Idaho Lt. Guv Goes Rogue—Again!—While Boss Is Out of State
Incredibly, it’s not the first time Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin has undermined the governor and her state’s pandemic response.
Nathan Howard/Getty
Idaho Gov. Brad Little turned his back for a second to head out of state Tuesday, and far-right Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin jumped into his shoes to issue a rogue executive order to ban COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Hours after Little went to Texas to meet other GOP governors and talk over their concerns about how President Joe Biden is handling the Mexico border, his second-in-command posted that she’d “fixed” Little’s order on vaccine passports to ban schools from requiring the shots.
“I will continue to fight for your individual Liberty!” she wrote.
However, less than ten minutes later, Little hit back at McGeachin, saying that he never gave her the authority to start signing rogue orders in his absence, and that he will immediately seek to rescind her supposed fixes. Little had to take the same action back in May when McGeachin imposed a state-wide mask ban when he was out of state on a separate trip.
“I am in Texas performing my duties as the duly elected Governor of Idaho, and I have not authorized the Lt. Governor to act on my behalf,” the governor wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. “I will be rescinding and reversing any actions taken by the Lt. Governor when I return.”
In his statement, Little also accused McGeachin of attempting to activate the Idaho National Guard in his absence and send troops to the U.S.-Mexico border—hundreds of miles away from Idaho. According to the Associated Press, the commanding general Michael Garshak had to inform McGeachin that she doesn’t in fact have the authority to activate the troops.
The governor chastised his deputy for her alleged actions, telling her: “Attempting to deploy our National Guard for political grandstanding is an affront to the Idaho constitution and insults the men and women who have dedicated their life to serving our state and the country.”
On top of her two rogue orders this year, McGeachin also once undermined Little by opening the tavern she owns with her family in defiance of Little’s lockdown rules at the height of the COVID pandemic last year.
McGeachin is seeking the Republican nomination in next year’s gubernatorial election and is courting the Trumpist vote.
