Planned Parenthood and other left leaning groups must pause their campaign to remove Gov. Mike Dunleavy from his elected office.
On Jan. 21, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Eric Aarseth put a halt to the effort until the Alaska Supreme Court has a chance to hear an appeal from the Stand Tall With Mike groups which is defending the governor and challenging the recall push for lacking legal grounds.
The Anchorage Daily News published Judge Aarseth’s decision, which was signed on Jan. 21.
As reported earlier in the Watchman, left leaning groups like Planned Parenthood and others are helping push the recall
On Jan. 10, Judge Aarseth dismissed arguments by state lawyers that grounds for the recall were legally flawed and gave the Recall Dunleavy group the green light to proceed with its efforts.
The governor’s administration, however, is appealing to the Alaska Supreme Court and the recall is now on hold until the high court makes a determination.
As reported earlier in the Watchman, left leaning groups like Planned Parenthood and others are helping push the recall. If the Alaska Supreme Court approves of the legal grounds for the recall, the governor’s opponents will then attempt to collect the needed 71,200 signatures to put the issue to a popular vote before Alaskans. If successful, a special election would be held within 60 to 90 days after the required signatures are submitted. The last day for supporters to turn in signatures for the recall is June 8, 2022.
Over the past several months they have held signature gathering events at an abortion clinic.
While the Recall Dunleavy group likes to position itself as a diverse group of Alaskans, the fact remains that many key supporters are abortion activists and other left leaning groups.
Planned Parenthood, Alaska’s largest provider of abortions, has hosted multiple events in order to help collect the first round of signatures to request the recall. Over the past several months they have held signature gathering events at an abortion clinic.
One of four reasons the Recall Dunleavy group cites for justifying its effort deals with Dunleavy’s veto of $334,700 from the Alaska court system’s budget in response to the Alaska Supreme Court’s ruling that Alaska use state Medicaid funds to pay for abortions. The $334,700 is the exact sum the state paid for abortions in 2018. In vetoing this amount from the court system, Gov. Dunleavy explicitly said it was in response to the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling.
The recall group claims Dunleavy “violated separation-of-powers by improperly using the line-item veto to attack the judiciary and the rule of law.” Dunleavy’s attorney’s, however, say the governor is fully within his constitutionally guaranteed rights to line item veto the court’s budget.
