By SUZANNE DOWNING
The Alaska Republican Party State Central Committee voted Saturday to endorse Reps. Julie Coulombe and Jeremy Bynum, even though both Republican lawmakers voted last session to override the Republican governor’s vetoes.
The move is being read inside the Capitol as a major shift in party discipline, and one with immediate consequences.
Historically, Alaska Republicans have stood with their highest elected official of the party. Just as Donald Trump is regarded as the national standard-bearer, Mike Dunleavy is the de facto head of the Republican Party at the state level. Endorsing lawmakers who crossed the governor’s vetoes signals that such override votes now carry little to no electoral penalty within the party.
That signal is already shaping the Legislature’s next move.
House leaders are talking to leaders in the Senate about convening a joint session on Tuesday at 2 pm to attempt overrides of two more vetoed bills – SB 54 and SB 113—after tallying votes and concluding they can prevail.
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SB 54 is a measure sponsored by Rep. Matt Claman, a Democrat, that elevates interior designers to parity with architects for certain regulatory purposes.
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SB 113, sponsored by Sen. Bill Wielechowski, a Democrat, would expand taxation related to internet sales.
The governor vetoed both bills. Until now, overriding a veto carried the risk of party backlash, especially in primaries. Saturday’s endorsement vote appears to have removed that deterrent.
Lawmakers involved in the count say the endorsement decision effectively “freed” Republicans to vote against the governor without fear of losing party backing. With that calculus changed, Democrats believe they can assemble the two-thirds needed in joint session, and intend to take advantage of it.
The broader implication is a recalibration of power between the executive branch and the Legislature. If veto overrides no longer trigger consequences from the party apparatus, the governor’s leverage weakens considerably.
Whether this marks a one-off decision by party leaders or a durable new posture remains to be seen. The Legislature gavels in on Tuesday for the second part of the 34th legislative session.
2 thoughts on “Alaska GOP endorsement vote signals green light for overrides as Legislature eyes joint session”
OK,the district chairs for 1 and 11 brought to the body from their districts a request to endorse Bynum and Columbe. The SCC body voted greater than 50% in favor of the endorsement.
As to the veto over-ride. I looked up the vote from Bynum and Columbe on SB 52 and SB 113. On SB 54, the vote from the House was 30-10 in favor, both of these reps as well as several other Republicans voted yes. As to SB 113 26-14, Bynum voted yes, Columbe voted No. From the Senate SB 54 passed 18-2, Cronk, Kaufman and Yundt from the minority voted yes, and SB 113 passed 16-4, Cronk, and Yundt from the minority voted yes.
Now are these two the key as to an over-ride? To over-ride takes 40 votes combined House and Senate. So looking at the past votes. SB 54 passed by 48 votes. SB 113 passed by 42. Even if the past votes stay the same, these will be veto over-ridden. Just looking at the numbers, even if Bynum and Columbe voted no, it still gets vetoed by 46 and on SB 113 if Bynum votes no, 41.
Again, looking at the House votes, we could sustain the veto on SB 54 since several House Republicans voted yes. Those yes votes by Republicans were (besides Bynum and Columbe) Moore, Nelson, Prax, Ruffridge, Schrage, Stapp, Tomaszewski and Underwood. If all voted No on the veto over-ride, we could sustain the veto. SB 113 those House Republicans that voted yes, Costello, Moore, Ruffridge, Schrage, Stapp. So if those voted No, along with Bynum, on the veto over-ride, we could sustain the veto.
Bottom line is, this has really zero to do with the endorsement of Bynum or Columbe.
What is going on, in my opinion is people outside the districts, specifically Anchorage, are pissed off that the party can’t hold more sway on the Reps and Senators. Bottom line is, like in the term limit issue, it is up to the voters of those districts on who is voted in and/or re-elected. The other aspect is nobody is running against people whom are considered RINO’s. Bynum beat out Ortez, per that district chair, he is the only one they have and he is better than the Ortez ever was. Same with Columbe has anyone put their name in the hat? No. Now, to do so now, what with Rank Choice may well be a fatal error, especially if in the General we have two Republicans against a socialist and that these districts are “purple”. Now, when we get rid of RCV, then by all means we need to have people run in the Republican Primary and if these two districts can field better conservatives, then great!
In closing. Am I frustrated about the make-up of the House caucus? Yes I am. I will admit I have some “trust issues” with several, but until we can get back to a Republican Primary system and get quality conservative candidates to run against certain incumbents, we have to work with the hand we have been given.
This signals a sea-change for the Alaska Republican party. Make no mistake this is a concerted effort by some to change the makeup of the party to be more liberal. It is great that District 1 finally has a more conservative republican in that seat, but I am not sure that there is much of a difference in the votes and positions of the conservative democrat that was in there and the liberal republican that is in there now. Same with the Anchorage seat. This move clearly drove the party to the left and the evidence is there in this article and the move for an immediate veto override vote by the leadership of the legislature. The guy from Ketchican had a proxy and he had to talk way to much to advocate for himself, almost like he knew his endorsement was going to be an issue. If the republican party wanted to destroy true conservativism in the state they could not have accomplished it with more vigor than they did Saturday. Well done folks.