On Monday, Nick Begich III will be sworn in as Alaska’s congressman at large. But the oath he takes won’t mean much unless he’s willing to learn from an ethical lawmaker like Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Unlike most Republicans currently in office, she’s not inclined to give lip service in defense of our cherished Constitutions.
Consider the press release Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued last week in response to the U.S. Department of Education’s decision to withdraw its threat to withhold $17.5 million in federal funding from the state. After a little grandstanding, he ended it by saying he “swore to uphold the Constitution of Alaska.” That’s despite the fact he violated it twice during his first year in office.
First, he trampled the free speech rights of many state employees. A federal judge ruled that the “violation in these circumstances was clearly established and would have been known to any reasonable government official.”
The following summer and the next, he vetoed a portion of court system’s budget. He justified that by stating “the only branch of government that insists on State funded elective abortions is the Supreme Court.” A state superior court judge ruled his action “violated the separation of powers doctrine embodied in the Alaska Constitution.”
When it comes to the U.S. Constitution, the Republican party has been betraying its true meaning for years. Although they sometimes interpret it correctly when criticizing policy proposals of Democrats, far too often their reference to it is nothing more than cheap rhetoric.
Then, after Donald Trump left the White House in 2021, they completely neglected the Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine by responding to the most flagrant violation of the presidential oath as if its impeachment clause belonged in the trash bin.
Such disrespect for the Constitution is rooted in the hyper-partisanship that former Georgia Rep. Newt Gingrich championed three decades years ago. Indeed, Donald Trump’s habit of giving childish names and mean-spirited labels to his opponents is a tactic Gingrich first prescribed in a memo titled ”Language: A Key Mechanism of Control.” It recommended Republicans refer to Democrats as sick, traitors, shallow and corrupt.
The result of that practice was to prioritize party loyalty over good governance. After Trump won the presidency in 2016, it morphed into unflinching obedience to him.
“If Donald Trump says ‘jump three feet high and scratch your head,’ we all jump three feet high and scratch our heads,” Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas said after November’s election.
For Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, that means Senate Republicans must vote to confirm every one of Trump’s cabinet nominees. “Who are we to say that we’re a better picker of people than Donald Trump,” he rhetorically asked before saying it’s “not our job” to question their qualifications.
Sen. Dan Sullivan won’t challenge any of them the same way he did those who President Joe Biden nominated to serve in his cabinet. But instead of endorsing Tuberville’s ignorance of the Constitution’s Advice and Consent clause, he’ll mask his fealty to Trump like he did when he voted to acquit him after both impeachment trials.
“As I said during last year’s impeachment,” he explained after the second, “the American people are well equipped to decide whether or not the former President should be disqualified from holding future office.”
That’s an absolute abdication of the Senate’s Constitutional duty. It clearly gives them “the sole Power to try all Impeachments.” Every senator took an oath to “do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws.” But Sullivan chose to act powerless by claiming those duties belong to the less educated and less informed electorate.
Two and a half years later, he changed his tune by supporting the impeachment inquiry House Republicans opened regarding allegations of corruption by Biden. They found nothing to substantiate them. But if they had, there’s no doubt Sullivan would have interpreted the Constitution correctly.
Murkowski, however, is one of the few Republican senators who consistently honors her oath. At the conclusion of Trump’s second impeachment trial, she and six others who were guided by their conscience voted to convict him.
But Begich knows most Alaskan Republicans haven’t forgiven her for that. And that makes it highly unlikely he’ll place his oath to defend the Constitution ahead of obedience to Trump and loyalty to the party he commands.
• Rich Moniak is a Juneau resident and retired civil engineer with more than 25 years of experience working in the public sector. Columns, My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire. Have something to say? Here’s how to submit a My Turn or letter.
