Sponsor Statement for SJR 10

February 4, 1997

An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Elect the Attorney General

Should the Attorney General be directly accountable to the people or simply a direct appointment by the Governor? Senate Joint Resolution 10 (SJR10), a constitutional amendment to our State constitution provides for direct election of Alaska's Attorney General.

Under current law, the Governor has unilateral power to appoint and dismiss the Attorney General (subject only to confirmation of new appointments by the Legislature). Only three other states give the Governor such power over the Attorney General. A special council picks the Attorney General in one state, the legislature in another, and the Supreme Court chooses Tennessee's Attorney General.

On the other hand, in 43 states the people get to select their own Attorney General.

An Attorney General whose responsibility is directly to the voters will focus attention on better protection from crime for the innocent, surer prosecution of the accused, and appropriate punishment for those convicted.

Alaska deserves an Attorney General dedicated to advancing the State's rights with vigor and full commitment. We will be far more certain the Attorney General will do just that if he faces the voters in the next election.

By prohibiting the Attorney General from running for Governor or Lt. Governor until after the next election we should go a long way to eliminating the use of the office for a stepping-stone.

By requiring the Attorney General, after the primary, to run with the Governor and Lt. Governor as a team or ticket, we should go a long way to eliminating the friction between the Governor and Attorney General that plagues many other states.

By requiring the direct election of the Attorney General we will go a long way toward making the Attorney General a better servant of the people and the law.

I urge you to send a message to all legislators to endorse placing this proposed amendment before the voters. We will need 14 of 20 votes in the Senate and 27 of 40 votes in the House. The Governor may testify but has no authority to veto a proposed constitutional amendment.

SJR10 awaits a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.