Idaho

Congressman announces run for third term
Republican C.L. Otter promises focus on limiting government

Betsy Z. Russell
Staff writer

CALDWELL, Idaho -- Congressman C.L. "Butch" Otter launched his re-election campaign Wednesday, hearkening back to his Libertarian roots in southern Idaho's Canyon County.

"Idaho has a bright future and our people have a world of opportunity to look forward to, but only if we keep the government from interfering," said the two-term Republican congressman and 14-year lieutenant governor.

A small but appreciative crowd of courthouse employees, local officials, supporters and legislators joined Otter on the front lawn of the Canyon County Courthouse for the announcement. Former Gov. Phil Batt, head of Otter's campaign committee, smiled and shook hands.

Otter sounded the anti-government themes that he's repeated throughout his career as one of Idaho's longest-serving government officials.

"We must commit to freeing people to invest in themselves and their families rather than spending your money on one-size-fits-all government solutions," he declared. "We must commit to protecting state sovereignty and water rights against assaults from misguided and over-reaching laws, activist courts and environmental extremists."

He won applause from the crowd when he talked about endangered species. "If you'll help me, I'll keep making the case in Congress that humans are a species, too," he said.

Otter, 61, faces a primary challenge from "Big Jim" Pratt, 45, of Melba, a property manager and farm owner who garnered 1.5 percent of the vote in an eight-way GOP primary for the same seat in 2000. That year, Pratt came in fifth, while Otter won the primary with 47.9 percent of the vote and went on to win his first of two terms in Congress.

Democrat Naomi Preston also has filed for the 1st District seat. Preston, a 48-year-old Eagle businesswoman, horse trainer and endurance racer, is making her first run for office. She's unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Otter said, "Obviously I have a record that I'm going to have to defend."

He counted his top accomplishments in office as his work, through his congressional committee assignments, on the Forest Health Initiative, his work on an energy plan that's still pending, and his efforts to remind his counterparts in Congress that states should have more power. If he wins a third term, he said, "I'd like to be a little more successful other than just reminding."

Otter plans announcements in Coeur d'Alene and Lewiston today.

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