Patrick Bageant

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Patrick Bageant

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

Boise City Council Seat 1 (Historical)

Predecessor: Lauren McLean

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Education

Bachelor's

The University of Idaho, 2007

Law

University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, 2010

Personal

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Patrick Bageant was a member of the Boise City Council in Idaho, representing Seat 1. Bageant assumed office on January 7, 2020. Bageant left office on January 9, 2024.

Bageant ran for election to the Boise City Council to represent Seat 1 in Idaho. Bageant won in the general election on November 5, 2019.

Bageant completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Bageant graduated from the University of Idaho in 2007 and the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 2010. He previously worked as a firefighter. As of 2019, Bageant worked as an attorney.

Elections

2019

See also: City elections in Boise, Idaho (2019)

General election

General election for Boise City Council Seat 1 (Historical)

The following candidates ran in the general election for Boise City Council Seat 1 (Historical) on November 5, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Patrick Bageant (Nonpartisan)	28.9	13,041
		Ryan Peck (Nonpartisan)	19.3	8,734
		Karen Danley (Nonpartisan)	18.3	8,275
	Submit photo	Brittney Scigliano (Nonpartisan)	16.5	7,449
		Tecle Gebremicheal (Nonpartisan)	12.0	5,428
	Submit photo	Chris Moeness (Nonpartisan)	5.0	2,257

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 45,184
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Bageant was endorsed by:

• The Idaho Statesman Editorial Board
• Conservation Voters for Idaho
• Boise Firefighters Local 149
• Boise Regional Realtors
• Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest & Hawaii
• Idaho AFL-CIO
• The Building Contractors Association of Southwestern Idaho
• Representative Jake Ellis (Idaho House District 15)
• Rick Johnson (Former executive director, Idaho Conservation League)
• Kevin Learned (Professor emeritus, BSU Venture College)
• Lori Gibson Banducci (Retired executive; Idaho Conservation League board chair)
• Chris Hoyd (Attorney & co-creator of Boise Startup Week)
• Suki Molina (Former deputy director, Idaho Conservation League)

Campaign themes

2019

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Patrick Bageant completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Bageant's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Patrick Bageant graduated from Berkeley Law and Leadership Boise, is a Treasure Valley "Accomplished Under 40," and owns Hollystone Law. Prior to being an attorney he led firefighting and helicopter rescue missions across the western United States where he received three commendations for merit. Bageant has a deep background in conservation, and serves on the board of directors for Conservation Voters for Idaho, the Idaho Conservation League, The Redside Foundation, and NAVHDA. His campaign has been endorsed by Conservation Voters for Idaho, Boise Local 149, Boise Regional Realtors, the Building Contractors' Association of Idaho, Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest & Hawaii, and the Idaho CLC.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Boise's well-earned reputation for sustainability and quality of life is worth defending. We know Boise is a wonderful place to live but that didn't come for free. We are legacy heirs to more than fifty years of work on the river, open spaces, and sustainability initiatives, and we owe it to the next generation to carry on this tradition.
• You can't enjoy a city if you can't afford to live there. Falling wages and rising home prices are pushing people to outlying communities, reducing our tax base, wasting worker hours, polluting our air, and lowering the standard of living. We must rezone our transportation corridors for density. We must ensure that everyone who wants a place to live has one. We must make these investments today because they will only be more expensive tomorrow.
• Now more than ever people demand accountable leaders. "Accountable" doesn't mean re-electable, it means doing the job of governing. In Boise, that requires good-faith discussions, not fighting, with other branches of government. It requires responding to disagreement by working harder to collaborate rather than turning away. It requires emphasizing the "service" in public service.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

The most pressing issue facing Boise right now is that the benefits of the last decade's economic boom have not shared as evenly as they should be. While Boise's economy has grown in the last ten years, real wages have fallen and the percentage of people living below the poverty line has increased.

That single problem is the string upon which the rest of our most talked-about issues hangs: affordable housing, transportation, sustainability, and property taxes. Affordable housing is just as much an issue of the price residents can pay as it is about what homes cost. Transportation is about how far people must travel to earn a paycheck just as much as it is about congestion or accommodating vehicles. Smart, long-term, sustainable policies become much more difficult to justify when the trade-off involves the baseline standard of living in real humans' lives. And, property taxes begin to feel "high" when they exceed what we can afford to comfortably pay.

It would not be realistic to expect the Boise City Council to solve the national wage-gap problem, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't acknowledge it for what it is. Our most visible problems (housing, transportation, property taxes, and sustainability) all are tentacles that are connected to this single problem. Second only to climate change, it is the most pressing issue we face.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

My political philosophy can be found somewhere in a Venn diagram where "The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius," "Taking Rights Seriously" by Ronald Dworkin, and the novel, "All The King's Men" by Robert Penn Warren all overlap.

What legacy would you like to leave?

"Children are," as Neil Postman famously said, "the living messages we send to a time we will not see." We owe it to send messengers who are educated, knowledgable, and better off to deliver word of our work to a people who live longer, happier, fuller lives in a planet that is cleaner, safer, and more sustainable than the one we have now.

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

In Boise, the City Council serves a quasi-legislative, quasi-judicial function. It promulgates ordinances in a legislative way, and it adjudicates planning and zoning appeals in a quasi-judicial fashion. This creates complexity that some citizens do not always appreciate: when performing one function, the Council may regulate what can and cannot be done but, when performing the other, its role is simply to determine whether the rules have been followed. That can put individual Council members in the uncomfortable position of having to say something is permitted, even when they feel it should not be. This dual-role function can be hard for a person to get their head around at times -- it can be difficult for me, and I am a trained attorney -- but it is real, and more people should be aware of it.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for holders of this office to have previous experience in government or politics?

Of course it is beneficial for office holders to have previous experience in government or politics, but it is not a mandatory resume check-box. Voters should select candidates who have proven their character in their professional and personal lives, who have experience brokering solutions by building consensus, and who have some degree of business background or ability to understand budgeting and finance. A strong education is important, but education comes in many forms: street smarts are just as (or more!) useful as Ivy League smarts. A demonstrated history of public service -- whether in fire, military, non-profit, or volunteer service -- is important because elected office is fundamentally public service, and some form of demonstrated leadership ability are also prerequisites for the job. At its most basic level, the power of elected officials resides in their power to persuade others. Candidates never learn that, or politicians who forget it, do not tend to fare well.

What kind of skills or expertise do you believe would be the most helpful for the holders of this office to possess?

Voters should select leaders who are equipped to hit the ground running.

Our city is at a pivotal time, and it shows: we are growing gangbusters yet dangerously behind the curve on affordable housing, efficient transportation, and our changing economy. It is critical that the next City Council have tools to fit the job.

That is why the background knowledge required to fully engage the issues more important than any particular past experience ‒ it is critical that our next leaders be ready on their first day. Every day, thirty-four new people move to Ada County ‒ there simply is no time for on-the-job-training. Boise needs leaders who already understand urban renewal, the initiative process, the Dillon Rule, the nuts and bolts of budgeting, and planning and zoning authority. It also needs people who are practiced understanding the two, three, or five sides important problems usually have, and who are trained in brokering solutions. Past experience in office, or in government, are fantastic ways to gain those tools. So is experience in business, law, social services, or in any professional setting that requires consensus building.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2019 Elections

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Candidate

Boise City Council Seat 1 (Historical)

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Lauren McLean	Boise City Council Seat 1 (Historical) 2020-2024	Succeeded by -