Overriding Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a bipartisan education bill would have been easy if all 56 legislators who voted for it had voted to override.
Instead, legislators fell a single vote short of the 40 needed to implement a law outlining nearly a quarter-billion dollars of additional public school spending after 17 Republicans who originally voted for Senate Bill 140 abandoned it in order to back the governor.
Some said they wanted to take another crack at the legislation in order to include provisions favored by the governor even though they failed to garner a majority of support in the Republican-controlled House. Others said it was simply the governor’s right to dictate what can become law and legislators should respect it. Some questioned the value of investing in public education, comparing it to blindly buying stocks or investing in a failing business. A few even revealed that they never supported the bill that they voted for and just wanted to get to the veto faster.
“My vote on Senate Bill 140 was to get it to the governor and have him veto it as quickly as possible so we can go back to the drawing board,” said Rep. Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski. He accused those who were pushing for an override of succumbing to their emotions.
Like many of the other 17 Republicans who flip-flopped on the education bill, Carpenter insisted that there was still plenty of time and plenty of vehicles to pass an increase to the base student allocation this legislative session. He, like many others though, insisted that it must include the governor’s demands.
That includes Anchorage Republican Rep. Tom McKay, who won his 2022 election by nine votes, who said on the floor that he had already introduced “Senate Bill 140 version 2.0” with the hope that it would appease the governor.
“We offer an alternative that would be better,” he said of the measure that includes several policies that were only supported by hard-right conservatives. “So I really urge all my colleagues in both parties, folks in the hall, folks with emails, everybody watching, everybody listening: Stop, take a breath, think about what we’re doing, and understand that we do have options. We should consider them.”
Another Anchorage Republican with a similarly close 2022 election who flipped on the bill is Rep. Julie Coulombe, who won her 2022 race by 112 votes. She didn’t speak during the floor debate on Monday.
The Legislature’s newest member, Kotzebue Republican Rep. Thomas Baker, also flipped on the education bill. Baker was appointed by Gov. Dunleavy to fill the vacant seat and is the only rural member to have voted against overriding the veto. That’s important because the legislation contained time-critical legislation to improve internet speeds in remote schools, a top priority of his fellow rural legislators.
Polling conducted by Hays Research Group on behalf of the Alaska AFL-CIO found that 70% of Alaskans opposed the governor’s veto, and a similar majority said they would be more likely to support their legislators if they voted for an override.
Here’s the full list of legislators who flip-flopped on the education bill
Three Republicans who voted against the original bill — Reps. David Eastman, Mike Prax, and Sen. Mike Shower — also voted against the override. The final vote was 39-20.
- Rep. Jamie Allard, R-Eagle River
- Rep. Thomas Baker, R-Kotzebue
- Rep. Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski
- Rep. Julie Coulombe, R-Anchorage
- Rep. Mike Cronk, R-Tok
- Rep. Craig Johnson, R-Anchorage
- Rep. DeLena Johnson, R-Palmer
- Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake
- Rep. Tom McKay, R-Anchorage
- Rep. Dan Saddler, R-Eagle River
- Rep. Laddie Shaw, R-Anchorage
- Rep. Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla
- Rep. Frank Tomaszewski, R-Fairbanks
- Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer
- Sen. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer
- Sen. Robb Myers, R-North Pole
- Sen. David Wilson, R-Wasilla
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.