Dunleavy's duplicity on special session: Asking GOP legislators to refuse to show up and do their jobs
The important thing for Alaskans to understand about the special session set for August 2 is that Gov. Mike Dunleavy lied to Alaskans about all this.
The absurd special session is not about Dunleavy’s recycled education bill or his recycled order to create a new agriculture department with the phony price tag of zero.
Dunleavy was lying when he made those claims July 2.
He called the special session as part of a scheme to prevent the Legislature from overriding his vetoes by asking his allies to stay at home. His real reason for the special session is the most underhanded special session declaration in the state’s history.
The Alaska Constitution requires that after the first regular session of a Legislature, lawmakers must take action to uphold or reject vetoes within the first five days of the next legislative session.
Dunleavy has asked 19 Republican legislators in the minority to stay in their hidey holes for the first five days so that all override attempts will fail. Plus, his allies will be able to avoid being held accountable because they won’t be voting.
At first, Dunleavy spokesman Jeff Turner refused to reply to the Alaska Beacon when asked if the goal of the special session was to ensure that Dunleavy would get his way on vetoes by having missing legislative members.
But the lie was exposed by Republican legislators who apparently didn’t get the message to keep their mouths shut after Dunleavy told them of his brilliant plan.
“Governor Dunleavy asked House minority members to not show up for the first five days of session because like any governor, he does not want his vetoes overturned,” Dunleavy’s paid prevaricator, Turner, admitted in an email to KTUU.
Soldotna Rep. Justin Ruffridge said Dunleavy claimed he was being “unorthodox” in asking GOP legislators to refuse to show up for work, while not mentioning this to the public. He was being sneaky.
“He was very clear that a big portion of the strategy for him was, he did not want to be overridden on anything: bills, budget, all of it,” Ruffridge told the Beacon.
Ruffridge told the Beacon he has no plan to refuse to show up for work.
“If a special session is called, I think all representatives and senators have an obligation to attempt to be there, if at all possible,” Ruffridge said. “I think that’s part of what we signed up for when we signed up to do the job. And I mean, if you’re not going to show up, I think essentially, you’re just afraid of taking hard votes at that point.”
On the other hand, North Pole Rep. Mike Prax, owner of Prospector Outfitters, says he supports the don’t-show-up-for-work scheme.
“I think it’s a good idea,” said Prax, who regularly confuses good ideas and bad ideas.
The important thing for Prax, Jamie Allard, Sarah Vance and the other members of the no-see-um caucus to understand is that if they refuse to show up for work August 2, they will become card-carrying members of the Alaska Cowards’ Club.
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