A candidate for the Alaska Judicial Council is raising eyebrows among lawmakers because of his staunchly conservative Republican background and personal beliefs including that extramarital affairs ought to be against the law.

Don Haase also told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that outlawing pre-marital sex should be something voters decided because there could be concerns over "the spread of disease" and the "likelihood that it would cause violence."

The Alaska Legislature must confirm the nomination of Haase, a 41-year-old electrical worker from Valdez. Haase is seeking a seat on the seven-member council. He would be one of three public members; there are also three attorney members selected by the board of the Alaska Bar Association. The seventh is the chief justice of the state Supreme Court.

Haase, who ran for the House from District 12 and narrowly lost the primary in August to Rep. Eric Feige, was nominated by Gov. Sean Parnell. He told the House Judiciary Committee last week that he was not asked to apply but that he'd submitted an application. On Wednesday, he told the Senate committee that he'd applied two years ago but the position went to Kathleen Tompkins-Miller, wife of U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller. When this spot came open, he decided to apply again, he said.

Haase has been nominated to replace Christena Williams of Ketchikan whose term is up. It is a six-year appointment.

Also at issue is whether the new appointment needs to be from the 1st Judicial District, which includes Southeast Alaska. The question came up in both committees, and Senate Judiciary Chairman Hollis French decided Wednesday to hold the appointment in his committee until that question can be resolved. The council's rules say members should be appointed based on "area representation" as well as giving consideration to an applicant's possible political affiliations.

Larry Cohn, executive director of the council, told lawmakers Wednesday that the three public members have been split fairly evenly between three  judicial districts -- the 1st in Southeast, the 3rd covering Southcentral and the 4th covering Fairbanks and the Interior -- for the past 52 years. Southeast has only been without a member for two of those years, he said.

The 4th Judicial District covers the far Northwest and isn’t represented because it lacks the number of courts that the others have. Valdez is in the 3rd Judicial District, which already has a representative, William Clarke.

Members of both committees questioned Haase closely about his political beliefs, and Sen. Joe Paskvan was concerned that Haase was hiding his politics along with his affiliations with ultra-conservative groups. Paskvan asked Haase why his campaign website had been taken down and pointed to a number of position statements on the site that spoke to Haase's conservative leanings.

Haase also has been a member of the conservative Eagle Forum for a number of years, including a brief stint as its president. Haase also was involved in the group's website and posted many articles which he said were written by other members.

Paskvan wanted to know why Haase had not put that on his resume.

"I guess I didn’t see it as significant," Haase said.

He said he shut down his campaign website recently to eliminate the monthly cost and also so he could close out his Alaska Public Offices Commission report. It was not to deny the public information about his beliefs, he said.

Haase does still have biographical and political information posted on ourcampaigns.com. He lists his "tags" as "anti stem cell research, anti gay marriage, pro school vouchers, pro gun, pro capital punishment, pro life" and several other conservative elements.

Still, Haase told both committees that he believes he can separate his political beliefs from his decisions on choosing among applicants for judgeships. The governor actually picks the judge, but chooses from qualified applicants vetted and passed along by the council.

"This is an important position you are seeking," Rep. Max Gruenberg told him last week at the House Judiciary hearing.