The stalwart Idaho Education News also reported this month that Green donated $7,289.34 to eleven incumbent candidates for the state legislature in advance of the May 21 Republican primary.
One of those contributions — the maximum $1,000 permitted by Idaho law — was to Senator Chuck Winder (R), President Pro Tem of the state senate. Winder had supported a bill — which ultimately failed — that was intended to cure the perceived constitutional flaws in the structure of the Phoenix deal. Four other Green donations went to Republican state representatives who had opposed a separate House bill to authorize a lawsuit by the legislature to block the deal. (Another recipient of Green money voted for that bill.)
Last August, also, Green donated $10,000 to New Horizons, a political action committee led by Rep. Megan Blanksma, then the House Majority Leader. And in April, Scott Green’s wife, Gabriella Green, donated $25,000 to Idaho Deserves Better, a political group opposing hardline conservative state senator Dan Foreman.
University presidents don’t usually try to become players in state politics through campaign contributions, but a University of Idaho spokesperson defended the Greens’ giving to Idaho Education News. “Any political contributions made by Scott or Gabriella Green are from their own resources and are not associated with any university dollars. It is their right, as citizens, to support any candidates of their choosing,” Jodi Walker said.
But you wouldn’t have guessed how proud the Greens were about these campaign contributions from the way they presented them. The Idaho campaign finance reports list multiple variations of Green’s name — his initials “CS” or “C.s.” or his actual first name, Cumer — and two different addresses. Yet spokesperson Walker claimed, “There is no effort to obscure this support, and in fact (the Greens) proudly confirm these donations.”
But as to whether the Greens’ campaign contributions will advance the cause of the Phoenix deal, if that was a desired outcome, it’s not so clear.
Rep. Brent Crane (R), chair of the powerful Idaho House State Affairs Committee, told the Statesman he hadn’t heard of college presidents getting involved in political contests. Crane said Green “just hurt his cause significantly” and “obviously doesn’t understand politics; he should be focusing his time on education, not on political races.” Crane added, referencing the Phoenix deal, “So no, his issue will be dead.”
