Picking a Fight

The Stroller buttoned his camel hair trench coat against a mid-morning breeze drifting off the cold winter waters of the Gastinau Channel and carefully navigated the three blocks of black ice covered sidewalks between the Capitol building and the Baranof Hotel’s Capitol Cafe.

After almost three weeks of relentless crystal clear blue skies this day’s high grey clouds are a soothing return to normalcy. Too much of a good thing can dull one’s senses to the Channel’s breathtaking beauty and, besides, locals are hoping to save some our limited yearly allotment of sunshine for the warmer days of summer.

The Stroller claimed an empty chair at the cafe’s big round table, ordered a cup of the hotel’s perfectly brewed coffee and joined the assembled Sages conversation.

Main subject of the day: Who is Governor Sarah going to appoint to fill the state Senate seat vacated by Juneau’s veteran legislator Kim Elton?

Last Monday, after more than a month of rumors and speculation, Juneau’s State Senator resigned his position to accept a job with President Obama’s administration in Washington, D.C. . Kim will become the senior advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Interior on all things Alaskan.

That means Governor Sarah must, by April 1, appoint someone to replace Senator Elton.

Here’s the question: Will she pick someone who represents Juneau’s Senate District’s politics or hers?

Senate District B’s politics are probably the most liberal in the state, the San Francisco of Alaska, not the Governor’s crowd.

Unlike the Governor’s recent appointment of a Supreme Court Justice where the state constitution required her to appoint a person from a list of names submitted by the Alaska Judicial Council, when filling a vacated legislative seat, the Governor can appoint anyone she wants so long as they are a resident of the affected district and registered in the same party as the person who vacated the seat.

The person appointed must then be accepted by the members of that party’s caucus in the chamber vacated .   In other words the nine Democrats left in the State Senate have the final say as to who gets the appointment. They can accept or reject the Governor’s choice.

And there’s the rub.

The Stroller and Sages agree the Governor will probably ignore the name put forward by Juneau’s Democratic Party, Representative Beth Kerttula, and try to appoint someone who plays to her state and new national constituency, the Rush Limbaugh’s of the world.

Beth Kerttula has represented downtown Juneau, House District 3, for over a decade.  She is wildly popular among her constituents and is an accurate mirror of their politics.  She deserves the appointment and the District wants her to get it.  So do the Senate Democrats.

But Beth’s politics don’t play well with Governor Sarah’s constituency and besides, the Governor is angry with Beth for criticisms during the presidential campaign.

Beth is an unabashed liberal, an avid environmentalist and pro choice.

Those aren’t the Governor’s politics.  For that matter they really don’t reflect the politics of the rest of the state, but it is a voice that, like it or not, reflects the community’s politics and so deserves representation.

If the Governor has learned anything since her August ascension to national prominence, she has learned that now, everything she does and says, will be scrutinized by the national media.

If she appoints Beth to the vacant Senate seat, the national conservative pundits will eat her alive, and her presidential ambitions will fade into the ether.

The Sages believe the Governor will attempt to speak to her base audience  by appointing a Democrat who, at the very least, supports the Governor’s parental consent bill.

Abortion politics will quietly rule this appointment.

The Governor wants this fight on this issue.  Win or lose seating her choice, she wins with her base support crowd.

If the Governor appoints someone other than Beth, the Senate Democrats will stick with Beth, initially.  The Stroller and the Sages believe they will reject at least the first appointment and probably the second.  They will insist on Beth but the Sages believe the Governor won’t budge.

Then we get to see who blinks first.

It will probably be the Senate Democrats.

One scenario discussed goes like this:  After rejecting a name or two submitted by the Governor, a ‘compromise ‘ candidate will be worked out and for the good of Juneau, and to restore Juneau’s representation in the Senate, Beth will withdraw herself from consideration and the compromise name will be seated.  There might even be a handshake agreement that whoever is appointed won’t seek election, leaving an easier path to election to the Senate for Rep. Kerttula.

Regardless of how this plays out one thing is certain, this is politics at its most personal and there will be some bruised egos and hurt feelings, wounds that won’t heal for years to come.

Beth Kerttula is a class act.  A kind and decent person who deserves to be treated better than she is about to be.

The Governor is playing a different game on a different stage.

Stock up on lemons Beth.

Stroller