Born in Idaho Falls, Coles moved to Boise with his family in 1968 and graduated from Borah High School in 1970.
[1] Coles was appointed mayor in January 1993 by the Boise City Council,[2] upon the resignation of Dirk Kempthorne, who was elected to the United States Senate in 1992.
Coles was elected to a full term as mayor in November 1993, defeating Tracy Andrus,[3] and was re-elected in 1997 and 2001.
In February 2003, Coles resigned after being charged with accepting an illegal trip from Blue Cross of Idaho to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.
[8] Coles was indicted in May 2003 by an Ada County grand jury for five felonies stemming from the incident and related activities.