Vice-presidential debate between Biden & Palin, October 2, 2008. Debate munchies, 2/3 Alaska-made... ... & the other third comes from folks as funny as Tina Fey. Speaking of Tina Fey: satire is one thing, but outright insult & contemptuous treatment of people — even Palin — is another.

Crossposted at Progressive Alaska where there is lots more discussion.
See also Steve Aufrecht’s post at What Do I Know?

I didn’t watch Sarah Palin’s Tea Party speech this past weekend, just as I didn’t watch the Super Bowl.  But I do stay in touch with the news, so I know the Saints won, & I have the gist at least of some of the remarks Palin made.  And of course I heard about the now-famous “Palm Pilot” crib notes she wrote on her hand for the Q&A session following her speech.  I found it funny, ridiculous, and — particularly since she apparently went after Obama’s use of teleprompters — extraordinarily hypocritical.

But if  we are critical of the ugly tactics from those we disagree with politically, does that justify our using some of the same ugly tactics?  Does our constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of speech make unrestrained use of uncivil speech & namecalling wise or useful?

Phil Munger of the blog Progressive Alaska is someone I admire & respect a great deal.  And so I was disappointed late Saturday night to read the title of the blog post he wrote about Palin’s “Palm Pilot” crib notes:  “Saradise Lost – Book 4 – Chapter 43 – What a SLUT”. Today he reiterated the namecalling with a poll & an accompanying post entitled “Saradise Lost and Found – Chapter 12 – Saint or Slut? – A New PA Poll”.  The poll asks readers to register their vote for “Which Term More Accurately Defines Sarah Palin to You?” with two possible answers, Saint or Slut.

I privately wrote to Phil about the problems I have with the poll earlier today.  At lunchtime I went back to read comments.

After seeing what other people had to say, I felt no choice but to register, publicly, my objection to Phil’s pejorative description of Palin, & the way other self-identified progressives in comments defended it.  So I wrote my own comment.  Here’s what I wrote:

I am a woman, consider myself a progressive (though not a Democrat), am more-or-less a member of the Alaska progressive blogger community (though I’m trying to focus my blog on writing nowadays) & have already registered my dislike of Phil’s terminology & this poll privately to Phil. And now am doing it publicly.

As I wrote privately, I won’t vote in this poll. Given a forced choice between “saint” & “slut” is far too reminiscent of the “virgin” versus “whore” typology that women have been relegated to for centuries. I don’t see Sarah Palin, however deluded she is or creepy her views, as either. As ridiculous as I find her political posturing to be, & as scary I find it that anyone takes seriously her potential as a leader, I have less & less confidence that namecalling from “our” side is any more productive or useful than the namecalling from the Palin supporters.

I am disappointed that Phil used this terminology, especially because there is so much else I find to respect in his work — as a composer, as a teacher, as a blogger, & as someone supportive of the work of other progressive people. I am further disappointed read many of these comments & find so many other self-identified progressives defending his use of this language — in pretty much the same hypocritical way that Palin condemned Rahm Emanuel for how he used the word “retard” but defended Rush Limbaugh’s use of the same word.

It’s clear that just as much on the left as on the right, too many people are willing to excuse their “own side” for employing the same tactics that they condemn the “other side” for. As scary as I find extreme people on the right to be, I find this behavior by people who are presumably on my side to be just as scary. You might as well be on two sides of a wall lobbing grenades at one another, for how likely these tactics will lead to any kind of peace or good for our nation.

Can we find some way to engage with our political opposition without just creating more hostility — none of which is likely to encourage our opposition’s better nature & better thinking, any more than their namecalling & disrespect towards us encourages our better nature & thinking?

I want to support other progressive Alaska blogs & bloggers, but I’m growing ever more worried by the propensity of some of “our” side to demonize the “other” side with namecalling & insults.  It’s no more helpful than when the “other” side does that to “us.”

At the same time, it’s this kind of polarized incendiary stuff that seems to attract the most hits on blogs, & encourages bloggers to keep blogging that way.   I don’t think that high hit rates is necessarily a good measure of the quality of blogs — but it can be an excellent measure indeed  how polarized & contentious our political culture has become.  And how much more likely we are to enflame our political culture into some kind of outright civil war.

Which is not at all the kind of civil we need.

Update:

After more comments came in on Phil’s post about his “saint v. slut” poll, I added another comment, reading as follows:

In essence, most of the progressive rationalizations for Phil’s use of a sexist & demeaning word to describe Palin amount to “Palin & her supporters use demeaning insults to describe us & our leaders, so that gives us the okay to do it to her & her supporters.” This is hypocrisy.

In essence, most of the Palin supporters who are visiting this blog to criticize Phil for his use of this sexist & demeaning word to describe Palin are correct that his use of the word is sexist & demeaning, but have no compunction about using equally demeaning language to insult Phil, Obama, or other people with whom they disagree. This is hypocrisy.

Both sides are being equally destructive to our social fabric as a civil culture. I’m a progressive, & yet I don’t want to be on the side of anyone who simply stands in their corner lobbing insults at their opponents. If we want a civil culture in which everyone’s rights are respected, we’re not going to get it by refusing dialog with those who disagree with us — which is what this oh-so-very-witty (not) lobbing of demeaning insults amounts to. It’s all fine & nice to feel righteous about how intelligent your own side is & how horrible & stupid & purposely perverse the arguments of the other side are — but in reality, you’re only making yourselves mirror images of one another.

And leaving no room for people who really want this country to work. For everyone, not just “our” side, no matter which “side” that may happen to be.

Related posts:

1. Progressives, civility, & Palin: Anatomy of an apology
2. Conservatives for Palin: A rich field of study for anyone interested in the practical application of intellectual dishonesty & logical fallacy
3. Conservatives for Palin & civility: Fairly unbalanced

UNITE HERE Local 878 represents workers at several Anchorage hotels including about 200 at the Anchorage Hilton. Hilton workers have been fighting for a fair contract since August 2008, when their last contract expired. But Kentucky-based Columbia Sussex, which took over the Anchorage Hilton in 2006, has been dragging its feet as much as it can, while simultaneously imposing — unilaterally — new demands on the workers, including increased workloads without additional pay.

Alaskans deserve better, and so Anchorage workers

It’s a national pattern with Columbia Sussex. For example, workers at the City Center Sheraton in Baltimore, which Columbia Sussex acquired in 2005, have been without a contract since April 2006. [Ref #1] Pressed by unilateral changes in work conditions, work speedups, management incompetence, and other problems brought on by Columbia Sussex’s policies, Baltimore workers — members of UNITE HERE Local 7 — put the hotel under boycott on November 15, 2007.  [Ref #2] It’s still under boycott, [Ref #3] despite reportedly millions of dollars in revenue losses due to the boycott. [Ref #1] According to one piece about the Baltimore boycott,

The owner of Columbia Sussex, Bill Yung, has been slashing at wages, healthcare, and pensions while increasing workloads. He has been quoted as claiming his only interest is “making money,” and has made vows never to sign union contracts. The hospitality industry is the second fastest growing industry in Baltimore, so for the sake of this city it is vital that profiteers like Yung be driven out or forced to give workers good jobs, so that as this city grows, it grows in a positive direction. Yung’s model keeps workers struggling on the edge of poverty, and it is essential that we join together to stop this exploitative model. [Ref #1]

What workers demand: Safe workloads, job security, affordable medical

William J. Yung III, CEO of Columbia Sussex, has been operating much that way for a very long time.  In an in-depth article about his disastrous entry into the casino business with Columbia Sussex subsidiary Tropicana Entertainment, Ben Fidler of TheDeal Magazine writes,

By the time Columbia Sussex purchased Aztar [owner of the Tropicana Casino & Resort in Atlantic City, among other properties], the company owned 70 hotels, which Yung had assembled through acquisitions in the ’70s and ’80s. Yung carved out a management style that could be successful in a certain kind of hotel: extracting significant cost savings, typically through extreme job reductions, says one source, who notes, “He cuts the work force down to the bone.” Under Yung, staffers were typically required to work longer hours for less money. “That’s how he distinguished himself in the hotel business,” says the source. [Ref #4]

Good for Yung’s profits, bad for its workers.  And bad for the Tropicana in Atlantic City, too. Yung saved roughly $40 million in labor costs by laying off about 1,300 employees at the Tropicana AC, but at the cost of “roaches, bedbugs, dirty floors and overflowing garbage pails” [Ref #4] — not to mention surly, unhappy workers.  [Ref #5] Thanks to Yung’s policies, its gaming license under New Jersey law came under threat:

Over and over again, evidence was introduced at the hearings about dirty conditions and poor service at the Tropicana, which has New Jersey’s largest hotel at 2,129 rooms.

A Denver association of environmental health officials, for example, is refusing to pay the last $22,000 of its $97,000 bill, citing 15 pages of complaints ranging from cockroaches and bedbugs to filthy rooms to rude and hostile staff, and even one cleaning woman who ate a guest’s room service meal when he stepped out for a moment. [Ref #5]

The Tropicana AC lost its gaming license, and Yung was ousted from the management and board of Tropicana Entertainment LLC. [Ref #4]

Highest guest scores in the company & 2 more rooms is our reward?!

But he still has Columbia Sussex, and he still has his hotels. And his policies are what workers at the Hilton Anchorage are dealing with.  For example, changes in working conditions.  In June, shortly after Hilton workers called for a boycott of their employer, Brendan Joel Kelley of the Anchorage Press explained,

Meanwhile, according to Daniel Esparza from HERE, housekeeping employees are being asked to raise the number of rooms they clean in a shift from 15 to 17, and if employees don’t comply, they’re subject to disciplinary action: warnings, suspensions, and firing. “[Columbia Sussex] is going after the ones that are probably least able to defend themselves,” Beltrami says. “The hotel employee restaurant union, they represent a lot of the lower wage earners. So the housekeepers, a lot of them are minority women—most I would say—and they’re really trying to put it to them.” [Ref #6]

As I wrote a few days ago of the change from 15 to 17 rooms a day,

if you’ve ever cleaned a hotel or motel room, you know that’s imposing quite a bit more work for no additional compensation. [Ref #7]

Safe workloads

It’s also a major health concern. In a study based on OSHA records for 87 hotels from 1999 to 2007, UNITE HERE found,

On average, hotel workers experienced an injury rate of 6.4 per 100 workers, meaning that, in each year, more than six percent of the hotel workforce in these hotels suffered a documented workplace injury. Hotel housekeepers, however, faced a significantly greater injury rate of 10.4%, which is 86% greater than the injury rate experienced by non-housekeepers (5.6%). [Ref #8, p. 8]

And the faster they are required to work — in order to meet higher housekeeping quotas imposed by employers — the higher the risk of injury:

In recent years, the workload that hotel companies demand housekeepers perform has increased significantly. Chronic understaffing, coupled with the addition of time-consuming amenities—luxury items like heavy mattresses, fragile coffeepots and in-room exercise equipment—have placed housekeepers at greater risk of injury. In order to complete their room quotas, housekeepers are increasingly forced to skip meals and other breaks—rests necessary to prevent injury. Today, housekeepers’ bodies are at the breaking point. [Ref #8, p. 4]

This is what the Hilton Anchorage management, on orders from Bill Yung and Columbia Sussex, are imposing on Hilton workers.

They don’t care.  Not if it’s their profits at stake.

Obviously at least a few Anchorage residents don’t care either, based on many of the reader comments made on the brief story in the Anchorage Daily News about yesterday’s Hotel Workers Rising March from the Sheraton to the Hilton.  Here’s a sampler:

Local leaders Vickie and Margie

I’m sure that some people would be happy to even have a job. I’d be bringing in the scabs. Not too hard to train hotel workers anyway, and then you’d have grateful employees.

Problem solved. (Guy_Smiley)

The signs should be expressing gratitude for having a job. (resnared)

Fire ‘em all. Fire every single last one of them. No exceptions: everyone, terminated, there’s the door, you’re outa here.

Then, open up a job-hiring room in each hotel. Care to guess how long it would take to hire new workers, at the same wages as the ones who’ve been fired, with the provision that there’s no union mafia membership?

24 hours, if that. (DaphneFitzroy)

This would have been a magnificant [sic] opportunity for INS to make a sweep for ILLEGALS. (gman2)

Union advocates, you do yourselves and your “cause” no good by these actions. Claiming that “management” demands you put up with “unfair working conditions,” without offering even a shred of evidence just makes you appear silly.

Public sentiment is strongly against unions, and in our country’s current economic condition that sentiment is growing. As we’re all forced to tighten our belts, we don’t want to hear about your “demands.” If you want a better-paying job with more generous benefits, acquire the education and/or training necessary and take the initiative to find one. (CrosleyField)

The only question I have is……….. where was the INS they should have been checking green cards???? (bhessert)

If you don’t like your job…the management, the pay, the requirements, benefits, whatever, find another job. I cannot imagine making a career out of working for a hotel or motel anyway. Those are stepping-stone jobs while you gain a meaningful education on your way to a real job. (lnhbowlus)

In this economy, maybe people should be grateful they have a job at all….you can be replaced…. (FISH4GOODTIMES) [Ref #9, reader comments]

Hilton Under Boycott: what workers are fighting for. Click through to see at a readable size.

Many of the comments were products of what appeared to be universal hostility towards unions regardless of what kind of work its members did, how much they were paid, or whether their complaints had any merit.  Many seemed to think that all workers had to do was to quit their jobs, get training, and go to new, better jobs — never mind that most workers had families they couldn’t afford to leave unprovided for as they went off to pursue educations that they couldn’t afford anyway without income. Many commenters made assumptions about the demands they were making without any effort to learn what Hilton workers were in fact demanding — and denying the facts even when other commenters (including me) provided them with documented information.

Working mothers on the march with their kids

And then there’s this comment:

This dispute is over Physical Labor $11 hour to clean 17-20 rooms in an 8 hour shift. (estimate 25 minutes per room to handle the 17 room quota; an experience housekeeper possible 20 minutes to receive more rooms)

Job description: quickly vacuum, change the bedding, clean the bathroom, change out the towels, check the toilet paper dispenser, and complimentary items around the room. Plus pay a union dues each month. (stress occurs to the physical body due to physical labor)

I could understand a higher salary for construction workers who use physical stress & mental stress.

Or women who receive a higher salary for mental stress in a productive business.

As a single parent, I can accomplish more housekeeping work in 30 minutes inside my home, and be paid nothing for my accomplishment.

I understand the “cost of living” is expensive in Alaska.

It would of been appropriate to ask an Employer for a raise to get through difficult times instead of using a Union to miss a day of work. (JulianaSmithAK) [Ref #9, reader comment]

[Update 10/2/09: Interestingly, when I checked this morning, JulianaSmithAK's note had been unnaccountably removed. So were other comments she'd made earlier in the comment stream on this story.]

Which just goes to show that JulianaSmithAK (1)  apparently has not considered that even workers for an exploitative company like Columbia Sussex get time off — in fact, a lot of them seem to have more time off than before Yung’s company took over the company, because workers losing hours (and managers doing their work) is another of their complaints; and (2) has no concept of the physical demands actually placed on housekeeping staff in a luxury hotel like the Hilton:

“I have sharp pains when I bend,” says Leticia Ceballos, a hotel housekeeper at the Glendale Hilton near Los Angeles. “Putting the sheets on the beds and cleaning the toilets and bathtubs hurt the most. After the hotel put in the heavier beds and linens, the pain became more severe.”

The problem is getting worse as hotel companies implement room changes like heavier beds and duvets, triple sheets, extra pillows and in-room amenities like coffee makers and treadmills. The evidence strongly implicates increasingly excessive workloads in the rising rates of musculoskeletal disorders such as low back pain and tendonitis among hotel housekeepers. “This is among the highest-stress jobs (on the body) in the service and production industries,” occupational-medicine physician Peter Orris told USA Today. [Ref #10]

But hey, I guess it’s just easier to think about 30 minutes in one’s own house, and pretend that it duplicates the actual working conditions that housekeeping staff at the Hilton or other big hotels work under.

But I’d prefer to go by actual facts.  And if those commenters at the Anchorage Daily News don’t give a damn about Hilton workers — I do.

I was proud to march with them yesterday.  And I will continue to support their fight for a fair contract.  I hope you will too.

References

1. 4/12/09. “Mayday Rally: Support the Sheraton Workers!” (Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse).
2. 11/13/08. “Boycott of Baltimore City Center Sheraton Hotel Launched by UNITE HERE!” by Flint Sparc (Baltimore IMC).
3. “Union Hotel Guide: Boycott These Properties” (Hotel Workers Rising).
4. 7/18/08. “Yung and the restless” by Ben Fidler (TheDeal Magazine).
5. 12/1/07. “Tropicana faces challenge to undo damage to reputation” by D.J. McAneny (NJ.com).
6. 6/17/09. “Housekeeping – The Hilton’s union employees institute a boycott” by Brendan Joel Kelley (Anchorage Press).
7. 9/28/09. “Hotel Workers Rising March: September 30″ by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).
8. April 2006. Creating Luxury, Enduring Pain: How Hotel Work is Hurting Housekeepers (UNITE HERE). (Available through the Take Action page on the Hotel Workers Rising website.)
9. 10/30/09. “Hotel workers hold downtown rally over wages, benefits” (Anchorage Daily News).
10. Take Action page (Hotel Workers Rising).

Further background on the Hilton boycott:

• 9/25/09. “Unity & union-busting” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).
• 9/28/09. “Hotel Workers Rising; Why We Need to Get Involved” by John Aronno (Alaska Commons).

Slideshow of Hotel Workers Rising March, Anchorage, September 30, 2009

Here’s the slide show of all the photos (or the ones I uploaded, anyway) of the march. You can view the slideshow full-screen by tapping the full-screen icon. You can also see the entire set in my Flickr photostream.

Related posts:

1. Hotel Workers Rising March: Today!
2. Sheraton Anchorage illegally fires four workers
3. Hotel Workers Picket during Fur Rondy (press release)

I met Janson as a result of becoming a fan of the fantastic photography (including of the ordinance battle) at his blog, Floridana Alaskiana v2.5.

Janson Jones of the blog Floridana Alaskiana v2.5 — one of the sponsors of the True Diversity Dinner — has completed part 1 of his video presentation of the event.

Part 1 gives background on the battle over the summer for the Anchorage equal rights ordinance, AO 2009-64, which was passed by the Anchorage Assembly by a vote of 7 to 4 on August 11, but was vetoed on August 17 by Mayor Dan Sullivan; then goes into the decision by several of us bloggers to hold a True Diversity Dinner on September 11 as an alternative for the Mayor’s Unity Dinner, with footage from KTVA Channel 11 and KTUU Channel 2 coverage of the event. Janson also discusses the labor problems at the Anchorage Hilton, where the Mayor’s event was held — the Hilton’s owner, Kentucky-based Columbia Sussex, is refusing to settle a fair contract with its workers, who picketed the hotel the night of the event — which Mayor’s Unity Event participants crossed picket lines to attend.

Janson tells me that Parts 2 & 3 of his presentation are nearly complete, with Part 2 due online within the hour. I’ll update this post with the other two parts when they’re complete.

Thanks, Janson, for your hard work on such a fine presentation.

Janson also has a fine collection of photos from the dinner: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4.

Update: Part 2 now up: a montage of photos from the event. Janson says Part 3 will probably go up tomorrow. Later update: There’s lots more than 3 parts — I’m adding them in separate posts as they get completed.

Here’s a photo of Lifetime Achievement Award winners Vic Fischer, one of the framers of the Alaska Constitution, & Jane Angvik, who helped frame Anchorage’s municipal charter, from the first night of testimony on the Anchorage equal rights ordinance on June 9.

Vic Fischer and Jane Angvik (right) with Arliss Sturgulewski (left) at the June 9, 2009 Anchorage Assembly hearing. All three testified that night in support of the ordinance (as did Chuck O'Connell, in the foreground).

Related posts:

1. True Diversity Dinner video, part 3: Hotel workers, & Elvi's speech
2. The Daily Tweets, 2009-09-29: True Diversity Dinner videos by Janson Jones
3. True Diversity Dinner video, part 5: Diane Benson

A lot more information and commentary has come out since Shannyn Moore pointed out a couple days ago that

This Friday, Mayor Dan Sullivan will cross the picket line at the ONLY boycotted hotel in Alaska for his “unity” dinner.  In May, the Hilton workers overwhelmingly voted to place their hotel under boycott because their employer degrades their quality of life. [Ref #1]

As Steve Aufrecht pointed out yesterday,

These employees are among the lowest paid workers. And they represent some of the non-white members of the Anchorage community. [Ref #2]

Before reading Shannyn’s post, I hadn’t known anything about the Hilton boycott. But a Google search when I was writing the article I posted early yesterday morning [Ref #3] gave additional information by way of an article by Brendan Joel Kelley published in the Anchorage Press in June:

The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 878, which represents some 200 Hilton employees, announced that it had overwhelmingly voted to place their hotel under boycott on April 20, when they had a rally outside of the hotel.

HERE says it’s been negotiating with Columbia Sussex, the Kentucky-based company that owns the Hilton, since last summer, to maintain their current contract. According to Senator Bill Wielechowski, who attended the rally, Columbia Sussex has offered the workers a 10 cent an hour wage increase, but wanted the employees to pick up a significant portion of their health insurance costs, which amounts to about two weeks of a year’s pay. “It’s really a step backwards,” Wielechowski says. “It’s going to affect the lives of a thousand Alaskan families here in Anchorage, so it’s a big deal. They’re asking them to do more work for less pay, essentially. It doesn’t benefit anyone here in Alaska for an Outside company to come in and do that.” [Ref #4]

Columbia Sussex became owner of the Anchorage Hilton in December 2006, and from every evidence things have gone downhill for the hotel’s workers ever since:

Traditionally, the three large hotels in town—the Captain Cook, the Sheraton and the Hilton—have set the industry standard when it comes to negotiating contracts with unions. The Captain Cook’s local owners, for example, signed what workers considered a fair contract with the union. But the purchase of the Hilton by Columbia Sussex has threatened that dynamic. [Ref #4]

More news came yesterday by way of a piece in Alaska Dispatch by Barb Angaiak, president of NEA-Alaska. The NEA in its name stands for National Education Association: NEA-Alaska is the state’s largest union, representing 13,000 teachers and education support professionals throughout the state.  Angaiak’s article announced NEA-Alaska’s decision to cancel all its business with the Anchorage Hilton — which it had previously been a favored venue for many NEA-Alaska events — due to Columbia Sussex’s steadfast refusal to deal in good faith in negotiating a fair contract with its employees.

The Alaska chapter of the National Education Association has been monitoring the lack of progress in contract negotiations between the Anchorage Hilton Hotel and its bellmen, housekeepers, food servers, and other employee groups for some months. These hardworking Alaskans, members of Unite HERE Local 878, have been attempting to bargain a new contract for more than a year, and hotel management shows no signs that it is willing to settle.

This is part of a national pattern of union-breaking tactics and unfair treatment of employees by the Columbia Sussex Corporation. As a result, the NEA-Alaska Board of Directors met last weekend and voted to cancel its multi-year contract with the Hilton. The board severed all business ties with the hotel, despite the financial cost to our 13,000 members.

NEA-Alaska met with the Hilton management in May and August, both times offering our services as mediators to help the two sides achieve a reasonable settlement. Alaska staff returned from attending the last face-to-face negotiating session stating it has become clear that these Outside hotel managers have no interest in settling the dispute with their Alaskan employees. [Ref #5; emphasis added]

As stated in its press release announcing the severance of its relationship with the Anchorage Hilton, NEA-Alaska explained:

The hotel’s owners, Columbia Sussex, continue to delay progress in the bargaining and instead unilaterally imposed new conditions of employment, including increased workloads with no additional pay and a demand that workers pay a larger share of health care costs. [Ref #6]

You can see other evidence of NEA-Alaska’s concern and efforts to assist Unite HERE Local 878 members in gaining a fair contract at NEA-Alaska’s website. [Refs #7–12] In an August 24 letter to the Anchorage Hilton’s general manager Eric Kiddle, which informed him of NEA’s cancellation of reservations for two large events the union had planned to hold at the hotel, Barb Angaiak wrote,

Our view of the Hilton has changed substantially over the last several months.   Hilton began negotiating a successor agreement between service employees and management over a year ago, without success or much progress.  In the process, the efforts of hardworking, dedicated and loyal employees of the hotel have been disregarded by new management, which appears focused on cost-cutting.  The apparent lack of interest in developing a contract that provides employees fair treatment, wages, benefits and working conditions suggests an agenda that is new to Anchorage and our state’s hotel industry.  We note that the major hoteliers in the city have reached agreement with HERE, and the terms do not impose the kinds of concessions Columbia Sussex seeks from employees.  The requested concessions are, to our knowledge, the only reason that an agreement has not been reached. [Ref #11]

NEA-Alaska is asking all its members not to use any services at the Anchorage Hilton until the hotel settles a fair contract. [Ref #5] It has also posted a list at its website of all properties owned nationwide by Columbia Sussex [Ref #12] — which includes also the Anchorage Marriot — and is urging all Alaskans to honor the boycott by avoiding all those properties when traveling or dining out. [Ref #5]

Meanwhile — the Mayor’s Unity Dinner is being held at the Hilton tonight.  As reported late last night by Kyle Hopkins at the Anchorage Daily News,

The union of roughly 1,000 Anchorage hotel and restaurant workers this month asked new Mayor Dan Sullivan to move the dinner to another venue.

Sullivan declined, and the union, which is seeking a better offer on wages and benefits from the hotel’s Kentucky-based owner, now plans to protest the event.

“The mayor is not honoring the wishes of the diverse workforce that works in this hotel,” said Amarjeet Chhabra, spokeswoman for Unite Here Local 878. The union represents about 200 Hilton workers, she said.

Sullivan spokeswoman Sarah Erkmann said it would have been impossible to move the dinner on just days’ notice. The city had booked the Hilton because other hotels like the Sheraton and Captain Cook weren’t available, she said. [Ref #12]

But… I’ve got to wonder.  Was the Mayor’s office truly not aware of a serious labor issue that had been going on for more than a year, such that it wasn’t until early this month that they put any thought to it, and only after the hotel workers asked?  Other organizations which have pulled out from holding events at the Anchorage Hilton include the Alaska Federation of Filipino Americans — many of the Hilton’s workers are of Filipino descent — the NAACP, and the Alaska Nurses Association. [Ref #12] Did none of the people planning for the event, which regardless of its name change is still part of Mayor’s Diversity Month, take account of how the Hilton was screwing over its workers — workers who are as much at the heart of Anchorage’s diversity as any of the rest of us?

And golly gee whiz — is it mere coincidence that another event was held at the Anchorage Hilton starting at noon today was an Alaska Republican Party fundraiser featuring the same keynote speaker, Lynn Swann, who is also keynoting the Mayor’s event? Lynn Swann, the former Hall of Fame football player and former Republican candidate for governor in Pennsylvania, who, according to Erkmann, waived his speaking fee for the Mayor’s dinner — the Alaska Republican Party is paying for his visit.

Huh.  Interesting.  Looks a lot to me an awful lot as if arrangements for the Mayor’s Unity Dinner simply piggybacked off the arrangements for the Alaska Republican fundraiser.

The whole situation also makes me very curious to know what relationships might exist between Mayor Sullivan, the Alaska Republican Party, and the management and shareholders of Columbia Sussex.  After all, it wouldn’t be the first time that union-busting could be seen as a shared Republican value. Especially evident now with the union-busting efforts being aimed at the city’s police, fire, and electrical unions even as we speak.

As Shannyn Moore wrote two days ago,

Hmmm…unity? What is unifying about a former Pittsburgh Steeler and Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate, with a $40,000 speaker fee? Oh, you meant partisan…easy mistake. It makes more sense that you’re holding it at a union-busting hotel now.  Something about all those “diverse” looking hotel workers not being paid a living wage must really “unify” your party. [Ref #1]

This post might be updated later with photos of the union pickets outside the Hilton, which I hope to stop by on my way to the True Diversity Dinner.

Update 9/26/09, 3:40 AM: Here’s photos I took of the picketing before I went to the True Diversity Dinner. I also talked with Dave, one of the workers who was picketing. I’ll be writing more about this issue. But right now, I think I’ll go to bed.

References

1. 9/23/09. “Is Dan Sullivan Running For Senate?” by Shannyn Moore (Just a Girl from Homer; crossposted at The Mudflats and Alaska Report).
2. 9/24/09. “Sullivan’s Unity Speaker Swan Paid Enough for One Muni Job” by Steve Aufrecht (What Do I Know?)
3. 9/24/09. “True Diversity v. fake unity” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).
4. 6/17/09. “Housekeeping – The Hilton’s union employees institute a boycott” by Brendan Joel Kelley (Anchorage Press).
5. 9/24/09. “NEA-Alaska cancels Hilton contract” by Barb Angaiak (Alaska Dispatch).
6. 9/25/09. “State’s Largest Union Stands Behind Hilton Worker: 13,000-member NEA-Alaska Axes Contract with Hilton” (press release). NEA-Alaska.
7. May 2009. “Bringing pressure to bear on behalf of Hilton Hotel workers” by Barb Angaiak (NEA-Alaska).
8. May 2009. “A Message from the President: Bringing pressure to bear on behalf of Hilton Hotel workers” by Barb Angaiak, NEA-AKtivist 36(9): 2.
9. 7/28/09. “Local 878 Update” by Jessica Lawson of UNITE HERE Local 878 (NEA-Alaska).
10. 8/24/09. “Alaska Educators Agree to Stand with Anchorage Hotel Workers.” Press release from NEA-Alaska.
11. 8/24/09. Letter from Barb Angaiak, President of NEA-Alaska, to Eric Kiddle, General Manager, Anchorage Hilton Hotel.
12. 9/25/09. “Columbia Sussex Hotel Properties.” NEA-Alaska. A full list of properties owned by Kentucky-based  Columbia Sussex.  Anchorage properties include the Anchorage Hilton Hotel and the Anchorage Marriot.
13. 8/24/09. “Unions, others mount protest of mayor’s ‘unity’ dinner — HILTON: Hotel workers locked in labor dispute have asked for boycott” by Kyle Hopkins (Anchorage Daily News).

Related posts:

1. Hotel Workers Rising March: Today!
2. Hotel Workers Rising March: September 30
3. True Diversity Dinner video, part 3: Hotel workers, & Elvi's speech

As we come up on Friday, when the True Diversity Dinner sponsored by a few of us bloggers will be held at the Snow Goose at the same time as the Mayor’s Unity Dinner at the Hilton, Shannyn Moore provides some additional context for the dinners in a post she wrote yesterday, “Is Dan Sullivan Running For Senate?” (crossposted at The Mudflats). [Ref #1]

Dan Sullivan at his first Assembly meeting as Mayor of Anchorage on July 7

Shannyn speculates that by means of the political maneuvering associated with his actions as mayor & with the tactics of his cronies — such as Assembly Member Bill Starr — that Mayor Dan Sullivan might be positioning himself for an eventual run for U.S. Senate against Senator (and former Mayor) Mark Begich.  Among the tactics at work are attempting to blame the Municipality’s current fiscal problems on Begich, while ignoring the huge deficit that Begich inherited from our prior mayor, George Wuerch (who, coincidentally or not, shared Sullivan’s brand of antigay conservativism) and the current attempt to invalidate the Municipality’s contracts with the IBEW and the police union, [Ref #2] with the help of (1) an opinion by an attorney who has admitted to having no expertise in employment or labor union law and (2) a widely distributed email from Bill Starr, backed by fellow conservative Assembly Member and Sullivan crony Dan Coffey, alleging Mayor Begich withheld financial information from the the Assembly that, had they known it, would have resulted in the contracts not being agreed to in the first place.

Well, we’ll see the claims and counterclaims played out in the press — and in the blogs which, all too often nowadays, are better sources than the dailies and broadcast news for the real nuts and bolts of these things. We’ll see if the Anchorage Daily News reminds us, as Shannyn already has, about the phone call Dan Coffey’s butt accidentally made to Allan Tesche, which led to a recording of a conversation between Coffey and Starr involving some highly questionable campaign financing practices (and a lot of trash talk about the police union) — because that kind of corruption is also part of the context.

But what’s this got to do with True Diversity Dinner and the Mayor’s Unity Dinner? (Besides, that is, the fact that Shannyn Moore will be the keynote speaker at the True Diversity Dinner.)

This: that Mayor Sullivan’s dinner will be held at the only hotel in Anchorage under boycott by workers because of bad faith negotiating by Columbia Sussex, the Hilton’s owners.  I hadn’t known about this situation before, & thank Shannyn for providing that context. I got additional information through an article penned in June by Brendan Joel Kelley of the Anchorage Press,[Ref #3] while I was preoccupied with the battle for the Anchorage equal rights ordinance.  The mayor’s choice of venue goes hand-in-hand with the union-busting tactics being used against IBEW and the police union (and one must also hasten to wonder about Mayor Sullivan’s valuation of the city’s other first responders in the Anchorage Fire Department, about which Brendan Joel Kelley has also written [Ref #4]).

Mayor Sullivan appears to care as little about fair terms for Anchorage police, fire, electrical, and hotel workers as he does about LGBT workers.  Are unionbusting, bad faith bargaining, and unilateral attempts to get out of contracts part of the Mayor’s platform of diversity — or rather, er, unity?  As for me, I think a strong diverse workforce is rather essential to both, and unions are part of that.

Shannyn also points out the partisan credentials of the Mayor’s keynote speaker, former Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann, who will also be getting a hefty fee for headlining a Republican fundraiser while he’s in town. “Unity”?  Looks more like Republican party-building to me.

True Diversity Dinner program

Meanwhile, planning for the True Diversity Dinner proceeds — and we’re almost there!  Our speaker line-up includes Rev. Marquita Pierre, Diane Benson, Elvi Gray-Jackson, Shannyn Moore, and more. We’ll also have performances by Yup’ik dancers and singer Steven Alvarez, plus a dance afterwards.  We’re gonna have a great time!

Plea$e help!

But here’s time for a plea for help: the $10 being charged for tickets to the dinner only begins to cover the dinner’s cost; much of the cost has been coming out of our pockets.  Any help you can give will be appreciated — just go to the True Diversity Dinner web page and use the handy Donate button.

References

1. 9/23/09. “Is Dan Sullivan Running For Senate?” by Shannyn Moore (Just a Girl from Homer; crossposted at The Mudflats).
2. 9/23/09. “City labor contracts invalid, attorney says” by Don Hunter (Anchorage Daily News).
3. 6/17/09. “Housekeeping – The Hilton’s union employees institute a boycott” by Brendan Joel Kelley (Anchorage Press).
4. 8/19/09. “AFD gets its axe handed to it” by Brendan Joel Kelley (Anchorage Press). See also the Anchorage firefighters’ blog AFD Status about rolling closures instituted by the Sullivan Administration and other current issues affecting the Anchorage Fire Department’s ability to effectively serve the people of Anchorage.

[Crossposted at Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis]

Related posts:

1. True Diversity Dinner video, part 3: Hotel workers, & Elvi's speech
2. True Diversity Dinner 1 & 2: Video by Janson Jones
3. True Diversity Dinner: September 25, 2009

Max Blumenthal in Anchorage: click on picture for full-size poster with details on where & when you can hear him during his visit.

Crossposted at Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis

Thanks to some problems with a print job I was needed to help solve, my lunch yesterday was late, & to compound frustration it was interrupted by a fire drill, which meant having to shut down my computer, do a quick pack-up, & join everyone else in the office — faculty, staff, students — in a walk in the rain.

But the worst of it was that it interrupted me in my reading: having learned at Phil Munger’s blog Progressive Alaska about the upcoming visit to Anchorage of Max Blumenthal, & further detail about the same at some of the other Alaska progressive blogs like Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis, What Do I Know, Immoral Minority, and the Mudflats, I decided to check further into his recently published book, Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party. [Ref #1-6]

Palin's in here too, in case you were wondering.

Well, lunchtime wasn’t enough to get the full skinny out of what is something of a fat book (416 pages in hardback)  I ended up buying the book for my Kindle.  Didn’t have my Kindle with me, actually — but I did have my iPod Touch, with the Kindle for iPhone app, so after work found me reading at the bus stop at Prov Hospital, then on the bus, & then some more over dinner.  Per my Kindle, I’m now 14 percent of my way through the book at locations 1110-1119. That tells you a lot, doesn’t it? Sorry, Kindles don’t come with page numbers (I sure wish they did).  Okay, so another way of saying it: I’m at the beginning of chapter 8, “The Killer and the Saint,” which is about to describe to me how serial killer Ted Bundy got some last-minute attention prior to his execution in January 1989 by blaming his sociopathic ways on an addiction to pornography, & by seeking absolution from the father-confessor he’d chosen, Focus on the Family leader James Dobson.

That chapter should be interesting.  Back in the ’80s I’d read at least two or three books about Bundy, & I remember the date of his execution well — I was in Seattle at the time, where a lot of people were discussing him that day, especially women who lived in King County when Bundy was raping & murdering women there. Having read those books about Bundy, having read 7 chapters of this book already, I know even without having yet read chapter 8 that Bundy’s confession to Dobson was nothing more than self-aggrandizing publicity on both their parts. Bundy might claim to have been “born again” as a Christian on Florida’s death row, but best I can figure in all I’ve read about sociopaths of his ilk he had no soul to save: it had been, for whatever reasons, lost long ago — perhaps as a result of the abuse he himself had experienced as a child.  Dobson might be claiming to be witnessing Bundy’s salvation, but best I can see is he was either (1) a chump; or (2) delighted to have Bundy’s assistance in promoting his distorted idea of Christianity, which itself is marked by a promotion of child abuse (what Dobson called “discipline”).  Maybe both.  Y’think?

I hadn’t actually known before starting this book that James Dobson got his start as a child psychologist & was even a professor of pediatrics at USC School of Medicine in the late ’60s/early ’70s.  Then in 1970 he published his child-rearing manual, Dare to Discipline — his answer to the “permissive” child-rearing advice of Dr. Benjamin Spock.  Blumenthal quotes from Dobson’s book:

A little bit of pain goes a long way for a young child…. However, the spanking should be of sufficient magnitude to cause the child to cry genuinely.  After the emotional ventilation, the child will often want to crumple to the breast of his parent, and he should be welcomed with open, warm, loving arms. [Ref #6]

Wow.  If my partner & I had followed that advice in disciplining the already-abused boy who came to live with us at age 9, guess what would have happened to us?  We’d've been charged with child abuse. And rightly so.

Blumenthal makes a case that Dobson’s beliefs about corporal punishment extends into his views about — & indeed the overall Christianist view about — the Christianist believer’s relationship to (their version of) God. Blumenthal quotes from Philip Greven’s book Spare the Child: The Religious Roots of Punishment and the Psychological Impact of Physical Abuse:

The persistent ‘conservatism’ of American politics and society is rooted in large part in the physical violence done to children…. The roots of this persistent tilt towards hierarchy, enforced order, and absolute authority — so evident in Germany earlier in this century and in the radical right in American today — are always traceable to aggression against children’s wills and bodies, to the pain and the suffering they experience long before they, as adults, confront the complex issues of the polity, the society, and the world. [Ref #6]

Blumenthal points out that many Christianist leaders — including Dobson — were themselves subjected to corporal punishment and/or outright physical abuse as children.

Now, this doesn’t surprise me.  I’ve felt for a long time that the God worshiped by Christianists was your basic big bully.  And that the fear of God’s bullying punishments & the threat of eternal damnation were the only things that many Christianists felt could keep them in line — if indeed they did keep them in line.  When you’re taught from babyhood that “responsibility” is no more than blind obedience under the threat of a slapping hand or a belt or a “board of education” (which I remember seeing in use two or three times in junior high: yes, teacher-administered corporal punishment with a wooden paddle was allowed in public schools when I was a kid), what kind of responsibility do kids really learn?  Do they learn the internal strength needed to make truly moral decisions? Or are they merely running scared from Mom’s or Dad’s or the (so-called) Lord God Almighty’s whiphand?

People in Anchorage probably won’t be too surprised, either, to learn that at least as of 1985, even preschool children in the Anchorage Baptist Temple-affiliated Anchorage Christian Schools were subject to corporal punishment. From an October 1985 story in the Anchorage Daily News:

The Rev. Jerry Prevo announced Thursday that pre-school children will no longer be paddled at the Anchorage Christian School following Wednesday’s sentencing of a school employee for child abuse.

Prevo, whose Anchorage Baptist Temple runs the school, said corporal punishment will no longer be used on the pre-schoolers, “based on the fact it’s hard to spank and not take a chance of accidentally bruising.”

“When that happens, it puts our employees in an awkward position, and it’s not worth the hassle,” Prevo said.

Mary Lou Love, 52, a secretary with the school, was given a six-month suspended sentence for bruising a 2-year-old child’s bottom. Love swatted the child, Jennifer Wheeler, three times with a wooden paddle last May when she refused to eat.

… During her sentencing hearing, Love testified that she had been deeply disturbed over the incident and said that she never meant to bruise the child. She said she spanked her only because her job required her to do so.

“I would not have swatted her if I’d knew it would have bruised,” she said, adding that she will never paddle another child even if it means losing her job.

In 1983, Love’s supervisor, Robert Moreland, was charged with bruising the bottom of a 2-year-old child who also refused to eat….

Prevo said the bruising incidents were isolated cases.

“The parents sign a permission slip knowing that corporal punishment will be used.

“We’ve had as many as 800 kids a day and in the 13 years (the school has been open) and we’ve had two incidents. We would think that’s pretty good.”

He said corporal punishment will continue to be used at the grade school, junior and senior high school levels. [Ref #7]

That was, of course, 24 years ago, in 1985 — I have no idea if Anchorage Christian Schools still hits older-than-preschool kids with wooden paddles for serious crimes against the Lord Bully Almighty like refusing to eat. It is, after all, possible that ACS has learned over the years using wooden paddles on older kids is just as much of a “hassle” as hitting two-year-olds with them. But then again… maybe not.

(Did I say I remembered seeing wooden paddles in use in my junior high days? Much more do I remember hearing them: the hard loud thwack of wood against a kid’s behind, & the kid crying out with each swat. None of the cases involved a kid having been violent. No, only the teacher was violent. This was in 1971–72. It’s a practice I hope the Columbia Falls, Montana school system has dropped long since.)

People in Anchorage will possibly also not be surprised that ABT’s pastor Jerry Prevo, like James Dobson, grew up in a household where incidents of abuse occurred:

Born Jan. 12, 1945 in Oak Ridge, Tenn., Jerry Prevo grew up as the eldest of two sons to a pious mother and an alcoholic father who worked at a nuclearfuel processing plant.

One of his earliest childhood memories is rooted in a latenight argument between his mother and father when he was 3. Prevo’s father was in a drunken rage and threatened to kill the boy to get back at the mother.

She retreated, dragging young Jerry across the family bed to safety. He stills bears a scar on his chin from hitting the bedstead in the frantic escape effort.

His father, Prevo says, was abusive only when drunk. When sober, he taught Jerry how to hunt and fish and other fatherson things. During Prevo’s high school years, his father tempered his drinking somewhat and life was a little easier at home.

But when Prevo went away to college, the drinking began again and his father eventually deserted the family for a barmaid.

In 1976, the day he received a letter from his son in Alaska that spoke of how he still loved him despite the drinking, Prevo’s father hung himself in a shower stall.

Prevo speaks openly about the alcoholism, the abuse, the desertion and the suicide. But the arrival at his decision to reveal the final chapter of his father’s life, which he did to his congregation upon returning from his father’s funeral, was not easy.

“The biggest problem I had,” he says, “was the pride factor. I asked myself, “Are you going to share that with others? . . . Well, no one is perfect and sometimes people expect perfection in a pastor and get hurt . . . But it was an example that everything doesn’t always go my way, that people don’t always speak highly of me, that I have personal problems that everyone else has.”

His childhood experiences hardened many of his current beliefs, including total abstention from alcohol. [Ref #8]

What really strikes me here is the apparent assumption on Prevo’s part that his father’s alcoholism, abuse, desertion, suicide — somehow had something to do with Prevo‘s lack of perfection: as if the young Jerry Prevo was somehow at fault for his father‘s imperfections.  For imperfections that, in fact, harmed Prevo’s mother & Prevo himself.

This isn’t just irony — although it is that, too.  But mainly: his is a common reaction in people who have been abused as children: they take the responsibility for the parents’ abuse of them upon themselves. They blame themselves: something must be wrong with them for their parent to hurt them so.

And then, all too often, unless someone helps them to learn differently, they grow up to pass that belief on, in word & in deed: the cycle of violence.  Some of them even teach that it’s what God wants.

What a horrible teaching.  What a horrible God. But this is the God Jerry Prevo, as much as James Dobson, calls upon us to believe in.

Sorry, but a Big Bully Child Abuser in the Sky is not anyone I want to worship.

I have more to say about what I’m learning from Max Blumenthal’s book, but it’s way past midnight & time for sleep — so it’ll have to wait.

But before I shut my laptop & shut my eyes, I want to reiterate what the other folks have been saying: Max Blumenthal is coming to Anchorage this weekend, & you have a chance to see & hear him. Phil Munger has the full lowdown on where he’ll be. [Ref #9] And if you’ve got a spare dime, please consider donating using the PayPal link on Phil’s site to help cover costs of Mr. Blumenthal’s plane ticket up here!

References

1. 9/21/09. “Max Blumenthal Returns to the Land of Queen Esther” by Phil Munger (Progressive Alaska).
2. 9/18/09. “Now THAT’S what I call some down-home ‘indoctrination’!” by Linda Kellen Biegel (Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis).
3. 9/21/09. “Frank Schaeffer on Evangelicals – Max Blumenthal in Anchorage Next Weekend to Tell us Personally” by Steve Aufrecht (What Do I Know?).
4. 9/21/09. “Help Max Blumenthal receive the Alaska Bloggers bump” by Gryphen (Immoral Minority).
5. 9/21/09. “Max Blumenthal is Comin’ to Town!” by AK Muckraker (The Mudflats).
6. Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party by Max Blumenthal (Nation Books, 2009).
7. 10/18/1985. “Children won’t be paddled” by Kim Rich (Anchorage Daily News, p. C1).
8. 10/30/1986. “No middle ground” by Andrew Perala (Anchorage Daily News, Lifestyles section p. 1).
9. 9/18/09. “Max Blumenthal in Anchorage Next Week” by Phil Munger (Progressive Alaska).

Related posts:

1. No Questions, Questions (poem)
2. Illimitable god, & related thoughts about why I’m not a Christian
3. I’m not a mother, but I am. And then there’s Anya James.

True Diversity Dinner Announced on KTVA

You can also read the text version of the story on KTVA’s website. [Ref #1]

Shortly after I learned Heather was being interviewed, a query popped up in my email from Alaska Dispatch‘s Maia Nolan.  She asked me if I’d be willing to respond to two comments she’d received from the Mayor’s office about the dinners, as follows:

Sullivan spokesperson Sarah Erkmann:

No comment beyond that planning for the Unity Dinner continues with the mayor’s full support. It should be noted that funds raised at the dinner support the municipality’s diversity programming throughout the year. So withholding support for the event may have an adverse impact on the city’s ability to fund programs next year. The mayor has continually said that he thinks the values that bind us together are just as important as what separates us. The phrase I’ve heard him use is ‘respect diversity, celebrate unity.’

(The full text of Sarah Erkmann’s copy is in the story Maia Nolan filed.  The above is just the portion I got in the email.)

Mayor Dan Sullivan (from press release):

Our community is made up of many unique groups, but we all share some common values: the importance of family, quality education for our children, and safe, vibrant neighborhoods. This year’s event is meant to celebrate these values while respecting the diversity that makes Anchorage such a great place to live.

I replied as follows:

I’m speaking only as myself, but I think the others involved with the alternative True Diversity Dinner would agree with me that we have no argument with the Municipality’s diversity programming.  Nor are we asking for anyone to withhold support if they choose to attend the Unity Dinner.  But a lot of us find there to be a pretty big discrepancy between Mayor Sullivan’s veto of an ordinance which would have accorded equal protection from discrimination for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans citizens and visitors to Anchorage, and his supposed valuation of diversity.  I’m not sure who chose the Unity Dinner’s keynote speaker, Lynn Swann, but to me that choice underscores that that reference to “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in the muni’s diversity statement is, at least this year, lip service — Swann during his 2006 run for governor of Pennsylvania endorsed an amendment to PA’s constitution that would have prevented same-sex couples from  having the same rights — medical, marriage, estate — as heterosexual couples.

The result of this is, many of us who fought for equal rights for LGBT people in Anchorage — and that includes non-LGBT as well as LGBT people — don’t see much place for LGBTs or their allies as either individuals or as families in the Mayor’s vision of diversity. Several of us bloggers who had written a lot over the summer about the Assembly hearings started talking about how to respond to our feelings after the mayor’s veto of ordinance 64.  We decided that holding some kind of protest wouldn’t actually make us feel any better.  So we decided instead to celebrate the values we’d been fighting for.

Me with my family at the 1997 Alaska State Fair

I very much share the values Sullivan named: “the importance of family, quality education for our children, and safe, vibrant neighborhoods.” My partner and I raised her nephew from age 9 to the present (age 21) — a kid, I might add, whose entire life before he came to live with us was one of physical and emotional abuse and neglect at the hands of his (heterosexual) family.  I was the main economic support for my family; if my employer had decided to fire me simply for being a lesbian, not only would I suffer, but so would that boy.  Lucky for me that my employer didn’t.  But that’s a prospect that many families headed by LGBT people still face.  Sullivan’s veto makes it clear that he only deems some families important — and mine’s not one of them.  So much for “unity.”

I’m really glad that I’ll be in company on the night of the 25th with people who do think my family’s important. [Ref #2; emphases added]

I will add here that I once was, in fact, fired for being a lesbian. Part of my story was aired when I took my own turn being interviewed by KTVA last May, after the Anchorage equal rights ordinance AO 2009-64 was introduced in the Anchorage Assembly; I gave a more complete account in a followup blog post. At the time I was fired in 1984, I had no family to support — just myself. But discrimination still happens — as Assembly Chair Debbie Ossiander herself admitted when she voted against the ordinance on August 11 — and some of the people who are discriminated against do have families that they support, along with themselves. Not to mention that all of us, LGBT or not, are the children of mothers and fathers, the siblings of brothers and sisters. Don’t kid yourself that anti-LGBT discrimination is about “family values”: it’s about the devaluation and ostracization of members of people’s families and, in some cases, of entire families.

So much for “unity.” So much for the “Unity Dinner.”

The True Diversity Dinner will be held on September 25, 2009 at 7:30 PM at the Snow Goose Restaurant in downtown Anchorage. Tickets for the dinner are $10.00 and can be purchased at Borders Books & Music. We hope to have a midtown venue selling tickets soon; see the True Diversity Dinner blog for updates.

References

1. 9/15/09. “Controversy Brews between ‘Diversity’ & ‘Unity’” by Christina Grande (KTVA Channel 11 News) (misdated on KTVA’s website as 9/4/09).
2. 9/15/09. “More on the dueling diversity dinners” by Maia Nolan (Alaska Dispatch).
3. 5/13/09. “Channel 11 interview, part 1 (the video)” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).
4. 5/13/09. “Channel 11 interview, part 2 (the full story)” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).

Related posts:

1. True Diversity Dinner video, part 3: Hotel workers, & Elvi's speech
2. True Diversity Dinner 1 & 2: Video by Janson Jones
3. True Diversity v. fake unity

Assembly Chair Debbie Ossiander

Anchorage Assembly Chair Debbie Ossiander made extensive  comments on August 11 explaining why she would not support passage of the Anchorage equal rights ordinance, AO 2009-64. [Ref #1] Included in her comments was her opinion about Title VII f the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Pub. L. 88-352), as follows (tip o’ the nib to John Aronno of Alaska Commons for transcription):

I also discovered that, though what we are proposing as protection at the municipal level, through the Equal Rights Commission, there are some federal regulations and laws that could pertain here. I particularly looked at Title VII, what was covered in Title VII, I read some court cases, I read some court cases about Title VII, it’s basically the civil rights law of the United States, and it basically covers, in my mind, employee discrimination, including same sex employee discrimination, for businesses with over fifteen employees.

Pamela Kelley (right) talking with Jean Craciun during a break at the July 21 Anchorage Assembly meeting

This was in spite of testimony before the Assembly on July 21 by Anchorage attorney and UAA Justice professor Pamela Kelley to the effect that, no, in fact existing law does not protect LGBT people from discrimination [Ref #2] and a followup letter Prof. Kelly sent the following day to Ossiander and to Assembly Member Jennifer Johnston about a U.S. Supreme Court case arising out of Title VII, Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc., 523 U.S. 75 (1998). [Ref #3] As discussed in my post about Prof. Kelley’s letter, Oncale is one case which demonstrates  how narrowly the Supreme Court interprets Title VII’s provisions regarding sex discrimination — which does not extend to sexual orientation. [Ref #4]

Now comes a case decided last Friday in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Prowel v. Wise Business Forms. This case involved a self-described effeminate gay man who claimed his employer discriminated against him because he failed to conform in his mannerisms, style of dress, and interests to masculine gender role stereotypes, in violation of Title VII’s prohibition of sex discrimination. [Ref #5] The 3rd Circuit based its decision in Prowel on another Title VII case, the 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, which ruled in favor of a woman who had been discriminated against because she did not conform to traditional norms of femininity. [Ref #6] As summarized by Marquette law professor Paul Secunda,

That’s called sex-stereotype discrimination… when an employer says to someone “you’re not acting ‘female enough’ or ‘male enough,’ therefore we’re firing you.” [Ref #7]

In other words, Price-Waterhouse v. Hopkins clarified that by making sex discrimination in employment illegal, Title VII also made  sex-stereotype discrimination illegal.  But it did not make sexual orientation discrimination illegal, as demonstrated by numerous references in Prowel. For example:

• “a claim for sexual orientation discrimination — which is not cognizable under Title VII” [Ref #5, p. 10]
• quoting from a prior 3rd Circuit decision in Bibby v. Philadelphia Coca Cola Bottling Co. [Ref #8], “Title VII does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Congress has repeatedly rejected legislation that would have extended Title VII to cover sexual orientation” [Ref #5, p. 10]
• again, in reference to the Bibby decision, “Despite acknowledging that harassment based on sexual orientation has no place in a just society, we explained that Congress chose not to include sexual orientation harassment in Title VII” [Ref #5, p. 12]

Emmett Honeycutt (portrayed by Peter Paige) in Showtime's "Queer As Folk" — like Brian D. Prowel, a Pennsylvanian with "pizzazz". (Showtime promotional image)

The question in Prowel was whether Brian D. Prowel, the plaintiff, had been discriminated against for being homosexual — in which case he had no recourse for a complaint under Title VII — or for not conforming to gender stereotypes — in which case he did.  The court was clear in any case that,

There is no basis in the statutory or case law to support the notion that an effeminate heterosexual man can bring a gender stereotyping claim while an effeminate homosexual man may not. [Ref #5, p. 17; emphasis in original]

and hence concluded,

As long as the employee — regardless of his or her sexual orientation — marshals sufficient evidence such that a reasonable jury could conclude that harassment or discrimination occurred “because of sex,” the case is not appropriate for summary judgment. For the reasons we have articulated, Prowel has adduced sufficient evidence [of sex-stereotyping discrimination] to submit this claim to a jury. [Ref #5, p. 17]

What this means in essence is that within the 3rd Circuit’s jurisdiction at least — which includes Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the Virgin Islands [Ref #9]:

• An effeminate gay man fired from his job might have recourse under Title VII, but only if he can prove he was discriminated against based on gender stereotypes, rather than sexual orientation.  A gay man who’s butch?  SOL.
• Likewise, a lesbian with a mannish or butch presentation (like me!) might have recourse — but again, only if she can prove she was canned for being butch, not for being a lesbian.  But a femme lesbian?  Too bad so sad.

The 3rd Circuit’s decision is not precedential for Alaska, which is covered by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.  But there is no reason to suspect that the judges of the 9th Circuit have any different understanding than the judges of the 3rd Circuit when it comes to the relevance of Title VII to sexual orientation discrimination.  Let me repeat: SOL.  Let me repeat: Too bad, so sad.

So display your gender stereotype noncomformity freely. But keep your sexual orientation firmly in the closet. At least, that’s what the case law on Title VII has to say about it. And that will remain the case until, if and when, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that Title VII’s sex discrimination provision includes sexual orientation discrimination, or until Congress amends Title VII to add sexual orienation through an Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), as has been proposed in both houses of Congress recently. [Ref #7] Until then, as Paul Secunda explained to the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog,

…while certain states and cities have laws prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, the Supreme Court has never ruled that sexual orientation is covered by Title VII. [Ref #7]

It may all the same be true what Debbie Ossiander said of Title VII, that “it basically covers, in my mind,. employee discrimination, including same sex employee discrimination.”

But what counts with Title VII isn’t what’s in Debbie Ossiander’s mind — but in what the courts have ruled. So while she may have partially salved her own conscience with her mistaken notions about Title VII, reality is that thanks to her “no” vote on AO 2009-64, and what seems likely to be her refusal to override Mayor Sullivan’s veto of it, LGBT people in Anchorage have no more protection from the unfair job discrimination than they they do in housing, public accommodations, financial practices, and municipal practices.

In the meantime, Brian D. Prowel: I wish you the very best. What your coworkers and employer subjected you to was inexcusable.  Readers of this blog can read the full court decision to see just how nasty they were.  And rest assured that some Anchorage employers and coworkers are every bit as nasty.  Too bad. So sad. No recourse here.

References

1. 8/13/09. “Third time in 35 years: Anchorage’s equal rights ordinance” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).
2. 7/23/09. “Kelley testimony 1: Contrary to prior Assembly testimony, existing law does not protect LGBT people from discrimination” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).
3. 7/23/09. “Kelley testimony 2: Oncale Supreme Court decision on workplace sexual harassment does not protect LGBTs from discrimination” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).
4. Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc., 523 U.S. 75 (1998).
5. 8/28/09. Prowel v. Wise Business Forms. U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Opinion written by Judge Thomas M. Hardiman.
6. Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228 (1989).
7. 9/1/09. “On Sexual-Orientation and Title VII: Are Changes Afoot?” by Ashby Jones (WSJ.com Law Blog).
8. Bibby v. Philadelphia Coca Cola Bottling Co., 260 F.3d 257 (3d Cir. 2001); cited in Prowel v. Wise Business Forms.
9. 8/29/09. “Appeals court allows gender stereotype case” by Paula Reed Ward (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

[Crossposted at Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis]

Related posts:

1. Kelley testimony 2: Oncale Supreme Court decision on workplace sexual harassment does not protect LGBTs from discrimination
2. Against discrimination in Anchorage
3. "There's no sign of discrimination" — uh, yes there is

As a member of the Outer Alliance, I advocate for queer speculative fiction and those who create, publish and support it, whatever their sexual orientation and gender identity. I make sure this is reflected in my actions and my work.

I live in Anchorage.  Like most of LGBT folk in Anchorage, along with our allies, a lot of my emotional & political energy over the past few months has been taken up in our fight for protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. On August 11, we won that fight — temporarily — when the Anchorage Municipal Assembly, by a vote of 7 to 4, passed the Anchorage equal rights ordinance, AO 2009-64.  But a few days later, on August 17, Mayor Dan Sullivan vetoed it.  While the Assembly has a few more days to try to override the veto, it doesn’t seem likely.  And so, for the third time in 35 years, Anchorage first granted equality to at least some of its LGBT citizens, and for the third time the forces of intolerance, Christianist supremacy, and homophobia took it away again.

So you’ll pardon me if it wasn’t until today that I got the full skinny on why the Outer Alliance was started some days ago with the goal to “educate, support, and celebrate LGBT contributions in the science-fiction and fantasy genres.” [Ref #1] I knew it had something to do with some creepy comments made by a certain science fiction/fantasy writer, but I didn’t actually know what he said.

Now I know.  And let me tell you, it rates every bit as full of hatred and ignorance as the worst offal spewed in Anchorage this summer out of the mouths of Christianist hate-pastor Jerry Prevo, self-proclaimed homophobe and “rascist” Eddie Burke [see note 1 below], and the numerous red-shirted individuals who carried their “Truth is Not Hate” hate speech into the Assembly chambers or spilled it into the comments on the Anchorage Daily News website [note 2].

The SF/F fiction writer in question was John C. Wright, Nebula Award-nominated author of the fantasy novel Orphans of Chaos, along with other SF/F titles.  His Wikipedia entry provides a good summary (I’ve removed the links and internal footnoting for ease of reading):

On July 29, 2009, Wright posted an entry in his blog entitled More Diversity and More Perversity in the Future! where he criticized SyFy’s [formerly known as the SciFi Channel] promises of more diversity in programming, calling homosexuality an “abomination”, “an irrational lust”, “a malfunction of love”, “perverted” and not “normal and natural”, drawing comparison to racism and suggesting its depiction to be similar to that of “love affairs with corpses, small children, and farm animals”. This caused controversy within the science fiction community, drawing heavy criticism from fellow sci-fi writer such as Hal Duncan. Wright later deleted the original post, complaining of “slander” at having his views about lesbian and gay people identified as homophobic and bigoted, and sought to clarify that he shared the views of his church that homosexuality was against nature. He concluded, however, by saying “The love a homosexual feels toward his lover may be disordered — but it is still love, and love is still divine.” [Ref #2]

As wryly noted by Mari Kurisato a few days later,

John C Wright has decided to try to outdo Orson Scott Card and other misohomosexuals, primarily by being a stellar shit thrower  on the internet and then going “well, I didn’t mean it exactly like that.” [Ref #3]

Links within the quote are hers, and worth checking out.  They are, in order, the full text of John C. Wright’s original LiveJournal entry, which someone retained after Wright took it down from his own blog; the portion of SF/F writer Orson Scott Card’s Wikipedia entry on his views about homosexuality; and an entry from Wright’s blog indicating a putative “apology.” [Refs 4, 5, 6] For her part, Mari Kurisato, a talented illustrator, went on to design Outer Alliance’s logo. [Ref #3]

But the actual post I ran across which first gave me a rundown, and some highly useful commentary, about the John C. Wright controversy was one by Kip Manley called “John C. Wright is recoiling in craven fear and trembling, and I don’t feel so good myself” [Ref #7], which takes Wright’s nonsense and makes it — well… nonsense.  Because that’s what it is.  And pretty atrocious nonsense too. Much as we became accustomed to hearing in Anchorage in the course of our Summer of Hate. [Note 3]

At one point, Manley quotes from an older post of his, when the topic of discussion was Orson Scott Card — a writer I used to call “my favorite Mormon science fiction writer,” up until the time Card started displaying his own antigay attitudes.  Manley wrote in 2004:

Science fiction is largely a fiction of setting: the bulk of the iceberg that’s unseen, underwater, is the act of world-building, and in that act, politics is paramount. (One is building a polis, after all.) —Therefore, it’s all-too-appropriate to keep in mind an author’s politics when considering their science fiction: an author who, say, considers homosexuality to be an aberration, is un- (or perhaps less) likely to build a world that would appeal to a reader who does not. There’s an assumption clash: one of his fundamental, foundational bedrocks is abhorrent to me, and vice-versa.

One can respond: well, yes, but there’s nothing about aberrant homosexuality in Ender’s Game, so how can it clash? Heck, there’s nothing in that book about homosexuality at all! And I will resist the urge to say oh, you think so? and I will even resist the urge to say precisely! —Instead, I’ll allow as how there’s frequently large gaps in the jerry-rigged polis left as exercises for the reader: one can hardly describe every kitchen sink, after all; one must make assumptions, and count on the reader doing likewise (which among other reasons is why fan fiction [and slash fiction] is so popular in science fiction). But that’s precisely why when those assumptions suddenly clash, it’s unsettling, even violently dissonant. [Ref #8]

I struggle with those issues myself — whether or how completely to divorce the art from the artist — even with people like Orson Scott Card, whose second “Ender” novel, Speaker for the Dead, has always struck me as deeply compassionate in its  acceptance of difference between people. But if the artist is not necessarily the same as his art, nor is Card the same as Ender Wiggin.  At least not when it comes to homosexuals. [Ref #9]

But deciding whether or not to purchase or read or boycott the work of writers who have publicly demonstrated their homophobia, or any other moral failing they may have, is not what the Outer Alliance is about.  Rather, it is, as previously stated, to to “educate, support, and celebrate LGBT contributions in the science-fiction and fantasy genres.” [Ref #1] And here’s one reason why:

This is a point that probably does not need to be reiterated too often among our group, but one that never quits being useful: when they (the members of the majority culture, or whatever you want to call them) know personally even one of us, then they tend to be more open-minded about who we are, more ready to give up those prejudices based on what we are not.  This fact, more than any other, is why we are winning what American right-wingers like to call “the culture war” in spite of our vast numerical disadvantage. Every single time a queer comes out or a straight ally speaks up in favor equality of human dignity, at least one, and usually more, of our opponents fall back and retrench or just give up. The John C. Right [sic] Affair is good example of it. [Ref #10]

As a writer — now hoping, frankly, to move on from the Summer of Hate and back to my writing — this is something I can wholeheartedly endorse and take part in.  As a lesbian citizen of Anchorage, for whom the Summer of Hate is a very recent and very lasting memory, it’s how I intend to conduct myself in my day-to-day life: to live openly, happily, and fully as who I am — knowing full well that eventually, even the likes of Jerry Prevo and Eddie Burke will fall away.

I hope that readers of this blog, most of whom (I think) are Alaskans, and some of whom (I hope) are readers of science fiction and fantasy, will consider joining the Outer Alliance and will take a look at some of the numerous posts posted today in honor of Outer Alliance Pride Day.  They’re all listed on the Outer Alliance’s website. [Ref #11]

Maybe even take a look at mine. [Ref #12] I’ve gotta say, as interesting as Palin getting punked might be, such that my post on it’s gotten 130 hits today as of this writing — it would sure be nice to have more than 11 hits on the excerpt posted early today of my novel-in-progress Mistress of Woodland.  Who knows, you might even like Mielikki more than you like Sarah Palin.

Notes

1. The red-t-shirt rightwing talk radio host Eddie Burke wore when he testified at the Assembly identified him as a “Homophobic Red Shirt Bible Thumping Nazi Gay Bashing Tea Bagging Rascist White Guy Bigot.” Speculation is that either (a) Burke doesn’t know how to spell or (b) he was purposely combining the words racist and fascist and identifying himself as both.
2. “Truth is Not Hate” was, of course, the most frequently seen sign carried by anti-ordinance protesters over the course of the summer.  “Love the sinner, hate the sin” yada yada. I plan to examine the falsity of these claims of “not hating” in the near future.  The signs were printed by Alaska Family Council, which along with Prevo’s Anchorage Baptist Temple took the lead in the Christianist assault on equal rights in Anchorage over the summer.
3. “Summer of Hate” is a term I’ve adopted from Brendan Joel Kelley’s account of the Anchorage equal rights ordinance battle in his August 28, 2009 post for Dan Savage’s blog, “Meanwhile in Alaska: Anchorage’s Summer of Hate” (The Stranger). Brendan Joel Kelley is associate editor of the Anchorage Press.

References

1. 8/09. “About Us” (The Outer Alliance).
2. “John C. Wright.” Wikipedia entry.
3. 8/19/09. “Perversion versus Obscurity” by Mari Kurisato (Mari’s MetaMusings).
4. 7/29/09. “More Diversity and More Perversity in the Future!” by John C. Wright (John C. Wright’s Journal, reposted on the PaBlog). Wright’s statement is also reposted as comment 42 to the August 13, 2009 post “Justifying homosexuality without justifying incest” by Amerpersand (Alas! a blog).
5. “Orson Scott Card.” Wikipedia entry, section on “Homosexuality” (Card’s views about it).
6. 8/18/09. “APOLOGIA PRO OPERE SUI part I” by John C. Wright (John C. Wright’s Journal, LiveJournal).
7. 8/15/09. “John C. Wright is recoiling in craven fear and trembling, and I don’t feel so good myself” by Kip Manley (Long Story Short Pier).
8. 4/24/04. “Negative space, or, Why I don’t trust æsthetes” by Kip Manley (Long Story Short Pier).
9. 7/28/08. “Editorial: It’s Time to Call Out Anti-Gay Author of ‘Ender’s Game’” (AfterElton.com).
10. 8/25/09. “Outer Alliance Pride Day 9/1/09″ (The Outer Alliance).
11. 9/1/09. “Outer Alliance Pride Day Posts Begin!” (The Outer Alliance).
12. 9/1/09. “Outer Alliance Pride Day 2009: An excerpt from Mistress of Woodland” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa.com).

Related posts:

1. In some parts of the world, it's already Outer Alliance Pride day
2. Crossed Genres LGBTQ issue: The ad goes live
3. Cold, Crossed Genres, & Flash homophobia

Since posting a couple of early A.M.’s ago about a new lawsuit that seeks to overturn provisions of the Alaska Constitution with respect to judicial selection [Ref #1], I’ve learned a whole lot more.

For one thing, the lawsuit isn’t “new.”  In fact, it was filed way back in early July, almost two months ago.

Wow. Somebody in the Alaska press corps was asleep on the job.  Like, for instance, the entire Alaska press corps.  How else could they have missed this?

PRESS RELEASE
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Contact: James Bopp, Jr.
Phone 812/232-2434; Fax 812/235-3685; jboppjr@aol.com

Alaska Voters and Candidate Challenge Process for Selecting State Judges

Two Alaska voters and one past judicial candidate filed suit today in federal court to stop the current plan for selecting state judges in Alaska. The current plan denies ordinary Alaska voters an equal voice in selecting their judges.

In Alaska, a seven member group called the Judicial Council limits nominees forwarded to the Governor for open seats on Alaska’s courts. Governor Palin is then forced to choose one of them, regardless of differences of views on legal matters. Since all nominees allowed to move forward by the Judicial Council may be diametrically opposed to the Governor, the Judicial Council, and not the people, has complete control over who becomes a judge in Alaska. The Judicial Council makeup, with three lawyers selected only from and by the Bar Association, guarantees lawyers have a greater say than ordinary citizens in Alaska in selecting judges who have great power and control over the lives of regular citizens. The suit asks the court to put an end to this inequality and give all Alaska voters an equal voice.

The case arises out of the upcoming retirement of Justice Robert L. Eastaugh from the Alaska Supreme Court. His retirement will create a vacancy on November 2, 2009. The plaintiffs want the court to stop the three lawyer Council members from selecting the nominees for that vacancy. If successful, when Governor Palin has to make her choice to fill the spot, the names in front of her will be picked by a Council that represents equally all the people of Alaska.

Incidentally, the Alaska Bar Rag, published by the Alaska Bar Association, has recently featured editorials expressing concern over the flaws in the judicial selection process.

According to attorney James Bopp, Jr., lead counsel for the plaintiffs, the Alaska plan “gives the Alaska Bar Association a stranglehold on the judiciary. Lawyers in Alaska have enormous influence over who the state judges are, while the ordinary voter is denied the right to an equal voice.” The system needs to be corrected now, before Governor Palin is forced to put another justice on the Supreme Court through an unjust process.

The case is Hinger v. Carpeneti, et al., No. (D. Alaska July 2, 2008 [sic]). The complaint and memorandum supporting the motion for a preliminary injunction are available in PDF format online at the James Madison Center’s website, www.jamesmadisoncenter.org, under the “Alaska Judicial Selection Challenge” link on Thursday, July 2, 2009.

James Bopp, Jr. has a national federal and state election law practice. He is General Counsel for the James Madison Center for Free Speech and former Co-Chairman of the Election Law Subcommittee of the Federalist Society. [Ref #2]

Maybe James Bopp, Jr. didn’t bother to send his press release to the Alaska press?  Or maybe — look at the date on it — maybe it’s that the Alaska press was distracted by the flabbergasting news made by Sarah Palin the following day as she stood on the banks of Lake Lucille and announced that she planned to resign from her governorship? — an announcement, one must mention, which immediately made the portions of the press release referring to her role in judicial selection obsolete.

Well, however it was the Alaska press missed the boat on this, other people didn’t. A Texas blog for Palin fans posted the press release the same day under the title “Challenge could give Gov. Palin more choices in selecting judges.” On July 6, the Alaska Employment Law blog, operated by several Alaska attorneys, gave a summary of the plaintiffs’ complaint and their simultaneous motion for a preliminary injunction:

According to a Complaint filed in federal court on July 2nd, Alaska’s judicial selection system violates Equal Protection and 42 USC § 1983 by giving disproportionate influence to attorneys on the Judicial Council.  The Council screens judicial applicants and forwards at least two names to the Governor for appointment.  Attorneys elected by the Bar Association comprise three of the seven members of the Council; non-attorney members appointed by the Governor hold three other seats.  The Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court is ex-officio chair of the Council, and, by law, is an attorney.

The lawsuit was filed by three plaintiffs: Kenneth Kirk is a frequent attorney applicant for judicial positions; Carl Ekstrom is a non-attorney member of the Board of Governors; and Ward Hinger is a member of the public.

The plaintiffs are represented by Kenneth Jacobus of Anchorage, and James Bopp of Indiana.

Plaintiffs have simultaneous moved for a preliminary injunction and to consolidate that motion with the merits.  The matter is assigned to Judge Timothy Burgess.

Hinger v. Carpeneti, 3:09-cv-00136-TMB. [Ref #4]

Three days later, the same blog briefly updated with the news that Judge Timothy Burgess of the U.S. District Court for Alaska had recused himself from the case, which was now assigned to Judge Ralph Beistline [Ref #5], and on July 20 reported that Judge Beistline had set September 11 as the date for oral argument on the plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction. [Ref #6]

But the first most of us heard on this case was until two days ago, when a brief story by Associated Press reporter Dan Joling turned up on the Anchorage Daily News website [Ref #7], followed by a longer story by Joling posted overnight on both the Juneau Empire‘s and the ADN’s websites. [Ref #8] Interestingly, neither story gave any indication that the lawsuit had been in the Alaska District Court’s hands for nearly two months.  The impression I got was that the lawsuit had only just now been filed, possibly in reaction to the Alaska Judicial Council’s August 21 press release on the bar survey scores for applicants to the Alaska Supreme Court position [Ref #9] being vacated on November 2 upon the retirement of Justice Robert L. Eastaugh.

It was, of course, the announcement of Justice Eastaugh’s retirement that prompted the lawsuit in the first place, as Bopp’s July 2 press release made plain.   So probably the Judicial Council’s August 21 press release did play a role in someone cluing in a member of the press about the lawsuit.  Maybe the plaintiffs or other people knowledgeable about the case are scared that the Judicial Council will meet and select candidates to nominate to Gov. Parnell before they get a chance to get the preliminary injunction they’re seeking.  The plaintiffs seek with the hoped-for injunction to control the nomination process by removing the three attorney members of the Judicial Council — contrary to the Alaska Constitution — from playing any role in deciding which of the 19 remaining candidates’ names should be forwarded to the governor for his  decision on who to appoint to the high court.  If their wish is granted, only Chief Justice Walter Carpenti, chair of the Judicial Council, and the Council’s three public members — two appointed by Gov. Palin and one by Gov. Frank Murkowski — would choose the nominees.

How likely are the plaintiffs to get their way?  Well… I dunno.  But I’m getting a lot better picture of the chances.  Because now that I’ve finally been informed by the press that there’s a lawsuit actively soliciting federal judicial activism to overturn major provisions of the Alaska Constitution, I’ve been doing my best to get hold of all the motions and memorandums that both plaintiffs and defendants have been filing for the last nearly-two-months while the Alaska press wasn’t paying attention.

I intend to educate myself about the legal ins and outs of the case. And now you can too. And you should, because while I do intend to write more blog posts explaining this stuff as best I can, sometimes my life and my up & down moods get the better of my intentions.

So.  Posted tonight on my website for your elucidation and enjoyment, I give you [drumroll and flourish]–

Miller v. Carpeneti: Court filings through August 27

The documents are listed in chronological order.  I recommend reading the last-filed case dated 8/27/09 first, before going back to the earlier stuff.  I’ve also included document numbers when I know them — these are useful because the various documents frequently cite the other documents using these numbers.

Note that the first version of the plaintiffs’ complaint dated 7/2/09 has been superseded by the 7/28/09 version.  That’s also the first piece of paperwork I’ve got in which Michael Miller rather than Ward Hinger is the first-named plaintiff: Hinger apparently dropped out of the case.  This is why it’s now known as Miller v. Carpeneti instead of Hinger v. Carpeneti.

Plaintiffs: Complaint; motion for preliminary injunction

• 7/2/09. Verified Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (42 U.S.C. § 1983).  First version of complaint, with Hinger as first-named plaintiff; hence initial reference to case as Hinger v. Carpeneti.  I’d recommend reading the revised complaint dated 7/28/09 rather than this one.
• 7/2/09. Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Memorandum in Support. Read this too: this is the injunction that oral arguments will be heard upon on September 11.
• 7/2/09. Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Memorandum in Support: signature and sample order. This is excerpted from a second copy of the motion from another source, showing the signature of Kenneth Jacobus followed by an attachment with a suggested wording for the order for preliminary injunction.
• 7/15/09. [Document 29]. Response to Motion for Extension of Time to Oppose Plaintiffs’ Motion for Prelminary Injunction. Agreeing to the defense request for additional time prepare its responses.
• 7/28/09. [Document 32]. First Amended Verified Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (42 U.S.C. § 1983). Miller replaces Hinger as first-named plaintiff, prompting change of case name to Miller v. Carpeneti.

Defendants:  Motion to dismiss complaints; opposition to motion for preliminary injunction

• 7/31/09. [Document 36]. Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to F.R.C.P. 12(b)(6). This is just the motion; the arguments are in the next file.
• 7/31/09. [Document 35]. Defendants’ Memorandum in Support of Motion to Dismiss. The Alaska Judicial Council is being defended by Assistant Attorney General Margaret Paton-Walsh of the Alaska Department of Law and Jeffrey Feldman, Susan Orlansky, and Alexander O. Bryner of the law firm Feldman Orlansky & Sanders. Here’s their arguments for why this lawsuit should be dismissed.
• 7/31/09. [Document 34]. Defendants’ Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction. Why the motion for a preliminary injunction should be denied.

Plaintiffs: Response to defendants

• 8/5/09. [Document 38]. Reply to Defendants’ Opposition to Motion for Preliminary Injunction.
• 8/17/09. [Document 42]. Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to F.R.C.P. 12(b)(g).

Defendants: Reply

• 8/27/09. [Document 43]. Defendants’ Reply to Opposition to Motion to Dismiss.

References

1. 8/27/09. “Lawsuit asks feds to overrule Alaska Constitution” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa.com).
2. 7/2/09. “Alaska Voters and Candidate Challenge Process for Selecting State Judges” [press release] by James Bopp, Jr. (Terre Haute, IN: James Madison Center for Free Speech).
3. 7/2/09. “Challenge could give Gov. Palin more choices in selecting judges” [posting of Bopp press release] (Texas for Sarah Palin).
4. 7/6/09. “DAlaska: Attack on Constitutionality of Alaska Judicial Selection Plan” (Alaska Employment Law).
5. 7/9/09. “Alaska Legal Miscellanea: Vexatious Litigants, and Alaska’s Judicial Selection Plan” (Alaska Employment Law).
6. 7/20/09. “Alaska Legal Miscellanea: AJC Challenge” (Alaska Employment Law).
7. 8/26/09. “Lawsuit calls for changes in Alaska judicial nominations” by Dan Joling (Associated Press via Anchorage Daily News).
8. 8/27/09. “Lawsuit presses for changes in judicial nominations: Group says Alaska Bar Association has too much power in process” by Dan Joling (Associated Press via Juneau Empire; also published in the Anchorage Daily News).
9. 8/21/09. “Supreme Court Candidates” [press release]. (Alaska Judicial Council; posted on Henkimaa.com). Further information on the candidates for the Alaska Supreme Court position being vacated by Justice Robert Eastaugh are available on the Alaska Judicial Council web page about the position.

Related posts:

1. Miller v. Carpeneti: Judge Sedwick's opinion
2. Miller v. Carpeneti: Case dismissed
3. Miller v. Carpeneti: The conservatives behind the attack on Alaska judicial independence and impartiality