For certain dorks, like myself, 4:00 p.m. on Thursday afternoon can be fraught with expectation. That is when the upcoming week’s schedule comes out. Under legislative rules, all committee hearing notices must be at the legislative Clerk’s office by 4 p.m. at the latest to be noticed for the next week. If you miss this cut-off time, you are, as …
Leg With Louie: Building Alaska Better – April 2
After the intellectual, moral, racial, political, and physical trauma of 2020, this year is starting to look OK, like a new day and not a false dawn. The monumental federal investments proposed by the Biden-Harris Administration in Pittsburgh on Wednesday are smart and just and envision a modern America we might be OK sending our kids off into. The Thrive …
Leg With Louie: Another Plea from Alaska – March 26
HJR 12 passed its final committee hurdle in the legislature this week and will head to the Senate floor next. HJR 12 is essentially a very long and rather pitiful letter from Alaska to Washington D.C. which bears no legal weight yet has a stunningly long title: Urging the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, to …
Leg With Louie: End-Run around Kachemak Bay protections – March 19
The House Fisheries Committee has long been an important place for fisher-folks in the Alaska State Capitol. Not only is it a safe and friendly room to engage in the mosh pit dancing that is fishery politics it also is a committee designed to do things that protect fish and thereby fishing. That is why it is a great and …
BLOG 02/19/21: Leg with Louie: Ways and Means to an Uncertain End
The Alaska State House has organized with coastal and rural interests maintaining positions of leadership. Speaker Louise Stutes offers a calm presence at the dais, flanked by superb and imperturbable Chief Clerk and Sergeant At Arms staff. You get the sense that this former Kodiak Island bar owner will take in stride any legislator’s outbursts and all heated floor debate …
Leg With Louie: Deadlocks Cracked, and Implied Nefariousness
Following weeks of a 20-20 stalemate, Representative Louise Stutes of Kodiak was elected by a single vote to serve as the Speaker of the House, the third woman to serve in this position following Ramona Barnes (1993-94), and Gail Phillips (1995-98). Rep. Kelly Merrick of Eagle River broke rank with the House Republicans to provide the key vote: a brave …
Leg With Louie: Part and Parcel of a National Voter Suppression Strategy
One clear sign that this voter suppression effort in the Alaska State Legislature is tied to the spirit of Trump’s false claims of election fraud is that Homer Representative Sarah Vance will likely file a new “election integrity” bill. In a recent constituent newsletter, she reported that she would soon file her Election Integrity Act (capitalized for increased legitimacy), which …
Leg With Louie: Senate State Affairs is off and running
SB 39, the radical voter suppression bill, was heard on Thursday in Senate State Affairs. The hearing was a platform for Senator Mike Shower to air out the evidence-poor argument that our current voting system is wide open and vulnerable to an apocalypse of cumulative human error. Shower’s solution to these baseless claims: a tightened and costly voting system that …
Leg With louie: Organized
The State Senate has managed to solve the Rubik’s Cube of legislative organizing with an all-Republican face but for the inclusion of one rural Dem, Senator Lyman Hoffman. There are mysteries at the heart of this combination: promises and deals made. We know that behind it all, someone gave up something to get something. Legislators like Senator Mike Shower, who …
REP. EASTMAN ATTENDED D.C. TRUMP RALLY, BUT BLAMES VIOLENCE ON ‘ANTIFA.’ NOW HE FACES CALLS TO RESIGN.
State Rep. David Eastman is facing a torrent of criticism for participating in the Washington, D.C. rally Jan. 6 that led to the storming of the Capitol. A coalition of nine progressive groups in Alaska are calling for the Wasilla Republican to resign or be removed from office, along with other legislators who they say used their official positions to …