Alaska
Alaskans on Tuesday approved a controversial voter initiative requiring parents to be notified before their teen age 17 and younger receives an abortion. Ballot Measure 2 was one of the most fiercely contested items in the primary election, with total spending by both sides combined nearing $1 million. Tuesday’s vote marks the first time Alaska voters confronted the abortion issue at the polls.
Alaska voters will decide Tuesday whether a parent or guardian must be notified if a pregnant girl under 18 seeks an abortion. A second ballot measure seeks to ban municipal governments and school districts from spending public money to lobby.
The group behind Ballot Measure 1, Clean Team Alaska, and one of its largest financial backers have been fined by the Alaska Public Offices Commission. Ballot Measure 1 is an initiative that would prohibit the use of public funds to lobby or campaign, and also prohibit holders of government contracts and family members from making political contributions. Clean Team Alaska closed its doors in June, after Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell changed the language of the ballot initiative.
In Alaska, a state that has had more than its share of political scandals, it’s no surprise that an initiative aimed at cleaning up government made it onto the ballot this year. What’s surprising is how many respected groups have lined up against it. Opponents of Proposition 1 include the AARP, the Alaska Municipal League and associations of police and firefighters. Both the state chamber of commerce and the AFL-CIO agree that the measure shouldn’t pass.
Supporters of an initiative to ban the use of public money for lobbying or campaigning acknowledge that Alaska regulators were requiring more financial disclosure before supporters withdrew. The main group in support of the initiative did not want to disclose its contributors. Last week, Clean Team Alaska suspended its campaign to get voters to approve the proposed law on the August statewide ballot. The group accused state executives of trying to sink the measure by inappropriately tinkering with the summary language that voters would see.
According to the Juneau Empire on Sunday, Gov. Sean Parnell has signed off on House Bill 36, which sets new financial disclosure requirements for ballot initiative campaigns and gives new duties concerning initiatives to the lieutenant governor’s office.
The Anchorage School Board voted Monday to oppose the anti-corruption initiative expected on the ballot this August. School Board President John Steiner says the initiative would make it harder for the district to explain its concerns and needs to lawmakers because it would bar, in part, government from paying lobbying groups.
The state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that an initiative requiring parental notification for minors seeking an abortion will be on the August primary ballot. Planned Parenthood had argued that more than 36,000 voters who signed the initiative petition failed to receive key information on sign-up sheets, for example that physicians could be charged and imprisoned if they failed to properly inform a parent.
A ballot measure facing Alaska voters in August claims to be opposed to corruption, but Alaska Municipal League’s Kathie Wasserman says it is actually an attack on citizen participation in their government. Wasserman told the Juneau Chamber of Commerce Thursday that a ballot measure deemed the “anti-corruption” initiative isn’t what it appears. “This initiative sounds on the outside like something we’d all back,” she said.
According to the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Supreme Court Justice Morgan Christen has decided to remove herself from a position to decide on the lawsuit to invalidate a ballot initiative that would require doctors to notify parents if their minor child seeks an abortion. Years ago, Christen had served on the board of Planned Parenthood, the group that brought the suit, and The Alaska Family Council, an anti-abortion group, sent out e-mail alerts telling its members to contact judicial officials and object to an alleged conflict of interest. A “barrage” of messages ensued.