Recall effort advances

[Blue_In_AK]

Some of you might remember last winter when my state House representative, who had just been elected to her fourth term as a Democrat from this district, one of the most reliably liberal districts in the state, decided to switch parties to Republican days before the session began, before she was even sworn in. She had been so confident that she would win that she took a vacation to Europe instead of campaigning in the fall of 2012. After her switch, she went on to vote almost exclusively with the Republican bloc on such onerous issues as a bill that would make it illegal for any US Marshal to enforce new gun laws here (nullification, essentially), a new "stand your ground" law, a bill relaxing cruise ship discharge standards, and most awful of all, SB 21, which gave Big Oil a $2 billion a year tax break, assuring that the state, which has been flush, will be operating from a deficit position. This will give our asshole Koch-sucker governor the excuse he was looking for to cut social programs, education, etc. (He has also refused Medicaid expansion, but that's another story.)

Anyway, we didn't take too kindly to her move and began the recall process. After months of canvassing, waving signs and telephone calls, this Wednesday we turned in over 1,000 signatures calling for her recall. Jeanne Devon at The Mudflats has been following this closely and did a nice write-up for us (with some pictures by me in addition to hers).

http://www.themudflats.net/archives/40879

Anchorage State House Representative Lindsey Holmes got one step closer to political oblivion yesterday. She’s the Democrat, elected to serve West Anchorage, one of the most liberal districts in the state, who got to Juneau and went “>>POOF!<< Guess what? I’m a Republican now!”

Those who knocked doors, donated money, put up yard signs, and gave their vote to Ms. Holmes were (needless to say) not amused.

A group of the unamused decided to do something about it, and fire the nouveau Republican from her job. And that takes a lot of work. Signature gathering of District 19 residents began last winter at events and roadside locations in West Anchorage. Sign wavers congregated at the busy corner of Minnesota and Northern Lights Blvd every Sunday gathering signatures one by one, and honks by the hundreds.

<snip>

But for right now, the waiting game begins. While no specific time frame was cited by the administration, the group expects to have an answer about the validity of signatures within 60 days. If all goes well, signature booklets will be distributed to the group, and they’re back at it again.

[UtahLib]

1. Here's wishing you every success

...in ridding yourselves of the sneaky little traitor.

[Jim Lane]

2. Why did she do this?

If it's a reliably liberal district, there doesn't seem to be any political percentage in it for her. Even without a recall, she couldn't expect re-election.

Did she effectively barter her for vote (for as much of her term as she can complete) in exchange for an explicit or implicit promise of a cushy corporate job after her political career ends? Did she have a sudden genuine conversion to Tea Party principles?

[Blue_In_AK]

3. We're not exactly sure what motivated her,

but the rumor is that the R's promised her a seat on the Finance Committee that she really wanted. Also, we learned through checking her travel expense reports that ConocoPhillips paid for her to come up to Deadhorse (i.e., Prudhoe Bay) in December, after the election but before the session started. About 10 days after that, she changed her affiliation (and her subsequent vote for the oil tax giveaway, which she voted against when it came up in the previous session). We tried to get someone to investigate whether promises were made, but we got no takers.

She's a rich girl, likes to hobnob with the "right" people. She attended several seminars at the Aspen Institute and other think tanks. I think she probably has been less concerned with representing the interests of her constituents and more inclined to puff herself up. We also hear that she's quite the party girl and had been spending quite a bit of time hanging out with the other congressional Republican party girls in Juneau. Our political stories here are always rife with tales of drunkenness and debauchery. Juneau is pretty isolated, not reachable by car, so apparently pretty much anything goes when the legislature is in session. They think we won't notice.

Allegedly she is running again in 2014, but she will have to go through the Republican primary, and she will be challenged, probably by the guy she defeated in 2012 when she was a democrat. We already have two good Democratic challengers, so her political career will most likely be over even if our recall effort is unsuccessful. Mainly, we just wanted to keep attention focused on her duplicity. I know of people who have contributed hundreds of dollars to her campaigns since 2006 and they are not pleased.

[Jim Lane]

6. Thanks for the informative response!

I predict she'll be in a cushy corporate job after leaving the Legislature.

[scarletwoman]

4. Wow! That's an unbelievably sleazy move on your rep's part!

Wishing you all the best of luck on the recall. Such a betrayal must not go unanswered!

[scarletwoman]

5. Kick for my friend, Blue_In_AK. Let's show support for our hard-fighting Alaska sisters & brothers!

Alaska's a tough place to be a liberal.

[leftstreet]

7. DURec

That's disgusting

And kudos for the recall effort

[Ranchemp.]

8. Great article, but just one minor correction,

the U.S. Marshals Service doesn't enforce firearm laws, that's the job of the BATFE.

[Blue_In_AK]

9. Thank you.

The whole concept of our Alaska State troopers trying to arrest ANY federal officer for enforcing gun laws is so ridiculous, it caused me to mix up my agencies. I mean, really??

[Ranchemp.]

10. I don't see any local LEA arresting Federal Agents for enforcing federal fiream laws,

the only thing they can do is refuse to provide resources, such as manpower and facilities to the feds., but local LEA better not physically interfere with the feds. doing their job.

[Blue_In_AK]

11. That's what we said

when the law was passed. Just the gun nuts in the legislature trying to prove how rough and tough they are. After they passed this, the lady leggies (including Lindsey) showed up for photo ops wearing brand new matching camouflage scarves. It was truly disgusting.