Kiebert resigns from Idaho Judical Council
Judge council appointee quits after felony arises
BOISE (AP) - The governor's new appointee to the Idaho Judicial Council has resigned before her confirmation hearing after state officials learned of her past felony conviction.
The Idaho Statesman reports Susan Kiebert stepped down Monday from the Idaho Judicial Council, the panel that vets judicial appointments and investigates complaints against judges. The Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to vote on her confirmation Monday, but Sen. Denton Darrington, R-Declo, put the vote on hold after learning of Kiebert's conviction.
Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter declined to comment about the matter.
The conviction came in 1995 when a federal jury found Kiebert guilty of making false statements about the purchase of a car by the agency she headed, Head Start in eastern Idaho. Kiebert said she thought the conviction had been expunged from her record after she completed probation and paid restitution.
"I would never have put myself through this, nor would I have put Gov. Otter or Sen. (Denton) Darrington through this," she said.
In her paperwork for the council appointment and confirmation, Kiebert answered "No" to the question, "Have you ever been found guilty of, pled guilty to, or received a withheld judgment for a felony violation of any federal or state law?"
But the conviction was no secret - it was big news in the state in the 1990s when Otter was lieutenant governor. It also is listed on the U.S. District Court electronic docketing website.
Kiebert, then named Susan Ohman, oversaw federally funded Head Start programs in eastern Idaho. She resigned in 1993 after the Idaho Falls Post Register reported financial irregularities with the agency.
A jury found that she lied when she said the agency bought a 1987 Isuzu Trooper through the Idaho Transportation Department. In fact, the agency purchased a 1984 Trooper owned by then-ITD Director Kermit Kiebert, whom she subsequently married. Federal prosecutors also charged her with theft from a government program, saying she spent $10,000 on windows and a roof for a house in Driggs owned by her then-husband, John Ohman. The jury deadlocked on that charge, however, so she was acquitted.
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Opinion: Botched nomination raises questions about Otter
Dan Popkey, Idaho Statesman
Susan Kiebert did Gov. Butch Otter a favor Monday by swiftly leaving the Idaho Judicial Council, the panel that vets judicial appointments and investigates complaints against judges.
"I don't want this hanging in the air," Kiebert told me.
Kiebert said she was surprised to learn that her 1995 federal conviction for making false statements remained on her record. She said she assumed it was expunged after she completed probation, paid a fine and restitution. "I would never have put myself through this, nor would I have put Gov. Otter or Sen. (Denton) Darrington through this," she said.
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