Imagine being a loyal Republican politician in the Alaska Legislature today. It must be hell, like a bad nightmare that won’t end. Kind of like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football, and Lucy pulling it away at the last minute.
The conservative Republicans ran in the last election on traditional values, like balanced budgets, limiting government, etc. As a bonus, they had Donald Trump at the top of the ticket; they had everything to be hopeful for in the election. This resulted in a nationwide landslide for Republicans on election night, and conservatives in Alaska must have been giddy with their victory, and looking forward to governing in the next legislature.
Then poof, just like that, all of their plans for the next session went out the window. They were betrayed by party peers who joined with Democrats to form liberal governing caucuses, which meant the loyal Republicans would get no committee chairmanships, none of their bills would be getting passed. They went from being a powerful member of the legislative majority to a weak minority that can only work around the edges to get whatever crumbs the Democrat majority and the RINOs allow them to have.
Conservatives were betrayed by their party peers, and that must sting. Let’s name the political traitors one more time, just so every Alaskan remembers their names. They are Republican House members Louise Stutes and Chuck Kopp, along with Republican Senators Bert Stedman, Gary Stevens, Jesse Bjorkman, Cathy Giessel, and Kelly Merrick.
If you are a conservative politician in Juneau, these Judas’s betrayed every one of you to advance their political careers. That is bad enough, but you were also betrayed by a weak Alaska Republican Party that didn’t stand up for you.
It would have been appropriate if the AK GOP had taken punitive actions against the individuals that betrayed their party to join with the Democrats, or at least issued a statement of condemnation against them, but for some reason that didn’t happen. There is a precedent for strong action against political party traitors, you can read about it here.
Every time I write about this and call out Alaska Republican Party Chairman Carmella Warfield for inaction, I get phone calls from Republican friends of mind. They give me a hundred excuses for why nothing can be done. But the fact remains, voters elected Republican majorities and ended up with liberal Democrats in control of the State Legislature. Republicans in the minority and those that voted for them were betrayed by the seven political traitors and by the Republican party that has done nothing about it.
Democrats don’t have the votes to spend the money they need from the CBRF unless the Republican minorities in both houses go along with it. Conservatives need to hold that fund hostage.
So, that is that. End of story. Nothing can be done, right? Hold on, wait just one doggone minute! The conservatives still have one last card to play. It is the atom bomb of Alaska politics, and now it is time to use it.
Our state has run a deficit for the past 10 years, and to balance the budget it has taken money from the Congressional Budget Reserve Fund (CBRF). The fund currently has $2.7 billion dollars left in it, and the governor’s budget – released in December – plans to use $1.5 billion from this fund. Democrats in the Legislature will take at least that amount, perhaps more. This is their Achilles heel, and the source of power for Republicans in the minority.
By statute, it takes a three-fourth majority in both houses of the Legislature to tap the CBRF. Democrats don’t have the votes to spend the money they need from the CBRF unless the Republican minorities in both houses go along with it. Conservatives need to hold that fund hostage.
Without CBRF funds, no budget gets passed and state government will shut down. The budget debate always happens in the last few days of the legislative session, after all major legislation is passed, so the conservatives can’t wait until the last minute to try to get their agenda implemented. They need to get together today, and promise to stay united. Then they need to let the majority caucus know that the answer to any budget is “NO,” unless conservatives get the legislation they want passed in this session.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
Should the majority Democrat caucus refuse to go along, conservative Republicans should hold the budget hostage. With no budget passed, a special legislative session would be required, and the state government could be shut down. It would be glorious chaos.
The RINOs started this version of smash mouth politics, but two can play the game, and minority Republicans have nothing to lose.
Today’s struggle in the Legislature reminds me of the Revolutionary war battle between the Bonhomme Richard and the English ship Serapis. With his ship on fire and sinking, things didn’t look good, and the American Captain John Paul Jones was asked to surrender. He replied, “I have not yet begun to fight,” and came back to win the battle. It is time for conservatives to show the same courage and stand up for the principles voters elected them on.
If conservative legislators in the minority don’t stand and fight for their principles right now, then none of them will ever stand for anything, and they do not deserve to be reelected.
The views expressed here are those of Greg Sarber. Read more Sarber posts at his Seward’s Folly substack.
18 Comments
It is not the only tool. The governor should put them on notice that he will veto all bills coming from this BASTERIZED coop that these Cowardly RINOS have facilitated. They can leave the Caucus or they will get no funding for their district. Return to the majority or the Party and the governor will work to ensure this is your last term. Take your medicine now or we will Defeat you!
Smart people are leaving Alaska and this is what is left. The state has been in steep decline since wacko Palin and Dunleavy will likely cap it off.
I’m confused: if the Republican Party can censure Murkowski, why can’t they censure the locals?
Note bene: anybody who voted for Merrick or Bjorkman knew darn well he was not voting for a conservative.
Bjorkman wins the vote of EVERY Democrat, then polishes it off with “independents” and weak-minded conservatives. But we are forgetting: RCV & Dominion machines make it impossible to know who REALLY wins these elections.
And Paul Hart, you’re part of the problem.
I disagree, at least with regard to Merrick. Please hear me out. The citizens voting in the Eagle River/Chugiak district are overwhelmingly Alaskan short-timers. They are people who recently moved to Alaska within the last 1-4 years. They don’t have even a mid-term political history in their area, and they don’t know how to find out. They get mixed messages in a charged political climate, and they don’t know who to believe. I took a call the day before the election from one of my co-workers. She was a smart, well-meaning, highly intelligent gal who said that Merrick came to her door twice, and both times she was impressed. Yet she hears from folks that Merrick is a liar and a traitor to conservatives, and she didn’t know how to discern that, when her own perception was that Merrick was a doll. I told her “you’re my coworker and I really do not want to tell you how to vote, but I will tell you that the “rumors” you hear are right. She boldly caucused with democrats in her first term and she will absolutely do it again. She probably didn’t tell you that her own husband is the leader of one of Alaska’s biggest unions. Unions LOVE democrats. Kelly lives in a traditionally conservative district and she has to charm people like you who don’t know better in order to win election. Then she does EXACTLY what her 300 lb union boss husband and his Democrat keepers tell her to do. She is not honest at all. She’s taking advantage of your ignorance.”
I never asked my coworker who she voted for, but I do hope I was helpful. I’d say the characteristic of the short-time Alaskans living on the flanks of the military bases mean well but they have a bad Achilles heal because they have no long term memory. Republican messaging needs to improve with them, and a sanction from the party would absolutely do the trick. Wake up Carmella!!!!
The same with Chuck Kopp. He sponsored (or co-sponsored?) SB-91. A tragedy for Alaskan crime stats. The south anchorage voters punished him by removing him in his last election. Then 4 years passed and the collective memory faded. Do my “new-to-Alaska” neighbors know what SB-91 was, or why it was so bad? No, they don’t. Do they see a handsome and charming ex-cop whose name is actually “Kopp” who claims to be “tough on crime?” Why, yes, they do! But one other thing… that large and densely populated northern skirt in South Anchorage (Bayshore/Klatt) is as purple as a bruise. Half the folks in my area LOVE Kopp because he’s not a red-blooded Republican. They love the turncoat who espouses the red colors on the outside but will “do what’s best for Alaska” (aka: vote with the Dems). My neighbors in this area are not stupid. They are not conservatives. They are as Libby-lib as they can get. And they know that if they vote the Republican ticket they can unelect the conservative candidates and replace them with “red on the outside, blue on the inside” legislators. It’s a different demographic with Kopp’s district.
Excellent point about the surrounding- base voters with no long term memory and the fact that a censure from the party would assist these well meaning folks to sort the wheat from the chaff.
I told her “you’re my coworker and I really do not want to tell you how to vote, but I will tell you that the rumors you hear are right.” There is one of your problems. How about, “You’re my coworker so I care about you enough to tell you how to vote, please listen…..”
Besides hypocrisy, slimy procedural gimmicks fill out the republican platform.
Is there nothing to be said for biparisanship and compromise? If what conservatives were most concerned with were balanced budgets and limiting government, great. That sounds on paper. But this wasn’t what we heard in campaign commercials, in which GOP made it sound like the most serious threat to civilization were transgender citizens.
“sounds good on paper”
Bipartisanship and compromise? All those words mean is “caving to the Democrats,” and everyone knows it!
If not now to take on these turn coats, these rinos, then when? We all know they have got to go.
Compromise? if you do so with Evil it is Evil! Try compromising with a wolf you will get eaten.
First of all as a volunteer for the AK Republican Party I really tire of people like Mr. Sarber and others who I have never met or seen helping elect anyone, constantly thrashing volunteers in the party. Have any of you been involved? Ever gone to a district meeting? We also raise every dime that is spent unlike Democrats who have unions to hand them millions. Most of you, including Mr. Sarber, know nothing about AK law, authority over anything but you sure like to backseat quarterback! You know why we are in this situation? People voted for the rhinos. They did before RCV and that only made it worse. If you live in Mat Su your world is a little different than those of us fighting in Anchorage. So instead of criticizing our new party chair, how about checking out what we do. Read our rules and policies on the website. Want to come to a State Central Committee meeting? We are having one in Juneau on Feb 22nd (We all paid out of our own pockets). Understand that we could probably sue to keep from someone using an R by there name, but I doubt any of you criticizing what we do would give a penny towards that effort. We have! So once again, a few people that do not know what they are talking about, like the attention of writing about the “party,” but have done absolutely nothing to help make it better or elect true “conservatives!” Please send your contact information and I will contact you the next time some of us are working hours a day during an election to help elect good Republicans while you sit behind your computer telling us how we should do it better!
Judy, what is going on with your project of getting rid of ranked choice voting? Are you guys doing anything with that? I have not heard anything.
Failure plus an excuse does not equal success.
Judy the persistent! Would you say the law is important as far as following it,and being held accountable if you don’t?
As per Terrance Shanagan, a retired law enforcement individual,” the division of elections blatantly ignored multiple laws in recent elections”! Where do you and your useless R PARTY stand on law enforcement? THIS IS PRECISELY WHAT WEARS AND GRINDS SOCIETY TO A DIVIDED IMPOTENT PULP!
TAKE THAT AND CHEW ON FOR A WHILE!
SO TYPICAL. JUDY GOT ASKED A REAL QUESTION AND THE REVEAL SCARED HER BACK TO HER COMMITTEE!