Alaska legislators prepare to hear death penalty testimony


By Rena Delbridge

Published Sunday, February 22, 2009

JUNEAU — This week, lawmakers will take on what could be the most 
controversial topic of the legislative session.
A House committee is scheduled to hear testimony on a bill that would 
reinstate the death penalty in Alaska.

Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, sponsored House 
Bill 9. In a letter to constituents, he said he knows the topic is 
controversial, but he believes in the death penalty.

“The impetus for HB 9 really comes from what I view as society’s 
inability to reform or rehabilitate certain criminals,” Chenault 
stated in a release. “People who commit the most monstrous of crimes 
will not have the opportunity to reoffend if a death sentence is 
imposed.”

The Alaska Territorial Legislature abolished the death penalty in 
1957, Chenault said.

Rep. Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks, is co-sponsoring the proposal.

“The topic will stir a lot of passion,” Ramras said. “It is 
expensive, it is imperfect, and it makes a lot of people nervous.”

The prime sponsor, Chenault, and Ramras say they don’t expect the 
bill to gain any momentum, but they want to have the discussion 
regardless.

“At least 80 percent of the bills we discuss don’t become law,” 
Ramras pointed out. “It’s just the nature of what we do. ... The 
likelihood that we’re going to pass death penalty legislation this 
year is something I would put at close to zero.”

Nevertheless, the debate should offer a “benchmark” of the 
legislature’s sentiments and likely will reveal layers of “Gordian 
knots” surrounding the issue, he said.

Those opposed to the death penalty argue that too many people 
sentenced to die are found innocent later through DNA testing or 
other means. Some also charge that the death penalty would cost the 
state too much money.

Talk about post-conviction DNA testing will lead to discussion on the 
state’s crime lab, which is out of space, and the regional imbalances 
in capital construction funding, Ramras suggested.

A proposal for a new state crime lab carries a $94 million price tag.

Some legislators, like Rep. Lindsey Holmes, D-Anchorage, say the bill 
will be a distraction from the real work at hand in the capitol.

The House Judiciary Committee, which Ramras chairs, is scheduled to 
take testimony on the bill at 1 p.m. Monday and Wednesday.

He’s received plenty of e-mails from constituents on the topic, most 
of whom oppose the death penalty.

The lawmaker said he philosophically is in favor of the death penalty.

“I do support a death penalty, but I’m also practical,” he said.

Legislative roundup

• During a meeting with the press, Sen. Gene Therriault of North Pole 
and the three other members of the Senate Republican minority said 
they were stymied by the slow pace of work in that body so far.

A third of the way through the 90-day session, no bills have come to 
a vote on the floor of the Senate.

Therriault speculated that the majority, led by Sen. Gary Stevens, 
might have made a quiet decision to slow bills down.

“I’m not sure whether the majority caucus has made a collective 
decision to sort of slow things down, or what it is that’s caused the 
slow start this year,” Therriault said. “Not a whole lot seems to be 
going on.”

Sen. Con Bunde, R-Anchorage, said the bipartisan group may be moving 
slowly and with caution “so they don’t read on anyone’s toes.”

Therriault and the other three minority members, all Republicans, 
were not invited to join the bipartisan majority of 10 Democrats and 
six Republicans because of political differences spanning several 
years. The bipartisan majority leaders have said they don’t expect to 
take up bills on the extreme sides of either political platform.

• Green technology could net green jobs as Alaska seeks trained 
workers to maintain and operate wind turbines, solar panels and more. 
The Senate Special Committee on World Trade, Technology and 
Innovation heard from people engaged in training programs from 
University of Alaska and the state’s departments of labor and education.

Energy technology jobs are expected to grow nationwide as more states 
turn to nontraditional ways of generating power. But, labor 
commissioner Click Bishop said, the training has to start now.

“If somebody knocks on your door and needs it today, it’s too late,” 
Bishop said. “If you’re not looking three to five years down the 
road ... you’re too late.”

His team is evaluating existing programs to avoid duplication.

Educators, meanwhile, are trying to catch up to the state labor 
department.

“The challenges of developing a comprehensive program in energy 
technologies really are the same we’re facing in career and technical 
education,” education commissioner Larry LeDeux said. “We don’t have 
the curriculum. We don’t have the teachers. We so do not have the 
specialty.”

University of Alaska Anchorage Chancellor Fran Ulmer detailed the 
school’s role in training students for new technology careers and 
expressed a commitment to continue partnering with the state to meet 
future needs.

• Gov. Sarah Palin traveled Friday to Lower Yukon villages facing 
troubling times.

She accompanied Rev. Franklin Graham, a nationally prominent figure 
who came to Alaska to deliver 10,000 pounds of food to villagers as 
CEO of Samaritan’s Purse.

Ramras, who oversaw shipments of about four tons of food to the 
villages after hearing about people forced to choose between the high 
costs of heating their homes or food, said he is glad to see the 
governor making the trip, even if it takes place several weeks after 
the crisis came to a head.

Ramras and Palin traded shots recently about the response to Western 
villages. He alleged that the governor was too cautious about 
ordering state assets, such as an airplane, to help the hungry 
people. She said she was helping, but through channels outside of 
declaring an official emergency or disaster that would mobilize state 
aid.

Ramras issued a press release lauding Palin for her decision to tour 
the villages, and said the governor stopped by his capitol office 
Thursday to thank the staff for their work in spurring a food drive.

“I think the governor will come back with a little more empathy in 
her soul,” he said.

Contact staff writer Rena Delbridge at rdelbridge@newsminer.com

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death-penalty-test/