By James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
The Alaska House of Representatives has issued messages honoring high school sports teams, Olympic gold medalists, farmers, anniversaries, and even notable animals.
In an unusual move on Friday, it declined to bestow honors on conservative political commentator Suzanne Downing.
In a 21-17 vote, the House tabled a citation from Rep. Jamie Allard, R-Eagle River that praised Downing.
Rep. Zack Fields, D-Anchorage, led the vote to turn down the citation.
“I have not objected to dozens of citations for people who had views strongly opposed to mine … I objected to this citation because there is a long record of outright dishonesty with this particular person, and it’s caustic in our discourse,” he said on the House floor.
When it became clear that there were enough votes to vote down the citation altogether, members who supported Downing asked that it be tabled out of courtesy.
Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, was one of three members of the House’s Republican minority who voted for the tabling motion.
“I think that was the way to go, to not go down the road of rejecting a citation,” he said.
Downing, who has a background in journalism and Republican politics, founded the website Must Read Alaska in 2016 to spread conservative news and commentary, mostly in support of conservative members of the Alaska Republican Party.
In 2023, she sold the website to Jon Faulkner, a prominent Republican donor and owner of the Land’s End Resort in Homer.
Allard said in a text that Downing deserved the recognition.
“There’s an entire page in the U.S. Congressional Record dedicated to Suzanne Downing and her many extraordinary contributions to the state of Alaska,” Allard said. “She has obviously moved the needle, much to the irritation of a few Democrats. Zack Fields has been the target of some of her criticism over the years, and so naturally he is taking this quite personally. Sad!”
Legislators present on the House floor Friday said they couldn’t recall the last time the House failed to approve a citation for someone.
In 1994, as an April Fool’s Day joke, a lawmaker submitted a citation praising conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, entitled “Honoring Excellence in Broadcasting.”
Several House members, including multiple Democrats, cosponsored the citation before realizing it was about Limbaugh, then voted it down.
“I’d rather see his very ample butt flossed with barbed wire,” said then-Rep. Joe Sitton, D-Fairbanks, before voting against it.
After Limbaugh’s death, the House did eventually vote to honor him with a citation.
On Monday, Fields noted that he voted for that citation as well as another posthumous honor for conservative radio talk show host Dan Fagan.
“Someone who’s willfully and repeatedly dishonest, I just I’m not going to vote for that, and I don’t think it’s appropriate for the Legislature to commend them for being willfully dishonest,” he said.
While individual legislators have occasionally voted against particular citations, it is extraordinarily unusual for a legislative body to vote them down collectively, even when the person being honored has been convicted of crimes.
In 1994, legislators censured Sen. George Jacko for sexually harassing a legislative page. On Jacko’s last day in office, they passed a citation that praised Jacko for having “a great sense of humor as well as the esteem of his staff and colleagues.”
Former state Rep. Tom Anderson was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the VECO corruption scandal. Last year, after Anderson’s death, the Legislature unanimously passed a citation honoring his life.
Legislative citations have occasionally drawn ire, too.
In 2008, legislators issued a citation praising attorney Wayne Anthony Ross. The following year, they rejected Gov. Sarah Palin’s decision to name him attorney general, marking the first time the Legislature had ever turned down a cabinet appointment.
“The hypocrisy there is quite glaring. I believe they need to be called out on that,” Palin said at the time.
