax lien is a lien which is imposed upon a property by law in order to secure the payment of taxes. A tax lien may be imposed for the purpose of collecting delinquent taxes which are owed on real property or personal property, or it may be ...

in the amount of $44,691.31 against Coles and his wife for unpaid individual income taxes. On September 6, 2019, Coles announced that he would again run for the Boise mayoral seat in the 2019 Boise mayoral election. Coles faced long-time Boise Mayor Dave Bieter, president of the Boise City Council President

Lauren McLean Lauren Stein McLean (born October 20, 1974) is an American politician and entrepreneur serving as the mayor of Boise, Idaho. McLean served as a member of the Boise City Council from 2011 to 2019, and as council president from 2017 to 2019, bef ...

, and several other candidates. Coles came in fourth place out of seven candidates, garnering 7.3% of votes cast. McLean and Bieter advanced to a December 3, 2019 runoff election, with McLean declared the eventual winner.

References

External links

Mormons Today
February 18, 2002 1950s births Living people Mayors of Boise, Idaho People who entered an Alford plea American politicians convicted of fraud Idaho politicians convicted of crimes Presidents of the United States Conference of Mayors {{Idaho-mayor-stub

Early life and education

Career

See also

References

External links