Lesil McGuire

District: Senate N - Anchorage

Seat Running For: Senate N

Party Affiliation: Republican

1. As a legislator, what have you done to support women and children victims of domestic violence and/or sexual assault? What specifically have you done to help end violence against women and children in Alaska ?

As chair of the Judiciary Committee for the past four years, I’ve focused a lot of my attention on enacting strong penalties against those that would prey on and abuse women and children. I’ve enacted HB 375 requiring judges to pay more attention to violence when awarding custody. I also volunteer at AWAIC’s picnic and have completed CASA training.

2.Women in Alaska , particularly Native women, are disproportionately victims of violence. What are the issues or causes you believe increase violence against Alaskan women?

I truly wish I knew. It has bothered me daily and continued to. Why can’t we get out men to view women (all women) with respect? Why do we have the highest domestic violence rates in the nation? I promise to keep working on this issues as a policy makers and a citizen.

3. Alaska has ranked nationally in the top three per capita for sexual assault in the past 29 years (per the Uniform Crime Reporting Code). What type of legislation would you support to increase perpetrator accountability and ensure safety for women and children?

I have worked with Gretchen Guess and others to continue to increase penalties for assaults on women and children. I have helped to expand protective orders that can be given from the courts. Now, thanks to legislation I helped craft, women can get these orders against strangers too, and they can be extended for longer periods against domestic family members as well.

4.  Shelter programs in Alaska are finding it difficult to keep and maintain staff due to a lack of competitive wages.  This causes a high turnover of staff because they can receive better paying jobs working for the state and municipality.  Due to the high rate of staff turnover, the amount and type of services that can be offered to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault are greatly impacted.  As a legislator, what will you do to address this problem?

This is a problem! Community grant programs that the state should help fund is one way. Partnering with non-profits to help with building (capitol) costs and operating maintenance costs is another. We have to work on it!

5. Funding for shelter programs has increased only 4% in the last 10 years while services have increased by over 42%. As a legislator, what will you do to address this problem?

We need to fund more! Without these needed shelters women and children are not safe and that’s unacceptable.

What is the name of the domestic violence/ sexual assault intervention program(s) that serves your constituents and who are the current executive directors?

STAR: Anna Fairclough

AWAIC: Judy Cordell

AK Women's Resource Center : Rosalie Nadiau

 

Go to Lesil McGuire's Ak Legislature Page