Recall Dunleavy effort gaining signatures

Former mayor Kelly Weaverling collects signatures for a petition to recall Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Over 300 signatures were taken in Cordova during the first week, Organizers said. (March 9, 2020) Photo by Zachary Snowdon Smith/The Cordova Times

Efforts to recall Gov. Mike Dunleavy that went online in late February because of the COVID-19 pandemic are going well, says Meda DeWitt, chair of the Recall Dunleavy campaign.

When Alaskans were asked to hunker down at home and social distance themselves to prevent spread of the novel coronavirus, the recall committee had to come up with a whole new way to collect the 71,252 signatures needed to put the recall initiative onto a statewide ballot.

Hence the option to get one’s own recall petition booklet and sign at home, by going online to recalldunleavy.org to request delivery of a petition booklet by mail. Requests may be made by any Alaskan who is registered to vote. The personal booklets have one sheet, allowing up to 15 signatures, while the standard booklet with 10 sheets, to collect 150 signatures.

“We’re doing really good,” DeWitt said.

By Sunday, April 19, the group had reached 40 percent of its goal.

The campaign has received requests for over 4,300 booklets to date and are getting hundreds back in the mail every day.

Advertisement

“We have seen them come back with anywhere from one to 15 signatures,” said Claire Pywell, campaign manager.

Dunleavy supporters are fighting the recall effort, with new arguments to the Alaska Supreme Court aimed at blocking the recall. Both sides have filed arguments with the court, on the judges’ request to explain their position on one of four points listed on the recall application on why the governor should be recalled. That point is whether the governor, by vetoing court system funding, violated the separation of powers between the judiciary and executive branches of government.

According to Recall Dunleavy attorney Jahna Lindemuth, the governor exceeded his constitutional authority to issue line-item vetoes by linking the veto to court decisions when he vetoed $335,000 from the Alaska Supreme Court budget, the cost of legal elective abortions.

“The legislative and executive branch are opposed to state-funded elective abortions; the only branch of government that insists on state-funded elective abortions in the Supreme Court,” the Dunleavy administration said in a budget document on June 28, 2019. “The annual cost of elective abortions is reflected by this reduction.”

Assistant Attorney General Margaret Paton-Walsh argued that the state constitution does clearly grant the governor power to do line-item vetoes like the one on the Supreme Court, and that the veto in question actually affects less than 1 percent of funds for the court system’s budget.

When the Supreme Court will issue its decision is uncertain.

Advertisement