Sen. Lora Reinbold, who represents Eagle River and Chugiak, has gotten the attention of the Alaska State Legislature since the Legislative Session began because of her choice of facemask and a letter that was sent to her from Governor Mike Dunleavy. Dunleavy said she has pushed conspiracy theories about masks and recommended unproven alternative treatments for the coronavirus while publicly questioning the safety of the vaccine.
Reinbold spoke to KSRM on the recent controversy involving the governor and state senate, “Well I shouldn’t be defending myself. I don’t like to make it about me. I like to make it about civil rights, my oath to the constitution and the people’s rights that I serve. Bottom line is I took an oath to the constitution. I take that oath very seriously. I believe the executive branch has infringed tremendously on people’s rights and I have been pushing back on the masks. I refused to wear masks way back in April. I made the news way back then. I have been a very, very consistent. I believe people should have the right to direct their own healthcare decision. I happen to be in healthcare for many, many years. I am not naiive to the healthcare industry. I’m just a passionate believer that there’s risks involved in life all day long, whether you drive a car or get in the plane, whatever. People have got to determine the risks for themselves and what they want to do about those risks. For example, I am passionate about people making their own decisions in regards to the vaccinations. Also, whether they want a piece of paper on their face. I think that there’s civil liberties that we have to defend. Sometimes, you have to step in that gap, but I have been very, very consistent. I have been fighting it all the way back since April.”
Earlier this month, the Senate voted to allow senate leadership to enforce legislative council policies in the senate and common capitol spaces. Reinbold told her constituents on her social media page that she was under intense pressure by Senate leadership to follow, what she called, controversial and arbitrarily applied Legislative Council rules.
As a result, Sen. Reinbold had to modify the facemask that she had been wearing in order for her to participate in her regularly scheduled committee meetings, like the Senate Judiciary Committee which Reinbold is the chair of.