Vox Pop

As we know, some House Republicans really want to know what the people of Alaska think about granting benefits to same-sex partners of state employees. That's why they decided to spend all this money on a special advisory election on the issue to find out if they should consider putting a constitutional amendment on the 2008 ballot.

Apparently, a couple of these House Republicans have impressive powers of clairvoyance and are confident Alaskans will support the idea of banning benefits. Why else would they have held a hearing today on the constitutional amendment and passed it out of committee?

This does not make sense. Either, lawmakers could cancel the vote, do their job, and represent the will of the people. Or, they could go ahead with this unique vote but actually mean it and wait until the results are in before beginning to move the constitutional amendment through committee.

Of course, we know how lawmakers treat other expressions of public opinion.