Otter Aims To Rope In Fed’s Power

Idaho’s cowboy lieutenant governor has ridden back into the spotlight, proposing a passel of bills targeting bureaucrats and feds.

Lt. Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter says his sudden flurry of legislative activity doesn’t have anything to do with his tentative plans to run for governor in 1998. But Otter, who’s been in office since 1986, couldn’t remember when he last proposed legislation.

His bill to require federal agents to get a concealed weapons permit unless they’re working under contract with state or local agencies died in the House this week, 50-19, after a spirited debate.

“That’s the most exciting thing I’ve seen in the House in two years,” Otter said. “I think that’s what the Legislature’s all about - not this stuff that’s as exciting as holding somebody’s horse.”

Otter’s other two bills, both of which he’s co-sponsored with Rep. Ralph Gines, R-Boise, would:

Require prior notice before Health and Welfare inspectors could enter private property. That would apply to enforcement of environmental, health and pollution laws, and possibly more. The bill also requires any inspectors who take samples to take duplicate samples at the same time, and give them to the property owner.

Direct courts to award legal fees to people who are the targets of criminal proceedings for environmental violations, if a judge finds the charges were unfounded.

“I always want the public to question the bureaucrat,” Otter said.

But in response to concerns from lawmakers, he’s agreed to remove the prior notice provision from his inspection proposal. Otter said he’ll offer an amendment Monday to do that.

“I think if a person’s polluting, they oughta have to pay for it in a big way,” he said. But as a libertarian-leaning Republican, Otter said he wants to be sure government doesn’t trample on people’s rights.

“You’d like to think that most of the people that are involved in the bureaucracy are above petty ego trips, but they’re not - no more than I am.”

Otter doesn’t mind the controversy over his bill on federal agents, which one lawmaker dubbed lacking in common sense.

“When I see the feds running roughshod over the states, it offends me a little bit,” Otter said. “What I did envision is the federal government would respect the state of Idaho’s right to its own police power.”

If Otter is positioning himself for a run for governor, he appears to be reaching out to the constituency on the right end of the political spectrum, including the supporters of U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth.

“Any time she has a states’ rights issue, I think she’s right on.”

Otter says whether he runs for governor “depends upon what Phil Batt does.”

That’s the same answer House Speaker Mike Simpson gives when asked if he’ll run. Both men say they’ll run if Batt doesn’t.

Batt hinted in his State of the State address this year that he’ll seek a second term, but Friday he said, “I haven’t made that choice - I don’t know. I’ve got a lot of time.”

When Otter’s weapons bill came up in the House, Simpson debated against it.

Do the time warp again

There’s some spooky kind of time warp in the state Capitol building. First, the governor misspoke in his State of the State speech, referring to this year as “1966.” But it didn’t end there. During a committee hearing last month, Rep. Hilde Kellogg, R-Post Falls, moved to approve minutes from a date in January of “1966.” And then, on the floor of the Senate, during speeches commemorating Abraham Lincoln, Sen. Robert Lee, R-Rexburg, asked, “What can we learn from Abraham Lincoln in 1966?”

, DataTimes MEMO: North-South Notes runs every other Saturday. To reach Betsy Z. Russell, call 336-2854, fax to 336-0021 or e-mail to bzrussell@rmci.net.