An unattributed quote on the Alaska Family Council website extols the critical service they provide in keeping “us informed and engaged in the political process.”

Jim Minnery’s slanderous attack on David Eastman, Alaska Right to Life, may bring the relevance of that quote – and several others – into question.

Jim accused me of maligning every conservative in the Alaska Legislature, but before a line of politicians expecting reparations forms, I think it’s fair to ask what all those conservatives are conserving, because so far, I haven’t seen much effort to protect babies, children, families, or family values.

Take abortion and abortion funding for example. Minnery’s Values Voter’s Guide cites this as an important criteria for endorsement and David Eastman offered a budget amendment that would have reduced abortion spending to $0.00, prohibiting the State from paying a single Planned Parenthood’s invoice.

Eight Republicans in the House voted with the abortion lobby to kill Amendment 131 to CSHB 268 and pay Planned Parenthood for more than 500 babies to be killed in 2024/2025.

Three more Republicans joined pro-life champion turned abortion advocate Cathy Giessel, in killing a similar amendment in the Senate, bringing us to 12 Republicans that voted to pay for babies to be killed.
Minnery’s Voter’s Guide also highlights protecting children from gender transition ideologies, cross-sex hormone poisoning, and irreversibly damaging surgeries. Eastman offered several bills that align with Minnery’s endorsement criteria in addition to Amendment 80 to this year’s budget (CSHB 268) that would have prohibited the State from spending a penny to poison children with cross-sex hormones or permanently disfigure them with transgender surgeries. Nineteen Republicans joined Planned Parenthood endorsed Democrat CJ McCormick in killing that amendment. McCormick is also a member of the House Majority Coalition.

Everybody knows that contraceptives are Planned Parenthood’s lucrative abortion gateway drug. Only 13 of 33 Republicans joined Eastman in opposing HB 17, while 19 Republicans voted with Planned Parenthood (they wrote the bill) to send HB 17 to the Governor’s desk. Nobody would argue that promoting and even paying for Planned Parenthood’s abortion gateway drug is a Family Council value, but Jim nine of Jim’s endorsed incumbents voted contrary to those values.

In just three issues, 19 Republicans ran afoul of Family Council’s agenda and endorsement criteria, but it’s Eastman that Jim tars and feathers in Planned Parenthood pink while Jim endorses the 14 of those Republicans running for reelection.

This isn’t just inconsistent; Jim is deliberately misleading his followers.

It’s telling that Minnery’s attack follows a familiar pattern: isolate a target, personalize the criticism, and attempt to separate David from his supporters by suggesting they’re in a ‘cult.’

These are textbook political pressure tactics – the very kind that Minnery privately accuses others of using.
And it’s not the first time Jim has used these tactics. If you remember Family Council’s 2020 attack on David, Jim tried to falsely link Eastman to the 2020 Portland BLM riots. At the same time, he was using Alaska Right to Life ministry and activism images in his fundraising presentations – taking credit for our work while trying to discredit us. It’s not just misleading – it’s a calculated strategy to manipulate supporters and donors.

A question Minnery’s followers should ask isn’t whether Eastman and Alaska Right to Life are effective advocates, but rather why their leader needs to falsely link an Alaska Legislator with Portland riots while using a competing organization’s work to raise money.

If Jim weren’t suffering from EDS – Eastman Derangement Syndrome, he’d have a real problem. On one hand, Eastman is the only legislator whose voting record is in line with Jim’s published agenda, while 13 of the 14 incumbent legislators he’s endorsed for reelection vote against Family Council time and again.

On the other hand, now we know why Jim left Cathy Giessel’s quote unattributed on his website. When a discredited pro-life champion turned abortion advocate is your standard for ‘keeping us informed and engaged politically,’ then attacking the one consistently pro-life legislator while endorsing those who repeatedly fund abortions starts to make perfect sense.

The views expressed here are those of the author.

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