Alaska’s Senate Majority Leader who was ousted for being absent from Monday’s special session in Juneau said that she will continue to work with her fellow legislators “no matter what label I have.”<\/p>\n
Sen. Mia Costello, R-Anchorage, reacted to the news of being removed from leadership during a press conference in Wasilla, where several lawmakers are hosting their own legislative special session.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers in Wasilla — a small contingency which includes Costello, Rep. Lance Pruitt, R-Anchorage, Sen. Shelly Hughes, R-Palmer, Sen. Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, and Rep. Sara Rasmussen, R-Anchorage — repeatedly stressed during a press conference Monday at Wasilla Middle School that they were following the law by hosting the session in Wasilla rather than Juneau, and upholding the state’s constitution. They repeated many times that the legislators in Juneau were violating the law, and that any decision made there would be illegitimate.<\/p>\n
“We are supporting the constitution. The call was made here in Wasilla, this is (Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s) call, there is no other call,” Costello said.<\/p>\n
Costello and the others are responding to the call of Dunleavy<\/a> for the special session to be in Wasilla, his hometown. Dunleavy said the change of venue to the heart of his conservative base would be good for lawmakers who could not finish their work over five months in Juneau this year. Lawmakers rejected that call<\/a>, citing their right to determine the location and venue for legislative sessions.<\/p>\n