Alaska News

Voters retain Fabe as Alaska Supreme Court justice

Voters kept Alaska Supreme Court Justice Dana Fabe in office Tuesday, rejecting an effort by a group of social conservatives to unseat her.

Just over 50 percent of the voters agreed to retain Fabe as a Supreme Court justice for 10 more years. That was the narrowest winning margin by any of the state judges up for retention Tuesday.

Fabe, 59, has been on the state's highest court since 1996 and was the first woman to join the Supreme Court.

Fabe is well-regarded by lawyers and court employees and is earning a national reputation as a judicial leader, according to colleagues.

Alaska Family Action sent campaign mailers and fired off e-mails in an effort to defeat Fabe. The group criticized court rulings Fabe was involved in regarding abortion, gay marriage, benefits for same-sex partners of state workers and prisoner rights.

Alaska Family Action is the political arm of the anti-abortion, pro-traditional marriage Alaska Family Council. Its funding for the campaign largely came from the public policy arm of the national Christian group Focus on the Family.

A group of Fabe friends and former law clerks formed a counter-campaign that featured endorsements from prominent people and organizations.

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Postma voted out as district court judge

Voters in Southcentral Alaska decided to remove from office state District Court Judge Richard Postma.

The Alaska Judicial Council had recommended that Southcentral residents vote against retaining Postma -- the third time since 1988 that the council asked voters to remove a judge. The council issues recommendations for hiring and retaining judges.

The council's executive director, Larry Cohn, said before the election that the recommendation against Postma was due to an "unprecedented conflict" the judge has had with his court colleagues. That includes abusive communication by e-mail and in person, and a manifestation of mental health issues, Cohn said.

Postma, 44, said the accusations behind the council's recommendation were baseless and motivated by vindictive court employees. He campaigned hard to keep his job, placing ads and writing an op-ed column.

Students like Parnell, Young, cash for grades

Anchorage area students in grades 5-12 cast ballots in their own mock election coordinated by the League of Women Voters of Anchorage.

In the U.S. Senate race, incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski got 41 percent of the vote from the 9,854 students from 56 schools, Joe Miller got 33 percent and Scott McAdams received 18 percent.

In the U.S. House race, incumbent Rep. Don Young came in first, with 75 percent of the vote against Harry Crawford.

In the race for governor, incumbent Sean Parnell and Lt. Gov. candidate Mead Treadwell received 55 percent of the vote while Ethan Berkowitz and Diane Benson got 28 percent.

The students also were asked: Should school districts offer students cash incentives to get good grades? They overwhelmingly endorsed the idea, the League of Women Voters said.

Anchorage Daily News / adn.com

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