House Speaker Brian Porter has let partisan passions get the better of his judgment. The normally temperate speaker has launched a tirade against those who would dare call the Republican Legislature partisan for joining a Republican-led lawsuit against the state's plan for new election districts. Critics of the Legislature are hypocrites, he says, unless they also blast the governor for jumping in the suit on the other side. The Legislature jumped in, he says, merely to counterbalance the governor.

Hold on a minute here, folks.

The redistricting lawsuits ask the courts to issue an injunction against the state Division of Elections. It's the governor's job to make sure the state Division of Elections' interest is represented in the cases. That's why the state (or "the governor," as Speaker Porter alleges) asked to intervene in the litigation and that's why the court agreed.

The Legislature, on the other hand, has no responsibility for any of the issues being knocked around in the reapportionment case. The redistricting plan doesn't reduce the Legislature's power or change its authority to pass laws. The plan may affect the Republican Party's ability to stay in control of the Legislature, but that's a blatantly partisan issue. It's not a public concern that justifies the Legislature's intervention. In its court papers, the Legislature cannot cite any case in the country where any legislature has been allowed to join a redistricting lawsuit.

Speaker Porter is already involved in one of the suits against the redistricting plan. He joined that suit in his capacity as an Alaska voter, and any Alaska voter has the right to challenge the plan in court. But when he sues as a voter and citizen, he can't tap legislative funds to advance his cause in court. By pushing the Legislature itself to join the case, he is using public money and resources in his quest for a more Republican-friendly redistricting plan.

Speaker Porter will remain a party to the Republican legal attack on the reapportionment plan, even if the judge tells the Legislature to butt out. He'll just have to continue his partisan fight without public money.