Day 38: Eastman censured, again

"He has shown Alaska who he is."

Good morning, Alaska! It’s Day 38.

In this edition: The Alaska House has moved to swiftly reprimand Rep. David Eastman over a series of questions that asked whether society would be better off if abused children didn’t grow up to use state services. While it’s a quick response, it’s also hard to overlook the fact that Eastman isn’t exactly alone among his Republican colleagues in trying to put a price tag on the the value of a life, particularly a poor and disadvantaged person’s life. The daily schedule. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski rounded out the season of legislative addresses on Wednesday with a call to legislators to make the most out of the “lifeline” of federal funding. Also the reading list.

Current mood: 😠

Something not entirely miserable: Fairytale ending: Jahnna Hajdukovich follows in family footsteps while establishing her own basketball legacy at UAA

“Friends, Alaska cannot settle for being in 49th in anything but statehood. We cannot settle for it. We cannot be a place where people spend a part of their lives, only to pack it up and leave because they don’t see a future for them and their family,” U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

Eastman censured, again

In a unanimous and bipartisan show of disapproval of Rep. David Eastman asking whether the deaths of abused children would be a “benefit to society” because they wouldn’t grow up to use state services, the House voted 35-1 on Wednesday to censure the Wasilla Republican for the second time in his legislative career.

The vote came fewer than 48 hours after Eastman made the gruesome comments in the House Judiciary Committee, marking a significant change in course after his Republican committee members not only allowed his comments to go unchallenged but suggested that he was simply misunderstood and everyone should move on.

Rep. Andrew Gray, who sits next to Eastman on the committee, didn’t move on.

In Wednesday’s special orders on the House floor, he delivered a forceful rebuttal of Eastman that pointed out Gray’s own adoptive child, who served as a guest House page on the same day as that committee hearing, would fall into the very category of children Eastman wondered would be better for society if they were killed.

“When he utters those words sitting next to me, and those words are aired on television and then clipped and shared for all the world to see, he brings the dignity of this body into question,” Gray said. “He has brought great shame on this house. It is incumbent upon all of us to do something. We cannot allow such atrocious, indefensible language to go undenounced. We must speak out in defense of the dignity of this body, but also as a parent I must defend the value of all those children like mine, whose lives are valuable, whose deaths are not in the best interest of the state, whose inherent worth as human beings are the very reason we sit here today. We must respond as a body, we must do something.”

He called for Eastman to be censured, essentially a formal reprimand from the body that doesn’t carry additional penalties, for “offensive, insulting and unsubstantiated claims that undermine the dignity of the House.”

Here’s Rep. Gray’s speech in full:

Matt Acuña Buxton @mattbuxton

Rep. Andrew Gray, whose child falls into the category of children that Rep. David Eastman wondered would be a "benefit to society" if they were killed by abuse, has called for Rep. Eastman to be censured. "He has shown Alaska who he is." #akleg

Rep. Eastman registered the usual objections to the whole thing. It was moving too fast. That he was the victim of Gray’s “hateful rhetoric.” That Gray shouldn’t be allowed to call him out on his comments and character, when he can’t turn around and also call Gray’s character into question.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Sarah Vance also spoke during the debate, generally defending Eastman’s right to speak even though she called it “messy” and apologized for not giving Eastman an opportunity to clarify himself during the hearing.

“It was messy and insensitive, and I should have afforded an opportunity for clarification on the record at that time,” she said. “Every member of this body is afforded the freedom of speech, no matter how controversial or insensitive it may sound.”

She also said, essentially, that the House Judiciary Committee’s business should stay in the House Judiciary Committee rather be dealt with out in the open like this. She also made no indication of interest in removing Eastman from the committee, which she gifted to him because, as she has said, she appreciates his “thought process.”

To this point, Eastman has yet to offer an explanation for his line of questioning. To be clear, it’s probably a twisted anti-abortion argument that Eastman probably sees as attacking the assertion that preventing unwanted pregnancies is a good thing. It might not make a whole lot of sense, but that’s his unique “thought process.”

If you must, you can see Eastman’s comments here and Vance’s comments here.

Why it matters: The swift reprimand of Eastman is notable, sure. The last time Eastman was censured for comments about women from rural Alaska intentionally getting pregnant so they could get Medicaid-funded vacations to get an abortion, there were 13 other House Republicans who voted against his censuring. But it’s also important to note that Eastman is not facing anything beyond a slap on the wrist here. He still keeps his seat on the House Judiciary Committee and therefore his platform to continue to say things like this.

But in the bigger picture, I think it’s really critical to understand that this notion of judging the value of a life, particularly a poor and disadvantaged person’s life, is not at all unique to Rep. Eastman. In the same hearing where he made the comments, Rep. Ben Carpenter wondered whether the state should have any increased role in preventing and addressing the harms of child abuse because, as he said, “Nobody forced that parent to start smoking, do drugs or beat their kids.” At the beginning of the pandemic, Must Read Alaska wondered if the state’s budget would be aided by the deaths of older pensioners.

While they’ll hide behind the claims that they’re simply asking questions, these questions go a long way to explaining the continual efforts to oppose attempts to improve treatment of these populations whether it be behavioral health grants, the governor’s proposal to expand post-partum care for Medicaid recipients to a year or many, many other investments in prevention.

The daily schedule

• The Senate Finance Committee has its much-anticipated (for budget wonks) hearing on the state of the state retirement system at 9 a.m. It’s specifically an analysis looking at whether the current 401(k)-style pension is in equal value to the previous tier, which was something that was promised when it was passed.

• The House budget subcommittee on Public Safety gets an overview at 9 a.m.

• There’s a noontime Lunch and Learn on the Permanent Fund Corporation

• The House budget subcommittee on Revenue gets an overview at 9 a.m.

• House Transportation Committee has a 1 p.m. overview of facilities

• Senate Community and Regional Affairs has a 1:30 meeting to hear SB63,

• House Finance has a 1:30 hearing overview on the departments of Revenue and Corrections

• House Health and Social Services has a 3:00 overview of the Public Health division

• House State Affairs has a 3 p.m. hearing on HB 8, electric-assisted bicycles

• The House budget subcommittee on Transportation gets a budget overview at 3:30

• Senate Health and Social Services meets at 3:30 to hearing SB44, licensing of naturopaths; SB45, direct health care agreements

• Senate State Affairs meets at 3:30 to hear SB28, workplace violence protective orders; SB31, selection and review of judges; SB32, chokehold ban

• The House budget subcommittee on Administration has an overview at 4 p.m.

• The Senate budget subcommittee on Corrections meets at 6 p.m. for an overview

Murkowski calls on Legislature to take advantage of ‘lifeline’ of federal funding

It’s been a good year for legislative addresses. We’ve heard the touching farewell of Chief Justice Daniel Winfree, the inspiring first address of U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola and even U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan got a few jokes in. On Wednesday, Alaska’s U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski finished out the season with a humdinger of a speech that outlined a vision of an Alaska where people “live and work and play and stay.”

While most legislative addresses from the Congressional Delegation are opportunities to tout success on the federal level—which she did in highlighting many key projects out of more than $3 billion in federal spending headed Alaska’s way—Murkowski was unusually direct about the need for the Legislature to make the most of the opportunity and called for legislators to make investments in things like the Alaska Marine Highway, child care, education and housing, and to take a strong role in advocating for resource development.

Recognizing the work of economist Nolan Klouda and his team to understand the state’s economy and the perils of ongoing outmigration, Murkowski said it’ll take more than a check for the federal government to set the state on a better course.

“Friends, Alaska cannot settle for being in 49th in anything but statehood. We cannot settle for it,” she said. “We cannot be a place where people spend a part of their lives, only to pack it up and leave because they don’t see a future for them and their family. Or watch as the kids that they raised leave here and never come back. Alaska needs to be the place where people want to move to and want to stay because they have good jobs that support their families, they have a good place to live, they have good schools where their kids can excel. They have a quality of life that cannot be matched anywhere else. Where we take care of our fellow Alaskans when they hit rough patches. That is going to take a vision from all of us.”

She called the influx of federal funding a “lifeline” that can help bridge the state from now to a better future, but said the Legislature will need to make real changes on things like child care accessibility, workforce development, affordable housing and a quality education system. She also called on the Legislature to appropriate the matching funds needed to secure nearly $300 million in funding for the Alaska Marine Highway, reminding legislators that it’s the Alaska Marine Highway and not the Federal Marine Highway.

“This is our opportunity, this is our shot,” she said. “Let’s not screw it up.”

The senior senator had a similar thing to say about all federal funding, which has long been a foundational element of the state’s budget. While she and the Congressional Delegation would continue to fight to bring home earmarks for the state, she said not to expect routine massive investments in infrastructure.

“We can’t count on that forever. It’s not open-ended here. The delegation, the administration and the Legislature are all equal partners in Alaska’s success,” she said. “We need to be pulling together to be taking full advantage of these opportunities while they’re still in front of us. While I start a new term, I’m looking at every facet of how we can make Alaska the best place to live and work and play and stay.”

Murkowski even took aim at one example of over-reliance on federal spending: The Port of Alaska. She expressed frustration with the proposal to expand the design of the Port supported by Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson that could significantly balloon the cost of the project, potentially dashing the federal and state funding already secured for the project.

“When I read in the Anchorage Daily News that the proposed design modifications may cost $200 million more with no understanding how to pay for it besides applying to additional federal grants—I mean, really?”

Stay tuned.

The reading list

• The long list of lawsuits against Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson continues to grow. From Alaska Public: Anchorage mayor sued in federal court for firing investigator looking into deputy library director complaints

• In the state version of that lawsuit, the Bronson administration is now seeking a gag order preventing that investigator and her attorney from speaking publicly about Bronson’s conduct or the lawsuit. From the ADN: Mayor Bronson asks for gag order against fired director as new lawsuit is filed against city in federal court

• He’s looking for a new legal defender in Alaska Public Offices Commission chair Anne Helzer, who he tapped last week. Here’s a deeper dive from The Alaska Current: With Major Legal Battles Looming, Bronson Looks to Anne Helzer

• Staying in Anchorage for a few more stories, the Anchorage Assembly passed an ordinance aimed at addressing Bronson’s loose approach to public spending. From Alaska Public: Anchorage Assembly directs city to create online checkbook to increase transparency

• From the ADN: Municipality of Anchorage to pay up to $2M to outsource finance work due to employee vacancies

• From the Alaska Beacon: Report shows wide regional disparities seen in Alaska colorectal and lung cancer rates

• From the Alaska Beacon: University of Alaska regains stability after years of cuts and turmoil, president says