Must Read Alaska has long been blocked by Alaska Sen. Forrest Dunbar from his social media feed on X. Dunbar may be a reader of the publication, but is clearly not a fan.
But now, others are saying they are being blocked by him, as well. This person, for instance:
The matter of legislators blocking members of the public from the accounts associated with their official duties is still being litigated, ever since lawyers with the Northern Justice Project filed a lawsuit against former Sen. Lora Reinbold, who is till fighting it in court.
Last year, a judge ruled state legislators cannot block members of the public from commenting on the social media accounts maintained in connection with their elected offices.
Anchorage Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews said such accounts are considered public forums, where legislators can’t discriminate against a participant based on their positions on topics.
In a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court, “Lindke v. Freed,” the justices ruled that a public official can only be considered to be engaging in “state action” (actions that can be subject to First Amendment scrutiny) on social media if they have actual authority to speak on behalf of the government and are clearly exercising that authority when posting on their personal social media accounts; essentially, this means a public official can block users on their personal social media pages unless they are explicitly using the platform to communicate official government information, not just personal opinions.
The Alaska Legislative Council, the body that governs the Legislature when it is not in formal session and that handles other legislative business, will meet at 9 a.m. on Dec. 12 in the Anchorage Legislative Information Office; legislator social media policies are said to be on the agenda, which has not yet been posted.
It’s unclear how that relates to blocking people altogether from an official account, but the matter will be before Alaska legislators next month.
What good would a legislative remedy be, anyway? Like the PFD or the single-topic initiative statute, it will either be ignored (because there are no consequences) or erased by the fake power of the judiciary.
Like a true Democrat, as the rules don’t apply to them.
If and when a Republican does this….fire up the Libtard Legal Network.
Maybe Scott Kendall is available to represent conservative peasants of RunForrestRun’s senate district.
He is all about protecting civil rights, right?
Yes Liberals are for free speech as long as it is their free speech! How Dunbar can be a military officer and a Marxist is a stunning mess to me! I have interviewed him was polite. We disagree on a lot though.
This is the clown that claims the US Constitution is “shot full of racism”.
He is also big on claiming his conservative opponents are “Hitler” as he did in his full page ADN (anchorage derelect news) ad when he lost to Mayor Dave Bronson.
However east Los Anchorage was so proud of their nonconstitutionalist that they handily voted to send him to Juneau. Where we hope he will find permanent residence in the blue city.
Ah, the “leaders” of Alaska—truly setting a high bar for accountability and engagement. While some lawmakers are fighting tooth and nail to block constituents from speaking out on social media, it’s worth noting that Senator Jesse Bjorkman is playing the same game. Not only does he refuse to engage with questions about his own ahem questionable Facebook posts (those real gems of decorum), but he also seems to be allergic to radio talk shows that his constituents actually call into. It’s almost like he’d rather not hear from the people he’s supposed to represent.
But hey, who needs courage or transparency when you can just block everyone? Alaska’s leadership truly seems to be doubling down on the notion that public service means avoiding the public. With this kind of leadership, it’s no wonder the state feels like it’s sinking into a world of hurt. Stay tuned, folks!
These clowns get away with blocking constituents, only because no one has exercised their remedies against them! We have two remedies available- 1. file a complaint against them with the Select Legislative Ethics Committee. This independent legislative organization actually has teeth. It can order a legislator to stop blocking people, and can recommend other sanctions, that the legislature has to act on. 2. File a court case against them. This is easier than it sounds here, mainly because the Northern Justice Project has filed all the relevant documents in its case of McDow v. Reinbold, in state court. Just pull those pleadings, and you will see how to word your complaint. Piece of cake.
Any reasonable person and most lawyers would look at Dunbar’s Senate Twitter account and immediately know that it meets the conditions set by Lindke v. Freed for an official account- for starters, he has a personal account using his name (which is, of course, protected from view) separate from the official State Senator account. His official account has a link to his official state .gov email account as well. He is clearly violating the law. I wouldn’t be surprised if, like other low information liberals who aren’t intelligent enough to debate, Mr. Dunbar uses one of the mass-blocking services such as Block Together as well.
But, as the esteemed Mr. Bird states, it will be ignored by him as well as the feckless, ineffectual judiciary.
A girly man acting like a girly man. The boy also wants to be the next governor of Alaska. Good luck with that, sweetheart. Cheers –
Add me to the list of people he’s blocked. I first met Forrest Dunbar in June 2014 during his first campaign. He struck me right away as horribly insecure and obsessed with controlling the narrative. I had plenty of opportunities to interact with him during my last stay in Anchorage from 2019 to 2021 and trust me, absolutely nothing has changed. Compare his unsuccessful campaigns with his successful campaigns and some things become glaringly obvious. For one, he can only get elected when it’s a safe, gerrymandered constituency. For another, various special interests will protect him at all costs because he’s their waterboy. Looking at some of the legitimate community leaders who have represented Anchorage in the Senate in years past, it’s sad to think when you compare that to Dunbar, Elvi and Tobin.
Dunbar is smart – he did not get a check mark next to his name so that when he blocks people, he cannot be sued like my favorite rep. McCabe did for blocking someone. For that reason alone he should be sued. Lol
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump couldn’t block people on his Twitter account back in 2017.
I met Dunbar’s mother. Nice lady. I wonder where her son went wrong.
Comments are closed.