Clement Leroy "Butch" Otter (born May 3, 1942) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 32nd governor of Idaho from 2007 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected in 2006, and re-elected in 2010 and 2014. Otter served as lieutenant governor from 1987 to 2001 and in Congress from 2001 to 2007.
Otter is Idaho’s second longest serving governor, ahead of Robert E. Smylie, but behind Cecil Andrus.
Early life, education and business career (1942–1972)
Born in Caldwell, Idaho, into a small Roman Catholic family of limited means, his parents were Regina Mary (née Buser) and Joseph Bernard Otter. His father was a journeyman electrician, and the family lived in many rural locations in the Midwest and West during his youth, attending fifteen different schools.
His nickname "Butch" was the result of a few schoolyard fights which resulted in minor bruises; Catholic nuns had initially nicknamed him "Clem" after a character in the Red Skelton Show. He graduated from St. Teresa's Academy (predecessor of Bishop Kelly High School) in Boise in 1962. Otter graduated from high school at age twenty – a childhood accident involving gasoline severely burned his younger brother and forced Otter to take a year off. He worked throughout high school as a janitor, theater usher, and lawn boy.
Otter briefly attended St. Martin's College in Lacey, Washington, returned to Idaho and attended Boise Junior College, then earned his B.A. in political science from the College of Idaho in 1967. He was the only member of his family to graduate from college, and made the dean's list in his last term.
Otter's business experience includes thirty years with Simplot International, an agribusiness corporation founded by his then father-in-law, J.R. Simplot. He started at a low-level position and eventually was appointed to the company's presidency.
Early political career (1972–1986)
His first bid for elective office was in 1972; he won a seat in the state legislature from Canyon County, and was re-elected to the House in 1974 serving until 1976.
In January 1977, incumbent Democratic Governor Cecil Andrus was appointed U.S. Secretary of Interior under President Jimmy Carter. Lieutenant governor John Evans, a Democrat, succeeded Andrus and Otter announced in June his intention to run for governor in 1978. In the six-man Republican primary in August, Otter ranked a close third with 26.0% of the vote. Allan Larsen, the House Speaker from Blackfoot, won the nomination with 28.7% of the vote, followed by Vern Ravenscroft of Tuttle, with 27.6%.
The nominees of both parties were Mormon, marking the first time in state history one would be elected governor. Incumbent Evans was unopposed in the Democratic primary and won the general election in November with nearly sixty percent of the vote; it was the third of six consecutive victories by Democrats.
After losing the gubernatorial primary, he was on the Idaho Republican Party Central Committee and was Chairman of the Canyon County Republican Party.
After Ronald Reagan won the presidency in 1980, he appointed Otter to the administration's Task Force on International Private Enterprise, the World Bank's Agricultural Advisory Committee, and the Center for International Private Enterprise.
Lieutenant governor (1987–2001)
In 1986, Otter returned to Idaho politics and was elected lieutenant governor, and reelected in 1990, 1994, and 1998. He served under three different governors, Democrat Cecil Andrus, and Republicans Phil Batt and Dirk Kempthorne. In 1991, when the Idaho Senate was evenly divided between 21 Republicans and 21 Democrats, Otter's tie-breaking votes kept the body under GOP control. Midway through his fourth term in 2001 (14 years), Otter resigned to take his congressional seat in Washington, D.C.; he is the longest-serving lieutenant governor in Idaho history.
U.S. House of Representatives (2001–2007)
Otter entered the Republican primary, and immediately became the favorite due to his name recognition as lieutenant governor. He won handily, and breezed to victory in November, and was re-elected in 2002 and 2004.
In Congress, Otter was largely conservative with a slight libertarian streak, as reflected in his opposition to the Patriot Act. He was one of three Republicans (along with Bob Ney of Ohio and Ron Paul of Texas) to vote against the Act in 2001.