Sen. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens, will miss Monday’s special session of the Idaho Legislature, so he’s appointed Brent Regan as his substitute. Regan is a former Coeur d’Alene School Board member and the current vice-chairman of the Idaho Freedom Foundation board. In 2013, Regan apologized for a joke at a legislative forum about President Barack Obama being black and scary-looking. Regan heads Regan Designs in Coeur d’Alene. The Freedom Foundation is among the few groups opposing the child support enforcement legislation lawmakers will take up in their special session, while numerous organizations around the state are backing it.

Vick said he’s in Montana with his dad, who is in the final stages of pancreatic cancer. “My granddaughter died two weeks ago,” he said. “And my son got married last Saturday. So it’s been quite an up-and-down roller coaster in my life. I’ve been in Massachusetts and Texas, and now I’m in Montana, over the last two weeks.”

Vick said he hasn’t instructed Regan on how to vote on his behalf as the Senate considers the child support enforcement legislation. “I have confidence in his judgment,” Vick said. “I’ve known him for several years and we have talked about the issue some.”