Idaho Gov to Pay for Jet Ride to Arizona
Friday, January 5, 2007; 7:53 AM
BOISE, Idaho -- Idaho's new governor has asked to be billed for the private flight he and his wife took to watch Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl, but says he was only offered the trip because of family connections.
Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter and first lady Lori Otter traveled to the Scottsdale, Ariz., game Monday on a private jet owned by the agricultural business J.R. Simplot Co. After inquiries from The Associated Press on Thursday, Otter's staff asked for a bill.
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Otter is the former son-in-law of J.R. Simplot, the company founder. He was married to Simplot's daughter, Gay Simplot, until their divorce in 1993. They have four children. Otter was a Simplot executive from 1965 until 1993.
"This isn't like a lobbyist situation. They have a relationship. It has been in the past a family relationship," said Jon Hanian, an Otter spokesman.
According to Idaho law, gifts to public servants from persons subject to their jurisdiction are allowed if they are "conferred on account of kinship or other personal, professional or business relationship independent of the official status of the receiver."
Otter's office called the Idaho attorney general's office to ask whether receiving a flight on a jet owned by a private company met the requirements of Idaho law. The attorney general's office declined to comment to the AP, but Otter officials said the attorney general told them the trip was within the scope of the law.
"He's a former employee of the company and he asked the Simplots if there was a possibility he could come down," said Fred Zerza, a Simplot spokesman. "It was hitching a ride to get to the game, down and back, no other amenities at all."
Since 2002, Otter, who served three terms as a U.S. representative from western Idaho, has received at least $12,400 in campaign contributions from J.R. Simplot, his wife, other family members or the company, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, and campaign finance records filed with the Idaho secretary of state.
