Wasilla’s Rep. Eastman is ousted from House Republican caucus

Rep. David Eastman, R-Wasilla, has been ousted from the House Republican Minority. The decision was made after two-thirds of the House Republicans agreed in an informal poll, Minority Leader Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, said Friday morning in a briefing for reporters in Juneau.

Eastman has been a thorn in the side of his legislative colleagues for some time. “He has been asked to leave. He is officially no longer a caucus member,” Tilton said.

Rep. Laddie Shaw, R-Anch., was with Tilton at the briefing. “It had become clear to us,” that action was needed, “particularly after our newer members finally caught up to his personality. We realized we had to do this to be productive,” to move legislation through, Shaw said.

In a statement issued Friday, Tilton said, “While we respect his right to represent his constituents as he deems necessary, his actions have threatened the cohesion of the caucus and become a significant distraction from our ability to prosecute a public policy agenda beneficial to all Alaskans. We wish him well, but it became clear it was time to part ways. To be clear, in removing Rep. Eastman from our caucus, we have not asked for any sanctions against him.”

Tilton said it wasn’t any single event that caused the action, but the accumulation of things.

Eastman is well-known for a practice of making numerous amendments during debates on the House floor on bills, and earlier this spring two of his Republican colleagues lost patience and moved to table several of Eastman’s amendments on the floor, in effect killing them, because it was delaying consideration of the budget.

The two were Reps. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake and Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski