The director of Alaska Right to Life, who is a political ally and friend of extreme-right Wasilla Republican Rep. David Eastman, is among the applicants to fill a vacancy on the Mat-Su Borough School Board.
Patrick Martin is one of nine people who’ve applied to fill a vacancy opened after Jacob Butcher resigned from the board on Nov. 6 after moving out of state. Martin is among the state’s most staunch opponents of abortion, with Alaska Right to Life frequently clashing with other conservative Republicans who are not deemed to be hardline enough on the issue.
Martin, who is also the head of Alaska Gun Rights, has a history of combative anti-abortion politics and has worked closely with Eastman on that front. That included being booted from a legislative town hall in 2021 after accusing a Republican legislator of supporting abortion because she backed a constitutional amendment that would rewrite the Alaska Constitution’s privacy clause to exclude the right to abortion. He was also at the crux of a recently resolved ethics complaint against Eastman, accusing the legislator of using state resources to help Martin distribute anti-abortion petitions to other legislators.
While the House Ethics Subcommittee ultimately dismissed the report for lack of cause, Martin is accused of harassing a legislative aide and getting in a verbal altercation with another during the trip in question. At the hearing, he accused another Republican legislator of bringing the complaint against him because of a feud between him and “Alaska Right to Life and Alaska Gun Rights, which means me.”
That wasn’t the first time Martin has been a key character in Alaska politics.
Martin also traveled with Rep. Eastman to the Jan. 6 protests against the election of President Joe Biden. While they attended the rally for former President Trump’s speech, neither has been charged with crimes related to Jan. 6, and there’s no evidence either man entered the U.S. Capitol building.
Martin later testified in the trial challenging Rep. Eastman’s eligibility to hold elected office in Alaska for his membership in the Oath Keepers, a militia group whose leaders have been convicted of seditious conspiracy for their actions leading up to and on Jan. 6. At the trial, Martin testified that he traveled to D.C. because he was concerned about Eastman’s safety and that he went as far as purchasing a bullet-resistant tactical backpack for the trip and researching how to identify members of Antifa.
Martin’s candidacy was first reported by the conservative blog Alaska Watchman, which highlighted his candidacy and encouraged readers to provide supportive testimony.
The board is set to meet to interview candidates at its Wednesday board meeting and is expected to take up a vote at the same meeting.
In his questionnaire with the school board, Martin frames himself as a close ally of the school board — which has led the way in Alaska’s conservative culture wars with a trans sports ban and an aggressive approach to banning books. The Mat-Su Borough School District was served with it second lawsuit accusing it of violating its students First Amendment rights last week.
Other candidates include Shirely Akelkok, Justin Shoemake, Robert Pymn, Jennifer Cizek, Audri Jirak, Jacob Snedeker, Anthony Pitcher and Thomas Richards.
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.