Scott Kendall, the lawyer who wrote Ballot Measure 2 and who was the force behind the recall attempt on Gov. Mike Dunleavy in 2019, has an idea for the Alaska House of Representatives: Expel Rep. David Eastman from the Legislature.
The Legislature, already suffering from low esteem in the public’s eye, got a lecture from Kendall on the topic this week.
In one of the many opinion pieces that Kendall routinely gets published by the Anchorage Daily News, Kendall says that Eastman is ineligible to serve, based on a court ruling by Superior Court Judge Jack McKenna. The ruling came after Wasilla liberal activist Randall Kowalke and the radical Northern Justice Project tried to convince the court that Eastman violated the “disloyalty clause” of the Alaska Constitution, due to his membership in a group called Oath Keepers.
“Specifically, Judge McKenna found two critical facts: First, that Rep. Eastman belonged to the Oath Keepers; and second, that the Oath Keepers as an organization has, through words and conduct, taken concrete action to attempt to overthrow by violence the United States government,” Kendall wrote.
Kendall is trying to get the House to do what the courts won’t do, and he is attempting to give the Legislature some cover for removing Eastman, using the Alaska Constitution as his justification: “Our disloyalty clause states: ‘”‘No person who advocates, or who aids or belongs to any party or organization or association which advocates, the overthrow by force or violence of the government of the United States or of the State shall be qualified to hold any public office of trust or profit under this constitution.'”
The McKenna ruling was clear, however, that Eastman can serve in the Legislature. He will be sworn in on Tuesday with 59 other lawmakers.
Kendall says the disloyalty clause requires Eastman to be thrown out, even though his Wasilla district re-elected him by over 51% in November, even with two other Republicans on the ballot. Eastman said, that under this type of thinking, whoever the majority party is in the Legislature can use nearly any excuse to refuse to seat any member of the minority party. Republicans could refused to seat Sen.-elect Forrest Dunbar, who swore an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution, only to be caught saying, on the public record, that the Constitution is “shot through with racism.”
According to Kendall, “the judge grafted on an additional requirement found nowhere in the constitution’s text — that Rep. Eastman somehow specifically state that he desires that the Oath Keepers succeed in their goal. This was an error. There is no specific intent language in the constitution, and this was not a case regarding potential criminal liability. This case concerned only the qualifications to serve in public office in Alaska — a privilege granted under our constitution, but not an absolute right. Because the facts at trial showed Rep. Eastman belongs to an insurrectionist organization, he is ineligible to serve.”
By public office, Kendall seems to imply he means elected office, when in fact the disloyalty clause, if interpreted to the letter, would mean a prohibition from serving in any position in government, including dog catcher.
There are hundreds of Alaskans who have signed up as members or donors to Oath Keepers, which the federal government recognizes as a charitable organization and to which it grants tax benefits as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with the IRS. Kendall is attempting to make an organization that has legal standing with the federal government into an outlaw group, when even the federal government has not de-certified or revoked Oath Keepers’ tax status.
Kendall goes on to give the Legislature more justification for expelling Eastman: “Section Three of the 14th Amendment, which was enacted after the First Amendment, thereby limiting it, prohibits individuals who previously swore an oath to the constitution and then engaged in insurrection from serving in federal, state or local office. Added after the Civil War, it is at its core a democracy preservation provision — people who try to overthrow the government cannot be permitted to run it.”
Trying to overthrow an elected official is par for the Kendall course. He tried to run Gov. Mike Dunleavy out of office through a recall petition and he is now trying to get Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson impeached through Kendall’s signature throat-cutting law-fare.
In 2021, the Democrats in the House attempted to do the very thing that Kendall is suggesting. Democrats attempted to remove Eastman, but their efforts failed because they could not find a legal path. Will the Legislature take Kendall’s advice and make an attempt once more?
