February 26, 2014 Voice Your Opinions! Letters to the editor make a difference. You can send a 175-word letter to the Anchorage Daily News by e-mail (letters@adn.com); or by fax or mail (call them at 257-4308). Send letters to the Anchorage Press via e-mail editor@anchoragepress.com or by mail to 540 E. Fifth Ave, Anchorage, 99501. Feel free to call us if you need factual information to help you write a letter. Contact the Governor. The Governor can be reached at 269-7450; sean.parnell@alaska.gov; or www.alaska.gov. Contact us. My office can be reached at: 716 W. 4th Ave, Anchorage, AK 99501; by phone: 269-0106; visit my website at http://gara.akdemocrats.org; or email: Rep.Les.Gara@akleg.gov

Dear Friends and Neighbors:

Today I filed legislation no party in power would like.  It would give you back your vote by eliminating the power the party in charge has to gerrymander districts in their favor.  This hasn’t been a monopoly of Republicans, though they gerrymandered Alaska’s lines most recently in 2012.  Parties have used their majority status to “gerrymander” districts in their favor, to try to pre-determine election results, since Governor Elbridge Gerry did it in 1812. 

And yesterday was Walley World in the Capitol.  If there’s one thing we should agree with whether we are pro-choice or not, is that we should reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions.  Yesterday a seemingly non-controversial measure to extend family planning, which had passed the Senate last year, was stripped out of an abortion bill in the House Finance Committee.  States can offer a women’s health program to provide contraception and family planning services with 90% federal funding for these services.  Providing women with contraception if they want it reduces unintended pregnancies and abortions. 

OK, that’s your short summary.  A few more paragraphs follow if you’d like more information.  Oh – and here’s a video taken by students from last week’s rally to stop Governor Parnell’s proposed 4th year in a row of school cuts.  We have filed legislation, House Bill 331, to reverse prior teacher and educator cuts, stop next year’s cuts, and give students the opportunity to achieve what they deserve.

Legislating More Abortions?!?!

We lost the family planning vote yesterday, and the provision that had received bi-partisan Senate support has been taken out.  I and Democratic representative David Guttenberg will try to add it back.

The underlying bill seeks to deny abortions to working poor women who cannot afford one, by removing medical coverage except where the mother’s physical health is in serious jeopardy from pregnancy.  It leaves the right to choose fully intact for those who can afford to terminate a pregnancy.  Here is a link to today’s article on that measure.

One Person, NO Vote: It’s Time for Non-Partisan Redistricting

“The decennial redistricting process too often has made a mockery of our nation’s ideal of truly representative democracy….” League of Women Voters Education Fund, Shining a Light (Jan. 2012 p. 1)

“….[V]oters don’t choose lawmakers – lawmakers routinely choose voters.  Drawn by partisan legislatures, most districts now are truly one party fiefdoms.” Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School, www.brennancenter.org/issues/redistricting.

Today I and Rep. Scott Kawasaki (D-Fbx) filed legislation to end Alaska’s process of partisan, one-party-controlled redistricting.  If passed, the bill would let Alaska join nine other states with either non-partisan or bi-partisan redistricting according to a report by the Division of Legislative Research.

Letting the party in control draw election districts is putting wolves in charge of the chicken coop.  Alaskans have the right to have their votes counted, not predetermined by legislative majorities and those in power that draw districts in favor of their own political party.

In 2012 a board of four Republicans and just one Democrat redrew Alaska’s districts, under Alaska’s partisan districting process, to end a bi-partisan Senate majority.  The new district lines took ten Democratic senators, who had held their seats since 2008, and reduced that number to six. The 2012 election changed a 10-10 split to a 14-6 Republican Senate majority.  Nationally, both parties have done this when they’ve been in power. 

Intentionally tilting election lines in favor of one party puts party politics ahead of the public’s right to free elections. 

Under current Alaska law the Governor appoints two members, the House one and the Senate two.  The Supreme Court picks the fifth person.  For the 2012 board, Governor Parnell picked two Republicans, and the House and Senate added another Republican each, creating the 4-1 GOP majority.

Our resolution creates a non-partisan redistricting process.  Each of the two largest parties picks an even number of members, and those members choose a tiebreaking member.  If they cannot agree then the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is charged with picking a person the Justice certifies as non-partisan. 

I’ve heard a grade school argument that election lines should be party controlled because both parties have used their power to draw lines in their favor.  True or not, you don’t perpetuate injustice just because someone else did it in the past. 

Next week budget amendments are due as the House Republican majority present’s its tentative budget.  You’ll hear more about that.

And you’ll hear whether the 2012 study commissioned by the Governor, to shore up the Office of Children’s Services to prevent child abuse and neglect, and promote success over failure for Alaska’s 1,800 foster youth, stays on the shelf, gathering dust, or gets implemented to the benefit of our most neglected, fragile youth.

More to come.  As always, let us know if you have any questions.

My Best,