PUBLISHER'S NOTEBOOK: The ‘bittersweet’ moment for Butch and Cindy Moore

They say that to understand a man you must walk a mile in his shoes. But there are shoes I would never want to walk in because to walk in these shoes is to understand pain beyond imagination.

Butch and Cindy Moore are living through the nightmare of losing their daughter Bree to a preventable death. Butch and Cindy could have easily piled up the dirt around their foxhole and privately grieved their daughter’s untimely death, but they didn’t. They turned to advocacy and began their crusade for education of our students to prevent teen dating violence. Their stated goal is to have no other parents endure what they have endured.

They took action with a website and printed materials and they had begun speaking at schools telling Bree’s story. Then began the campaign to name part of the Alaska Safe Children’s Act, “Bree’s Law.” The teen dating violence portion that the Moore’s lobbied to add. It sounded pretty simple and clear cut when Representative Harriet Drummond introduced House Bill 214.

Butch Moore is a hard-charger. He is relentless and with this he felt he had a just cause. In February of this year the House unanimously passed HB214 and it was sent to the Senate. The bill then landed in the Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by Sen. John Coghill where, for all intents and purposes, it was buried. Coghill was not shy about his reasons stating that he didn’t want the bill to become a personal enterprise for the Moore’s. The Frontiersman conducted an interview with Senator Coghill. I participated in the interview and it became evident that there is a personal history between Butch Moore and the Senator. The Senator referred to Moore as a ‘bully’ several times during the interview. It was clear HB214 was not leaving Coghill’s committee anytime soon. It was also clear that Butch Moore wasn’t going to let the grass grow under his feet while the bill in his mind was being held hostage.

The Moores’ crusade grew more intense and, as any good lobbyist would, Butch dogged every legislature and news media outlet that would pick up the phone or read his emails. He gathered letters of support from across the State including one from the Mat-Su Borough Assembly. And when all hope seemed to be lost for HB214, three lawmakers — Sen. Mia Costello, Sen. Mike Shower and Sen. Bill Wielechowski made a moved that is rarely used by applying Rule 48. This forced a committee hearing which eventually moved the bill out of committee. Senate President Pete Kelly then sent the bill to the Senate Finance committee under the leadership of Sen. Anna Mackinnon. After this move, Butch Moore was convinced that there was a conspiracy by the Senate Majority to kill the bill. If the gloves weren’t off by the time the bill reached the Senate Finance committee, they were off now. Butch burned up the cell towers and emails chains. He wasn’t going to stand still for a move that on the surface made no sense. Why the finance committee? There is no fiscal note attached to the bill. It’s simply a renaming.

When Senator Wielechowski tried to move the bill on the Senate floor from the Finance committee, Senator Mackinnon opposed. She explained that on the surface it seems like a simple bill but it’s more complicated than one thinks when they get the bill in their possession. Moore took exception to the various reasons that Mackinnon deemed it complicated, including copyright issues, fiscal notes and stakeholders.

“Your statements about fiscal notes, copyrights and stakeholders who are concerned about the language of the bill seem unfounded. I have offered to meet with you to address any concerns you have, but I have had no response. I thought it was important to show you who is supporting the passing of the bill ‘in its current form’ and if there is a stakeholder that opposes HB214 naming this life saving education as Bree’s Law, please bring them forward.” Moore wrote in an email to Mackinnon. MacKinnon’s response through an email from Senate Finance Committee Aide Juli Lucky was thorough in its explanation of why the bill wasn’t ready to pass out of committee. Also in the email was a comment about letters of support that Moore wanted attached to the bill. “The fact is that many people who are in favor of the program, in concept, feel that they cannot speak out publicly or freely about concerns they have about implementation. There are many reasons that were told to me, including sympathy for your situation — those of us that are parents cannot imagine the pain that you and your family have suffered; respect for what you are doing; support of the goals you want to accomplish; and concern for being labeled a “supporter of domestic violence” if they publicly voice any criticism at all.” Lucky wrote.

It all came to a head on Thursday when the Senate Financial committee unanimously voted to pass HB214 with changes to the original bill including changing the name to Bree Moore Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Program. Stating that when a student in crisis Googles ‘Bree’s Law’ it takes them to one website, but if they Google the new name it takes them to many resources. We’re talking about kids who use slang and abbreviation for just about everything. Putting in the entire new name in a search engine is a bit far-fetched, but this portion of the Act will probably always be informally known as Bree’s Law. The other changes to the bill including attaching a fiscal note of over $250,000 to give the Department of Education and Development the opportunity to develop curriculum not only across school grade levels but diverse cultural levels. Having the State take ownership was a good move. After the bill passed out of committee, MacKinnon couldn’t help herself in explaining why it took three weeks to get through her committee and why it was referred to her committee in the first place. She cited working for the whole of the society as one reason, and the perceived intimidation and harassment by those who support the bill as another. She didn’t call out the Moores by name but it’s not difficult to make the connection with the ‘bullying’ she was talking about.

Is Butch Moore tough to deal with when he has a cause he feels strongly about? At times he is. Is he long winded? Sure. Is it hard to get a word in edgewise when he is on a rant? Absolutely. But is he intimidating or a bully? I don’t think so.

Perhaps what Mackinnon should take into consideration when expressing her frustration about the tactics of those who were in favor of the original bill is that the bill was held hostage by Senator Coghill, who made it known he would do everything he could to keep the bill from proceeding. Perhaps the Moores’ frustration and unceasing phone calls and emails were the result of feeling that the move to send the bill to finance was just another episode to bury it.

Mackinnon called the moment of the bill passing out of finance as ‘bittersweet’ for her because of the lack of respect for the process. She said she wouldn’t comment on what took place with the bill in other committees. For her it was a clean slate and an opportunity to move the bill forward. For the Moores, it left them feeling hopeless that their new mission in life to honor their daughter by ensuring that young people have the tools to prevent this from happening again would never come to fruition. The only people who can truly own the right to call the passing of HB214 as bittersweet are the Moores. HB214 passed the Senate and House and now awaits the Governor’s signature. Meanwhile, the Moores still grieve the loss of their beautiful daughter, Bree.