Former Rep. Stephen Hartgen dies at 77

TWIN FALLS — Stephen Hartgen, who represented Twin Falls for five terms in the Idaho House and lead the region’s largest news organization for 23 years, died early Friday. He was 77.

Hartgen helped shape Twin Falls through his leadership in media, business and politics and was known for his straightforward opinions.

When not writing, reading American history or advocating for the Magic Valley, Hartgen loved to fish the region’s pristine trout waters, experiences he drew upon in a special 2019 column reflecting on his 75th birthday.

“No one knows when we may be summoned, called away to a distant stream, when one’s spirit returns unto God, who gave it, says Ecclesiastes,” he wrote. “In any case, I have many blessings and almost no regrets. Looking back, I have been given much for which to be grateful.”

Hartgen was born Sept. 30, 1944, in Baltimore, Md.

“Of course,” he wrote, “I was the cutest baby ever, even cuter than my twin brother, says my Mom, Bless her soul.”

That brother, David, died in May.

He would eventually earn a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Minnesota, a master’s degree from Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., and a bachelor’s degree, Amherst College in Amherst, Mass.

He also taught at Ohio State University and the University of Minnesota.

He came to the Times-News in 1982 as an editor and was named the publisher in 1989. He would leave the paper in 2005.

Rep. Laurie Lickley of Jerome first met Hartgen when he was a journalist covering agricultural issues.

“He had some questions about the ranching in the Magic Valley, and he actually went to those of us in the ranching community to find out what the story was,” Lickley said. “He actually wanted to represent ... he listened, he heard, and he understood.”

“Rep. Hartgen has always been extremely civil, very cordial having conversations about those difficult subjects, where maybe we could disagree about certain things and yet still get together for a cup of coffee and talk about long-term solutions for Idaho.”

His time at the paper wasn’t confined to the newsroom. He worked advocating for the region and helping build other local businesses, and always doing what he thought was right.

A longtime member of the Rotary Club, in 1988 he insisted the local club admit its first woman, Marilu Jeno, which prompted some other members to quit in protest, Rotarian Kevin Bradshaw said.

Twin Falls real estate appraiser Doug Vollmer worked closely with Hartgen in the mid-1980s looking for ways to rejuvenate the Magic Valley’s then-lagging economy. The two, and other businessmen such as Roy Raymond and Lee Wagner, would soon establish the Business Plus organization.

“Boy, nobody cared more for Twin Falls than Steve did,” said Vollmer, who sat with Hartgen at Twin Falls Rotary meetings each week for years.

“He was a good man to know — to have lunch or coffee with,” he said. Hartgen and Wagner, general manager of KMVT at the time, agreed upon what Vollmer called the “Hartgen-Wagner Rule,” to keep private any confidential information about businesses the group was trying to bring to town.

“Sometimes we were aware of information the companies didn’t want out and we always honored that,” Wagner told the Times-News. “It was a gentlemen’s agreement.”

“The thing I admired most about him was his integrity,” Wagner said. “You knew when he said something, he meant it. Whether you agreed or not, you knew where he was coming from.”

Hartgen built many friendships and alliances over the years.

“We were close friends when he was the publisher of the newspaper,” said Curtis Eaton, a retired Twin Falls banker who now lives in the Treasure Valley.

“We had many robust conversations, often centering on education,” the past interim president of the College of Southern Idaho said Friday. “He was a very articulate advocate for those things he believed in.”

Over the years, he served in numerous other community organizations, including as a member of the Idaho Capitol Commission, vice-chairman of the Permanent Building Fund Advisory Council, a founding board member of the Southern Idaho Economic Development Organization, executive director of Business Plus, a board member of the Twin Falls Area Chamber of Commerce and vice-chairman of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry.

Three years after leaving the Times-News, then Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter appointed Hartgen to fill a vacant House seat, to which he was elected in his own right in November 2008.

“He was one of a kind,” said Rich Stivers of Twin Falls, who served as Hartgen’s campaign chairman. “They don’t make people like that anymore.”

A Republican, Hartgen served as the chairman of the Commerce & Human Resources Committee.

Rep. Maxine Bell served 15 terms representing Jerome county in the Legislature before retiring in 2018. She worked with Hartgen over the whole course of his political career.

“I always know how thoughtful he was when he stood to speak to an issue,” Bell said. “And the fact that he had been a college professor came through loud and clear. But he wasn’t speaking down to you, he was just making sure that you had the complete picture.”

Bell said it was clear Hartgen felt that his position as a representative was important and that he honored it by being clear, direct, and thoughtful. He had an impact on people by how he presented information in his debates, she said.

“You could trust him to explain, trust him to talk to you, trust him to tell you what you felt like you wanted to know from his debate,” Bell said. “Nobody wants to make a mistake with bad information. And you could depend on his information to be as close to correct as he could get it. You didn’t have to worry about there being some kind of motive behind it.”

Rep. Lance Clow said he and Hartgen both came to Twin Falls at about the same time. Hartgen had been serving in the House for several years by the time Clow joined the Legislature. Hartgen’s grasp of the many fine details and nuances of lawmaking was something that impressed Clow.

“He wasn’t one to ramble on much on the floor of the House,” Clow said. “But when he stood up you know he had something important to say, and he really commanded everyone’s attention when he stood up, because it had to be important at least in his mind because he didn’t stand up and talk about trivial things.”

Sen. Lee Heider, who worked with Hartgen in the Legislature for almost a decade, held Hartgen in high regard for his work as a legislator and for his political opinions.

“I just love Steve,” Heider said. “He’s one of the noble, great legislators we have in the state of Idaho. Probably one of the most articulate and well-read.”

After retiring from the Legislature in 2018 and passing his seat to Linda Wright Hartgen, his wife of 29 years, he stayed in the public eye through his columns, which were published by news outlets around the state.

Heider said he always appreciated Hartgen’s insights into issues affecting the Magic Valley and the state.

“Even after he got out of the Legislature, I just kind of waited with baited breath to read his column every Sunday to see what he had to say about things, because he stayed in tune and in touch with the people and the issues and values that Idahoans love,” Heider said.

“I’m going to miss that tremendously because I don’t think there’s anyone who can take his place.”

In 2019, Hartgen published a book on the Magic Valley, “Tradition & Progress: Southern Idaho’s Growth Since 1990.”

He had five children, six granddaughters and one great-grandson.

In 2013, Hartgen got a viral infection, which left him with neuropathy and marked the start of many health troubles.

“Reasonably good health, despite setbacks and conditions,” he said in his birthday column’s lift of things for which he was grateful. “Yes, I have chronic ailments, but so do many others. So what?”

“Steve was a colleague and friend who served with distinction in the Idaho House of Representatives,” Gov. Brad Little said in a Friday statement. “He was a steady leader and icon of Twin Falls, having served as editor and publisher of the Times-News and in numerous economic development roles. A well-educated man, he passionately shared his opinions on important issues facing our state — right up until the days before he died. Idaho and the Magic Valley are better today because of Steve’s contributions.”

Hartgen frequently advocated for what he considered traditional conservative values, denouncing the left, and just as frequently, the far-right voices in the state, saying the Magic Valley needed to retain the character that made it special.

“I’ve lived in southern Idaho almost forty years now, and while not a perfect place, it has nonetheless been mostly a delight,” he wrote in the 2019 birthday column. “The physical landscape is immense and the people mostly kind, generous and hard-working. It reflects the way America generally was before the country was overrun by near-constant discord of political correctness and identity politics.”