Sullivan, Dunleavy predictably rush to Trump’s defense/Board of Education advances regulations singling out trans students
Good morning, Alaska! It’s Monday, June 12.
In this edition: While I was busy goofing around with AI-generated art of legislators, half of Alaska’s statewide elected officials were rushing to the former President’s defense in just about the most predictable fashion possible. Without waiting to see what was contained in the more than three dozen charges against him, Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Gov. Mike Dunleavy hurried to declare the charges against Donald Trump as nothing more than a political witch hunt with a dash of “but her emails!” Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola offered much more measured responses to the news. Meanwhile, via the Board of Education, the Dunleavy administration is moving forward with regulations aimed at singling out trans student athletes. Also, the reading list.
Current mood: 🙄
Sullivan, Dunleavy predictably rush to Trump’s defense
Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Gov. Mike Dunleavy were quick to come to the former President’s defense after he was indicted Friday on more than three dozen counts he mishandled classified documents. While the other half of Alaska’s statewide officials—Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Alaska U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola—had more measured wait-and-see responses, Sullivan and Dunleavy both issued statements that criticized the decision to charge Donald Trump with a fair bit of whataboutism mixed in for good measure.
“This is a sad day for our country and Republican form of government. There is no denying President Trump is the most persecuted President in our country’s history,” said Dunleavy in a statement issued before the indictment was unsealed, revealing what even former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr conceded was “very damning.” “I am afraid the American people will continue to lose trust in our governmental institutions. This sets a terrible precedent.”
As he’s wont to do, Sullivan turned genuine criticism of a Republican’s conduct into an opportunity to bash a Democratic president and former Democratic presidential candidate with a “but her emails” statement.
“The American people know that for years Joe Biden stored classified documents in his garage and that Hillary Clinton mishandled classified emails stored on her private server in her home. But with this Justice Department, there seems to be far more interest in pursuing former President Trump—President Biden’s chief political rival— than others,” he said in a statement. “Equality before the law is a fundamental tenet of our republic. The Biden administration is shoving our country into dangerous territory that is eroding trust in critical institutions of our government.”
At an event later on Friday, Sullivan conceded that he had yet to read the indictment and offered no other comment. An offer by Alaska Public Media reporter Liz Ruskin for Sullivan to respond directly to the allegations contained in the indictment went unanswered.
Meanwhile, Alaska U.S. Sen. Murkowski—who has frequently found herself among the minority of Republicans willing to be critical of Trump—reiterated much of what the Department of Justice has been saying about the charges: No one should be treated as if they are above the law.
“As I’ve stated before, no one is above the law, but every American is innocent until proven guilty. Still, the charges, in this case, are quite serious and cannot be casually dismissed,” she said on Twitter. “Mishandling classified documents is a federal crime because it can expose national secrets, as well as the sources and methods they were obtained through. The unlawful retention and obstruction of justice related to classified documents are also criminal matters. Anyone found guilty—whether an analyst, a former president, or another elected or appointed official—should face the same set of consequences.”
As for Alaska’s newest statewide elected official, Alaska U.S. Rep. Peltola was the most reserved of the bunch.
“I’m a strong believer in our judiciary and the process that takes place,” she told the Alaska Beacon’s James Brooks at an event in Juneau on Friday. “And I have every confidence that this will go through the process in the right way. Coming from the legislative side (of the federal government), I need to stay in my lane.”
Board of Education advances regulations singling out trans students
On Thursday, the Alaska Board of Education voted to advance a proposed regulation that would bar transgender girls from playing on girls’ high school sports teams in the state. While the Dunleavy-appointed board members would disagree with the characterization, the effort is part of a larger national trend focused on singling out transgender people, particularly trans girls and women, under the guise of fairness.
The action puts out the proposed regulations for a 30-day public comment window before the Board of Education can (and likely will) adopt it. It would leave the specifics of the regulation’s enforcement to the Alaska School Activities Association and individual school districts to determine.
As Alaska athlete Clare Ross wrote for the Anchorage Daily News in May, much of that concern rings hollow. Sports are inherently not fair because, surprise, there’s a wide range of bodies, talent and access to coaching. For most, it’s not and has never been about reaching the Olympics but learning healthy habits, teamwork and succeeding under pressure. And nothing about singling out a trans girl from playing solves the inequities between boys’ and girls’ sports.
In my 40 years of playing sports, I’ve never had an issue with a transgender female athlete unfairly winning a competition, so I have a hard time relating to people who say that transgender female athletes are hurting girls’ sports. Women and girls come in all shapes and sizes — some of those shapes and sizes have advantages in certain sports and some have disadvantages. Should we ban all tall girls from basketball because they have an unfair size advantage over short girls? Should we ban right-handed tennis players to make an even playing field for left-handed players? It’s not like we have LeBron James putting on a wig and trying to play in the WNBA. Female transgender athletes identify as females throughout their daily lives, so they should be given the opportunity to carry that same identity into their athletic activities.
It seems to me that most of the people complaining about this made-up issue have very little experience with girls sports, so it’s hard to believe that they actually know what they are talking about. If they really cared about fairness in girls’ sports, they would fight to ensure that girls’ teams are given equal access to quality uniforms and field times.
Setting aside the largely anecdotal and subjective questions of fairness that the proponents of the changes are pushing, the move raises a serious question about these students’ right to privacy.
The Alaska Constitution’s privacy clause is one of the strongest in the nation, and several opponents to the proposed changes argue that it should apply here. Without a clear enforcement mechanism in these regulations, it’s unclear whether it would require all female athletes to provide their birth certificates or potentially be forced to undergo physical exams to prove they were born female.
Sen. Loki Tobin, the chair of the Senate Education Committee, raised this issue in a letter to the Board of Education before Thursday’s hearing.
“I am very worried about the potential for abuse that the State Board of Education and Early Development is creating when asking the Alaska School Activities Association and school districts to develop a process for identifying a student’s gender. Are you asking ASAA and school districts to ignore a student’s right to privacy?” she asked. “Will the state be sanctioning nonprofit volunteers and school activity directors to check genitals?”
Florida, which has been on the leading edge of the culture wars, briefly considered requiring athletes to disclose their menstrual history in its medical forms before dropping it amid backlash. Instead, the forms now ask for their biological sex assigned at birth.
Stay tuned.
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I share the view concerning trans girls in sports. My other opinion is that parents and local schools
in spite of the trends among local schools seems toward bias and discrimination that they should be the ones in the forfront of what happens at their school. Not the AK state board of education.
Sullivan and Dunleavy? Depressing but these two do not disappoint us by saying anything that is outside their usual R. Party claptrap. Saying anything original or thoughtful would definitely be a surprise. Kathrin