Eagle River Republican responds to governor’s COVID-19 conspiracy accusations: ‘Reinbold is ready to rumble’

JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) - Eagle River Republican Sen. Lora Reinbold has responded to a scathing letter from the governor that accused her of spreading COVID-19 misinformation, berating administration officials, and misrepresenting the state of Alaska’s pandemic response.

Reinbold posted a video on social media on Sunday, saying that the letter was an “assault on the Legislature” and that she has been performing her oversight role of the executive branch. “Bottom line, we’re just asking questions that Alaskans want answered,” she said.

Since the pandemic hit Alaska, Reinbold has used social media to promote conspiracy theories related to masking and inconclusive coronavirus treatments. She has questioned the safety of the vaccine and whether Alaska residents have consented to receive it.

During a committee hearing, she also raised doubts when Dr. Anne Zink, the state’s chief medical officer, told the committee that no one had died in Alaska as a result of taking the vaccine, debunking a rumor that had spread on social media.

“I will not continue to subject the public resources of the State of Alaska to the mockery of a charade, disguised as public purpose,” the governor said in his letter, claiming that Eagle River and Chugiak residents “are deprived of meaningful representation” by Reinbold’s actions.

Reinbold, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that she had reviewed transcripts of the committee hearings and could not find “firm foundations” for the governor’s accusations. She asked that the governor reconsider his decision not to send administration officials to her committee hearings.

She said that she is unevenly matched against the governor, a fellow Republican, but that she would not back down. “Reinbold is ready to rumble,” she said.