Otter Likes Life Under Gop Regime Idaho Lieutenant Governor Given New Responsibilities

There’s nobody enjoying himself more in the Capitol’s new Republican regime than Lt. Gov. Butch Otter.

Otter has been a close friend of GOP Gov. Phil Batt’s for many years. When Batt announced in 1993 he would be running for governor, Otter immediately dropped out of that race and ran for a third term as lieutenant governor.

Now he has been given new responsibilities by Batt. Otter figures that if he performs well, that experience eventually could propel him into the governor’s job.

“My goal is to do the best job for Gov. Batt as long as he wants the job,” Otter said.

After Batt has served as long as he wants, will Otter run for governor?

“If I have done a good job, the next decision will be very easy,” he said.

Otter is more important in running state government under Batt, the state’s first Republican governor in 24 years, than he was under Democratic Gov. Cecil Andrus.

At the start of the eight years Otter served as lieutenant governor under Andrus, who he describes as a good friend, Otter had high hopes for more responsibility.

As president of J.R. Simplot Co.’s foreign marketing arm, Otter hoped to use his world sales experience to lead Idaho’s export expansion campaign.

But, he said, Andrus gave him some candid advice.

Andrus told Otter there were a lot of things he couldn’t do because they essentially would prepare him to become the opposition party’s candidate for the state’s top job.

“I could understand that,” Otter admitted.

Still, he got along well with Andrus. In filling in for the governor when Andrus was out of the state, Otter was given the chance to name Republicans to appointed jobs on 18 different occasions. But he and Andrus didn’t have that games playing relationship that plagues many other states. But Otter wanted more to do, and he’s getting to under Batt.

In the first few days of the Batt administration, Otter served as a go-between for the new governor and other state officials.

Last week, a few lawmakers wanted Batt to “stand on the tracks,” as Otter put it, to stop wolves from being reintroduced in Idaho.

Otter gathered a few lawmakers, wildlife experts and wolf opponents into his office and used his negotiating skills to defuse the situation. People who came in saying Batt wasn’t doing enough in the wolf controversy left agreeing that using official channels was the best way to battle the reintroduction of wolves.

Otter also has become a headhunter of sorts for Batt.

He has been “talent hunting” around the state for qualified people to sit on 180 boards. Well more than 1,000 appointments eventually will have to be made by Batt.

Otter has been screening potential candidates and recommending them to the new governor.

He turned to industry sources to develop a list of “desired characteristics” for top state appointees. For people wanting to serve on the state Board of Education, the list was a long one.

Otter hopes to create a more modern mechanism for candidate screening beyond politics - one that will last long after he is gone.

No one else ever has served more than eight years as Idaho’s lieutenant governor. Otter is in his ninth year. With seven statewide campaigns under his own belt and Batt’s three statewide campaigns plus a stint as Republican Party chairman and legislator, the lieutenant governor says he and Batt know the “hot spots” where people are unhappy with state government.

Otter’s political career seemed over two years ago when he was arrested for drunken driving and convicted after a much-publicized trial.

But he won a three-way GOP primary last spring and then beat a strong Democratic opponent, state Sen. John Peavey of Carey, by 21,384 votes in what turned out to be a Republican tidal wave.

“I asked the people to forgive me,” Otter said. “They did.”