Once again, the House of Representatives has voted 20-20, and once again there is still no Speaker, or Speaker Pro Tem. The House remains unorganized and cannot conduct business.
Rep. Bart LeBon of Fairbanks, whose name has been offered by Republicans twice for Speaker Pro Tem, nominated a man who is arguably the most popular legislator in Juneau, and one who is considered to have no natural enemies — Rep. Laddie Shaw.
But the Democrats, undeclareds, and Rep. Louise Stutes, a Kodiak Republican, were having none of it and voted Shaw down along caucus lines.
And so ended another quick House floor session on Monday. Former Speaker Bryce Edgmon is holding onto the Speaker’s office and still has a huge staff to support him, although he is no longer speaker. He is making a play for the role for the third time, but is not popular among Republicans and some Democrats. Democrats have not nominated him for Speaker or Speaker Pro Tem.
The House will convene in a floor session on Tuesday, to try once again to organize. Meanwhile, the Senate held a technical floor session today, gaveling and gaveling out, and business is being conducted in committees.
If the Republicans played the game like the Democrats do with Rinos, they would have funded Neal Foster’s primary opponent in Nome.
They would have sent a recruiting party to the Alaska Peninsula and found someone to run against King Edgmon.
There are lots of good people in Western Alaska. They need backing from the urban areas.
The Republicans need a new chairman that can see outside of the box.
There are people in western Alaska that vote straight democrat without any information on policies. I know so called “republicans” that support Edgmon, the problem is being uninformed or just too lazy to care. Edgmon is bad for western Alaska and the rest of the state but you can’t fix stupid, I tried!
Everyday they cannot conduct business I vote no per diem. That’ll fix the problem straight away.
The House members should be barred from receiving their salaries and per diem until they have an organization that can do their jobs.
If the Democrats want to control the House they should elect a majority! The vote of turncoats elected as republicans should not count for their minority side they join. That would give the Republicans 20 to 19 majority or 20 to 17 if Sutes and the independents were not counted.
The majority of voters elected a Republican majority to run the House and anything else is denying the will of the majority of the voters. I say again if the Democrats want to be the majority they should elect their representatives and not blackmail the majority to block what the majority of voters want to represent them. Or allocate a half vote to each minority member instead of a full vote to show they can’t steal or sabotage the will of the majority.
I’m glad someone notices that Bryce should not be in charge. In my opinion, he represents all that is bad with Alaska, and I think he doesn’t give a damn about Alaskan natives. He just uses them for a vote like murkowski does.
Laddie is THE BEST in Juneau. But the Democrats hate the warriors that defended them and protected their Free Speech. What a bunch of cowards!
Shaw is a decent person but there is zero evidence to support contention expressed by Tom At The Bureau that “Democrats hate the warriors…”. If you have such evidence Mr. Bureau, bring it.
Anything that can be used probatively, that provides more reasonable likelihood than not, in support of something to be true. The Clinton’s, John Kerry, Jane Fonda, etc, etc…. the ones that make the probative meter move. ie…..probably your people, Joey.
You call that word salad bringing it Tom? Heheh!
This is why Alaska can’t have nice things.
We deserve this crap. We voted them in when we knew better. But voted D anyway.
Disagree Laddie has no natural enemies. He’s a man of honor and principal. The left -and most Republicans hate that above all else.
Laddie Shaw is by far the best pick for the position !!
If the house is not doing the peoples business in Juneau they should send them all home and they should be getting paid for doing nothing.
If the house is not doing the peoples business in Juneau they should send them all home and they should not be getting paid for doing nothing.
I love to see the House Republicans stay strong like a Herd of Elephants and talk a few Democrats into supporting Laddie instead of it being the other way around. Frankly the Democrats owe it. After all, the last two years Republicans had to put up working with Rep. Edgmon. Hahaha
“The House remains unorganized and cannot conduct business.”
You say this like it’s a bad thing, gridlock in Juneau is the next best thing to abolition
Gridlock is a way of stopping the liberal socialists machine. Some good comes from it.
I agree at least the legislature isn’t wasting money right now.
Louise Stutes is not a Republican and the REAL Republicans should tell her to get off her duff and vote with the party to break this friggin log jam, get on with the People’s business and get back to work. This business is way too old, sitting around, crying about power-sharing this and so on … Come on, Man!
Laddie Shaw is a solid individual. Besides his esteemed military background, he canvased my neighborhood on three different occasions while running for election. He convinced me that he deserved my vote and to be in Juneau. I made the right choice. In reading this article, it’s not surprising that STILL nothing gets done down there.
Let’s hope the republicans have the will to hold the line! Republicans should be the majority but unfortunately one slipped through the crack. Let’s all email our republican representative to show them support. Unless I’m wrong and most would want them to cave.
Just as in Washington Democrats in Congress so obsessed with impeaching President Trump that Americans waited 8 months for a stimulus relief. Now the. liberal left democrats are holding Alaskas hostage because they demand a liberal Speaker Pro Tem. How about stopping this childish powerhouse game. Grow up do your job that you were elected to do.
TIme for term limits
It sounds like Louise Stutes is another faux Republican that fooled the voters. These people need to be seriously vetted before they earn any votes. Add to that, ‘undeclared’ is just another name for left leaning with intent to deceive. The blame here lies with the voters.
Laddie Shaw for U.S. Senate! 2022! Send Lisa packing.
The Governor should be allowed to appoint a temporary Speaker.
Given Governor Dunleavy’s apparent inability to vet folks with minimal care, why would have him with the power to appoint the Speaker?
With Bryce Edgmon’s record for ripping off the PFD and zero tolerance for cutting the bloated budget, the Governor could draw a name out of a hat and not do any worse than Edgmon.
Perhaps. If you want to get a call from your boss saying to stop posting on MRAK about Bryce or it could cause trouble for your wife, then by all means keep posting.
My money says the republicans blink first. They are weak.
Stutes needs to wake up or go. Kodiak needs to wake up. If they wanted a dem they would have elected one.
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