Republicans desert their governor as he protects Idahoans from coronavirus

Editor’s note: This column has been updated to better reflect Rep. Mike Simpson’s position on Gov. Brad Little’s stay-home order. The sentence referring to Simpson has been changed from “no support” to “very little public support” and now specifically refers to the stay-home order.

Gov. Brad Little could use a little help from his friends, to paraphrase a favorite Beatles tune. Over the last few weeks, key members of his party bailed out on him as he navigated the challenging straits of the coronavirus outbreak in Idaho. With not enough widespread testing and contact tracing, Little did the right thing in extending his stay-at-home order, and there were some who backed up his efforts. Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden was there for the governor with a constitutional justification for the stay-at-home order.

Little’s former Republican challenger in the 2018 primary, Tommy Ahlquist, a former emergency room physician, threw the governor a lifeline and called for Idahoans to heed the governor’s order. He also created the “Crush the Curve” initiative to get more testing across Idaho.

Contrast that to the approach of another former medical professional, U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, a former dentist, who issued very little public support for the governor’s stay-home order. Although U.S. Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo and U.S. Rep. Russ Fulcher may not be men of science or medicine, they also bailed on Little and his order. Crapo’s website did offer a link to the governor’s order, but no statement of support for their governor on any of their websites.

From the far right, Rep. Heather Scott encouraged her constituents to defy the governor’s order, and Raul Labrador, the Republican Party chairman, called for Little to reopen the economy, forgetting the strong supporting roles party chairmen usually provide their governors.

Idaho House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, offered a bizarre approach to the COVID-19 crisis by calling for the state’s seven health districts to take over the governor’s role in responding to Idaho’s outbreak. With seven sets of regulations and protocols across the state and Idahoans traveling regularly beyond their home district, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see what a nightmare Bedke’s proposal would create. Republican House Majority Caucus Chair Megan Blanksma, R-Hammett, wrote a letter to the governor and legislators telling them the stay-at-home order wasn’t based on any metrics or data she’s seen. Anyone care to guess where Rep. Blanksma gets her news?

The first-place award for deserting the governor goes to Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin. No problem finding her when it comes to speaking out against the governor. Although McGeachin tried to walk back her comments disagreeing with the governor’s order, she declared that all businesses are “essential,” which would include her own family’s bar and restaurant in Idaho Falls. No conflict of interest there as the lieutenant governor attended an online rally last weekend and called on citizens to ask Little to lift his order

McGeachin’s actions are a considerable contrast to her predecessors in the office of lieutenant governor. Gov. Little served as lieutenant governor with Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter with whom he had a close working relationship. If there were any disagreements between the two, they were never aired publicly as McGeachin has done in the midst of this pandemic.

The best example of a governor and lieutenant governor working together, even though they came from different parties, was the late Democrat Gov. Cecil Andrus and Republican Lt. Gov. Butch Otter. In conversations with both men over the years, it was clear to me they respected each other and were proud of their friendship and partnership during the years they served together. Andrus asked one thing of Butch Otter — no surprises, and let’s keep our policy differences between us. According to Gov. Andrus’ daughter, Tracy Andrus, Otter “never, to my recollection, picked a public fight with Dad’s major policy decisions.”

That’s a great history lesson from another time when the two political parties knew how to find common ground in their differing approaches to governing. Today, one political party can’t even find common ground. Unfortunately, in today’s threatening and hostile political climate where Idaho’s current crop of Republican officials run for political cover, the Andrus/Otter history lesson seems wasted on many Republicans. With short memories and fearing the next set of threats from the hapless and narcissistic President Donald Trump, they kowtow to a new party line that ignores epidemiologists and finds solace in the raving rants of the far right.

Casting the greater good aside and challenging the scientific expertise of epidemiologists, there is just one criterion governing the behavior of so many Republicans today: Does this serve me personally as I seek the approval of the Trump base masquerading as the Party of Lincoln?

As depressing as it is to be represented by so few Republican officials who have the independence of mind to stand up against the false prophets of the far right and the courage to defend their own party’s governor, there are some bright spots in an otherwise lackluster crowd of party functionaries. Republican state Rep. Greg Chaney, of Caldwell, broke from the Republican pack and offered his fellow Republicans an example of how to serve the people of Idaho. He called McGeachin and others resorting to bogus constitutional claims regarding the stay-at-home order “snake oil salesmen and political opportunists” who are using “a fake view of your liberties to manipulate and leverage you into their own personal gain…”

Let’s hope Chaney’s candor and courage will serve as a model for other Republicans thinking about running for public office in Idaho. The next time Gov. Little looks for a little help from his friends, he may want to play that old Beatles tune and ask Rep. Chaney to show how it should work in the Republican Party.

This story was originally published May 3, 2020 at 4:00 AM.