Idaho’s governor accuses lieutenant governor of attempting to deploy National Guard to border without authorization
By Carma Hassan and Josh Campbell, CNN
An extraordinary public feud between Idaho’s two top leaders escalated on Tuesday when the state’s governor, Brad Little, accused fellow Republican Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin of overstepping her authority by ordering the state National Guard to the US-Mexico border while he was in Texas visiting the border.
McGeachin, who is running for governor next year, also drew Little’s ire on Tuesday when she attempted to broaden his executive order banning so-called vaccine passports.
“Before I even left the state, the Lt. Governor unabashedly requested information from the Adjutant General to deploy our National Guard to the border, the same place I am visiting today to work with my fellow Republican governors on solutions to the crisis,” Little said in a statement posted on Twitter. He traveled to Texas to meet with nine other governors to discuss border security and take a boat tour of the Rio Grande River.
Idaho’s Constitution says that in the event the governor leaves the state, the lieutenant governor takes control of “the powers, duties and emoluments” of the governorship until the governor returns.
McGeachin defended herself Thursday in remarks to CNN.
“I absolutely have the authority to act,” McGeachin told CNN’s Dan Simon at Idaho’s Capitol in Boise. “Our Constitution states that when the governor leaves the state, all duties that applied to the office of the governor then fall to the lieutenant governor. So when the governor is out of the state, the lieutenant governor serves as acting governor and has full authority that the governor does.”
McGeachin added: “He was out of the state yesterday and the day before and so I issued the order on Tuesday.”
The order in question was aimed at amending the language of a vaccine passport ban that would, according to McGeachin, close a loophole allowing schools and universities to ask for proof of vaccination.
On Tuesday, McGeachin tweeted that she “fixed” Little’s executive order. “I will continue to fight for your individual Liberty!,” the lieutenant governor said.
Eight minutes later, Little tweeted, “I will be rescinding and reversing any actions taken by the Lt. Governor when I return.”
The dispute is the latest episode in an ongoing political skirmish between the state’s two top leaders. Little, who was first elected in 2018, has not yet declared whether he will seek reelection, but ahead of next year’s Republican primary, McGeachin has sought to establish herself as the champion of the Trump wing of the party while attempting to paint Little as an establishment figure.
In the wake of Little’s stay-at-home order at the onset of the pandemic last year, McGeachin wrote in an op-ed, “I lose sleep at night because the heavy hand of our government is hurting so many Idahoans.” That May, McGeachin issued an executive order banning mask mandates while Little was unaware and out of town, which Little subsequently repealed.
“The action that took place was an irresponsible, self-serving political stunt,” Little said at the time. “Taking the earliest opportunity to act solitarily on a highly politicized, polarizing issue without conferring with local jurisdictions, legislators, and the sitting Governor is, simply put, an abuse of power.”
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CNN’s Devan Cole and Dan Simon contributed to this report.
