FAMILY FUN – Crystal Johns holds her son Zayne , 2, as she follows her son Ezekiel, 4, up an inflatable slide Saturday at Xoots Elementary School during the annual Spring Carnival. The event included games, prizes, cotton candy, and karaoke. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Rep. Rebecca Himschoot says in the discussion on educ [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Song, dance and a cast of school-aged actors will brin [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Don’t talk to people claiming to be from Medicare o [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
The Alaska House of Representatives voted Wednesday to allow comp [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has dismissed an appeal filed by [ ... ]
Mr. Whitekeys
In Sitka to Tell
Gold Rush Tale
Sitka Historical Society and Museum will present ‘‘Th [ ... ]
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
April 17
At 9:08 a.m. a transformer was r [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The threat of major cutbacks to the subsistence socke [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
With the first vote on the city budget for fiscal yea [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
In the final day of play in the recreational division City League volleyball [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Three amateur athletes from Sitka were among tens of [ ... ]
By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
A proposal to require Alaska schools to keep opioid-overdose-r [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
Alaska’s Kobuk River, which flows out of the Brooks Range above [ ... ]
Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
April 16
At 8:07 a.m. a woman [ ... ]
Presentation On
Medicare, SS
SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium and Cynthia Gibson, CFP®, an [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Musicians from Sitka High and Mt. Edgecumbe High scho [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Whether you enjoy scaling mountains, walking in the p [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Two-time Alpine Adventure Run winner Chris Brenk cont [ ... ]
By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee expanded a [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS and
CLAIRE STREMPLE
The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development is [ ... ]
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
April 15
A protective order was issued at 1 [ ... ]
Chamber Speaker
Event Wednesday
The Chamber of Commerce speaker series will continue noon Wednesday at [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
From high costs and low availability to challenges sur [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
A number of participants at Thursday’s community me [ ... ]
Daily Sitka Sentinel
Judge Rules Out A.G.’s Suit Against Legislature
By BECKY BOHRER
The Associated Press
JUNEAU (AP) — A lawsuit by Alaska’s attorney general against the Legislative Affairs Agency is really an action by the governor against the Legislature that is barred by the Alaska Constitution, a state court judge ruled Thursday.
Superior Court Judge Herman Walker Jr. cited comments by Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Attorney General Treg Taylor in reaching his decision.
An email seeking comment was sent to a state Department of Law spokesperson. Taylor heads the department.
The state constitution allows a governor to take legal action “in the name of the State” to enforce compliance with laws but says that the authority “shall not be construed to authorize any action or proceeding against the legislature.”
Taylor sued the Legislative Affairs Agency on June 21, after the House failed to adopt effective date provisions for a state spending package. Dunleavy said the budget was “constitutionally impaired if the goal was for it to take effect on July 1.”
A week after the lawsuit was filed, and before the new fiscal year started July 1, the House passed the effective date provisions. Attorneys for the Legislative Affairs Agency, in court filings, said that action itself rendered the lawsuit moot.
But they also argued the lawsuit “in substance” was “brought in the name of the state against the Legislature,” and barred by the constitution.
Margaret Paton Walsh, an attorney for the state, argued the attorney general has independent authority to bring actions in the public interest.
“The fact that the governor wanted him to do it doesn’t change the fact that he has that independent authority,” she argued last week.
Walker, in his ruling, noted a June 18 letter Dunleavy sent the chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court. In the letter, Dunleavy said that given the “consequences flowing from the lack of an effective date” he had asked Taylor “to seek a determination of the issue” through the courts.
“This belies the assertion that Attorney General Taylor brought the present suit under his common-law powers as Attorney General,” Walker wrote.
Despite having independent powers, the attorney general “serves under the supervision of the Governor and at this pleasure,” Walker wrote.
The judge also said public statements by Dunleavy and Taylor had “consistently framed the suit as a vehicle to resolve a dispute between the executive and legislative branches.”
He said he concluded the lawsuit was an action by Dunleavy “’in the name of the state’ directed ‘against the legislature,’” and prohibited by the constitution.
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20 YEARS AGO
April 2004
Photo caption: Sen. Lisa Murkowski talks with students in Karoline Bekeris’ fourth-grade class Thursday at the Westmark Shee Atika. From left are Murkowski, Kelsey Boussom, Laura Quinn and Memito Diaz.
50 YEARS AGO
April 1974
A medley of songs from “Jesus Christ Superstar” will highlight the morning worship service on Palm Sunday at the United Methodist Church. Musicians will be Paige Garwood and Karl Hartman on guitars; Dan Goodness on organ; and Gayle Erickson on drums.