Not such limited options
Brad Little could yet push back.
In the month or so of this year’s Idaho legislative session, one clear theme has been a divergence between the governor’s view of what the state budget (and its proactive programs) should look like, and the view of much of the legislature - at least so far this session, that of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, which decides on and drafts the budget bills.
Little, who delivered his own budget proposal to the legislature on day one of the session, has by no means proposed big spending, or even anything approaching a tax increase. But the JFAC view has raced down a much more miserly speedway, drafting bills which set in motion cuts well beyond anything Little had in mind.
The governor has not supported those moves, and his staff has warned of highly specific negative consequences for the state. The Idaho Capital Sun has reported the JFAC approach “will likely delay tax refunds for Idahoans, endanger the state’s crisis response system, lead to hiring fewer state wildland firefighters and increase wildfire risk, jeopardize mental health court and treatment courts that have helped thousands of Idahoans turn their lives around, lead to less water quality monitoring and more.” For starters.
Little’s core response, so far at least, has been: “They’re the legislative branch. They get to set the budget.” (Imagine Little’s endorser, Donald Trump, saying something like that.)
Governors don’t have to be quite so helpless. Idaho governors in the past periodically have pushed back against a legislature they thought was going too far, or not far enough. Little himself has done it, in the (smallish number of) vetoes he has imposed on legislation, maybe most notably in April 2021 when he vetoed two post-Covid measures aimed at limiting the governor’s emergency powers without seeking legislative authorization.
His four living predecessors in the office all endorsed that move. Dirk Kempthorne remarked, “When we became Governor, we all take the oath of office. Included in that oath is that we will support the Constitution of Idaho. The Constitution makes it very clear it is the responsibility of the executive branch of this government – of the Governor – to respond during emergencies.”
Kempthorne, governor from 1999 to 2006. would have had particular cause to expand on his point. During his time as governor, he bumped heads with legislators several times, most prominently on budget matters. Idaho broke a record for longest legislative session in 2003 because Kempthorne was determined to push for something closer to his priorities than the legislature wanted. In 2005, he once vetoed eight bills in a row, at one sitting, to press the legislature into, uh, seeing things his way.
And Kempthorne was largely successful.
That kind of hardball is only one legitimate approach (as Kempthorne did not limit himself to just vetoes either) to dealing with a legislature that, in a governor’s estimation, is doing the wrong thing. There are other tactics: holding up other legislation; waging a public relations war with the public (chief executives usually prevail over legislatures or congresses) or otherwise using the clout the office does have.
Little has taken pride, and with some justification, in some of the programs he’s tried to push forward, LAUNCH being a central example. Several are at risk this year. So why such a laid-back attitude toward the legislature?
Only he knows. The upcoming election (and desire for party unity) could be a factor. Little is not the combative sort, either; some governors take delight in fighting the good battle, but that doesn’t seem to be Little’s style.
The session isn’t over, and Little could come on a little tougher in the coming weeks. Or he could say it’s simply the legislature’s decision (never, of course, it’s fault).
Either way, he’s likely to absorb some significant blowback from people who blame him for whatever comes next. That may even be unavoidable.