By Suzanne Downing -March 28, 2022

Eastman then posted his point of view on Facebook:

“The Speaker has made it clear that she considers me a threat to her health based on the personal medical interventions I choose to take or not take. She is incorrect. I am not a threat. I am not sick. Unlike the Speaker, I did not attend a floor session while sick last week (with COVID, if reports are to be believed). I do have a documented, non-contagious respiratory condition from my time in the military. Even so, I have sacrificed my personal health repeatedly by wearing a mask. In fact, I was the first member of the legislature to wear a mask during legislative business. However, I will not sit by while a fellow member of the legislature is threatened with not being permitted to fulfill their constitutional duty to cast a vote in the legislature because they are not wearing a mask while doing so. There is no constitutional requirement to wear a mask or constitutional authority to prevent a fellow legislator from voting. There is a constitutional requirement that a legislator “faithfully discharge [their] duties as a state legislator”. Those duties obviously include the ability to vote. That requirement is found in Art. XII, Sec. 5 of the Alaska Constitution.”

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