Noble faces no charges of perjury

BOISE – Senate President Pro Tem Bob Geddes does not intend to pursue perjury charges against a senator who was accused of lying to an ethics committee, saying any criminal action would have to be initiated by prosecutors.

But Ada County Prosecutor Greg Bower said last week that he won’t open an investigation into former Sen. Jack Noble without a complaint from Geddes, R-Soda Springs, or anyone else.

“Without a referral from the pro tem, I’m not sure criminal justice system can add anything that would benefit the public,” Bower said. “But if somebody brought it to me, I would be willing to look at it.”

Noble, the two-term Republican from Kuna, resigned March 7, one day before the full body was expected to take up a damning ethics committee report saying he tried to enact laws that would have added value to his family business and then lied about it under oath.

During the investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee, Chairman Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, said questions about possible perjury charges were not the responsibility of the committee.

“There are civil consequences, but that is not our business,” Hill said. “If anyone else wants to report or do anything else from a civil action, that is up to them. But it is not up to this committee.”

Under Idaho criminal law, any person who takes an oath to testify before a legislative committee must tell the truth, and anyone lying to such a body is guilty of perjury, punishable by one to 14 years in prison.

Noble apologized twice during the monthlong probe, once for failing “to consider the ethical implications of not being specific.” Later, he said it was “not my intent to gain financial advantage or to mislead.”

However, Noble has never apologized for the things the committee determined that he did: introducing a bill that would benefit his family business, misleading the ethics committee and lying under oath.

Noble’s troubles began Feb. 4, when he attempted to introduce legislation in the Senate State Affairs Committee that would have changed the way the state calculates the distance required between schools and liquor stores.

Noble’s convenience store in Melba is not eligible for a state contract, but the new calculations would have changed that. Noble is trying to sell the convenience store.