Nine Idaho senators, including Assistant Majority Leader Chuck Winder, R-Boise, said they were outvoted last week when Senate Republicans decided to retain Sen. John McGee in his No. 4 position in the Senate Republican caucus.
McGee, R-Caldwell, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of DUI following his arrest June 19.
The nine senators, in a statement issued Friday, said they want to clarify how they voted when the Senate Republican caucus met Jan. 11.
The nine said media reports of the vote to retain McGee "led many of our constituents to mistakenly conclude that all members of the Senate GOP caucus voted to affirm support for Sen. McGee. ..."
Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, said the signatories were not the only senators in the 28-member caucus opposed to McGee remaining in the GOP leadership. "I don't want the impression those are the only nine," Hill said. "That's not fair."
Hill said he does not know the exact vote, which was kept secret by three appointed vote-counters; after the vote, the ballots were destroyed. But Hill said he knew other senators opposed McGee because they said so during the caucus meeting or told Hill later how they voted.
Hill declined to say how he voted in the caucus.
The signers of the statement, in addition to Winder, were Sens. Russ Fulcher, Dean Mortimer, Sheryl Nuxoll, Mitch Toryanski, Monty Pearce, Shirley McKague, Steve Vick and Lee Heider.
McGee told the Statesman that he did not know the count of the secret vote. "No one is more disappointed by the mistake I made last June than me," McGee said in a statement Friday. "I am solely responsible for my actions. I am humbled daily by the support I have received from my constituents, my colleagues and most importantly my family. I look forward to now working with my colleagues to address the important issues facing the citizens of the state of Idaho."
Here is the text of the statement the nine released this afternoon:
SENATE REPUBLICANS CLARIFY POSITION ON MCGEE LEADERSHIP VOTE (JANUARY 20, 2012) A group of Republican senators issued a joint statement clarifying their position on last week's decision to retain Sen. McGee as Caucus Chairman:
"Various news reports have led many of our constituents to mistakenly conclude that all members of the Senate GOP Caucus voted to affirm support for Sen. McGee continuing as our Caucus chairman, and thereby protect him from the consequences of his actions. This is not accurate.
Senator McGee is our friend and colleague. It is our desire that he successfully overcomes the challenges of last year's events. It is also our desire to uphold the integrity of the institution that we serve. We believe that the best way for both of these objectives to be achieved would have been for Sen. McGee to be removed from his leadership role. Last Wednesday (Jan. 11) in the majority caucus meeting, we voted accordingly. However, on this vote we were in the minority.
Our constituents expect us to stand up for the convictions, principles and values we have said we represent and for which our constituents represent; and our constituents deserve to be reassured that their confidence in us is not misplaced. Given the toxic political climate that exists today, it is critical that we strive to uphold the highest standards of conduct in order to safeguard the public trust.
It is our hope that, by going public with our position on the leadership question, we can intensify our attention on other issues facing our state. Idaho needs her elected officials to focus on the critical challenge of stimulating job creation and rebuilding the economy. That is what we intend to do. Continued questions of who serves, and the capacity in which they serve, is in the hands of the individual members of the Senate majority caucus and electorate."
