Gov. Mike Dunleavy is in reelection campaign mode, which is sort of like pie á la mode — political apple pie with a big scoop of partisanship on top.
The governor earlier this month issued an administrative order that he said was necessary to protect Alaskans from federal overreach. His examples of heinous federal overreach included vaccination requirements, improved IRS enforcement against tax cheats, and efforts to protect school board members from hostile crowds.
In a fit of concern over personal liberties, the governor also ordered state agencies to take actions to “guard the constitutional rights of individual Alaskans.”
Nothing plays better in Alaska politics than vilifying the federal government. And nothing works better for a Republican candidate in Alaska politics than serving up a heaping helping of attacks on a Democratic president who sees public policies different than many Alaskans.
No matter, all is not fair in political campaigns. Predictable, but not fair.
What is unfair is the governor’s righteous stand to protect constitutional rights of Alaskans when he is the same governor who violated the rights of two psychiatric care doctors at the state mental health hospital the day he took office in 2018. The doctors, who have absolutely nothing to do with political campaigns or setting state policy, were fired after they refused to put in writing their loyalty to the Dunleavy agenda.
Of course, they sued, and they won. A federal judge last month ruled that Dunleavy and his chief of staff had required from the doctors “an ostensible commitment of political support, or at least deference, in return for continued employment, the effect of which was to either interfere with or chill employees’ exercise of protected First Amendment rights. Those that did not want to signal such a commitment … were fired.”
The judge ruled “the nature of the demand was political,” and violated the doctors’ constitutional rights and freedom of speech.
The governor is now using more state money to appeal the ruling. In particular, the governor doesn’t like the part of the judge’s ruling that says the constitutional violation was so blatant that Dunleavy could be held personally liable for damages.
The judge ruled that the governor violated “clearly established . . . constitutional rights.”
All of which begs the question: If the governor is so concerned about Alaskans’ constitutional rights that he needed to issue an administrative order bad-mouthing the federal government, and that Alaska has joined with other Republican-led states on three lawsuits against federal vaccination requirements, why wasn’t he equally protective of the rights of the doctors and other state employees who had to give up their freedom of speech to keep their jobs?
Maybe the governor should try a slice of humble pie.
—Wrangell Sentinel
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