Alaska Elections

A new lawsuit has been filed against the state redistricting board. This time, it’s by the Alaska Democratic Party.

In a couple of ways, the redistricting process is sort of like solving a Rubik’s Cube: It can be really frustrating, and every time you try to fix a part, you run the risk of messing up something else.

From the perspective of the Alaska Democratic Party, the map used for the last election was:

McKinnon: Outrageous.

But the newest version?

McKinnon: Is just bad.

Joe McKinnon is the party’s attorney. He says that while the redistricting board’s newest map solves some constitutional problems, it creates a few others. That’s why the party — along with Katie Hurley and Warren Keogh — filed a lawsuit against the board on Tuesday. There’s already another group based in Fairbanks that’s suing the board for different reasons concerning the Senate pairings of certain districts, and it’s possible this new lawsuit could be rolled in with that one.

McKinnon says his clients have a handful of concerns with the new map. They think the board, which is mostly made up of Republicans, took extra voters from the conservative Mat-Su region to make other seats more secure for their party.

“The Mat-Su has exactly enough population for five seats, and yet the board only put four seats within the borough and then split the other population, putting part in with Valdez and then part in with Anchorage.”

McKinnon says the way the lines were drawn in the Kenai Peninsula and Fairbanks are similarly problematic. He also says the state’s rural districts should have been better drawn to match Native corporation boundaries.

Now, McKinnon wants the courts to say the redistricting board has had enough chances to produce a constitutional map.

“The remedy we want is for the court to draw the final map, to appoint a master.”

Michael White is the redistricting board’s attorney, and he thinks the lawsuit is being brought more for political reasons than constitutional ones.

“I guess if I’m a betting man, I would say what they’re trying to do is blow up the plan with anything they possibly can in the hopes that they would get a master appointed, and that would somehow benefit the Democrats.”

White says he was surprised that the Democrats filed their own suit against the redistricting board, and that he doesn’t think their case has any merit. When it comes to the Mat-Su region, he says the decision to take some population from that area was necessary to pad surrounding districts that didn’t have enough voters.

“It isn’t just a simple matter of ‘Let’s draw this in isolation.’ There’s a ripple effect that you have whenever you move a single person — you start moving several hundred people.”

White adds that he doesn’t see basis for a complaint about rural districts. The map the redistricting board adopted was partially based on a plan offered by Calista, an Alaska Native corporation.

“If they don’t match Alaska Native lines, how come there is not a single Alaska Native interest that is making a challenge?”

The redistricting board is arguing that all legal challenges against the redistricting board be dismissed.

The courts are hearing the lawsuits on an expedited basis in an effort to finalize the state’s political boundaries before the 2014 election. It’s been three years since the redistricting process first started.

This story has been updated to include comment from the redistricting board.

The filing period to run for assembly and school board in the October election is officially over. Only the area-wide assembly seat is contested. It’s currently held by Johan Dybdahl, who can’t run again due to term limits.

Former school board president Bill Peters and Kate Troll, a former executive director of United Fishermen of Alaska, are running for the seat.

Mary Becker and Karen Crane are unopposed for the district 1 and 2 seats.

School board members Barbara Thurston and Lisa Worl are running for the two open seats.

The filing period may be over, but there’s still the option of running for elected office through a write-in campaign. A letter of intent must be submitted to the Municipal Clerk’s office by 4:30 p.m. on September 26.

The filing period for three assembly and two school board seats starts Friday for the October 1 election.

Assembly positions up for election include a district one seat, currently held by Mary Becker; a district two seat, currently held by Karen Crane; and an area-wide assembly member, currently held by Johan Dybdahl. Two school board seats, presently filled by Barbara Thurston and Lisa Worl, are also up for election. These are all three-year terms.

A person interested to run for election must file a nominating petition signed by at least 25 registered voters.

CBJ’s deputy clerk Beth McEwen says, “There’s 50 lines on the petitions so that people can get additional signatures. We always recommend that they get more signatures than the 25 minimum.”

All candidates must be qualified voters and residents of Juneau.

McEwen says being on assembly and school board is a big commitment.

“They’re the decision-making body for the local government so they have to have the time and availability.”

Nominating petitions must be submitted by Monday, August 12 at 4:30 pm. Petitions are available at city hall or online.

McEwen also reminds residents to register to vote or to change voter registration by September 1 in order to participate in the October 1 election.

Update:

Becker has already filed for reelection on the assembly. Bill Peters submitted a petition for the area-wide assembly seat, and Thurston and Worl have filed for school board seats.

 

Southeast Alaska’s new redistricting boundaries eliminate the possibility of at least one House election rematch. But they could lead to some other challenges.

The House district plan created for last year’s elections put Haines and Sitka together for the first time.

That led to a very close race between incumbent Rep. Bill Thomas, a Haines Republican, and challenger Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, a Sitka Democrat.

Kreiss-Tomkins won by 32 votes, less than half a percent. So, many expected Thomas to file for a rematch.

“I get asked the same question five to 10 times a day: ‘Are you going to run again?’ ” Thomas says.

But that redistricting plan was overturned by the courts. And the new one, for 2014’s election, puts Thomas in the same district as Rep. Beth Kerttula, a Juneau Democrat.

“Being downtown Juneau and coming from Haines, I don’t think I could possibly win in that district. So if I were to run, and the big word is ‘if’ I were to run, I would seriously consider running for the Senate seat. And that’s if Sen. (Dennis) Egan would step down,” he says.

Thomas is interested because the Senate seat includes the downtown Juneau-and-Haines district, and Juneau’s Republican-dominated Mendenhall Valley House district.

That said, the incumbent in that Senate district, Juneau Democrat Dennis Egan, expects to run next year.

“Yeh, I think so. At least one more term. If I get four more years, it’ll be fine. I’m going to try hard,” Egan says.

Egan, a former Juneau mayor, says he’s mostly OK with the new election boundaries, because they make districts more compact.

But Kerttula, the incumbent in the downtown-Haines-Skagway district, says it’s odd, because it leaves Juneau’s Mendenhall Valley district as an enclave.

“I think that they kind of tortured it a bit to move downtown Juneau and Douglas all the way around the rest of the area. And that looks political to me. But having said that, my focus is just going to be on doing a good job, representing people well and campaigning hard,” Kerttula says.

So she’ll run again next year, with Haines in her district.

Also on the ballot will be Juneau’s Mendenhall Valley representative. Republican Cathy Muñoz is glad her district remains compact, rather than being paired with communities to the north.

“That is one contiguous area that’s represented by a high school and middle school and elementary schools, right in that compact neighborhood area. And so to separate or to carve out a portion of the Mendenhall Valley I think would have been problematic,” Muñoz says.

Further south, Petersburg gets its wish under the new boundaries, separating from the downtown Juneau district and joining Sitka and numerous villages.

Kreiss-Tomkins, the Sitka Democratic representative, says the changes are fine with him and he’ll stand for re-election.

“It’s all Southeast Alaska and as long as it doesn’t include parts of Anchorage or the Mat-Su, I’m pretty happy. I like all of Southeast,” Kreiss-Tomkins says.

Even without Haines’ Thomas in the district, some speculate Kreiss-Tomkins could be vulnerable in the next election. But so far, no one has made a point of announcing plans to run against him.

Others have wondered about Wrangell Republican Rep. Peggy Wilson, who used to also represent Sitka and Petersburg.

The 2012 redistricting effort shifted her into an area dominated by Ketchikan. It’s pretty much the same for 2014. And there’s talk of a serious contender from the larger city.

Wilson couldn’t be reached for immediate comment. But in a June interview, she said she’d run again, whomever she represents.

“You get pulled one way and then you might get pulled another. And I have found out that I can live with whatever they dish out. That’s the way it is, I guess,” she said.

“I think the plan they put forward this time is more reasonable and fair to the public than the previous plan,” says Sitka Republican Sen. Bert Stedman, who represents the same communities as Wilson and Kreiss-Tomkins.

And like them, his district has undergone some changes, such as losing Haines and gaining Petersburg.

He points to Southeast’s loss of two of its eight legislative seats in last and this year’s redistricting changes.

So he’s less worried about exact boundaries and more concerned about the increased legislative dominance of Anchorage and other cities in the Railbelt.

“It doesn’t make a whole lot of difference if you’re in Metlakatla or you’re in Sitka or you’re in Kake or you’re in Petersburg or Wrangell, you’re all in rural Alaska. And we’re all together and we just need to make sure we’re all paddling in the same direction so we don’t get left behind,” Stedman says.

The latest redistricting plan was released July 14th. And, like its predecessor, it could face legal challenges.

If it stands, its boundaries won’t take effect until after the 2014 elections. That means lawmakers will continue serving their current districts through next year’s legislative meetings.

In a half-hour meeting on a Sunday afternoon, the Alaska Redistricting Board unanimously agreed on a new electoral map.

The process of drawing the state’s political boundaries has been going on for nearly three years. Along the way, board members described it as a struggle, Democrats characterized it as gerrymandering by a Republican-dominated group, and the courts deemed it unconstitutional.

Board member Bob Brodie expressed relief at the idea the prospect of Sunday’s meeting being the board’s last.

“It wasn’t an easy job in the beginning, and it wasn’t any easier later.”

The new plan is partially based on a proposal from the Native corporation Calista, and there are some major changes from the temporary map used in the 2012 election. It gets rid of a controversial district that mixed some Fairbanks area residents with rural Alaska; it removes Petersburg from Juneau’s Senate district; and it reconnects the Aleutian chain. All of those issues had been raised as constitutional concerns, and board attorney Michael White said at the meeting that the new map addresses those legal claims.

The map also opens up a Senate seat in the Mat-Su area by placing Eagle River Republicans Anna Fairclough and Fred Dyson in the same district, and it creates a new House seat in the Interior by putting North Pole Republicans Doug Isaacson and Tammie Wilson in the same political boundaries.

During Sunday’s meeting, board members complimented each other on finalizing a new map, and they discussed the challenges of complying with both the Alaska Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act. The act, which is meant to protect the influence of minority populations, was partially struck down by the Supreme Court last month. Board member Jim Holm spoke critically of giving special treatment to Native voters.

“I find it to be disconcerting that we so many times try to allow people to have extra voting rights versus people who are just plain Alaskans. I’ve been here 67 years, and I’m an Alaskan. I may not be an Alaska Native, but I’m a native Alaskan.”

The map will now be submitted to the courts for approval as part of an ongoing lawsuit.

With Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and Tea Party candidate Joe Miller in the race, the Republican Senate primary is already being watched closely. Now, it’s gotten an extra dose of national attention with former Gov. and once-vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin saying she could be persuaded to run against incumbent Democrat Mark Begich. But while the news made a splash Outside, Republicans in the state still haven’t heard from her.

October 28, 2010. That was the last time former Gov. Sarah Palin really inserted herself into Alaska politics. It was at a rally in Anchorage, and she was endorsing Republican candidate Joe Miller in the Senate race.

Now, fast forward three years.

Hannity: Well there’s been talk you might run for senator in Alaska. Have you considered that at all?
Palin: I’ve considered it because people have requested me considering it.

Palin made those comments on Tuesday during a radio show with her Fox News colleague, Sean Hannity. They come after months of speculation over whether she would be open to the possibility of running, and after a national Tea Party group launched a “Draft Sarah” effort. Republicans see Mark Begich in a vulnerable spot as a Democrat in a red state, and Palin’s fans believe she’s a strong contender because of her star power and ability to raise money.

But even though her statement is generating a lot of national buzz, party leadership in Alaska hasn’t heard a peep from her. Republican Party Chair Peter Goldberg says that there’s been no communication between him and Palin. Ever.

“I would think she would want to at least speak briefly to the new head of the Alaska Republican Party. But no, never met the lady. Never spoken to her. I have seen her once.”

That was at the state convention five years ago, and his table was about 30 feet from the podium where she was speaking.

“That’s the closest I’ve come to Sarah Palin.”

Outside of her 2010 endorsement of Joe Miller — who she could potentially face in the primary if she ran — Palin has kept a low profile in Alaska since she stepped down during her term as governor. She made a comment on Alaska’s oil tax system on Facebook in 2011, but has otherwise refrained from getting involved in state policies. She’s also had limited contact with elected leaders. Gov. Sean Parnell hasn’t spoken with her in months. Republican House Rules Chair Craig Johnson says he hasn’t communicated with her at all in his leadership capacities. House Majority Leader Lance Pruitt says he’s never met her.

Ralph Seekins is the Republican National Committeeman in the state, and of all the people I spoke with, he was the one who had seen her most recently. That was back in February of this year. She was in Fairbanks for the Iron Dog snowmachine race, but made an appearance at a Lincoln Day dinner thrown by the region’s Republican Women group.

Seekins doesn’t know of any party members who have been in touch with her recently, and he hasn’t heard of her having an exploratory committee in the state.

“Maybe she’s just trying to pique interest, or see what the response might be.”

Seekins says he’s not sure if she’s seriously considering a run, or if she would even run with his party.

“You know, we’ve heard that she’s also said, ‘Well, I might be interested in starting another party other than the Republicans.’ So, some people say, would she run as a Republican or something else? There’s a lot of just speculation, confusion, and questioning right now.”

Palin has previously clashed with the establishment wing of the Republican party, aligning herself with Tea Party supporters who attempted to — and briefly succeeded in — overthrowing the more moderate faction. With Miller and Treadwell falling on different sides of that fracture, it already looks like that ideological fight will wage on in the primary race. Seekins says if Palin jumps in, that means even more money and energy will be spent on intra-party rivalries. He’d rather that effort go toward campaigning against Begich.

“There’s a lot of us that kind of wish that it was one clear candidate. But it doesn’t look like it’s going to be that way.”

There’s one other person who hasn’t heard from Palin: me. She did not respond to a request for comment for this story.