JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A group that includes a coal company chairman and a framer of Alaska’s constitution is launching an effort aimed at recalling Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
The move comes eight months into Dunleavy’s term and weeks after his budget vetoes of more than $400 million — affecting the university system, environmental, health and social service and other programs — prompted public outrage. Lawmakers, unable to muster sufficient votes to override the vetoes amid a dispute over the current special session’s proper meeting location, this week passed legislation that would restore many of the cuts, including adding back $110 million of the $130 million veto involving the university.
Dunleavy retains authority to cut any spending with which he doesn’t agree.
“People from all regions of Alaska have had enough,” Joseph Usibelli and Peggy Shumaker, his wife, said in an opinion piece published by Alaska newspapers.
The so-called Recall Dunleavy group lists Usibelli, Arliss Sturgulewski, who is a former Republican lawmaker, and Vic Fischer, the last-living surviving delegate to the Alaska Constitutional Convention, as co-chairs. Scott Kendall, who was a chief of staff to Dunleavy’s predecessor, independent Bill Walker, said he provided legal counsel and other advice to the group.
Usibelli is chairman of the board of Usibelli Coal Mine and a prominent supporter of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He told the Anchorage Daily News he voted for Dunleavy but doesn’t support the vetoes and the effect they would have on state services.
Efforts to reach Usibelli weren’t immediately successful Wednesday.
Grounds for recall in Alaska, according to the state elections office, are lack of fitness, incompetence, neglect of duties or corruption.
The recall group cites Dunleavy’s failure to appoint a judge within a statutory time frame, misuse of state funds for online ads and mailers to promote Dunleavy’s agenda. It also cites use of Dunleavy’s veto authority to cut money for the courts following an abortion decision with which he didn’t agree.
Dunleavy spokesman Matt Shuckerow said the governor’s office has spent about $35,000 on printed and Facebook communications, with the bulk of that money used for messaging on the social media site. He said the office has received guidance from the Department of Law that such communications are permitted.
He did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the recall effort.
The group will need to gather 28,501 signatures, Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai said by email. If the application is certified, supporters would then need to gather 71,252 more in a bid to try to put the issue to voters.
The National Conference of State Legislatures says there have been many attempts to recall governors across the country but few have triggered recall elections. Wisconsin Gov. Scot Walker survived a recall vote in 2012.
