JUNEAU (AP) - The campaign aimed at recalling Gov. Mike Dunleavy is closing down, with a gubernatorial election looming next year and the group short of the signatures needed to force a recall vote.
The Recall Dunleavy group said that as of Aug. 21 it had gathered 62,373 signatures, shy of the 71,252 needed.
Collecting signatures during the pandemic has been difficult, said Joelle Hall, a member of the group’s steering committee.
Hall called the decision to halt the recall effort strategic and wise. The primary election for the governor’s race is just 12 months away.
Hall, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO and a veteran of state politics, said Dunleavy “was saved by a worldwide pandemic. If there hadn’t been one, he would already be recalled. We’ll never know that, but based on the zeal. ... I have never in my life seen anything like what was happening at the beginning of this.”
The recall effort took off in 2019, fueled by public outcry over vetoes and budget cuts proposed by the Republican governor. While recall supporters quickly gathered signatures for an initial phase, their application was rejected, prompting a legal fight the group eventually won — but which burned up time.
Dunleavy later moderated or relented on some of the 2019 proposals and budget cuts. Then the pandemic made it almost impossible to gather recall petition signatures at public events in 2020.
The governor recently filed a letter of intent to seek reelection. Others who have announced plans to run for governor include former Gov. Bill Walker, an independent whom Dunleavy succeeded in 2018; and former state Rep. Les Gara, a Democrat.
It was unclear how much money either side of the recall effort had raised because little public reporting was required during the signature-gathering phase.
Reader Comments(0)