House Majority Leader Mike Moyle and Rep. Janet Trujillo get married
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IDAHO FALLS — The Idaho House of Representatives has a pair of newlyweds among its Republican ranks.
House Majority leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, recently wed Janet Trujillo, an Idaho Falls Republican soon to begin her third term in office.
The couple filed for a marriage license last week in Gem County, and both confirmed their marriage Thursday with the Idaho Press-Tribune. Moyle said the couple had been dating for a while before recently eloping.
The news comes weeks before the start of the Idaho Legislature convenes its annual session. For now, Moyle and Trujillo said they plan to continue living in their own districts and serving constituents in the statehouse.
“She still has her apartment in Idaho Falls. She still works for the county. She’s going to keep her job for a while, so it won’t affect anything there or in the Legislature for now,” Moyle said.
Trujillo, from District 33, said she doesn’t believe her marriage will have any impact on the way she represents the district or votes on legislation. At this point, both lawmakers said they expect to be keeping their committee assignments.
“We obviously represent two very different districts, and we both have records that we stand on,” Trujillo said. “I can’t see that it’s going to change much. It’s not going to be any different than what it has been.”
Neither Moyle nor Trujillo believe their new relationship as husband and wife create any potential conflict-of-interest or ethical issues. On Thursday, House Speaker Scott Bedke said he doesn’t believe there are any ethical issues to address and is confident the couple will be able to keep separate their personal and professional lives.
“I don’t think that it will,” Bedke said. “This has happened before, so I think they’ll both conduct themselves in a professional way with their constituents’ best interests at their forefront just like they have to this point.”
As Bedke points out, Moyle and Trujillo are hardly breaking new ground.
Former House Speaker Bruce Newcomb married Celia Gould during a time when both were serving in the House. Gould, a Republican from the Magic Valley, served from 1996-2002 and was appointed in 2007 as director of the Idaho Department of Agriculture.
As of now, Moyle and Trujillo will serve together on the Revenue and Taxation Committee, for which Trujillo is vice chairwoman.
Moyle is also assigned to the Resources & Conservation; and Ways & Means committees. Trujillo will also serve on the Environment, Energy & Technology; and Judiciary, Rules & Administration committees.
“If you know Janet Trujillo and you know Mike Moyle very well, then you know… there is no way in heck that I could ever tell Janet Trujillo what to do, and there’s no way she could tell me what to do,” Moyle said. “If you look at our voting record in the past, you would see that we don’t always vote the same. That will be the case in the future too.”
The was originally published in the Idaho Press-Tribune. It is used here with permission.