Courtesy Melaleuca

BOISE, Idaho — Ten Republican lawmakers flew across the state for a partisan rally last week aboard a pair of private aircraft owned by eastern Idaho businessman Frank VanderSloot and one of his closest associates, at a time when the Legislature is considering a bill being pushed by VanderSloot.

A Learjet 45 owned by VanderSloot, the president and CEO of Idaho Falls-based health care products company Melaleuca Inc., and a separate turboprop plane owned by Allen Ball, a Melaleuca co-owner, whisked lawmakers including House Majority Caucus Chairman Ken Roberts, of Donnelly, from Boise to Idaho Falls for Lincoln Day, a traditional Republican event, last Thursday afternoon before returning them late Thursday evening.

In addition to Roberts, other lawmakers who jetted to the event were Reps. JoAn Wood, of Rigby; Lenore Barrett, of Challis; Tom Loertscher, of Iona; and Janice McGeachin, Russ Mathews, and Dean Mortimer, all of Idaho Falls. Also aboard were Sens. Mel Richardson, of Idaho Falls, Steve Bair, of Blackfoot, and Jeff Siddoway, of Terreton.

Just hours after they returned to Boise, Richardson, Bair and Siddoway voted Friday in favor of a bill that would help strengthen an employer's ability to enforce noncompete agreements with key employees. The bill passed 25-10 and is now before the House.

VanderSloot hired a lobbyist to push for the bill, after a similar measure failed a year ago.

VanderSloot said he wasn't aboard either of the aircraft with the lawmakers and there was no hint of impropriety because the Idaho secretary of state's office said lawmakers could use the planes, provided they pay for it out of their own pockets or disclose it on their next campaign finance reports as an expense or "in-kind contribution."

Some Melaleuca executives and accountants were already in Boise and were returning to Idaho Falls, VanderSloot said.

"I was asked if we would furnish our plane to get some legislators here," he told The Associated Press. "They hitched a ride."

Mortimer said he organized the flight when he spoke with Ball Ventures, Allen Ball's company in Idaho Falls. Mortimer then asked several other lawmakers if they would accompany him.

Some Democratic lawmakers said the timing of the flights was suspect, given that legislators who took the rides would soon be voting on legislation being pushed by VanderSloot.

"The basis of effective government is public confidence," said Sen. Kate Kelly, D-Boise. "This sort of 'blurring of the lines' undermines the public's confidence in their legislators and undermines the integrity of the office."

Not all lawmakers who were on the flights knew they had to pay or disclose them as part of their campaigns.

"I wouldn't have gone if I'd known it would cost anything," Barrett said Monday upon learning from a reporter about rules governing the flights.

Others, however, discussed the matter with Secretary of State Ben Ysursa before the flight, they said.

"I'll report it as an in-kind contribution. It'll be under the limit of $1,000," said Mathews. "I'd do it again. It helped us serve our constituents in Idaho Falls better."

Current law limits contributions from an individual or organization to $1,000 for legislative races.

According to the secretary of state's office, Idaho law doesn't include specific provisions governing how the cost of travel by state lawmakers on private or corporate aircraft must be recorded, said Tim Hurst, chief deputy secretary of state. As a result, Hurst said the state defers to federal laws governing U.S. Senate candidates, who must pay their share of the "normal and usual charter fare or rental charge for travel on a comparable aircraft of comparable size," according to the Federal Election Commission.

"Any in-kind service has to be recorded based on current market value," Hurst said.

Rebecca Casper, a spokeswoman for Ball, said she was still looking into how to account for the contribution.

Damond Watkins, a spokesman for VanderSloot, said he doesn't anticipate the cost of the flights to greatly exceed $150 for each of the state lawmakers.

It could, however, be much more than that, based on the federal rule for "a comparable aircraft of comparable size." For instance, according to OneSkyJets, a jet charter service, a flight from Boise to Idaho Falls and back on a jet similar to the Learjet 45 would cost between $4,000 and $6,200.

And Watkins' estimate would be far less than what U.S. Senate candidate Jim Risch paid to use VanderSloot's Learjet on Oct. 9, 2007, the day Risch announced his campaign. Risch, the current Idaho lieutenant governor, paid nearly $12,000 for flights to Idaho Falls and Coeur d'Alene, said Jason Risch, his son and campaign manager.

When asked about last week's flight, Siddoway said he plans to report his ride on VanderSloot's jet as an in-kind contribution to his 2008 campaign.

"I quite frankly don't know what it will be worth," Siddoway said.

His support for VanderSloot's legislation was based on personal experience, not a flight on a private jet, Siddoway said. An employee at a feed mill that Siddoway once owned defected to a competitor and used sensitive information to undermine his former employer. He thinks that should be stopped.

"You work so hard to build those relationships," Siddoway said. "If that person packs up and leaves you ... it leaves the employer totally vulnerable."

Wood said she wasn't sure if she would pay for her flight as a campaign expense, or report it as an in-kind campaign donation.

She said it would depend on the amount, adding, "I haven't been given a bill."

The flight was a big help in avoiding a 280-mile drive, she said.

"It was great," Wood said. "We wouldn't have gotten there otherwise."

Mortimer, who flew on Ball's turboprop, said this wasn't the first time he's flown on a plane owned by a Melaleuca owner. In 2007, VanderSloot took him to Boise aboard his Learjet to attend a political rally for then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Mortimer said.

Mortimer said he wasn't immediately certain how or if he reported the expense from that event. No mention of the flight is included on Mortimer's Jan. 28 campaign financial disclosure obtained by the AP from the Idaho secretary of state.

"I needed to check with Damond (Watkins)," Mortimer said about why the flight doesn't show up on his disclosures. "I haven't received a receipt yet."