Idaho Trumper misses paycheck after mismanagement left her office with only $0.72: report

Improper public records management has taken a personal financial toll on the controversial lieutenant governor of Idaho.

"Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin deferred most of her June 24 paycheck to balance her office’s budget, leaving the budget with less than $1 left before the 2022 fiscal year closed Thursday," the Idaho Statesmanreported Friday. "McGeachin faced a shortfall after using her taxpayer-funded operating budget to pay for $29,000 in legal fees. Most of the expenses covered attorney fees for the Idaho Press Club, which successfully sued McGeachin last year when she declined to hand over public records."

Under a plan from Chief Deputy Controller Joshua Whitworth, McGeachin deferred $1,713.26 of her June 24 wages until the next fiscal year.

McGeachin, who unsuccessfully challenged Gov. Brad Little with the endorsement of Donald Trump in June GOP primary, initially tried to blame Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, also a Republican, for her budget shortfall.

"The Idaho Press Club last year won a lawsuit that sought the release of public records regarding McGeachin’s education task force, which was looking for indoctrination in Idaho schools. Reporters had requested responses to a Google Forms survey that McGeachin circulated earlier in the year soliciting public feedback, as well as additional records," the newspaper reported. "A judge mandated that McGeachin release the records and pay the Idaho Press Club’s legal costs. McGeachin eventually asked that taxpayers fund what her office was forced to pay, '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."

Her office ended the fiscal year with only $0.72.

The newspaper noted McGeachin had previously dismissed reports of her office's budget shortfall as "fake news."

McGeachin will remain in office as a lame-duck until January, when she will be succeeded by Scott Bedke (R) or Terri Pickens Manweiler (D).

Read the full report.