Friday, March 25, 2011

Redistricting Board On Line Now from Juneau

As I write this, Rep. Paul Seaton of Homer is testifying before the board.


You can watch here.


UPDATE 5:30 - they're in recess.  If Tuesday's Anchorage meeting is any indication, that would mean there aren't any people there to testify, but since they are scheduled to be there until 7pm.  So, they'll stay in recess until there are a couple more people to testify.  So, if  you are nearby, you could go into Capitol 106.

UPDATE 5:49 - Phil Smith is testifying now, but there's only audio.

UPDATE 6:05 - I was wrong.  They are still on video, but the little window got hidden behind a bunch of others open on my screen so I didn't see it.  It seems a shame that with all this time they have together - waiting until someone else comes to testify - that they can't actually do some work.  But they can't meet unless they have an official meeting which has prior public notice.  So they are all there, but can't talk about redistricting.   They need to figure out how to do a public notice to cover times like this between testimony when they are on live statewide teleconference and internet so they can use this time productively.


UPDATE March28, 2011:   Chris Eshleman of the Fairbanks News Miner reported on this meeting:

Sen. Al Kookesh, D-Angoon, oversees a huge district covering almost half the state and including more than 200 communities.

Federal and state voting laws protect minority representation but Kookesh challenged the board Friday in Juneau to “think outside the box” as it looks to protect Native groups’ interests in the Legislature.

“You can’t have, in the state of Alaska, all of the voices coming from one ethnic group,” he said.

Kathy Dietrich, a Fairbanks resident visiting Juneau, followed Kookesh by telling the panel the state’s “democracy works when we have balance and we have diversity” in public policy debate.

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