GOP turns on AG who balked at suit
BOISE, Idaho — When the Texas attorney general sued to invalidate Joe Biden’s presidential victory in some states despite no evidence of widespread fraud, many said it had no chance.
But among Republicans, particularly in ultraconservative Idaho, it was a fealty test to Donald Trump, and nearly every toplevel Republican in Idaho indicated their support. The exception? Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, who declined to join 17 other GOP attorneys general in the legal action in December. He cited his respect for states’ rights and said he wouldn’t appreciate others meddling in Idaho elections.
It was the last straw for a Republicandominated Legislature long frustrated by Wasden. Now, lawmakers are trying to significantly defund his office by removing the attorney general as the primary defender of state agencies. If the effort succeeds, opponents say, it would essentially create a slush fund for political allies and Republican lawyers, costing the state millions of dollars in legal fees and possibly more if it loses in court.
It’s another example of the GOP turning on its own elected officials deemed not sufficiently proTrump or who are seen as straying from conservative orthodoxy.
In Georgia, the Legislature is considering election legislation that could restrict the role of the GOP secretary of state, who angered many Republicans by certifying Biden’s win. And Republican lawmakers in states like Ohio and Idaho have tried to blunt the emergency power of a GOP governor over COVID19 restrictions.
But the conservative anger at Wasden had been building before Trump and the pandemic.
“What strikes me is that Wasden seems less partisan in his actions than what we see from other state attorneys general,” said Jaclyn Kettler, a Boise State University political scientist. “It can be a challenge if you’re not perceived as a strong party player.”
Wasden, who was elected Idaho’s top lawyer in 2003, has called some legislation from conservative lawmakers unconstitutional. The state has paid over $3 million in legal fees since 1995 — some of it after ignoring his advice and losing court challenges.
He warned that a proposed fetal pain abortion law would likely be found unconstitutional in 2011. Lawmakers passed it anyway and lost a lawsuit in 2013, forcing the state to pay out $137,000.
Last year, Wasden said a law preventing transgender people from changing the gender on their birth certificates wouldn’t hold up. Lawmakers still pushed forward, and a few months later, a judge rejected it.
Wasden, who is serving his fifth term, declined to comment on the legislation.