Alaska State Rep. David Eastman, a Wasilla Republican, is shown seated on the House floor on April 29, 2022, in Juneau. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer File)

Alaska State Rep. David Eastman, a Wasilla Republican, is shown seated on the House floor on April 29, 2022, in Juneau. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer File)

Judge weighs how to proceed on case against Eastman

A lawsuit alleges that the lawmaker’s ties to the far-right Oath Keepers group disqualifies him from holding office

  • By Becky Bohrer Associated Press
  • Thursday, December 8, 2022 11:26pm
  • News

By Becky Bohrer

Associated Press

JUNEAU — A state court judge was weighing Thursday whether to allow a case to proceed to trial that alleges that an Alaska lawmaker’s ties to the far-right Oath Keepers group disqualifies him from holding office.

Superior Court Judge Jack McKenna in September ordered that state elections officials delay certifying the Nov. 8 election for Republican Rep. David Eastman’s seat pending further order by the court. Eastman won that election last month.

Eastman has asked that the case against him be dismissed. McKenna heard arguments on that and related matters Thursday. He said he would aim to issue a ruling by Friday. Trial was tentatively set to begin next week.

The case was brought by Randall Kowalke, one of a number of people who filed challenges to Eastman’s candidacy with the Division of Elections earlier this year. Kowalke’s lawsuit points to a provision of the state constitution that states that no one who “advocates, or who aids or belongs to any party or organization or association which advocates, the overthrow by force or violence of the government of the United States or of the State shall be qualified to hold” public office.

A founder of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, was convicted last month of seditious conspiracy related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Eastman has said he was in Washington, D.C., that day but did not take part in the riot. Eastman has not been accused of any crimes.

Eastman’s attorney Joe Miller argued in part that Kowalke lacked standing to bring the case. He said Thursday that Kowalke is not in Eastman’s district and has not shown any evidence of harm.

Miller, in court filings, also said evidence relied on by the plaintiff, including indictments and convictions against Oath Keepers, does “not support the legal conclusions they attempt to draw that Oath Keepers, as an organization, advocates for the overthrow of the government. Neither does any of their other evidence, which largely consists of constitutionally- protected rhetoric, support the legal conclusion of advocacy to overthrow the government.”

The lawsuit also names as a defendant the state Division of Elections and its director, Gail Fenumiai. Attorneys for Kowalke, in court documents, said the division failed to investigate Eastman’s eligibility under the so-called disloyalty clause of the constitution.

The division determined that Eastman, a Wasilla Republican, was eligible to run for reelection. Fenumiai in June, in response to challenges against his candidacy, said the division was aware that Eastman “reportedly is a member of the Oath Keepers organization and attended” a rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. But she said the division did not have specific information about that in its possession.

“But even assuming these allegations are true, DOE has determined that they do not — without more — provide a basis to prevent Representative Eastman from running for state office,” she wrote. Fenumiai in June said the division had received 24 timely filed challenges to Eastman’s candidacy.

Attorneys for the division, in court records, said the division “did everything the law requires it to do.”

Lael Harrison, an attorney with the state Department of Law representing the division, said qualifications that elections officials typically look at revolve around such things as age and residency. She said the division has no authority to subpoena evidence.

Goriune Dudukgian, an attorney for Kowalke, said the division didn’t need subpoena power. “All the division had to do was a Google search or search publicly available data” to find statements on the Oath Keepers’ website and cases against people with ties to Oath Keepers that were known at the time Kowalke lodged his complaint, he said.

The Alaska House, controlled by a bipartisan majority, earlier this year backed off a proposal to strip committee assignments from Eastman over his ties to the Oath Keepers but held informational hearings on the group.

Eastman has at times been a polarizing figure and at odds with members of his own party. He was booted from the Republican caucus near the end of the legislative session earlier this year over. The House Republican leader at the time, Rep. Cathy Tilton, cited tensions with Eastman that had built over time. Eastman also was removed from two committees.

More in News

Attorneys Eric Derleth and Dan Strigle speak to Superior Court Judge Kelly Lawson during the opening arguments of State of Alaska v. Nathan Erfurth at the Kenai Courthouse in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Opening arguments offered in Erfurth trial

The trial is set to continue for around two weeks, into early August.

Evacuees in Seward, Alaska, walk along Adams Street following a tsunami warning on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Update: Tsunami warning downgraded to advisory

An all clear was issued for Kachemak Bay communities at 1:48 p.m. by the Kenai Peninsula Borough Office of Emergency Management.

The Ninilchik River on May 18, 2019, in Ninilchik, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Ninilchik River to remain closed to king salmon fishing

It was an “error in regulation” that would have opened the Ninilchik River to king salmon fishing on Wednesday.

A table used by parties to a case sits empty in Courtroom 4 of the Kenai Courthouse in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski woman sentenced to 4 years in prison for 2023 drug death

Lawana Barker was sentenced for her role in the 2023 death of Michael Rodgers.

Alaska State Troopers logo.
Seward resident arrested after Monday night police pursuit

Troopers say she led them on a high-speed chase on Kalifornsky Beach Road for around 7 miles.

Concert-goers listen to The Discopians at Concert on the Lawn on Saturday, July 12, 2025, at Karen Hornaday Park in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
‘Dancing at the end of the world’

KBBI AM 890 hosted their annual Concert on the Lawn Saturday.

Lisa Gabriel unfurls a set beach seine during a test fishery for the gear near Clam Gulch, Alaska, on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Seine test fishery continues after board of fish calls for more data

The east side setnet fishery has been entirely closed in recent years to protect Kenai River king salmon

Jason Criss stands for a photo in Soldotna, Alaska, after being named a qualifier for the Special Olympics USA Games on Thursday, July 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna athlete to compete in 2026 Special Olympics USA Games

Thousands of athletes from across all 50 states will be competing in 16 sports.

Most Read