Sen. Matt Claman, a Democrat from Anchorage, wasted no time after a veto override vote failed this week in the Legislature.
One day after a joint session failed to override Senate Bill 140, a quarter-billion-dollar spending package, Claman proposed a Senate joint resolution that would, if passed by voters, lower the threshold for overriding all vetoes to two-thirds of the 60 legislators. Currently, the threshold is three-quarters for fiscal bills, and two-thirds for non-fiscal bills.
Senate Joint Resolution 15 was read into the Senate State Affairs Committee and voted on without so much as a comment.
“We have a Senator Claman bill, I wonder if you have any final statements,” said committee chair Sen. Scott Kawasaki. Claman had no statement. None of the other members of the committee had statements or questions to say about it. They passed it out of the committee with no discussion.
The resolution will go to the Rules Committee, where Sen. Bill Wielechowski will move it to the floor of the Senate. It could reach the House by next week.
The resolution would put the question before voters — should the Legislature have more power to override the governor on a veto? Democrats think so, because their attempt failed by just one vote, even though they had coopted many Republicans to vote with them.
The recourse, according to Claman and the Democrats on the House State Affairs Committee, is to take power from the governor.
The reason Alaska has a strong executive branch is because the framers of the Alaska Constitution saw what special interests were doing in the Territorial Legislature, and in other states. They made the executive branch strong to counter-balance the special interest that even today walk the halls of the state Capitol and work influence for groups like the NEA, and AFL-CIO. Without a strong executive branch, the governor is more of a figurehead, reduce to kissing babies and cutting ribbons, while the Legislature can — and has shown a proclivity to — reduce the Permanent Fund dividend to zero.
The two Republicans on the committee, Sen. Kelly Merrick of Eagle River and Sen. Jesse Bjorkman of North Kenai, voted with the Democrats, who control both the committee and the Senate.
This is an attempt to not only limit the powers of the current governor, but all future governors. The NEA/AFL-CIO cartel is behind this. We may as well just allow these 2 power hungry unions totally run the state. The NEA has failed our children with its power over Alaska’s K12 education system. The teachers’ unions own this failure. The failure to even speak to the bill by any committee members, especially sponsor Matt Claman, says it all.
Communist Claman doesn’t like the power of the veto or the cost in votes to override it, so he proposes lowering the threshold? This is like an elementary school kid changing the rules after he loses on the playground. Only that kid can’t get the snot kicked out of him in response. Remember when Claman was nothing more than a political joke in Anchorage? I miss those days. Now he can, and is, doing some real damage. It’s okay, though. It’s (D)ifferent when they do it.
Eagle River, Merrick completely suckered you then STABBED YOU IN THE BACK.
By the way this was NOT a surprise. She did this as a rep. Her husband is a union honcho and she will toe the D line.
With her track record, did she really betray Eagle River? ER knew, or should have, known what she is and re-elected her anyway.
ER is not the conservative bastion people like to think it is.
I don’t know a single person in ER that voted for her because we all knew she was a snake, when EaglExit happens she will be without a job unless she moves to Anchorage.
Hunter, there are a lot of Democrats living in Eagleriver who both work in Eagleriver and commute into Anchorage. They are just as quietly waiting for an Eagleexit too as the conservatives, republicans, and Christians of Eagleriver-chugiak too. So they can know what will be their group’s next move for organizing. Eagleriver-chugiak can’t rely on its military neighbors because of their transient lifestyle.
Don’t bank on that.
It’s ignorant voters in Chugiak and Peters Creek. Sadly there are tons of low-information voters in the outskirts of anchorage.
Dee Cee, maybe it’s time to educate these low information voters? Firstly we need to give many a refresher course in civics and the need for checks and balances within our system of government. What we just witnessed is the operation of that system.
The rights of a minority of sane citizens need to be protected from the loony’s in the majority like Matt Claman! Even a loony can see that tossing more $ to the Industrial Edscrewcation Complex is stupid!
Low Information Votes of Anchorage proper is the reason why we have an Assembly that is a Marxist/Communist cabal that will soon get what they deserve. The people outside of Anchorage proper are the only smart ones. CHUGIAK resident
Yeah, some of us in Eagle River tried to warn people. I honestly do believe some uninformed voters choose her thinking she was Kelly Tshibaka. That’s neither here nor there. We have to rid ourselves of her in the future. At least I’m happy to report BOTH Eagle River reps voted No on the Veto. Which was key to its defeat.
There are plenty of Biden/Harris bumper stickered prius and subarus blocking traffic going out Eagle River Rd to support a Union loving Republican turncoat.
Dems leaping on the bandwagon du jour. Seeming to forget that one day there might be a Democrat governor vetoing something on their behalf!
Kinda reminds me of Harry Reid changing the Senate rules, which soon came back to bite Democrats in the butt!
If this makes it on the ballot I predict it will be initially rejected on election night, only to *just* pass during the weeks-long counting process. Kind of like RCV. And, oh, I expect any RCV-repeal vote to fail in similar fashion.
Yes, had Nancy Dahlstrom done her ONLY job by cleaning out the voter rolls per the 1993 NVRA we wouldn’t still be playing the mail-in games. There would be no point: Dead people, moved people, commercial addresses, null addresses, duplicate registration, multi-state registration, ineligible registration, inactive voters. 113% of eligible age registration.
Why don’t they just initiate a coop and claim rule over Alaska? It would be more honest.
And how did this mess get this far? With the support of AK Republicans, of course. With very few exceptions, the best Democrats in Alaska are members of the alleged Republican Party.
Sadly true.
CLAMAN was a horrible temporary mayor telling all of us employees to “suck it up” when all of us had to do an 88 hour furlough….. his pettiness continues, power mongering monsters, out to destroy our once incredible state.
Get out the vote and we need to rid ourselves of these traitors…
Kelly Merrick, again.
I think she is in a contest with Princess Lisa to see which one can out-RINO the other.
She is serving her constituents. It happens her constituents aren’t the people of Eagle River.
We have far too many contenders for that award misrepresenting us all!!
I think LaFrance, currently running for Anchorage mayor, takes the dog whistle prize: claimed to be Conservative on her Assembly race profile and ended up voting for all “Progressive” left policy & to remove the the power of the Mayor.
Special interests. We have a governor owned by special interests foremost his own. Seems to me it is a lot cheaper and easier for special interests to influence one person than 60.
Isn’t it amazing, the speed this thing is being put together and advanced?!
Makes me wonder if this bill was ready to go, awaiting its debut in Matt Claman’s desk and now he has the perfect opportunity and the perfect power structure in the legislature to advance it to the ballot.
Kelly Merrick never struck me as above board, as she denied to my face that her hubby had any influence on her “conservative” outlook…..sure where did I put that bridge I want to sell you?
But she was elected and re elected.
Give her one way ticket back Israel! Were she will have to wear armor 24/7! And fight the worst terrorist in world 24/7!
Marxist takeover attempt!
Kelly got elected because ER voters didn’t do their diligence. She had a ton of money for advertising, little of it from constituents. Mostly special interest. And an under spoken candidate who only had local contributions. I hope people have learned from this. But it is repeating itself now in the mayor race. Voters can be bought easily in our state. I’ll give odds that the candidate with the most dirty money wins.
Jesse Bjorkman, it’s time for you to go back to your day job. You, as a junior senator, come in and want to change the rules. I think your true colors are starting to show. I can’t wait for the next election to vote you outta there!!
Kelly Merrick strikes again. This isn’t the first time she has pulled this kind of behaviour. It’s actually her
trademark at this point, yet here we are. Voters in Eagle River don’t seem to pay attention, so I’m sure she will
in this position in perpetuity. Don’t forget she also votes every single time to steal your PFD and funnel it directly into the hands of her husbands union coffers.
Speak for yourself, I knew from day one that Merrick was the snake in the grass and it never rceived a single vote from me or anyone in my household.
Kelly Merrick strikes again. This isn’t the first time she has pulled this kind of behaviour. It’s actually her
trademark at this point, yet here we are. Voters in Eagle River don’t seem to pay attention, so I’m sure she will
be in this position in perpetuity. Don’t forget she also votes every single time to steal your PFD and funnel it directly into the hands of her husbands union coffers.
I knew she was trouble when an apparent union man came to my house to promote her, and described her as working “across the aisle”. My suspicions have been proven correct.
Democrats are the worst losers…They can never play by the rules without changing the rules to gain a win.
I cant wait to let James Kaufman know He just lost a dozen votes in his district which my extended family has the power to cast at his next election by caucusing and voting in lockstep with the Democrats from day one.
We are currently passing the hat taking donations to purchase him a cheap purple coat and flag from the second hand store to gift him at his next campaign rally.
Jimmy, If you gona vote with the Democrats you need the label. A big D in front of your name on the ballot.
Thanks for the eye opener and coming out of the closet moment!
We are currently funding a real republican replacement for YOU.
Teachers union, State Employees Union, IBEW, and all other unions have developed into a power grabbing voting block that is stronger than the small number of Alaskans who turn out to vote. Merrick, Geisel, and Dave Wilson are examples of Switch Legislator’s. Their goal is One Party Rule in Alaska. We need to advance our GOOD Representatives like Shower and Hughes to Senators and replace their empty chairs with new Representatives with proven trustworthy people like Holland and Graham.
A good idea, but how? Unions get out voters. Conservatives tend to sit home.
This is a blue state. Unless sane people outwork and outthink the unions, nothing will change.
It is time to 86 Jesse Bjorkman. His dishonesty will catch up in his actions.
People of The Kenai need to revolt.
Kelly Merrick is on the same list. People of ER see the light and send her and her leg breaking hubby down the road. The Union is killing your future.
Limbo again. Please send cookies.
The reason Merrick won in Chugiak/Eagle River was the guy she ran against, Dan Kendal. Dan was the State representative for Chugiak, because he did NOT listen to his constituents especially when it came to SB91, during his Race against Merrick, Dan could not carry his own House districts.
Merrick has repeatedly miss represented herself to Chugiak/Eagle River. Repeatedly aligning herself with Democrats. Reminds me of Murky.
Merrick needs to go, flush her down the drain with rest of the lying corrupt politicians.
Hate to keep having to play fact checker, but…
Kelly Merrick’s opponent in 2022 was Ken McCarty. Dan Kendall represented Chugiak and Eagle River for three terms on the Anchorage Assembly, but never served in the state legislature. Maybe you were thinking of Dan Saddler? He didn’t run against Merrick in 2022, either. He ran for one of Eagle River’s House seats and was elected.
Which election are you talking about? Kelly Merrick ran against Ken McCarty for the senate seat she now holds in 2022. While Ken is a nice guy, he was too low key to make any inroads and Kelly had a whole new set a voters in the senate district, who had not ever voted for her before. Sadly name recognition (and shiny flyers) goes a long way.
Kelly Merrick is not a Republican, nor does she represent the people of Eagle River and Chugiak. She needs to be run out of town on a rail. She’s a disgrace
“The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe, for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood he was one of them.”
I just love the KISS principle…Keeping it stupid simple.
Bjorkman really is not a strong person, he caves to any union or the last that speaks to him. His integrity with constituents is always in jeopardy till he finds some personal strength.
Bjorkman IS union (NEA). It is not a surprise to any conservative down here on the Kenai that he is swampy guy. When he co-hosted a radio program with Bob Bird, a true conservative, you could often sense the tension, and I remember his rants in favor of masking and vaxxing. Yes, he needs to go, and I hope his opponent is successful in dumping him back into being a teacher, where he fits right in.
Right! Steve.If it wasn’t for affirmative action voting Bjorkman would never have won.His professionalism as a junior Senator is more like a junior high school student in a debate club.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It’s laughable that a legislator thinks the people want to give them more power than they already have.
There is something in the water down there that inflates them to become ” legends in their own minds.”
That’s nice. What does the US Constitution say. State legislators may not appropriate or make stuff up imaginatively about adding to their powers. That would only be done by we the people in a state constitutional convention. We can not pay them to make themselves tyrants.
What I see it lots of opinions and no call for action of the voters part. If you all are really concerned start having gatherings and form a plan of action to stop this corruption and the attempts to turn our state into a stupid state. We cannot afford to lose our rights. Let’s start building an army to stop it. Who is willing to give time? Who is willing to get involved? We need loud letter writing campaigns. We need people willing to picket. We need demands to keep outside money out. We need a united effort to stand up against this stupidity NOW before it is too late.
You can each write your rep. It takes 5 minutes and isn’t difficult. That’s grass roots. You don’t have to be a club & nobody is going to arrest you for writing.
Israel is the highest armed society but their government told them not to bring guns to concert on October 7! And our government is trying to take our guns! So we are also victims! We all end up dead or slaves like every civilization in the past 4,500 years!
Government always uses its military against its own citizens to gain complete power and control and it excels as technology and time increases!
You always hear don’t be violent during protests and government doesn’t care if you are or not they will create violence and arrest or kill everyone using military or law enforcement! Weaponized everything against citizens! Sounds psychotic!
Methamphetamine psychosis: yes it creates psychopaths! Bill Gates, Rothschild, Schwab for example! Hitler also!
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