Legislature sues redistricting board

MAT-SU -- The Alaska Legislature agreed recently to toss its hat in the ring with others filing lawsuits against the Alaska Redistricting Board.

In an Anchorage meeting of the Alaska Legislative Council, Rep. Scott Ogan, R-Palmer, moved to direct the chairman of the council to seek out legal counsel and file a motion to intervene in the matter.

Ogan said the council's move is largely in response to recent actions of Gov. Tony Knowles and the attorney general's office, which recently jumped into the melee.

"The reason the [Council] weighed in is because the governor did," Ogan said Friday. "He put the power of the attorney general's office on the side of the redistricting board. I don't think we would have entered into the fray if the governor hadn't."

Ogan's motion came about on the deadline for filing motions related to the case.

The legislative council's motion to intervene must be approved by Superior Court Judge Mark Rindner in order to allow the council to argue its case. If approved, the motion could give the council the same standing as any other group filing against the board's decision.

Several lawsuits have been filed this summer over the board's June decision to adopt a plan dividing Alaska into 40 House districts.

Such a plan is adopted every 10 years, using figures from the most recent U.S. Census. The plan's intent is to ensure equal representation of all Alaskans by accounting for population shifts in the state.

But many found fault with this plan because it puts seemingly dissimilar areas of the state into the same House districts, such as the combination of Valdez with the Anchorage hillside area. Some have also accused the board of making decisions without full disclosure to the public.

Some Alaska Republicans are upset the plan would pit 20 Republicans against each other in the 2002 election.

Ogan's motion carries with it a not-insignificant fiscal note. To file the motion may cost up to $30,000 and costs would be higher if the council's motion is accepted.

The vote by the council to file was not unanimous, but passed with the two Democratic members of the council voting their dissent. Minority members of the council disagreed with the action, stating, Ogan said, that it was a waste of money. Senate President Rick Halford and House Speaker Brian Porter are already named in one lawsuit against the board.

Ogan said the fact that the two were named in a suit did not mean the interests of the Legislature were being represented. He maintained Halford and Porter's naming in the suit was simply an act that allowed the Republican Party to weigh in on the issue. "The Legislature hadn't formally weighed in at all," he said.

Ogan added that his motion was spurred by previous inaction on the matter by the Mat-Su Borough Assembly, an inaction he said has been mentioned by those against the Legislature's involvement in the matter. "It's being noted by the opposition."