Error on Idaho child sex abuse data prompts ‘false’ Giddings campaign claim, AG says
Idaho Republican Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said state Rep. Priscilla Giddings “ignored the facts” and issued a “false” claim in a recent campaign newsletter when she accused top officials of fudging a report on child sex abuse cases.
The accusation followed an annual report on the prosecution of child sexual abuse, which was prepared by the offices of the attorney general and governor, and sent to state lawmakers last month.
The report inaccurately stated there was a 46% rise in reported child sex abuse cases in the last fiscal year, according to a news release from the AG’s office. In the original report, departments listed 1,478 reported incidents of child sexual abuse in Idaho. In reality, there were 801 reported incidents — a 0.6% increase from the previous fiscal year.
The error originated from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, according to the department and attorney general’s office.
The report was updated with accurate numbers on Feb. 3, according to the attorney general’s office. But in a Feb. 15 campaign newsletter, Giddings, a Republican from White Bird who is running for lieutenant governor, accused Wasden and Gov. Brad Little of changing the report “to make the numbers look better.”
“If her intentions were sincere, the representative would have come to us with her questions or concerns,” Wasden said of Giddings in a released statement, which was titled as his response to a “false legislator campaign claim.”
“That did not happen. Instead, she ignored the facts and attempted to craft a narrative for political gain.”
Giddings acknowledged the Idaho Statesman’s request for comment but did not answer any of the questions emailed to her.
Health and Welfare Department reports ‘clerical error’
The annual report compiles data from officials across the state — including the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. The department’s officials confirmed to the Statesman by email they were responsible for the inaccurate numbers.
“It was a clerical error made by someone who was pulling the data for the first time,” Health and Welfare spokesperson Greg Stahl said.
Idaho has not seen such a spike in child sex abuse cases for over 15 years, according to data from the annual report. Stahl said this was the first time the department has made such a mistake.
“We deeply regret the error, and we’ll continue to be diligent at proofing our data and reports before they are published,” Stahl told the Statesman by email.
After the health department noticed the error on Feb. 1, officials immediately notified the attorney general, Stahl said. He said the department initially noticed the error within its Facts, Figures and Trends report and updated it online.
In her campaign newsletter, Giddings claimed the 2020-21 fiscal year numbers were also changed. In two screenshots of reports from the attorney general’s office attached to Giddings’ newsletter, last year’s numbers were modified from 682 to 796.
Scott Graff, spokesperson for the attorney general, told the Statesman by phone that he was confident the 796 number was correct, and a 2020 health department report also confirmed that number. Graff said it wasn’t immediately clear where the 682 figure came from.
Wasden said his office has remained transparent and acknowledged that mistakes happen.
“My office couldn’t have been more transparent in its handling of this matter,” he said. “I stand by our actions as well as our efforts to protect Idahoans from both sexual predators and scam artists.”
This story was originally published February 20, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
