Alaska State Legislature
News from the House Majority

Jerry Ritter, House Majority Press Secretary
State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801
Phone: (907) 465-3804
web site: http://www.akrepublicans.org
Actuality line: 1-800-478-6540

Striking a Blow for Fairness

House Takes-Up Reapportionment and Redistricting Reform

For Immediate Release: March 30, 1998 Contact: Rep. Brian Porter (907) 465-4930 Rep. Eldon Mulder (907) 465-2647

Juneau -- The Alaska House of Representative Monday took up House Joint Resolution 44, which proposes Constitutional Amendments to reform the state's outdated, controversial, and constitutionally dubious Reapportionment and Redistricting provisions. HJR 44, which was sponsored by Representatives Brian Porter and Eldon Mulder (both R-Anchorage) was held over until tomorrow for further debate.

"Alaska is one of only two states in the Union which place reapportionment power in the hands of its governor," said Rep. Porter. "The other state is Maryland, whose State Senate has the right to ratify the governor's appointees. This situation has produced reapportionment plans which have been subject to criticism of being born in the crucible of politics, rather than on fairness and objectivity," Porter said.

"There's probably an inherent political bias in the existing system," Rep. Mulder said. "This has to change. HJR 44 creates a five-member reapportionment board to be appointed by the Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court, which should remove most of the temptation for governors of one political party or another to gerrymander legislative districts to their own party's advantage," Mulder said.

Porter and Mulder both noted that, while no reapportionment mechanism can be completely free of political influences, HJR 44 is intended to produce balanced, professionally drawn apportionment plans that will withstand both legal challenges and charges of too much political favoritism in either direction. This approach has been proven successful in several other states.

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Broadcasters note: Actualities from Rep. Mulder and Rep. Porter are available toll-free on the House Majority Actuality Line 1-800-478-6540.
= Eldon Mulder, 36 K = Brian Porter, 64 K