Phil Batt

Phil Batt (2010)

Philip Eugene "Phil" Batt (* 4. March 1927 in Wilder , Canyon County , Idaho ) is a former American politician of the Republican Party . He was governor of the state of Idaho from January 2, 1995 to January 8, 1999 .

Career

Batt, who made a living growing onions and hops as a farmer , assumed his first political office in 1965 when he was elected to the Idaho House of Representatives. Two years later he moved to the Idaho Senate , where he was a member until 1979. Batt served as Lieutenant Governor of Idaho from 1979 to 1983 . In 1982 he ran for the office of governor and was only barely defeated by the Democratic incumbent John V. Evans . The future governor and senator Dirk Kempthorne led his election campaign.

After he took over the leadership of his party in Idaho at the beginning of the 1990s, it managed to once again become by far the strongest force in the state. He then put himself up for election again. In 1994 he ran again for governor. After winning the internal party primaries with 48 percent of the vote, he also prevailed in the actual election against Larry EchoHawk , the Attorney General of Idaho, with 52 percent of the vote.

Although opinion polls showed an approval of around 80 percent for his administration, Batt decided not to run in the next election. One of the merits of his tenure was the enforcement of a compensation payment for agricultural workers; he also succeeded in signing a contract that limited the amount of nuclear waste dumped in Idaho . In the four years Batt served as governor, the Idaho cabinet had a higher percentage of women than any other state in the United States.

After the end of his political career, Phil Batt worked as a book author. In 1999 he published his memoir under the title The Compleat Phil Batt: A Kaleidoscope ; A collection of humorous short stories ( Life as a Geezer ) followed in 2002 .

Web links

• Phil Batt in the National Governors Association (English)