PUBLISHED SCHEDULE OF PROTEST EVENTS THIS WEEK IS EXTENSIVE
Various opposition meetings are being held around the state, with talking points and with the names and phone numbers of legislators to target.
Some have even gone so far as to knock on the front doors of homes where Republican legislators live, and ask them to vote to override the vetoes of Gov. Michael Dunleavy.
Because of safety concerns, Must Read Alaska is not naming the two legislators who have had these coordinated groups with video cameras doing “personal visits” at their homes, filming their encounters with lawmakers.
At least one legislator has received a threat that he reported to Must Read Alaska.
But the legislators who have been targeted say they are not bowing to what is a clearly an intimidation tactic.
[Read: The week ahead, deafening protests]
In a city where many feel unsafe to answer their front doors already, Anchorage legislators who are on the record in support of Gov. Dunleavy are having second thoughts about answering the knocks this weekend, after word started spreading about the unwelcome invasion of their private lives.
A major reason that the presiding officers Senate President Cathy Giessel and Speaker Bryce Edgmon gave for not going to Wasilla for Special Session is because it’s not safe for them. For minority Republicans, it’s not Wasilla that feels dangerous; it’s radical leftists in Anchorage who think it’s ok to intimidate lawmakers in their homes.
At Sand Lake Elementary School on Sunday, a small group of concerned citizens gathered to get the talking points and contact information for the legislators that the Leftists want them to target.
The weeklong schedule of the “Week of Action” to try to turn a few votes into override votes was passed out to participants at the meeting:
At least one of the protests is planned for Wasilla on Monday, where 22 or more members of the Legislature are gathering because that is where the governor called the Special Session.
Another group, including a high school marching band and the mayor of Wasilla, will be there to welcome the legislators, who have no plans to try to replicate an actual session; they are just showing up where they think it is legal to do so. They’re planning a press conference for about 1:15 pm.
There’s also a veto-override rally planned for noon on Monday at the Capitol in Juneau.
The special session starts at 1 pm. Many of the lawmakers who travel to Juneau are expected to vote to override the governor’s vetoes, and they’ll have the support of state workers and state retirees who will rally on their lunch hour.
The protesters are already targeting oil companies in their messaging, saying that the companies are paying too little in taxes, and that they should be forking over the money.
The flyer above says oil companies only pay 15 cents per “gallon” of oil. That’s an amazing statement since no one uses “gallons” as a metric for oil. The Alaska gas tax is 15 cents a gallon. Alaska oil tax, including severance tax, corporate income tax, property tax, and royalties, is much higher but is calculated in barrels on a sliding scale, depending on the price of oil.
