Scott Bedke, a rancher from southern Idaho who Batt once appointed to a land management commission, told the Idaho Statesman. An onion farmer, he entered politics when he was elected to the Idaho statehouse in 1965 and served in the state House of Representatives and state Senate for the next 18 years.Īt a 2019 event honoring Batt, Butch Otter, also a former Idaho governor, called him “a rare leader who transcends political ideology.”Īs a legislator, Batt pushed to create a state Human Rights Commission, an achievement that became more notable when white supremacist groups made northern Idaho a hotbed of hate group activity in the 1980s and 90s.īatt also supported laws guaranteeing a minimum wage for farmworkers and, as governor, covering Hispanic farmworkers under Idaho’s workers compensation program a position that put him at odds with many in the agricultural industry he rose from and which dominates the state landscape. After graduating from high school there, he served in the U.S. Philip Eugene Batt was born in a small farmhouse several miles from Wilder, a southwest Idaho agricultural town. “His legacy is distinguished by his unrelenting human rights leadership, determined fiscal conservatism, and enduring love of Idaho,” Little said of Batt, who served one term as governor from 1995-1999. Brad Little called him “the epitome of a public servant.” In a statement announcing Batt’s death, Gov.
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