Recall Dunleavy, the group trying to remove the governor with a special recall election, has filed an appeal of the Attorney General’s decision that their complaint lacks merit.
The appeal, signed by former Gov. Bill Walker Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth in Superior Court in Anchorage, comes a day after the Division of Elections rejected the group’s initial application for signature-gathering petitions. The appeal was expected, and was also signed by former Gov. Walker’s former chief of staff Scott Kendall.
Lindemuth says the director of the Division of Elections is denying the group their constitutional right to a recall petition. She is arguing that when the director of the Division of Elections makes a determination that “the application is in the required form, the director must assume that all allegations made are true and valid.
According to this argument, if the recall petition says that the governor hates green jello, the director of the Division of Elections must assume that the allegation is true for the purposes of her decision to allow or prohibit the matter from proceeding.
The arguments made in the recall petition accuse the governor on these grounds:
- That he violated statute by not appointing a judge within 45 days of receiving nominations from the Alaska Judicial Council.
- That he violated statute by using state funds to make statements on partisan issues. This relates to social media and postcards from the governor’s office in support of a full Permanent Fund dividend.
- That he violated separation of power by using a line-item veto on the Alaska Court System. The Recall Dunleavy group is arguing he does not have the power of the veto pen when it comes to the court system.
- He was incompetent when he mistakenly vetoed $18 million more than he had intended to veto, although the group admits that the error was corrected.
The Recall Dunleavy attorneys — Lindemuth, Kendall, Sam Gottstein, Jeffrey Feldman, Susan Orlansky — are asking for an injunction so that the Recall Dunleavy group can start collecting signatures for the next phase of the recall process.
They are also asking for their attorney fees to be covered by the State of Alaska.
[Read: Attorney General says recall petition lacks valid reasons.]
