If a Bad Bill Passes Out of Committee, But No One Writes About It, Did it Really Happen?

Or, HJR9 moved out of committee, where is the media coverage?
So, still irate, incensed and what-have-you, I've been Googling away trying to find any news coverage of the damned thing, finally locating a mention on KTUU's website. What am I talking about, you ask? Oh, that's right, the ADN and News Minus haven't really mentioned it.

Go ahead, read the post at the Ester Republic.

When last we tuned in for this sad show, HJR 9 had been referred to the State Affairs Committee. It passed 5-2 on Tuesday the 27th and is now on to the Judiciary Committee.

Of course, when last I opined on this, I missed the point entirely. Which is not the first time I've written something and later wished that I had thought first and typed later. (Hence the new category of 'Duh.') Or that I had an editor. I yammered on about how Coghill & Co. had introduced it because they wanted insurance in case they lost the April 3rd vote.

Which just makes no sense at all. However, more politically savvy folks have pointed out that the reason Coghill and Company introduced the same proposed Constitutional amendment that failed to get out of committee last year when the vote is near is simple. They believe the advisory vote will give them the political mojo to get the proposed constitutional amendment through the Lege. According to the KTUU article, HJR9's sponsors know they lack the two-thirds votes necessary in the Senate.

It doesn't appear to have a hearing scheduled in Judiciary, yet, but perhaps they're waiting for the results on April 3rd.

The House Judiciary Committee is chaired by Fairbanks' own Jay Ramras and co-chaired by Rep. Dahlstom. Of the five other committee members, three (Coghill, Lynn and Dahlstrom) are sponsors of HJR9. So, no big surprise which way they are gonna vote.

And under the category of Near Fatal Irony, I offer you the invocation offered at the start of Lege business March 27 by Pastor Jesse Perry of the Northern Light United Church:

With thanksgiving for all the ways that God inhabits our lives, let us pray. God of infinite creativity, teach us respect for all that you have made in your world. Your delight in diversity has amazed us all this year; we delight in knowing that every snowflake that fell in the record snowfall you gave us was one-of-a-kind. We rejoice in knowing that each of us is also a unique sign of your compassion for the world. That we may acknowledge the diversity of your world, may we never succeed in ignoring the true value of everything and everyone you have made. May we never succeed in concealing your beloved diversity behind clever words; may we never succeed in substituting equality for justice; may a majority of us never succeed in oppressing a few; and may we never succeed in confusing ownership with access - for though you hold the deed to the entire universe, you have granted us your creation as a perpetual trust for the delight and life of us all. So this day, ever thankful for the diversity within us and around us, we pray in reverent joy. Amen.