Town Hall with Mat-Su legislative contingent sparks lively debate

PALMER —The mid session town hall between Valley legislators and their constituents focused on five major issues. Speakers commented on abortion, senior care, firearms, crime, and the state of the state’s budget. All of the Valley’s Senators were there, including Mike Shower, who had not been sworn in at the time of the meeting but has since taken the oath of office. Representatives Eastman, Johnson, Sullivan-Leonard, Rauscher, Johnson, and Tilton were in attendance.

Mike Shower spoke publicly for the first time as Senator-Elect.

“Most of you know my background, I’m a conservative guy and I live in a conservative district so many of you have heard my views and I’m generically aligned with all the things that we discussed: no taxes, trying to save the PFD, crime is a hot issue. So you can expect me to continue to work on those issues the best that I can based on the position that I’m in,” said Shower. “I have a lot to learn, I have a lot of questions I know are going to be asked. I have answers I need to get. All I ask for is patience and prayers are welcome as well as I get through the process. I look forward to meeting you and learning from you.”

Though it was not the first issue brought up, one of the most passionately fought for issue was the protection of Second Amendment rights and the introduction of firearms in schools as a means of protection.

“Every school has a different school security system in place. We need to change that. We need to make sure the principals in schools have tools they need to be successful, to keep our kids safe in the classroom,” said Rep. Colleen Sullivan-Leonard.

Members of the audience had plenty to say about that.

“I carry a firearm with me everywhere I go because I’m Alaskan. That’s what we do,” said Greg Pugh.

“I have a question for the panel. In light of the recent events, what is our delegation in Juneau doing or proposing to help keep the students and faculty and staff of our schools safe. Have there been any ideas ideas put forward?” questioned Stephanie Wright.

“We’re trying to be careful and cognizant of time and and that’s why we’re not responding much because we did that before and there’s wasn’t enough time for you all, but, I will say the personal deadline for filing legislation is passed which is unfortunate. But I believe … it’s time for teachers and principals and those in the building to be able to concealed carry,” said Senator Shelley Hughes.

Crime was also a hot topic and the conversation found its way into discussing vacant trooper positions.

“SB91 it’s hurting us, hurting our families, hurting our homes, we are spending a lot of money protecting our homes and we’ve never had to do that before,” said Representative George Rauscher.

“We have a huge amount of violence and anger in this society. We as legislators can’t do anything about that, we can pass all the laws in the world but people who are not law abiding citizens... We can’t legislate humanity, we can’t legislate ethics but we can try to do the best with the tools we have,” added Rep. DeLena Johnson.

“You hear all sorts of crazy excuses for why we’ve removed justice from our criminal justice system, and that’s what we’ve done. It’s going to be a battle to take it back and put justice back in that system,” Rep. David Eastman contributed.

Not among the legislative delegation, but a political hopeful, Edie Grunwald knows full well the importance of a well functioning criminal justice system.

“This crime thing, SB91, please keep working!” said Edie Grunwald, candidate for Lieutenant Governor. Grunwald’s son David was murdered in November of 2016. “Our law enforcement needs the backing of laws to do their job. The end.”

Butch Moore, father of Bree Moore, murdered by an abusive boyfriend, originated the Alaska Safe Children’s Act, called ‘Bree’s Law’, and he spoke to the importance of awareness of dating violence.

“Alaska is the #1 state in the nation for domestic violence and sexual assault. Over 50% of all women in Alaska have either been physically or sexually assaulted. February is teen dating violence awareness month. We were not aware of the numbers. The teen dating violence numbers in Alaska reported by the CDC dropped 50% between 2015 and 2017 in sexual teen dating violence, and dropped 30% in physical teen dating violence so what we are doing is working.... I hope we cut those numbers in half in another two years,” he said.

Vicki Wallner, who was referred to the governor to fill Dunleavy’s seat after nominee Tom Braund backed out, also spoke to the crime issue.

“Crime has to be #1. If we don’t feel safe in our own homes, what else matters? That’s what I’m hearing from people every single day. We have to put that on the front burner so people feel like they have backup instead of feeling like they’re on their own,” said Wallner, who has begun multiple anti-crime social media sites in the area.

Various ideas were proposed for the consolidation of the budget. Governor Walker was not a popular name, though any mention of a hypothetical Governor Dunleavy brought raucous applause.

“We shouldn’t increase our budget when we’re in a deficit,” said Rep. Cathy Tilton.

“Something that needs to happen is we need to spend some money up front on an objective independent large scale audit of every state department and every agency,” added Hughes.

From the audience, Palmer resident Beth Fread observed the following: “I keep hearing this governor that we need to diversify our revenue by taxing Alaskans. I am not impressed. What would impress me is if we totally revamped the permitting process of every single division and department,” she said.

Health care discussion ranged far and wide, but centered around HB 366, which is sponsored by Johnson and concerns senior care.

“We have the largest group of seniors and the fastest growing group of seniors right here in this area. They deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. I haven’t met anybody that’s got great expectations. They want to live at home, they want to continue to be an active part of their community. Anything we can do to make that a little bit easier, I think we’re called to do that. These folks, many of them helped build our state,” said former Palmer City Council member Linda Combs.

Ninety-year-old Verna Ewar was appreciative of the effort.

“Everyone in this room will be seniors one day. As you grow older in life you are getting closer to when you will be needing a caregiver either in a nursing home or at home. Infermed seniors are one of our most vulnerable groups of people,” Ewar said.

Rick Smalls was the first to give public comment, and chose to discuss abortion. Smalls had a large poster of an aborted fetus and wore a shirt that said “Ignore Roe V. Wade.”

“Martin Luther King, Jr. said that any injustice must be exposed. Every day in Alaska, five babies are being murdered. As legislators your primary responsibility is the protection of human life in this state,” said Rick Smalls.

Janet Johnson went a step further.

“A total abortion ban would be ideal in a perfect world, but I know it’s not going to happen right now. Whatever we can do on that front to totally stop that, if it has to be slowed, it can be slowed,” she said.