It’s time yet again to crown our Statist of the Quarter, for the second quarter 2021. The competition was fierce. You voted. And the winners are Gov. Brad Little and the Flip Flop Five.
Just to remind you, Gov. Little vetoed Senate Bill 1136 and House Bill 135, two bills that would have limited his power and the power of future governors in the event of a future declared emergency. Broken down in their simplest terms, the bills would have limited the duration of a declared state of emergency so that the governor could not just declare an emergency over and over again without involving your elected senators and representatives.
The bills would also prevent the governor from doing what he did last year – limiting the right of assembly and the freedom of religion. The bills would have also prevented the governor from using an emergency order to declare some jobs essential and others nonessential, as he did last year.
SB 1136 would have become law, but not for the Flip Flop Five: Senators Patti Anne Lodge, Jim Patrick, Jim Guthrie, Fred Martin, and Jim Woodward. They voted for the bill the first time around, but after the veto, the five senators switched sides and joined the Senate’s liberal Democrats to successfully oppose overriding the governor’s veto.
They didn’t do it because of constitutional concerns, or policy concerns. They did it so they could kiss up to the governor.
The drama over this one piece of legislation won enough votes to push Gov. Little, and Sens. Patti Anne Lodge, Jim Patrick, Jim Guthrie, Fred Martin, above all the other Statists of the Week, making them the Statists of the Quarter. They’ll go on to compete for Statist of the Year, against the First Quarter winner, Congressman Mike Simpson. Already I can see the competition will be tough!
Do you have a nomination for Statist of the Week? If so, drop me a note in the comments down below. Be sure to hit the like button, subscribe to the channel, hit the bell so you receive notifications when we upload content, and I’ll talk to you next time.
