Lawyer Claims Coercion In Recent Campaigns Mosman Allegedly Told To Donate Or Lose Client

A Senate committee on Wednesday recommended state Board of Education member Roy Mosman be confirmed for another term, a day after the Moscow lawyer said he was told to contribute to two Democratic gubernatorial campaigns or risk losing state legal business.

Mosman had told the Senate Education committee that he gave $200 to Gov. Cecil Andrus in 1990 and $750 to unsuccessful Democratic gubernatorial candidate Larry EchoHawk last year to ensure keeping the State Insurance Fund as his client.

“I think I was told to make the donations and the amount in both cases,” Mosman told the Idaho Senate Education Committee during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday.

The full Senate will consider Republican Gov. Phil Batt’s reappointment of Mosman to the Board of Education.

Education Committee Chairman Gary Schroeder, a Moscow Republican, asked Mosman to explain the Democratic campaign contributions.

“I thought it was better to discuss it in an open, public forum in the Senate Education Committee than let the rumor mill deal with it,” Schroeder said.

After the hearing, Mosman refused to disclose who advised him to make the campaign contributions to Andrus six years ago and EchoHawk last year.

“I’m not going to tell you,” he said.

However, Mosman said it was not a state employee.

The Insurance Fund has paid Mosman nearly $150,000 during the past five years for his representation, according to fund spokesman Al Bunch.

Former fund administrator Merle Parsley, who worked on the campaigns of Andrus and EchoHawk, said the governors hired all the attorneys who worked for the fund during his 10-year tenure.

But Andrus said Tuesday that he could not believe Mosman indicated he made a campaign contribution because the Insurance Fund was a client, or that he was advised to make a contribution of a specific amount.

“I want to hear him say it,” said Andrus, calling Mosman a friend of 30 years. “If he did, it is totally, totally false.”

The former governor said neither he nor his campaign asked attorneys working for the Insurance Fund to contribute to his campaign.

EchoHawk’s former campaign manager, Cottonwood School District Superintendent Stan Kress, said neither he nor EchoHawk were aware that anyone sought a campaign contribution from Mosman simply because he worked for the State Insurance Fund.

“I never touched anything like that with a 10-foot pole, and neither as far as I know did anyone with the campaign,” Kress said.

EchoHawk could not be reached for comment Tuesday.