An Alaska state senate legislative district will go without representation until at least January because its elected representative has been barred from flying on Alaska Airlines due to her repeated refusal to wear a mask on flights, the Associated Press reports.
Republican Lora Reinbold, who is supposed to represent state senate district 26, requested an excusal from the current special session of the legislature and all future sessions until January 15 because she doesn’t know how to travel from her home of Eagle River, a neighborhood in Anchorage, to the state capital, Juneau. Even though there are state-financed ferries and over-land routes, Reinbold apparently requires air travel.
The Alaska Legislature is in special session to determine how to divide the socialist dividend the state confiscates from oil companies to distribute annually to the citizens of the state.
Earlier this year, Reinbold drove through parts of Canada and took a ferry to arrive at an earlier special session in Juneau. She refused to make the trip to fulfill her obligation as an elected official this session, and said that the ban by Alaska Airlines was “political.”
On Thursday, airline spokesperson Tim Thompson said by email that Reinbold’s case “was reviewed earlier this year and she was notified of the outcome. Nothing has changed with her status from earlier this year.”