Competent Senate would remove Reinbold from Cavalcade of Crackpots

Those who wrote the governor’s letter to Sen. Lora Reinbold deserve the thanks of all Alaskans.

I’m glad that Gov. Mike Dunleavy saw fit to sign this denunciation. The Senate has failed to act or deal with Reinbold, looking the other way.

“You deceived the people of Alaska about their government’s response to the largest public health crisis in a century. In doing so, you violated the obligation you have, as a member of the Legislature, to promoting and protecting public health,” Dunleavy’s letter said, bolstered by footnotes to her deranged comments on social media.

“I will not continue to subject the public resources of the state of Alaska to the mockery of a charade, disguised as public purpose,” he said.

With this single act, the governor has made the case against her recklessness in a way that demands Senate attention.

If Alaska had a competent Alaska Senate, Reinbold would have never been rewarded with the chair of the Judiciary Committee.

If Alaska had a competent Alaska Senate, she should have been removed by now and censured.

But the Senate is not controlled by a competent organization.

The Republican Senate Caucus of Equals is controlled by a Cavalcade of Crackpots. Reinbold continues to reign, specializing in nonsense, lies and conspiracy theories.

“Conspiracy theories are done in private- the World Economic Forum is in broad daylight. What Gates says on TED is in broad daylight so you are misrepresenting me and the facts, much of what I post is in their own words or plan,” Reinbold wrote, complaining to the Anchorage Daily News about a story that accurately identified her as a purveyor,

She is a super spreader senator, the go-to lawmaker for claptrap about Agenda 21, secret plans by Biden, ANTIFA, experimental vaccines, corporate mask tyrants, common core, Bill Gates, hydroxychloroquine and more.

She has lied about martial law, lied about the COVID vaccines, and lied about Adam Crum, Dr. Anne Zink and Dunleavy, stopping just short of calling them embodiments of the Great Satan.

On Friday, I wrote on Twitter than there might be 9 or 10 Senate Republicans who are not part of the Cavalcade of Crackpots.

But when challenged to name them, I had to backtrack. I was far too generous. The only non-crackpots I can find in the GOP members of the Senate are Bert Stedman, Click Bishop, Gary Stevens, Natasha von Imhof, and Peter Micciche. Lyman Hoffman, who is both a Democrat and a Republican, goes on that list as well.

That adds up to six.

Those six won’t move against Reinbold because to do so would threaten their hold on power.

And of those six, Micciche, the Senate president, is a doubtful character, given that Reinbold claims he “complimented me over and over for running good hearings,” Reinbold told the Anchorage Daily News.

Reinbold claimed that Dunleavy’s attack is an inappropriate way to “handle a personal, non specified complaint from a sitting governor.”

She should read the letter. And the so-called “Caucus of Equals” should act to stop her from doing any more harm by taking the gavel away from her. If not, every GOP member belongs in the Cavalcade.

Micciche told the Daily News, which has the best coverage of this mess, that the Senate Republicans will meet Monday to decide what to do because of Dunleavy’s letter. “This takes it to a new level. This makes it difficult to ignore.”

In other words, had Dunleavy not acted Micciche would have continued to ignore Reinbold and tell her that she runs a good meeting, flattering her so he can remain president of the Senate.

Micciche and the rest of the Senate Republicans who perfected the art of looking away deserve as much blame for this as Reinbold. They put her in a powerful position to put themselves in power.

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