‘He was a titan in Idaho politics’: Former Idaho Gov. Phil Batt dies
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Longtime Idaho politician Phil Batt, who served as governor from 1995 to 1999, died Saturday on his 96th birthday, according to a statement from Gov. Brad Little.
“Governor Phil Batt was the epitome of a public servant, having served as Governor, Lt. Governor and Senator. His legacy is distinguished by his unrelenting human rights leadership, determined fiscal conservatism, and enduring love of Idaho,” Little said, noting that he was ordering flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of Batt.
“It is fitting Phil Batt was born and passed on ‘Idaho Day,’ the celebration of the anniversary of the day President Abraham Lincoln created the Idaho Territory in 1863. Teresa and I send our love and condolences to his wife Francee, his children, and many, many friends.”
Batt, a Republican, served in the Idaho House of Representatives from 1965 to 1967, in the state Senate from 1967 to 1978 and as lieutenant governor from 1978 to 1982. He was also the chairman of the Idaho Republican Party in the early 1990s.
Batt was elected as Idaho’s 29th governor in 1994, defeating Larry EchoHawk and becoming the first Republican governor in the state in 28 years. His election signaled a change that has seen nothing but GOP members elected to the top office since: Dirk Kempthorne, Butch Otter and Little.
Batt led several contributions to human rights in Idaho during his career, including sponsoring the creation of the Idaho Human Rights Commission. As governor, he also pushed for legislation to cover Idaho’s Hispanic farm workers under the state’s workers’ compensation program, according to the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights.
The Boise center previously announced that its new education center, set to open in August and under construction now, would be named the Philip E. Batt Building.
Batt also is well-known for the 1995 Settlement Agreement he achieved with the federal government as governor. Also known as the Batt Agreement, it required the Department of Energy to remove tons of nuclear waste that had been dumped above the East Snake Plain Aquifer, putting Idaho’s clean water at risk.
Working alongside his friend and former Democratic Gov. Cecil Andrus, Batt also would eventually protest a proposal from the Department of Energy that would transport spent fuel rods to the Idaho National Laboratory for research.
Batt and Andrus met while serving in the Idaho Legislature in the late 1960s. Despite their different party affiliations, their friendship lasted for more than half a century, until Andrus’ death in 2017.
Born in Wilder on March 4, 1927, Philip Eugene Batt graduated from Wilder High School and studied chemical engineering at the University of Idaho from 1944 to 1948, when he enlisted in the Army Air Force, according to previous Idaho Statesman reporting.
Batt’s first wife, Jacque, died in 2014 after they were married for 66 years and had three children. He married Francee Riley, of Boise, in 2015.
In a press release, U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said Batt was a close friend and mentor during his time in the Idaho Senate.
“He was a titan in Idaho politics and cared deeply about our great state,” Risch said.
In 2019, former Idaho Gov. Butch Otter awarded Batt with the Idaho Medal of Achievement — the highest civilian honor the state offers to recognize Idahoans for their “exceptional, meritorious, and inspirational” service.
Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke said in a release Saturday that Batt was a man of “fairness and decency.”
“While his time in office predated my own, Gov. Batt was there when my political career first began; he appointed me to a federal task force that worked to keep Idaho a viable and influential voice in the lands process to uphold the beauty and wonders of our great state,” Bedke said.
Little’s office said that Batt died “peacefully at his home” and that the former governor will lie in state at the Capitol, with details to come.
