Dunleavy supporters focus on politics, ignore his misdeeds

Republican supporters of Gov. Mike Dunleavy argue that recall is an effort to “reverse the will of the people” by using the Alaska Constitution to advance a purely political agenda. They claim that the governor’s opponents don’t have any real grounds for recall, they just can’t get over that they lost the election. They are warning that allowing this to happen will start us down a “slippery slope,” resulting in radical methods used frivolously and frequently in the future, demeaning our politics and deterring qualified people from running, all to our ultimate harm.

What is interesting is that Dunleavy’s supporters don’t talk at all about the non-political reasons for the recall. They go on and on about how Gov. Dunleavy’s political view are right. Where is the defense of the actual misdeeds he is accused of? Where is the defense of his undermining of the judiciary, the use of government money for partisan political purposes, or gross incompetence in vetoing things without understanding what he was doing? Do his defenders think these things are all OK, but we should leave him in office because he has the “right” political views? That is the real “slippery slope” we should all be afraid of.

Just one example: Gov. Dunleavy cut the budget for the court system because he disagreed with their decisions on abortion cases. His message was clear — if the courts don’t decide abortion cases his way, he will punish them financially. This is a direct threat to the judicial branch of Alaska for political purposes. He acted similarly when he refused to follow the law and appoint a judge submitted by the Judicial Council. He did that because he wanted to appoint a judge more in line with his own political views, not one vetted through the Alaska constitutional process.

This is a legitimate complaint against the governor. Of course the leaders of the recall are political opponents of the governor; his campaign managers are not likely to initiate a recall. But the recall is not a hack job by sore losers of the election. The governor did it, he did it on purpose and he knew it was wrong. People may feel that they would like to have the judiciary more responsive to the political winds that blow through the state (a very bad idea, in my opinion), but the only legitimate way to achieve that is to amend the constitution, not to elect a governor who enforces only the parts of the laws he likes. Gov. Dunleavy deserves to be recalled.

Harold Johnston is a lifelong Alaskan and a retired family physician, educator and medical administrator.

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