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Today Don Young became the 6th overall longest-serving Congressman in history

On Friday, Alaska Congressman Don Young surpassed former Speaker Sam Rayburn’s tenure and became the 6th overall longest serving congressman in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Young has served since March of 1973, and is in his 25th term.

He already was the Republican Party’s longest-serving member of the House in history, and is currently Dean of the House, the first Republican Dean in over eight decades.

“Itโ€™s truly the honor of a lifetime to represent Alaskans. I love this institution dearly, and Iโ€™m grateful to have served with nearly 2,200 friends on both sides of the aisle in the House,” Young said in a video posted by his staff.

“His tenure in the United States Congress. 48 years, 256 days.That’s me. That puts me in the sixth position of every congressman who has ever served for longevity. When I get reelected this time, I’ll go to number four,” he said in the video, taped in his colorful DC office, surrounded by his Alaska memorabilia. “I thank you for that, Alaskans. Don Young thanks you. I’ve done the job for you because you’ve asked me to do it, and we’re going to do it again. I’m proud of that. It’s gonna be good times. God bless.”

Rayburn, of Texas, was a Democrats who served as the 43rdย Speaker and was also speaker three times. He still is the record-holder for having the longest tenure as Speaker, 17 years total. He served from 1913 until 1961, and an office building — the Rayburn Building — at the Capitol is named in his honor.

Watch the Don Young video at this link:

Kelly Tshibaka: Voters sent a message this month about government overreach, but Alaskans already get it

By KELLY TSHIBAKAย ย 

Earlier this month, voters across the country delivered a strong message that they are tired of government overreach and want a change in direction. In Virginia, New Jersey, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Buffalo, people showed support for parental involvement in schools and opposition to pandemic-related mandates. They also supported increased law enforcement and spoke clearly against government intrusion. 

Itโ€™s good that the rest of the nation is finally catching on. In Alaska, weโ€™ve been fed up with encroachment of government for a long time. 

President Joe Bidenโ€™s vaccine mandate is blatantly unconstitutional. Already halted by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which called it โ€œfatally flawedโ€ and โ€œstaggeringly overbroad,โ€ it threatens the jobs of workers if they decline to be vaccinated.  Biden bulldozed over millions of Americans’ rights and medical autonomy by compelling individual behavior under the guise of a workplace regulation. Whatโ€™s more, his mandate made no allowance for people who already recovered from COVID-19 and have natural immunity, People should make their own decisions about medical treatment, and independent Alaskans donโ€™t take kindly to having politicians push their way into the provider-patient relationship.  

Alaska had by far the highest violent crime rate of any state in 2020, and still there are leftists who want to defund and dismantle police departments. Incredibly, Biden installed Vanita Gupta in a top job at the Department of Justice, despite her Senate testimony a year earlier urging lawmakers to adhere to the Defund the Police movement. In Alaska, we know that people in our most vulnerable communities need public safety protection. 

Another great risk to the livelihoods of Alaskans are Bidenโ€™s radical environmental policies, which attack our resource industries. On his first day in office, Biden halted the oil and gas leasing approved under President Donald Trump. Biden then worsened the blow by suspending leases that had already been sold, with the Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, leading the charge. And even though he had promised he would defend the massive Willow energy project and its billions of dollars in investment and thousands of jobs, Biden allowed U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason to block it without filing an appeal. 

Biden reversed another Trump policy when he returned to the โ€œroadless ruleโ€ for the Tongass National Forest. This blocks our ability to attract tourists and produce timber, both of which mean jobs for Alaskans. It was Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack delivering the blow that time. 

And finally, the same federal judge as in the Willow case, Judge Gleason, stopped the King Cove Road, which would link Alaskans living in the Aleutians with life-saving emergency medical facilities. 

The people listed above have taken direct aim at Alaskaโ€™s sovereignty, safety, and prosperity. And all of them have something in common: They all bear the seal of approval from Sen. Lisa Murkowski. 

Murkowski paved the way for Bidenโ€™s presidency through her outspoken and unrelenting opposition to President Trump, even though Trump won Alaska twice by double digits and enacted policies that were great for us. 

Murkowski cast the deciding vote on the Senate floor to confirm Gupta to the Justice Department. 

Murkowski cast the deciding vote in committee to move Haalandโ€™s nomination for Interior Secretary to the floor of the Senate, despite expressing โ€œvery real misgivings” knowing it would hurt Alaskans.  

Murkowski voted to confirm Judge Gleason, calling her a โ€œsuperb judge” despite knowing her record of supporting environmentally radical positions from the bench, putting her in position to block the Willow project and the King Cove Road. 

Murkowski voted to confirm Vilsack as Agriculture Secretary, allowing him to block access to our own forest. 

And when she had a chance to cast votes that would actually help Alaska with liberty-minded judges, she voted against confirming Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and voted to filibuster Justice Amy Coney Barrett. 

We heard what voters said across the nation earlier this month–itโ€™s what Alaskans have been saying for a while. Government is supposed to work for us, not against us.  

The government’s role in our life is supposed to be like the two referees in a hockey game. They regulate the game, call the fouls, and make sure the plays are fair. But right now, we have 200 referees on the ice with sticks in their hands, messing with our puck!  

Next November, I will be asking Alaskans to send me to the U.S. Senate because we deserve a leader who will listen to the people, and who will help clear the rink so we can get back to playing the game! 

Kelly Tshibaka is the candidate for U.S. Senate in Alaska endorsed by the Alaska Republican Party and President Donald Trump. 

Oops, she did it again: Public official threatens lawsuit against MRAK

[Redacted] City Attorney Libby Bakalar, who demands Must Read Alaska not name the city for which she is counsel, has written a letter threatening Suzanne Downing, publisher of the Must Read Alaska news site.

Through her attorney, Juneau trial lawyer Mark Choate, Bakalar demands Downing must not write about her anymore, or else there will be lawsuit.

In October, she had posted a social media message (seen above) saying anyone harassing her would be hearing from her lawyer. Now, even writing about her social media political work is enough to trip that trigger.

Bakalar is suing Gov. Mike Dunleavy because she was let go after the Walker Administration was shown the door by voters in 2018. She was an attorney with the Department of Law and says she was wrongfully fired by Dunleavy. She doesn’t want Downing writing about that, either.

“Your ongoing mining and re-publication of Ms. Bakalar’s personal social media in tandem with repeated references to her position as the City Attorney of Bethel is clearly intended to provoke requests and actions to end that employment. You engaged in similar critiques of her while she was an Assistant Attorney General and continued those after her wrongful termination by the Dunleavy Administration. Your resumption of these efforts constitutes ‘tortious interference’ with an employment contract, for which you and your business may face significant liability
and damages,” says the letter from Choate.

Bakalar is evidently upset about a republication of her social media artwork in which she depicts male genitalia on a logo used by the governor for a podcast that features his commissioners talking about their departments. The social media post makes it appear as though she or someone drew the male genitalia on the logo as a joke:

“When considering claims of tortious interference with a contract, the Alaska Supreme Court recognizes a clear distinction between persons who interfere with the contracts of competitors and those who interfere with contracts in which they have a direct interest themselves. Even when there is a direct financial interest involved, โ€œthe essential question in determining if interference is justified is whether the personโ€™s conduct is motivated by a desire to protect his economic interest, or whether it is motivated by spite, malice, or some other improper objective.โ€ Burton v. Fountainhead Development, Inc., 393 P.3d 387 (Alaska 2017). My client is a hobby blogger and litigant against the Dunleavy administration, for which you are a widely-known and vocal supporter. You utilize your blog to attack what you perceive as its foes and write frequently about the โ€œDeep Stateโ€. You have attacked Ms. Bakalar in your blog for years. You have no business relationship with or financial interest in my client, her hobby blog, or her job. Your continued harassment of Ms. Bakalar and the goading of your supporters to harass and threaten herโ€”both at work and at homeโ€”is rooted exclusively in political disagreement, malice, and spite,” according to Bakalar/Choate.

Bakalar has been a political actor for many years on and off social media, commenting on any manner of issues and political figures in Alaska as well as former President Donald Trump. She and other liberal women traveled to Washington, D.C. to implore Sen. Lisa Murkowski to vote against the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, and Must Read Alaska has written about such exploits and others by the Juneau woman, who is a social media sensation, with over 9,000 followers on Twitter and who writes op-eds for the Anchorage Daily News. Her blog is titled One Hot Mess Alaska.

She has alleged in her lawsuit against Dunleavy that her free speech rights were being infringed by his Administration.

The entire letter threatening legal action follows:

South Carolina governor calls for investigation of porn in school libraries — same porn found in Anchorage schools

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South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster requested this week that S.C. Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman immediately begin a comprehensive investigation into the presence of obscene and pornographic materials in public schools.

McMasterย sent the request in a letter to Superintendent Spearmanย after he received examples of what many see as pornographic materials found in schools from concerned parents in Fort Mill.ย 

The material he is concerned about is the same porn that was removed from Anchorage School shelves by Superintendent of Schools Superintendent Deena Bishop, who found the book “Gender Queer: A Memoir” to be inappropriate for school libraries.

โ€œBy way of example, it is my understanding that concerned parents were recently required to petition the Fort Mill School District to remove a book from a schoolโ€™s physical or digital library, titledย Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe,โ€ย Governor McMaster wrote.ย โ€œIf school personnel had performed even a cursory review in this particular instance, it would have revealed that the book contains sexually explicit and pornographic depictions, which easily meet or exceed the statutory definition of obscenity.ย  Thus, I am concerned that further examination may identify additional instances in which inappropriate materials have been introduced into our Stateโ€™s public schools.โ€

McMaster also said,ย โ€œFor sexually explicit materials of this nature to have ever been introduced or allowed in South Carolinaโ€™s schools, it is obvious that there is or was either a lack of, or a complete breakdown in, any existing oversight processes or the absence of appropriate screening standards.ย  Therefore, I respectfully request that the Department of Education promptly investigate this matter, on a statewide basis, and identify whether any systemic policy or procedural deficiencies exist at the state or local levels, or both.โ€

He called on the Department of Education or the State Board of Education to promulgate statewide standards and directives to prevent pornography from entering the stateโ€™s public schools and to identify any materials that may already be in school libraries.

Noting that the dissemination of the obscene materials likely violates state law, the governor referred the matter to Chief of the State Law Enforcement Division, Mark Keel, writing: โ€œI trust you agree that pornography and obscenity have no place in our Stateโ€™s public schools, much less in their libraries.ย Aside from being deeply disturbing and manifestly inappropriate, it is likely illegal under South Carolina law.ย Accordingly, by copy of this letter, I am simultaneously notifying the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division of this matter for further evaluation.โ€

In Anchorage, the superintendent said the book was sent to the district in a bulk order of books, without the district specifically requesting it. Around the nation, other school districts have also found the book among their stacks, leading parents to lobby to have the book removed.

To date, there has not been a robust defense of it by LGBTQ activists, but a superintendent in Illinois has ruled the book should remain, saying โ€œthe book โ€˜Gender Queerโ€™ meets the critieria for inclusion in our library.”

Caution: The following story from Nov. 13 Must Read Alaska has graphic depictions from the book, not appropriate for everyone:

Suzanne Downing: In Rittenhouse verdict, the real justice is now Kyle’s case against the media, politicians, celebrities, and the president himself

By SUZANNE DOWNING / MUST READ AMERICA

For those who followed the Kyle Rittenhouse trial closely, there is no doubt in their minds that the young man who shot rioters in Kenosha, Wisc. was not guilty of murder. 

Most of America, however, did not watch the proceedings, or not closely, at least. They got their information spoon-fed to them by the mainstream media. They expected a conviction.

Mature Americans can agree that a 17-year-old should not have run to the fight, as riots tore across America during the 2020 election year โ€“- riots fomented by anti-Trump forces like Black Lives Matter and Antifa cells. Rittenhouse had the courage of youth, but not the wisdom of years to know how badly things could go for him during that โ€œfiery but peacefulโ€ riot.

But, as many of the actual trial watchers have observed, the prosecution had no legitimate case. So they lied, withheld evidence, and even doctored video provided to the defense. 

In the end, the jury was able to see through it all.

Rittenhouse now deserves his own justice. President Joe Biden, then a candidate, called him a โ€œwhite supremacistโ€ in 2020. Celebrity journalists and politicians on Twitter condemned the young man before the trial.

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressleyโ€™s message in 2020 was by parroted by thousands of Twitter trolls and other racist partisans who are on the record with their premature verdict.

She wrote: โ€œA 17 year old white supremacist domestic terrorist drove across state lines, armed with an AR 15. He shot and killed 2 people who had assembled to affirm the value, dignity, and worth of Black lives,โ€ she wrote on July 26, 2020. There are hundreds of declarations just like hers from the famous and the famous-for-being-famous.

As jury deliberations had dragged into a third day, some observers thought a guilty plea was all but inevitable. There appeared to be no โ€œslam dunkโ€ in the making. 

Rittenhouseโ€™s defense attorney, considered one of the best criminal defense lawyers in Wisconsin, told media he had never had a jury take longer than 18 hours. The jury had deliberated for nearly 24 hours, and then Friday morning the verdict came: Not guilty on all counts.

For this writer, that appears to be the correct set of verdicts. There is plenty of reasonable doubt that recommends acquittal; Rittenhouse was under attack by grown men, one with a gun, and he fired in self defense.

To review, Rittenhouse, who was a 17-year-old youth from a nearby suburb, volunteered to be on foot patrol in downtown Kenosha in August of 2020. Itโ€™s where his family lives and race riots were burning it down. Rittenhouse had on him an AR-15-style rifle. He was trained on the weapon and he kept it properly pointed down, as evidenced in all the video available, until he had to save his own life when, he was attacked. His actions were clearly self defense, but in that moment, he killed two men and woundied another. The charges were reckless homicide and attempted homicide. Other charges relating to possession the weapon were already dropped.

Rittenhouseโ€™s case became fodder for the leftist media, which declared him guilty early on, painted him in the worst possible light, called him a white supremacist, and colluded to misinform and shape public opinion against the youth.

The media saw Rittenhouse as the easiest of targets, fitting their narrative of a Trump supporter.

The lawsuits and settlements could certainly help restore some order to Rittenhouseโ€™s interrupted life. Patriotic Americans would willingly contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to help the young man win justice against those who prematurely condemned him as a criminal.

A parallel to this case of media malpractice is the story of Nick Sandmann, a high school student who was defamed by The Washington Post and CNN, and many other news outlets.

โ€œThe parallels between me and Kyle Rittenhouse are impossible not to draw,โ€ Sandmann wrote this week. โ€œKyle was 17-years-old when he became a household name after that terrible tragedy in Kenosha. I was 16-years-old when I was catapulted into the national conversation by video of an encounter with a Native American activist on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.โ€

Sandmann eventually settled his $250 million lawsuit agains the Post and CNN. But the damage to his reputation, as the damage to Rittenhouseโ€™s reputation, has been done by the pig sty that American journalism has become.

Lawsuit or no lawsuit, there will be no real reckoning for the media. As with its corrupt colluding with the Hillary Clinton Campaign in 2016 to take down Donald Trump with the Steele Dossier, the wholesale slaughter of a boy in Wisconsin is merely collateral damage for news outlets that are organ grinders for the Democratic Party.

But at the very least, Rittenhouse deserves his justice against who railroaded him in the court of law and in the court of public opinion.

Suzanne Downing is publisher of Must Read Alaska and Must Read America.

Recall petition approved, group will go after Jamie Allard

Two women from Anchorage have won approval of their petition to recall Eagle River Assemblywoman Jamie Allard.

The petition application is almost exactly like the ones that failed to get rid of Assembly members Meg Zaletel and Felix Rivera. It says Allard violated former Mayor Ethan Berkowitz’ emergency order that banned gatherings of more than 15 people back in the summer of 2020.

โ€œEven though the merits of recall are laughable because I was the only one who objected โ€” on the record โ€” to the issue they are attempting to recall me for, I believe in our democracy and the vote of the people,โ€ Allard said in a statement. โ€œThe extreme partisan backers of this couldnโ€™t even find someone in our district to sponsor it. The people from Eagle River will see through the political gamesmanship.โ€

The petition applicant signers, most of whom are not from Eagle River, said that Allard continued to participate in gatherings of more than 15 people after โ€œbeing specifically informed of the violation.โ€

In fact, she was the one who informed the Assembly that it was in violation of the mayor’s order, but the Assembly leadership persisted in continuing the meeting outside the law.

The recall proponents now must collect 2,530 signatures, all of which must be verified voters of Assembly District 2, in order for the question to be put to a ballot for the voters of the district.

Read the petition at the following link:

Sen. Sullivan calls White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki ‘Baghdad Bob’

In a press briefing on Thursday with other Republican senators, Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan said the White House is out of touch with inflation’s impact on Americans, and he called out Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who during a recent daily press conference joked that the supply chain crisis is the “tragedy of the treadmill that’s delayed.”

“This administration is so out of touch,” Sullivan said. “You had the White Houseย chief of staffย (Ron Klain) recently tweet-out saying high energy prices, inflation is a โ€˜high-class problem.โ€™ What the heck does that mean?” Sullivan said.

“The White House press secretary on these issues is starting to look like โ€˜Baghdad Bobโ€™,” Sullivan continued, comparing her to a colorful spokesman who was the media and foreign affairs minister under Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and who was spokesman for the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party and Saddam’s government. During the the Ba’athist regime, would regularly read aloud a list of executed Iraqis on state television

Referring to labor shortages combined with shortages of basic essentials, Sullivan said, “These issues are exploding all around the White House, and they just ignore them.”

Talking about energy prices, Sullivan said, “This is purposeful policy. The White House isn’t a bunch of dummies. They are purposely driving up prices on Americans for energy. How do we know that? A. Just listen to the rhetoric of Gina McCarthy and others – the tzars, where they say limited supply will increase prices and that will quote accelerate the transition to renewables. Go ask them, this is purposeful.

“The second reason we know it’s purposeful is just look at the policies. When you limit the production of American energy, when you go and kill energy infrastructure like pipelines, when you go and strong arm the financial institutions of this country, which they’re doing, saying don’t invest in American energy,” he said. “And, oh by the way don’t invest in American energy in the Arctic, which is called Alaska…” Sullivan said.

From A to Z: Doctors who signed letter demanding medical board sanctions on pioneering physicians revealed

ALSO, LETTERS FROM THOSE SUPPORTING EARLY TREATMENT OF COVID

After an Early Treatment Symposium took place in October in Anchorage, some in the mainstream medical community got up in arms and started a drive to force the Alaska Medical Board to investigate local doctors who T took part in the event, which was attended by about 1,200 Alaskans and which was broadcast on the internet to thousands more.

The following letter was sent by 141 doctors as written testimony to the Alaska Medical Board regarding early treatment of Covid-19 by Alaska doctors, which these physicians are calling “incompetent, unprofessional and improperly trained.”

In a scan of the voter files for the first 50 doctors on the list of signers, fully 50 percent of them are registered Democrats, and one-third of all of the 142 doctors were politically active enough that they signed the Recall Dunleavy Petition in 2019. Only two of the 50 were registered Republicans, and the rest were Undeclareds and Nonpartisans.

The Alaska Medical Board meets on Friday and will likely discuss the matter, since this is the board that handles complaints about the profession.

Must Read Alaska obtained the doctors’ letter through a public records.

Below the doctors’ letter is a file with multiple comments submitted by the public, mostly in support of the pioneering doctors who are using drugs like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of early Covid.


From: Denali Psychiatry

Date: November 16, 2021
To: Alaska State Medical Board

Subject: Witten Testimony for Medical Board Meeting

We are writing out of concern that medical misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine and treatment is being spread in Alaska, including by physicians.

The US Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, has declared that health misinformation is “a serious threat to public health”, and urged โ€œall Americans to help slow the spread of health misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond…it can cause confusion, sow mistrust, harm people’s health and undermine public health efforts. Limiting the spread of health misinformation is a moral and civic imperative that will require a whole-of-society effortโ€.

Alaska’s chief medical officer, Dr. Anne Zink, recently wrote about a patient โ€œ…he had chosen not to be vaccinated because he feared side effects and misunderstood the risk of COVID; when he became ill, he had spent hundreds of dollars for online remedies. My patient…was suffering not just because of the virus, but also because of the deadly combination of misinformation and disinformation in a broken health-care system, in a country of broken trustโ€.

The American Boards of Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics recently issued a statement to the Federation of State Medical Boards (which supports state licensing boards), saying that providing misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine contradicts physiciansโ€™ ethical and professional responsibilities, and therefore may subject a physician to disciplinary actions. They further state โ€œexpertise matters, and board-certified physicians have demonstrated that they have stayed current in their field. Spreading misinformation or falsehoods to the public during a time of a public health emergency goes against everything our boards and our community of board certified physicians stand for. The evidence that we have safe, effective and widely available vaccines against COVID-19 is overwhelming. We are particularly concerned about physicians who use their authority to denigrate vaccination at a time when vaccines continue to demonstrate excellent effectiveness against severe illness, hospitalization and death…providing misinformation about a lethal disease is unethical, unprofessional and dangerous”.

Such misinformation seems to have been spread in October 2021 at the โ€œAlaska Early Treatment Medical Summit”, presented by a group called the Alaska Covid Alliance. Parts of the conference that were โ€œlive streamedโ€, as well as some of the information reprinted in the media, misrepresented the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines and the recommended courses of treatment. Some local physicians were involved presenting this event (which has been documented in the local media). This is of grave concern.

We hope that you will investigate this seriously, as the spread of misinformation has been identified as a threat to public health by the US Surgeon General, the Alaska Chief Medical Officer, and three medical specialty boards. According to the AMA Journal of Ethics, โ€œThe overriding mission of medical boards is to serve the public by protecting it from incompetent, unprofessional and improperly trained physiciansโ€. We believe that this conduct, as defined by the Federation of State Medical Boards, meets the standard for investigation.

Sincerely,

Merijeanne Moore DO, DLFAPA

Helen Adams MD

Ankita Ambasht MD

Saket Ambasht MD

Jessica Arasmith MD

April Arseneau MD

Beth Baker MD

Sharolyn Baldwin MD

Timothy Bateman MD

Will Bemben MD

Matthew Berenson MD

Anna Berkeziewicz DO

Tyler Berliner MD

Randal Bladel MD

Derek Bowers MD

Desiree Brooks MD

Leslie Bryant MD

Robert Bundtzen MD

Jaime Butler MD

Andrea Caballero MD

David Cadogan MD

Leslie Cayco-Travis DO

Anson Cheng MD

Monique Child MD

Megan Clancy MD

Steven Compton MD

Nicholas Constantino DO

Margaret Constantino DO

Jeannette Cook MD

William M Cox MD

Gwenyth Crabtree MD

Bradley Cruz MD

Irisa Devine MD

Susie Dietz MD

Jennifer Dow MD

Andrew Elsberg MD

Summer Engler Jager MD

Shannon Faber MD

Shannon Faber MD

Robert Finch MD

Lucy Fisher MD

Steven Floerchinger MD

Gregory Gerboth MD

Zach Gibson DO

Casey Gokey MD

Leslie Gonsette MD

Madeleine Grant MD

Katie Grey MD

Dwight Gurley MD

Douglas Haghighi MD

Hannah Hawkins MD

Susan Hayner MD

Meghanne Hendricks MD

Michelle Hensel MD

Susan Heverling MD

Sean Higgins MD

Eiluned Hogenson MD

Jessie Janowski MD

Brian Jeppesen MD

Laura Jones MD

Michael Jones MD

Emily Junck MD

Javid Kamali MD

Chris Kelly MD

Ronald Kim MD

Mary Klix MD

Thomas Kramer MD

Nancy Kraught DO

John Lapkass MD

Anthony Larson MD

Jeanette Legenza MD

Tanya Leinicke MD

Corrine Leistikow MD

Megan LeMasters Soule MD

Joseph Lestina MD

Lisa Lindquist MD

Jana Linfield MD

David Ling DO

Stephen Livingston MD

Lucinda MacNeal MD

Jordan MacNeil MD

Julie MacNeil MD

Stacey Maddox DO

Karen Mailer MD

Elizabeth Martinez DO

Terin Martinjak MD

Kathy McCue MD

Allison McLellan MD

Jennifer McNichol MD

Sean Meadows MD

Sar Medoff MD

Rhene Merkouris MD

Danny Mindlin MD

Triin Minton MD

Jacob Miss MD

Laurie Montano MD

Peter Montesano MD

Shari Morgan MD, FACP

Michael Mraz MD

Sarah Murphy MD

Rick Navitksy MD,

Mary Nettlow MD

Brian Newman MD

Robin Ninefeldt MD

Cristin O’Grady MD

James O’Malley MD

Jozef Ottowicz MD

Tanya Pasternack MD

David Penn MD,

Timothy Peterson MD

Elise Pletnikoff MD

Ronald Pollock DO

John Quimby DO

Max Rabinowitz MD

Syed Rahman MD

Robert Reeg MD

Megan Ritter MD

Julian Rojas MD

Michelle Rothoff MD

Erin Royal MD

Katy Ryan DO

Rachel Samuelson MD

David Scordino MD

Dorothy Shearn MD

Benjamin Shelton MD

Tim Silbaugh MD

Jess Sotelo MD,

Charles Steiner MD

Mary Stewart MD,

Tina Tomsen MD (retired)

Ailinh Tran MD

Allison van Haastert MD

Maude Vance MD

Nilam Vaughan DO

Natalie Wallace MD

Andrea Wang MD

Kendal Webb MD

Scott Wellman MD

Benjamin Westley MD

Pamela Williams DO

Gina Wilson-Ramirez MD

Theodore Wright MD

Chris Zerger MD

Other public testimony received by the Alaska Medical Board:

Mark Mellman: Are independents really so independent? The voter files say they think and vote like partisans

By MARK MELLMAN / MELLMAN GROUP

People repeat it regularly. โ€œPartisanship is in decline. Independents are the booming segment.โ€

Political partisanship entails at least two distinctly different facets, and keeping them separate is important. On the one hand, partisanship is a psychological concept. How do you feel about the parties?

Iโ€™ve written before about the fact that most people who respond to poll questions tapping their psychological predispositions by telling us they are independents are, in fact, closet partisans.

In 31 states (plus D.C. and the Virgin Islands), partisanship is also a legal concept. Itโ€™s about which party you checked on the voter registration form.

The always thoughtful and inquisitive founding editor and CEO of the Nevada Independent, Jon Ralston, chronicled the growing number of legal independents in Nevada, a phenomenon evident in other states as well.

Just over a decade ago, when I had the privilege of working with an amazing team to re-elect Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, one of the very finest people Iโ€™ve ever known, just 22 percent of Nevadans were registered as something other than Democrats or Republicans. Much further back, in 1972, it was fewer than 8 percent.

Today, itโ€™s 36 percent.

Ralston asked my firm to examine Nevadaโ€™s nonpartisan registrants, though the basic conclusions probably apply elsewhere.

Because our poll used a sample generated from the stateโ€™s voter file, we know whether each individual signed up as a Democrat, or as a Republican, or as neither.

We asked those registered as nonpartisans a question we typically pose about psychological partisanship.

Roughly equal thirds of registered nonpartisans identified with each party grouping. Thirty-five percent identified as Democrats, 33 percent as Republicans and 32 percent were, psychologically speaking, true independents.

Of course, they are more independent than the state as a whole, but on first blush, two-thirds of voters who are legally registered as non-partisans turn out to identify themselves psychologically with one major party or the other.

In our hyper-polarized society, most people, and most Nevadans, like their party but disdain the opposition. They donโ€™t just feel positively about their own party, they actively dislike the other one.

Seventy-three percent of Nevadaโ€™s partisan registrants fall into that category, while a very similar 68 percent of registered nonpartisans follow suitโ€”harboring a favorable view of one party and an unfavorable view of the other. Itโ€™s further evidence most are closet partisans.

Another 14 percent of nonpartisan registrants dislike both parties, while an intrepid 6 percent actually persist in expressing favorable attitudes toward both Democrats and Republicans. 

At the end of the day though, we are ultimately interested less in how voters feel about parties, or how they sign forms, than about how they vote.

We gave Nevadans two ways to tell us.

First, we asked in a generic way how often they voted for Democratic and for Republican candidates.

Over 70 percent of registered nonpartisans โ€œoftenโ€ or โ€œalmost alwaysโ€ vote for one partyโ€™s candidates or the otherโ€™s, further diminishing the core of the truly independent.

When we gave respondents actual candidate match-ups to vote in โ€” for governor and Senate โ€” the partisanship of declared nonpartisans was similarly conspicuous.

In three match-ups, 85 percent of registered independents never crossed party lines. Over two-thirds (67 percent) voted for either the Democrat or the Republican 3 of 3 times.

The difference between the 67 percent and the 85 percent were folks who may have voted for Republican or Democratic candidates 2 of 3 times, but professed indecision on a third vote, thus not crossing party lines.

While the ranks of the registered non-partisans have swelled, the number of true independents has not. Indeed, it probably shrank.

Somewhere between 66 and 85 percent of those registered as independents are actually closet partisans โ€” our cluster analysis pegs the figure at 72 percent in Nevada.

No matter how they sign the form, the vast majority of Americans, including those who register as independents, think and vote like partisans. 

Mellman is president of The Mellman Group and has helped elect 30 U.S. senators, 12 governors and dozens of House members. Mellman served as pollster to Senate Democratic leaders for over 20 years, as president of the American Association of Political Consultants, and is president of Democratic Majority for Israel. This column first appeared in The Hill.