Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin says it’s ‘fake news’ she can’t balance budget
Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin said she knows how to balance a budget, despite recent “fake news” reports about her office’s deficit.
“Honestly, who cares about $2,000 … in the lieutenant governor’s budget?” McGeachin, who’s running for governor, said at an April 21 campaign stop. “I think more people in Idaho are concerned about their own budgets.”
With two months left in the fiscal year, McGeachin has spent $33,000 more than budgeted for operating expenses, forcing staff cuts to cover the cost of legal fees and other expenses, including private contractor payments, according to records reviewed by the Idaho Statesman.
As of Friday, the lieutenant governor’s budget has a $8,910 balance while McGeachin has $10,978 left in her budgeted salary, said Alex Adams, administrator of the Idaho Division of Financial Management. That leaves a $2,068 deficit.
McGeachin offered to cover the balance with her salary, Adams told the Statesman by phone, which should level the budget before the fiscal year ends June 30.
McGeachin last week noted the shortfall is down from about $22,000. That’s after the office parted ways with two staff members and paused vendor payments as finance officials warned McGeachin could lose her pay and insurance coverage if she didn’t make cuts, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.
In the meantime, there’s no money left for “stationary, or travel, or a copy machine that doesn’t work,” McGeachin joked at the event last week.
“We can do a bake sale to help the lieutenant governor balance her budget,” she said.
Expenses dwarf initial budget appropriation
The lieutenant governor’s office has one of the smallest budgets in state government. Most of the roughly $183,100 appropriation went to payroll this fiscal year, which started July 1.
The office is supported by the state’s general fund, a pot of personal and corporate income tax and sales tax revenue.
McGeachin’s part-time annual salary is $48,406. Former full-time chief of staff, Jordan Watters, had a budgeted salary of $45,178, and the budgeted part-time salary for former administrative assistant Machele Hamilton was $19,078. Watters and Hamilton were last paid April 1, according to state records.
Watters chose to resign, but it wasn’t budget-related, McGeachin told the Statesman in an interview. Hamilton, who serves as the state GOP vice-chair, said in a phone interview that she was working as the lieutenant governor’s director of communications during the Legislative session, and the role was always considered temporary.
On March 16, David Fulkerson, deputy administrator of the Division of Financial Management, told McGeachin and Watters the office could save up to $9,300 if both staff members stopped working within two weeks, according to an email obtained by the Statesman.
The lieutenant governor’s payroll budget totaled $167,900, including health insurance and benefits. The remaining $15,200 was earmarked for operating expenses, such as administrative and equipment costs.
The lieutenant governor’s office has spent more than $48,000 in operating expenses since July, records show. The majority went to legal expenses. McGeachin paid about $29,000 to attorneys for the Idaho Press Club after her office refused to release public records to reporters and later lost a court challenge.
Roughly $16,800 covered administrative and travel expenses. About $5,200 went to phone and computer systems, $3,500 to liability insurance premiums, $500 to printing and $400 to email services.
The lieutenant governor’s office sent nearly $5,800 to the state’s information technology department. That’s an annual charge for cyber support which is split proportionally by each state agency, Adams said.
McGeachin previously told the Statesman that she believes she’ll have a balanced budget if she doesn’t use money that had been earmarked for certain expenses, such as travel or equipment.
Thousands go to private contractors
McGeachin also spent $2,434 on third-party contracts for IT services and video editing. In July and August, the lieutenant governor’s office sent $1,684 to Design by Parrish, a Boise-based digital marketing company run by Perrish Miller.
Last year, lawmakers questioned McGeachin about her office’s longstanding contract with Miller, who also analyzes public policy for the Idaho Freedom Foundation, the right-wing advocacy group.
Miller managed the lieutenant governor’s website, McGeachin told the Legislature’s budget-setting committee last year. The office does not have in-office IT staff, she said.
McGeachin previously paid Miller $800 per month on top of other sporadic payments. The last invoice is from August, and the payments appear to have ended that month after Miller received close to $20,000 from the lieutenant governor’s office since 2020, according to state records.
McGeachin did not respond to questions about her expenses.
Expenses fund ‘indoctrination’ task force
The lieutenant governor’s office also paid a contractor to produce a video of Trevor Loudon, a conservative writer and activist from New Zealand, speaking to McGeachin’s education indoctrination task force.
Loudon — who’s known for spreading conspiracy theories about communist plots — told the task force Marxist bureaucrats are controlling Idaho children.
Spire Visuals produced the video for $750, records show. According to its website, the Boise-based marketing company also produced videos for the Idaho Freedom Foundation and Eric Parker, a militia leader who’s running for Idaho Senate. Spire Visuals founder and creative director Josh Gibbons also hosts the conservative podcast, What’s Happening Idaho, which has featured McGeachin as a guest.
Most of McGeachin’s operating expenses went to last year’s education task force, which was looking for indoctrination in Idaho schools. McGeachin’s office declined to produce public records related to the task force, which led to a lawsuit by the Idaho Press Club. The Idaho attorney general’s office advised McGeachin to hand over the records, but she hired a private attorney to oppose the lawsuit.
A court ordered McGeachin to pay the Idaho Press Club $28,974 for its successful legal defense. While McGeachin racked up close to $46,000 in total legal fees, she paid only the Press Club’s fees from her budget. It’s unclear how she paid her private attorney.
During this year’s legislative session, McGeachin asked lawmakers to approve a $29,000 supplemental budget request for the legal fees, but they declined.
This story was originally published April 30, 2022 at 4:00 AM with the headline "Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin says it’s ‘fake news’ she can’t balance budget."
