Fewer than 48 hours after Rep. David Eastman made some of the most ghoulish remarks of his time in the Alaska Legislature when he asked if the deaths of abused children might be a “benefit to society” because those kids wouldn’t grow up using state services, the Alaska House has censured the Wasilla Republican.
The vote came today after Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, gave a forceful special order saying that the comments, which were made in the House Judiciary Committee on Monday and have since caught national attention, brought shame to the chamber. Despite some Republicans suggesting Eastman’s questions were “messy” and needed clarification, all voted in favor of the reprimand.
Gray began the speech by noting that his adoptive child, who served as a guest page on the same day that Eastman’s questions were asked, would fall into the very category of children that Eastman was talking about. Gray is also a member of the House Judiciary Committee and sits next to Eastman.
“When he utters those words sitting next to me, and those words are aired on television and then clipped and shared for all the world to see, he brings the dignity of this body into question,” Gray said. “He has brought great shame on this house. It is incumbent upon all of us to do something. We cannot allow such atrocious, indefensible language to go undenounced. We must speak out in defense of the dignity of this body, but also as a parent I must defend the value of all those children like mine, whose lives are valuable, whose deaths are not in the best interest of the state, whose inherent worth as human beings are the very reason we sit here today. We must respond as a body, we must do something.”
He called for Eastman to be censured, essentially a formal reprimand from the body that doesn’t carry additional penalties, for “offensive, insulting and unsubstantiated claims that undermine the dignity of the House.”
Eastman attempted to object to the motion, arguing that it should go through a slower, deliberative process. Later, he argued that it was Gray that was being unfair and hateful, accusing the Anchorage Democrat of impugning his motives in violation of the Legislature’s rules of conduct.
“This is exactly the kind of hateful rhetoric for which this rule was put into our rules so it would never happen,” Eastman said. “I am prevented from impugning the motives, why is he not prevented from impugning my motives as well? There was no implication, the outrageous accusation that somehow I and members of my district support the extermination of people or support child abuse.”
House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Sarah Vance also spoke during the debate, generally defending Eastman’s right to speak even though she called it “messy” and apologized for not giving Eastman an opportunity to clarify himself during the hearing.
“It was messy and insensitive, and I should have afforded an opportunity for clarification on the record at that time,” she said. “Every member of this body is afforded the freedom of speech, no matter how controversial or insensitive it may sound.”
Vance ultimately joined with every other legislator in voting to censure Eastman for his comments, but said she would not silence or seek to remove Eastman from the committee. Eastman is not a member of the Republican Majority Caucus and therefore has no guaranteed right to sit on any committee, but was invited to sit on the House Judiciary Committee by Vance.
It is the second time Eastman has been censured in the House. He was first censured in 2017 for suggesting women living in rural Alaska intentionally got pregnant so they could get Medicaid-funded vacations to get an abortion. That vote at the time was not unanimous and 13 Republicans voted against that censure.
Matt Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter: @mattbuxton.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.