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Ethics chair Mortimer: ‘We’ve got our work really cut out for us’

Members of the Senate Ethics Committee, including, from left, Sens. Bert Brackett, Dean Mortimer (chairman), Elliot Werk, Diane Bilyeu and Dan Schmidt, convene on Monday morning; not shown at left is Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Coeur d'Alene. (Betsy Russell)
By Betsy Z. Russell betsyr@spokesman.com(208) 336-2854
Members of the Senate Ethics Committee, including, from left, Sens. Bert Brackett, Dean Mortimer (chairman), Elliot Werk, Diane Bilyeu and Dan Schmidt, convene on Monday morning; not shown at left is Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Coeur d'Alene. (Betsy Russell)
Members of the Senate Ethics Committee, including, from left, Sens. Bert Brackett, Dean Mortimer (chairman), Elliot Werk, Diane Bilyeu and Dan Schmidt, convene on Monday morning; not shown at left is Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Coeur d'Alene. (Betsy Russell)

Sen. Dean Mortimer, R-Idaho Falls, chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee, announced that as required by Senate rule, he has notified Senate Resources Chairman Monty Pearce of the ethics complaint against him. “He has until 8 a.m. tomorrow … to respond in writing if he so chooses,” Mortimer said. “The purpose of this committee is only to determine whether a conflict of interest requiring disclosure exists or existed.”

Mortimer added, “Our objective today will be to define and make sure that we understand conflict of interest.” The committee will meet again tomorrow at 8 a.m., he said. “I’m sure that is when we will start into the particulars of the complaint. But I think we’ve got our work really cut out for us even today to define conflict of interest.”

* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "Eye On Boise." Read all stories from this blog