Comments (38)

Anonymous wrote on October 9, 2007 12:18 PM:

If she opposes corruption, she's in the wrong party.

cracker wrote on October 9, 2007 12:35 PM:

Palin talks a big game

Old boy hacks run the police, bad university system, airports, trains, ports, ferry, construction companies, transport companies, oil contractors
military contractors, native corps...

Palin could fire all the bad state employees and bring in professionals from the lower 48. Cronyism rules Alaska until that day arrives

nothing will change in Alaska until all the hacks get fired or die of old age in office

Anonymous wrote on October 9, 2007 12:37 PM:

or in prison.

wnsrfr wrote on October 9, 2007 12:51 PM:

cracker, hey, good plan. All you have to do is find people living in the lower 48 that want to move to Alaska!

I love this site, and I hate the Bush admin, but all this panty-twisting over politics in Alaska is over-whiny.

A friend of mine is involved in politics up there--every fall he drives from Anchorage to Juno for the legislative session, needing to go through Canada briefly just to make the drive. He carries firewood in the car in case of a breakdown so he won't freeze to death.

In the spring he drives home, has to fly to visit his family.

I'm sure there's some lavender-shirted intern in Minneapolis named "Thad" that can replace him...no problem!

Slippery Slope wrote on October 9, 2007 12:54 PM:

Take away the statehood, make it a territory again.

Bored at work wrote on October 9, 2007 1:07 PM:

I am concerned about the national effects of Alaskan politics but it ends there with only one exception, is it the picture or is Governor Palin a hot older woman?

Brianm0122 wrote on October 9, 2007 1:07 PM:

A Republican? Endorsing personal responsibility and an end to cronyism and corruption?

Did I somehow get re-directed to
"The Onion"?

Saint Augustine wrote on October 9, 2007 1:18 PM:

Bored at work:

Since she's 43 years old I'll call her a hot younger woman. A real Miss Congeniality in 1984 and former pot smoker.

There's hope yet for some of them.

Grumpy wrote on October 9, 2007 1:26 PM:

"Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) recently called relations between the two Alaskans 'frosty' (knowing Stevens, we'll assume the pun wasn't intended)..."

I don't get it. Unless you're alluding to Palin's vague resemblance to the mascot of Wendy's restaurants, purveyors of the Original Chocolate Frosty.

heh wrote on October 9, 2007 1:41 PM:

yeah,she should clean house,from the top down,starting with nepotism,unky Ted and son, former gov and daughter.

They seem like a cozy family don't they?

Ed*ard Teller wrote on October 9, 2007 1:49 PM:

Governor Palin got where she is by a combination of determination and luck, like most politicians. She got her start by running a city - Wasilla - which had been made to run well by her predecessor, Mayor John Stein. She didn't wreck it, and used the experience as a learning tool. After she term limited, she ran for LtGov, almost winning. When Gov. Murkowski put her in a position in his administration, working for one of the most corrupt politicians in Alaska history, rather than accepting the corrupt practices of Randy Reudrich and his cronies, she rebelled.

She publicly complained, not just against her boss, but against the culture of corruption so pervasive in Alaska politics. From the moment she quit working in the Murkowski administration until right now, it has been mostly an uphill battle for the governor, making solid gains against a party and dominant industry, both of whose apparatchiks hate her intensely.

Another tricky battle is starting, as she gets ready for a special legislative session on changing the way oil companies are taxed. The taxing system in place is heavily tainted by the fact that it was the product of VECO Bill Allen's bribes, coercion, and of big oil propaganda. All of big oil's guns are arrayed against Gov. Palin in this. She's got guts!

I didn't vote for her, and have confronted her over the past nine years on many local issues in the Palmer-Wasilla area. But I've come to respect Sarah Palin quite a bit. She's almost as charismatic as Diane Benson, the Tlingit woman who is challenging Don Young.

vidstudent wrote on October 9, 2007 1:56 PM:

Grumpy:

Alaska. Frosty.

Kuparuk wrote on October 9, 2007 2:00 PM:

Diane charismatic?!

Please.

Diane has sat on the sidelines for years, never saying a damned thing, never offering anything new, never pointing out problems, never offering solutions.

Her supporters within the party have groomed her for candidacy over and over again. She is *not* an outsider, she's just someone who's done exactly what she's been told in order to be a "clean candidate". It hasn't worked yet, and it shouldn't work now. There are too many who are better-qualified.

Hell, I'd vote for *Ray* Metcalfe over her.

Kuparuk wrote on October 9, 2007 2:04 PM:

"I love this site, and I hate the Bush admin, but all this panty-twisting over politics in Alaska is over-whiny."

Two points:

1.) Alaska is a microscope of the rest of the nation. What's happening here is just visible -- it's happening everywhere else as well. You could learn something applicable to your own community.

2.) This site actually *broke* key pieces of this story. They deserve to see it through, and it's much-appreciated.

Ed*ard Teller wrote on October 9, 2007 2:15 PM:

"2.) This site actually *broke* key pieces of this story. They deserve to see it through, and it's much-appreciated." - got that one right, at least...

Bill C. wrote on October 9, 2007 2:20 PM:

GILF Alert

smithbm wrote on October 9, 2007 3:54 PM:

Palin's talking a good game, but her special commission on the oil tax scheme (subject of special session) has recenly come out in support of a net profits tax -- like the one the oil companies bought from the legislature in 2006 -- with only relatively minor alterations. The fundamental problem with the net-profits tax (instead of the previous flat $/bbl excise tax) is that the oil companies will always be able to hire more accountants and lawyers to cook their books than the state will be able to hire auditors to check them. Now this special commission doesn't necessarily speak for the governor, but we'll see how far the reform movement gets in this special session. The leadership of the state GOP is still largely controlled by the extraction industries here, so I'm not holding my breath.

senilebiker wrote on October 9, 2007 4:12 PM:

Am I wrong, but isn't the photo of the shrink from the Sopranos?

Renate Riffe wrote on October 9, 2007 4:49 PM:

Sarah Palin is more of a self-righteous schoolmarm than a governor.

Renate Riffe wrote on October 9, 2007 4:49 PM:

Sarah Palin is more of a self-righteous schoolmarm than a governor.

Anonymous wrote on October 9, 2007 6:08 PM:

Republicans are having to find ways to disassociated themselves from their perverted, corrupt, and criminal colleagues. I suggest they begin screaming for resignations, real justice, and impeachments, rather than asking their good friends to "grow up" with the mere risk of creating frosty relations. They need to show actual intolerance for wrongdoing.

What epitomizes the situation is Bush installing a Gonzales clone as Acting AG. Until there is some assurance that the Department of Justice is non-political, we are left without assurance that malfeasance will ever end.

bob wrote on October 9, 2007 6:45 PM:

Maybe when Ted Stevens and Don Young plead guilty she can at least appoint replacements who are not yet corrupt.

Robert wrote on October 10, 2007 2:11 AM:

Actually, she can't. After Frank Murkowski appointed his daughter (who actually has turned out to be pretty good- including opposing bush on CHIP), the law was changed to require a special election.

Palin is increasingly sanctimonious, including dumping one of her campaign heads- and later legislative director- because he was having an affair- with the wife of her husband's irondog race partner.

AKHarpboy wrote on October 10, 2007 3:01 AM:

Palin may be a goody-two-shoes sanctimonious religious twit, but she's not very perceptive. She's managed to annoy a lot of folks in her first year, but not enough to get her poll popularity below 80%. Yet.

The real test will be whether she will stop supporting a net profits tax like the industry wants, and goes back to a tax on the gross wellhead price, which can actually be audited and enforced, which most of the public who don't work in the industry support.

As far as executive ability goes, it's only the fact that the state still has a well trained workforce that saves her, and that will start disappearing soon. Within 5 years, 25% of the state's workers will be eligible for retirement, and almost 50% within 10 years.

They're already having trouble recruiting new workers because pay is below Lower 48 private wages for similar work, and the cost of living in most of the state is much higher. Her personnel director recently announced a task force to come up with solutions, but she ruled out the most important thing they could do to get good candidates for jobs --- increase the pay!

If she doesn't start offering higher wages, there will be no highway engineers, computer professionals, fisheries biologists, accountants, auditors, or prosecutors willing to work for the State in a few years.

James Bishop wrote on October 10, 2007 9:26 AM:

>wnsrfr wrote on October 9, 2007 12:51 PM:

...all this panty-twisting over politics in Alaska is over-whiny.

A friend of mine is involved in politics up there--every fall he drives from Anchorage to Juno for the legislative session, needing to go through Canada briefly just to make the drive...I'm sure there's some lavender-shirted intern in Minneapolis named "Thad" that can replace him...no problem!<

He must be one tough SOB! (and ever so Hetero) There is NO ROAD between Anchorage and Juno.

Atlas Spanked wrote on October 10, 2007 11:58 AM:

As to the state rep driving from Anchorage to Juneau. He's stupid. There's regularly scheduled air service between those two large cities multiple times every day. Duh.

Backcountry Alaska can be rugged. But the state's plenty developed in its urban areas. It's not Jack London anymore. Hasn't been for 50 years.

And like many 'frontier' places, the politicians are grotesquely crooked. The GOP is popular up there just because of a -holed-up-in-the-cabin-with-an-SKS mentality. Black helicopter wierdos living in the suburbs and telling themselves they're pioneers, and that the feds are after 'em. They get paychecks, but wanna hunt 24-7-365 for 'subsistence' purposes. They get the general fund check every January, and drink it away until spring. Highest smoking and alcoholism rates in the nation.

The Governor's right. Many of the state's residents, and ALL of its politicians, need to shed their diapers and grow up. To do that, they need a paid state legislature, rather than a volunteer one where the only reason to serve is quid pro quo after leaving office.

cracker wrote on October 10, 2007 2:26 PM:

Palin has hired real estate people to run departments

She also lied about implementing a gross tax too in the campaign. She is another GOP liar in Alaska on oil taxes.

BTW no outside auditors actually audit the States book's
all auditors answer to department heads
who are probably flaky real estate people from Wasilla. read above

Ed*ard Teller wrote on October 10, 2007 3:53 PM:

DLC poster boy Ethan Berkowitz will be announcing his entry into the Democratic Primary for the US House seat occupied by Don Young at 5:00p.m. today on Anchorage TV - KTUU. He was supposed to announce this candidacy last month, but for some reason or another, held off until now. What this probably means is that Berkowitz has discovered that Palin has formed some sort of exploratory committee regarding her chances at Sen. Ted Stevens's US Senate seat.

What HarpboyAK stated above is essentially correct - in that the longer Palin stays in Juneau, the more likely the shortcomings of her administration will be brought to light. By riding her wave of popularity into the US Senate, she can avoid the scrutiny.

The Truth Shall Be Known wrote on October 10, 2007 3:59 PM:

The Palin Administration is out of touch with reality or she is involved in something way more devious. She says she runs on ethics when Alaska spends millions of dollars on DOT projects that are going nowhere and have been cancelled, and keep the corrupt officials in office that make these decisions. Murkowski appointed quite a few of these players and she has left them appointed. Alaska DOT spent 15 million dollars to a contractor to design the Gravina bridges. As far I know bridges are designed already they just need to decide on what kind of bridge, you don't need to recreate the wheel every single time. 15 million dollars??? Lets see you could hire a team of 100 Engineers at $150,000 a year at this price, SAY WHAT????!!!!!!

Palin redirected the Gravina project which supposedly stopped the project from moving forward. Yet the construction of the 3 mile road to where the bridge would connect on Gravina Island continues at a cost of 29 million, almost 10 million per mile to construct a gravel road!!!!! SAY WHAT?????!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lets see the other fiasco is the Murkowski appointed SE Region DOT Director Mr. Menzies stating that he was inflation proofing by buying pipe and culverts for the Juneau Access Road project. If you look behind the Juneau DOT 7-mile location you will see the mountains of culverts just sitting there doing nothing but rusting in the rain. Pipe is ordered too but it isn't getting sent up to Alaska, instead it is being stored in the lower 48 at a cost that will be somewhere between $15,000- $20,000 a month. None of this can be used on any other project but Juneau Access unless the State repays the Feds for the funding, and the Juneau Access project is tied up in litigation and going nowhere fast and may end up being cancelled too. WOW that is good inflation proofing. Mr. Menzies should really be questioned about this and also how Keiwitt the constractor doing the Gravina project and other DOT projects has subcontracted his company R&M Engineering who he states he has cut ties with but others say he is still deeply involved with and now his son now runs. Sound familiar, can you say Stevens......

There are many, many other items I could bring up that are HUGE wastes of money approved by appointees by the Murkowski Administration that are still in their positions. Alaska has retired double dippers that are still on board, and also has other appointees that do nothing that are taking money that could be used to pay real state workers. EVERYONE MUST ASK MRS. PALIN WHERE ARE YOUR ETHICS IN THESE DECISIONS?

Why don't you tell the public about why you don't have your kids going to Juneau Schools Mrs. Palin, or are you afraid it will take the shine off your crown if it was known that your kids did go to Juneau last year and you found out what a nightmare this system with all of it meth and OXY problems in the Junior Highs and grades schools and that your kid was accused of being involved in this and you did absolutely nothing about it? Your education system and your Health and Social Services system are responsible for how this is going down and again they waste millions of dollars to give our kids a subpar education and get them hooked on drugs in the very liberal school system that works hand in hand with H&SS that teaches tolerance and diversity which is only another way of saying they are doing absolutely nothing to teach kids ethics and responsibility not to mention the basics of what education used to be in the very distant past. This system is out to disperse their liberal values and if they can't then they attack the families of these kids or the kids themselves through alienation and other tactics. This is also another reason Alaska has trouble filling positions and I hate to say this but Alaska kids are stupid, compared to previous generations. Alaska has one of the worst education systems in the United States. Everyone is outraged by the Smathers girl in Juneau that was drugged up fighting with her boyfriend and caused a wreck that killed another girl, SORRY to Blow your bubble Juneau and Alaska but there are more girls like her in this State than not, open your eyes and look around. The police keep what goes on at the schools pretty hush hush. We should ask them to open their records, people would be shocked to see all the crime going on in their schools.

If all was known about Juneau and Alaska in general with its corrupt politics every citizen not involved in these scandals would be absolutely shocked and calling for someones head. The FBI raids is just skimming the surface of what really is going on in this state.

Now the Palin Administration is trying to dumb down the requirements for obtaining State Workers because they can't hire people or retain the workers they do have. Instead of raising the wages they say it is due to the fact that the requirements are too high. I call BS, it has nothing to do with the requirements it has everything to do with the super high cost of living in Alaska along with the crappy weather. Why would someone work in Alaska paying out more to live making less than they could work somewhere else that has better weather and make more money and has a lower cost to live? Palin is ethical, ya that is like saying the that Putin supports democracy. So when they say there is no money for State workers what they really mean there is no money for the common person but if you are a corrupt politician there is plenty of money to go around for all, and Mrs. Palin is the one condoning it by doing absolutely nothing but riding her popularity polls.

Chip wrote on October 11, 2007 1:02 AM:

Palin shouldn't be casting stones while living in a glass house. Here are but 2 examples.

1. An Alaska blog regarding Palin's ethics.

http://alaskanabroad.typepad.com/an_
alaskan_abroad/2007/08/palins-response.html

"Palin's response

I spoke with the governor's spokeswoman, Sharon Leighow, on Thursday about Todd Palin's BP (oil company with whom Palin is negotiating) job. She said the governor acknowledged that she had said he would resign should she be elected, but that she spoke before having talked it over with her husband. The Palins have since had a change of heart, Leighow said."

A comment from a citizen to that:"A candidate who runs on ethics should be held to a higher standard. She told us her husband would quit working for BP if she was elected.

She made that statement for political gain. Plain and simple."

I couldn't agree with that more.

2. Following up on the above re Alaska DOT corruption. The Juneau access road, a billion dollar project which would essentially be two roads to nowhere, has actively been promoted by the Southeast Alaska office of DOT. The Deputy Commissioner, John MacKinnon, has a financial conflict of interest in the project as it would provide access to a mining project to which his family has leased land, increasing the likelihood that the mine will go forward. MacKinnon has publicly claimed he has recused himself (even though his subordinates are active and MacKinnon has the ability to make sure projects competing for the money are not funded).

The Commissioner of DOT has recently been telling people that MacKinnon has been advising him on how the road can be built- in stages! In other words, contrary to public statements, he is actively involved in the project. So much for ethical boundaries in the Palin administration!

Palin is aware of this but chooses to criticize everyone else for their lapses.

The chickens are coming home to roost.

aklocal wrote on October 11, 2007 5:15 AM:

Chip,

John MacKinnon is no stranger to conflict of interest. He got the ball rolling on Juneau's changes to it's Mining Ordinance in 2003 while he was Acting City Manager. MacKinnon directed the City Attorney to begin drafting changes after meeting with Bill Heig of Greens Creek, and he acted as a liason with the mining companies while Randy Wanamaker was conducting a rewrite of the ordinance in the City Assembly's Lands Committee. John MacKinnon, of course, is one of the Hyak Mining owners of the Jualin property, where Coeur built its mill after the Mining Ordinance changes MacKinnon initiated effectively eliminated City review of Coeur's plan to build the Kensington mill on his property.

And you remember, of course, how he busted a chunk of city land out of the public purse to build his "dream home"? Was he Deputy Mayor then, or just and Assemblymember?

aklocal wrote on October 11, 2007 5:27 AM:

Chip,

Tell us more. You said, "The Commissioner of DOT has recently been telling people that MacKinnon has been advising him on how the road can be built- in stages! In other words, contrary to public statements, he is actively involved in the project."

This is very interesting, a very juicy tidbit. Who did he tell?

The next stop across Berners Bay from the current end of the Juneau road system is MacKinnon's Jualin property. What would that be, about 20 miles of road? MacKinnon would stand to do very well with road access to his land. They would have to start by building a bridge across the Berners River. This is very amusing. Finally, a "Bridge to Somewhere" Hyak, Hyak, Hyak.

Chip wrote on October 11, 2007 10:39 AM:

And why isn't the Queen of Ethics Palin doing anything about it?

Maybe TPM can ask her!

Alaska Gambit wrote on October 12, 2007 3:34 PM:

I didn't vote for Sarah Palin; I'm not a Republican (3rd generation Democrat). However, she has not made any mis-steps as Governor. I can't disagree with anything she has done, quite frankly. Her husband went back to work for an oil company? He took 7 months off to be Mr. Mom for her, and he needed to go back to his blue collar job (as she proudly and truthfully referred to it). She fired the Governor's private chef? She said her kids know how to make their own pb&j sandwiches. She lives part of the year in Wasilla? She's balancing all the parts of her life, just as any other working mother does. She set-net fishes with her husband, as she has always done? Hey, if it was just a photo-op, she didn't have any make-up on, and her hair looked pretty scraggly - in other words, it looked pretty doggone real.
Her son enlisted in the Army on 9/11? Yep, he graduated from high school and enlisted, in the infantry no less. He'll probably go to Iraq when he finishes his basic, unlike 99.9% of other politician's sons.
So why does everybody seem to dump on her? Because she's a woman? Question asked and answered.

The Truth Shall Be Known wrote on October 12, 2007 4:19 PM:

Sarah Palin Getting dumped on has nothing to do with her being a woman. I voted for her and expected her to clean house in the executive branch, which she has yet to do. It has nothing to do with her personal life either.

What it does have to do with is she was elected mostly because of her stance on ethics and non corruption and has been pointing fingers at the Legislative branch for these issues, when in her own branch the Executive branch there is corruption going on that she is fully aware of and doing absolutely nothing to fix it. Instead turns a blind eye to it and points fingers at others for doing the same thing.

No doubt she is being a mother and taking care of her kids good for her. She wasn't elected just to look pretty and be a Mom, she is neglecting her role to be the Governor of the State of Alaska and has only acted on items that won't tarnish her popularity. She is doing nothing to clean up her own Branch and has left quite a few of the cronies and old school Alaska CBC in their positions, holdovers from the Murkowski administration or political cameleons that have managed to stay in Government for many Administrations somehow.

Everything Palin has done up to this point has been so that it doesn't create too much of a rift in either political party and is riding her popularity in the polls. She hasn't made any hard decisions yet. It seems she has taken a page out of the Bill Clinton book of how to be a successful politician, which is don't make any decisions that won't be popular and a non decision is better than any decision as long it keeps the popularity high in the polls. It seems Palin is more worried about her polls than being the leader of the State of Alaska and doing what is right for the people of Alaska. I agree with Crackers post at the beginning of this blog completely. Until Palin cleans her own branch nothing in Alaska will change.

That is why Palin is getting hammered by people that actually care because she is not practicing what she preaches, not because she is a woman. Just making the statement that Palin is only getting dumped on because she is a woman shows how ignorant and uninformed Alaska Gambit actually is.

aklocal wrote on October 13, 2007 2:35 PM:

Get real folks. Palin's #1 job is to deliver a gas line. Look at the budget projections with oil production falling off. She is not going to waste a lot of political clout until she delivers something that the majors will accept and Alaskans can stomach. My guess is another pig with a lot of lipstick on it, but who knows? Maybe Mama Bear will deliver a good deal for Joe Six Pack...

As far as corruption goes, Palin can probably keep doing fine in the public's view by giving the Ben Stevenses of the state a bloody nose every now and then. On the other hand, if she fails to keep an eye on the MacKinnon-type situations in her administration, she may find herself in reaction and clean-up mode. I don't like hearing that John MacKinnon has been advising the Commish of DOT on the Juneau Road when he has such a big stake. If that rumor has any truth, it looks very bad. If I were Sarah, I'd want to track that down - maybe find MacKinnon another job to avoid the appearance of conflicted interest influencing a very hotly contested policy decision.

The Truth Shall Be Known wrote on October 15, 2007 12:19 PM:

Get real folks. Palin's #1 job is to deliver a gas line.

You have to be kidding me. Her job is to be Governor not a political lobbyist for one specific project. While a gas line will benefit the rest of the State of Alaska it isn't her one and only job. Being Governor shouldn't be about popularity polls it should be about making decisions that she was voted into office to make. All of a sudden Palin is worried about what others think? That is not the platform she was elected on, she was elected mostly because she would go against the grain of what was popular politically and would take a stand on what was the right thing to do. Now all of a sudden she is completely opposite.

Something really stinks in Cinderellaville. Maybe we should ask her how much her husband stands to make by having her as Governor negotiating with his employer? Or is that not politically correct enough for the political crowd now? Argh it makes me want to puke. She is just as bad a Murkowski and perhaps worse because at least he made decisions popular or not.

The Truth Shall Be Known wrote on October 15, 2007 12:27 PM:

Get real folks. Palin's #1 job is to deliver a gas line.

You have to be kidding me. Her job is to be Governor the State of Alaska not some political lobbyist for one single project. While a gas line will benefit the State of Alaska she wasn't elected just for this.

She ran on a platform of change and that change isn't happening. People voted for her because she was supposedly unafraid to stand up to what was politically correct. Now all of a sudden she is completely the opposite?

Something really stinks in Cinderellaville. Maybe we should ask her husband Todd how much he stands to gain by having her as Governor negotiating a contract with his employer BP? Or is that not politically correct enough for the crowd now? Palin is just as bad if now worse than Murkowski was, at least Frank would make decisions popular or not. Palin's PC stance makes me want to puke. She is looking like just another RINO (Republican in Name Only) that has duped us into voting for her.