HB 88 was always about Sharia law

Though we admired former Rep. Carl Gatto’s service to his state and community, we were vocal critics of his House Bill 88 “prohibiting a court, arbitrator, mediator, administrative agency or enforcement authority from applying a law, rule or provision of an agreement that violates an individual’s right under the Constitution of the state of Alaska or the United States Constitution.”

Supporters of HB 88 included the Mat-Su Borough Assembly, which passed a resolution last January in support of the bill, saying they worried that Sharia law was gaining purchase in the United States, and the assembly wanted to make it clear that this set of moral codes and religious laws, also known as Islamic law, does not supersede state or federal law in the U.S.

HB 88 is not the first such piece of legislation at the state level to take aim at the perceived encroachment by Islamic or Sharia law. Though Gatto — and the bill’s other drafters — were careful not to use the words “Sharia” or “Islamic” anywhere in the bill, all signs pointed to that as its intent.

Recently, Alaskans learned how deeply influenced HB 88 may have been by a local group led by David Heckert, Alaska director for an organization called Stop Islamization of America.

Our reluctance to call to task the now-deceased Rep. Gatto is outweighed by the responsibility to clarify what happened behind the scenes in the wake of our Jan. 7, 2012, editorial “Proposed bill rooted in irrational fear.”

We have praised Gatto in the past for his accessibility and ability to take a punch and keep smiling. We’ve told readers he had a habit of stopping by the newsroom at the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman any time he was driving past on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway and had a few minutes to spare.

Although we will likely never know what Gatto’s role was in allowing Heckert and his group — which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as an anti-Muslim hate group — to use his state office in the Wasilla Legislative Information Office, it seems unlikely his chief of staff, Karen Sawyer, could have or would have done so without his knowledge and approval.

The state Legislative Ethics Committee called for Sawyer’s resignation Dec. 14 after its investigation found that Sawyer loaned Heckert her laptop computer and Internet card, set up a phone for Heckert under her family plan and loaned him a key to the Wasilla Legislative Information Office while she was out of the state.

Under Rep. Gatto’s watch, Heckert went so far as to hold what was purportedly a meeting on Aug. 3, 2011, to talk about legislation, but which was essentially an SIOA fundraiser at the legislative office.

But back to last January and our editorial calling Gatto to task for introducing HB 88: A few days after that editorial printed, Gatto stopped by unannounced. He talked of many things, but eventually he turned to the topic that weighed heaviest on his mind.

He chastised us for drawing lines in the public’s mind linking HB 88 to attempts in other states to ban Islamic law. Nothing in his bill was about Sharia law, he said. Nothing.

Sadly, in light of the recently released findings, it would appear otherwise.