Reporting From Alaska

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Don Young, who claimed voting by proxy was unconstitutional, votes by proxy

Rep. Don Young, who likes to pontificate about the U.S. Constitution, promised last summer that he would never take part in the unconstitutional scheme to allow House members to vote by proxy.

He said Don Young would not be part of a “flagrantly unconstitutional voting scheme.”

He even joined a Republican lawsuit saying the proxy vote is “patently unconstitutional.”

“The text of the Constitution; the uninterrupted tradition of constitutional practice by Congress; and the decisions of the United States Supreme Court unambiguously demonstrate that Members of Congress must be present in person in their respective chambers if they wish to be counted as part of a quorum necessary to do business and cast a recorded vote,” the lawsuit says.

Young made sure everyone knew his opinion and that he would not waffle.

“By joining as a plaintiff in the case, Congressman Young has committed to refraining from voting via proxy for another Member, or designating a proxy for his own votes,” Young’s office said in a press release.

But when it came to vote on impeachment and the override of the defense bill veto, Young took part in the “flagrantly unconstitutional voting scheme.”

He concluded that he would be part of what he had called “Speaker Pelosi's proxy voting sham.”

Young and several other opponents of voting by proxy who joined the lawsuit agreed to vote by proxy because they would not be in the Capitol or in Washington, D.C. There has been no Alaska news coverage that I have seen about whether Young has changed his mind on the legality of proxy voting.

The Alaska news coverage did not mention where Young was or why he failed to show up. On Young’s Facebook account, his staff wrote a comment in his name that talked about “toxic discourse,” “healing” and never revealed that Young was not in the House for the vote.

Young’s staff did not call out the repeated lies by Trump about the election or his major role in the insurrection. Instead, Young’s staff blamed both sides.

There was a similar deception by Young and his staff regarding the vote Tuesday asking Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump. On social media, Young’s staff wrote a statement pretending that Young was present for the vote, whining about “political theater.”

Meanwhile, Young remains part of the lawsuit that claims the proxy plan denounced by the real Don Young is illegal. But he proved to be a willing participant this week.

“I am unable to physically attend proceedings in the House chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency, and I hereby grant the authority to cast my vote by proxy to the Honorable Nicole Malliotakis of New York, who has agreed to serve as my proxy,” Young wrote to the clerk of the U.S. House.

The proxy vote that Young made opposing Trump’s impeachment is illegal and a sham, according to Don Young circa June, 2020, the same Don Young in the frivolous lawsuit.’

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