Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin’s request to cover public records lawsuit set aside
A panel of lawmakers on Friday approved Lt. Gov Janice McGeachin’s $202,200 budget request for fiscal year 2023 — without considering her additional request of $29,000 for legal fees.
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, a legislative committee that sets budgets, put aside a request that would cover legal fees McGeachin owed to the Idaho Press Club.
The committee cleared McGeachin’s budget without discussing the supplemental request. Co-chairman Sen. Jeff Agenbroad, R-Nampa, told the Idaho Statesman that the committee could still take up the request later this session.
The Press Club successfully sued the lieutenant governor to fully release public records last year. McGeachin requested the additional money to cover her costs after a court ordered McGeachin to pay the Press Club’s legal fees.
The lawsuit involved the release of records surrounding McGeachin’s education task force, which was looking for what it called indoctrination in Idaho schools. The Idaho Press Club sought a Google Forms survey that McGeachin circulated earlier in the year soliciting public feedback, as well as additional records.
McGeachin’s office initially told reporters that redacting the records would cost anywhere from $560 to $1,500, and provided the records to the Idaho Capital Sun with comments redacted. McGeachin later released unredacted records to reporters after a judge ordered her to do so.
McGeachin requested $29,000 from the state’s general fund “due to unforeseen legal bills related to a lawsuit from the Idaho Press Club after the attorney general’s office failed to properly represent” her. The general fund mostly includes income, sales and corporate tax collections.
In a previous statement to the Idaho Statesman, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said his office “provided clear guidance to release the records.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 4:32 PM.
