BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho lawmaker who was censured after publicizing the name of a 19-year-old intern who reported being raped is being sued under the state's public records act.
Attorney Erika Birch filed the lawsuit against Rep. Priscilla Giddings (R-White Bird) earlier this month.
Birch contends Giddings wrongly denied access to public records related to the ethics investigations against Giddings and Aaron von Ehlinger, the former state representative from Lewiston who is facing the rape charge in Ada County.
Giddings didn't respond to a request for comment, but in a campaign email wrote that the records didn't exist and called the case a nuisance lawsuit.
Giddings announced in May of 2021 that she's running for lieutenant governor in the 2022 Idaho Republican Primary. House Speaker Scott Bedke (R-Oakley).is also a candidate for lieutenant governor in the Republican primary.
The Idaho House in November 2021 formally censured Giddings for sharing on social media the name, personal information and a photo of the legislative intern who accused von Ehlinger of raping her in March of 2021.
Then-Rep. von Ehlinger resigned from the Idaho House in April, after the Idaho Legislature's ethics panel recommended he be censured or expelled from the House for "conduct unbecoming a representative," but before what would have been a House vote on the recommendation.
The Ada County Prosecutor's Office in September 2021 formally charged von Ehlinger with rape and forcible penetration by use of a foreign object. He pleaded not guilty to both counts in November. Idaho's online court repository shows von Ehlinger's jury trial is set to begin on April 26 in Fourth District Court.
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