Echohawk Still Gained After Losing Election

Even though he lost the Idaho gubernatorial election to Republican Phil Batt by 34,760 votes, Democrat Larry EchoHawk continued to get campaign contributions through the end of 1994.

A campaign finance report filed with the secretary of state’s office Wednesday showed EchoHawk, now a law professor at Brigham Young University, spent nearly $1.3 million on the campaign and wound up with a cash balance of more than $26,500.

EchoHawk received more than $11,000 in donations between Nov. 19 and the end of the year, the period covered by the latest report. He spent $22,017 paying off bills from the campaign during the period.

The report from Batt, Idaho’s first Republican governor in 24 years, isn’t due until next week.

Penny Fletcher, the Boise Democrat who ran an underdog campaign against Congressman Michael Crapo, R-Idaho, filed a termination report showing she spent just under $25,000 and donated $3,068 to the Idaho Democratic Party to zero out her campaign fund.

Crapo got nearly 75 percent of the vote as he won his second term as Idaho’s 2nd District congressman.

The Idaho Democratic Party’s report showed it spent $231,422 on the 1994 campaign and wound up with about $21,000 in the bank.

EchoHawk, who ended four years as attorney general earlier this month, reported that some of his biggest contributions were from out-of-state. He got $1,000 from a Beverly Hills, Calif.-based trust fund and the same amount from Martha Tolman of Evanston, Ill. Steven and Susan Mann of Eagle also gave him $1,000.